Abstract: For several years, the fastest-growing metro area in the United States has been a master-planned retirement community in central Florida called the Villages. In almost every way, the Villages is entirely unlike a city. More than 100,000 people live there, all older than 55 (the average age is 70), all planted in single-family homes that snake around golf courses and swimming pools on what was once a humid expanse of farmland an hour north of Orlando. There's no downtown, no public transportation, no low-income housing, and no diversity—more than 98 percent of the residents are white.But, as it grows, the Villages takes on certain urban-like dimensions. Its developers have built three "town centers" full of shops ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The largest single demolition of a National Register of Historic Places–listed district occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1989. An area known as Jobber's Canyon—four square blocks containing 24 massive brick warehouses—came down to make way for the ConAgra corporation's new suburban-style headquarters. Preservation advocates, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, fought the plan, but ConAgra's chief executive Mike Harper got his way. He didn't want to look at what he called "ugly red brick buildings."Fast forward to last year, when a different ConAgra chief executive was deciding on a new headquarters. This time the Fortune 500 company opted for reuse rather than demolition, choosing 160,000 square ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: It is often quipped that history is written by the victors. That same notion is easily translated to urban policy and the development of neighborhoods and cities. Our communities have not necessarily been planned, designed, or built to benefit everyone; and today there are still discrepancies in why and how places develop or redevelop based on race, income, and other factors. Along with urban policy, planning, architecture, urban design, and other fields, historic preservation is a tool for the complex and sometimes messy work of continually remaking our built environment to meet present and future demands and desires.To do this work, urbanists and preservationists need to understand the complete histories and ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The process of change and transformation within a community is seldom seamless or smooth. To put it simply, change is hard, especially for places that are experiencing a significant shift on the precipitous edge of either growth or decline. A boom or bust economy can be either good or bad for historic places, due to either prosperity and development pressures or disinvestment and decline. At the moment many urban places are experiencing the former, with a boom cycle fully underway, seemingly with no end in sight.New development in San Francisco.PHOTO BY ADRIAN FINECities large and small are undergoing change as a result of unprecedented levels of reinvestment and construction, as well as populations moving in and ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Cities are not the only places that can benefit from the tenets of "older, smaller, better" or from adopting ReUrbanism. While many metropolitan regions are still seeing the bulk of their growth occur in sprawling suburbs and previously undeveloped greenfields, counter trends are becoming increasingly evident; many other regions are beginning to densify, urbanize, and look ever more like cities.Much of this trend is rooted in a drive to make suburban areas more competitive with cities as potential centers for jobs—and for the residents who come with them. For example, several suburban areas are currently bidding to be the location of Amazon's second headquarters. Some, such as those around Dulles International ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Cities and towns across the country have valuable, yet often untapped, assets in their older buildings and neighborhoods. Older buildings and blocks are foundational to creating strong economies and providing smaller, adaptable spaces that can help cities weather an economic storm. They offer affordable commercial space and housing of all types, creating communities that can be home to new and established businesses and residents alike. And they provide a distinctiveness that gives communities character while maintaining room for growth and change. Keeping older buildings in use is an essential element of sustaining and promoting better cities and towns.At the Preservation Green Lab, we have taken great strides ... Read More Keywords: City planning; Urban renewal; Social justice; Suburbs; Historic preservation; Buildings PubDate: 2018-07-10T00:00:00-05:00
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