• Rebuilding for victims of California wildfires

    Model cottages will provide temporary housing for Habitat families who lost their homes to the fire, and these cottages can eventually be relocated for use as permanent housing.
    In October of 2017, wildfires in Northern California burned at least 245,000 acres and over 5,000 acres in Sonoma County alone. Since then, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County has explored ways to expand its programs across the board to serve households displaced by October’s devastating...Read more

  • The toughest transformation

    Crosstown Concourse reused a massive blight in the midst of disinvested Memphis neighborhoods.
    For two decades, the 1.3-million-square-foot former Sears distribution center sat empty in the midst of disinvested Memphis neighborhoods—a symbol of urban blight. The building was too big to redevelop and too expensive to demolish, many thought. Now Crosstown Concourse represents the best kind of...Read more

  • New urban revival in flyover country

    Two journalists travel America in a Cirrus plane, reporting on public-private partnerships, "walkable manufacturing," and what makes second-tier cities succeed.
    Successful small-to-mid-sized cities cities have revitalized downtowns, brewpubs, and big plans, according to James and Deborah Fallows, authors of Our Towns: A 100,000-mile Journey into the Heart of America. . They add a tongue-in-cheek rule: “The mark of a successful city is having a river walk,...Read more

  • Walkable and drivable development

    These two revealing photos show "walkable urban" and "drivable suburban" development near downtown Cincinnati, from a recent report called Catalytic Development: (Re)creating walkable urban places . Amazingly, these photos are taken from a similar distance above the ground. The photo on the left...Read more