Rockville Town Square in Rockville, Maryland is a 12.5 acre mixed-use development that, despite being built in 2007 right as the housing crisis happened, is a raging success. Simmons Buntin looks at what developers did right.
Rockville Town Square replaced a failed mall with a transit-oriented development that features "a broad town plaza, state-of-the-art library and arts and business innovation center, and pedestrian-oriented shops and restaurants-with condominiums and apartments above."
An extensive public process paved the way for the development, with a new master plan for downtown completed in 2001. The project was envisioned as a cooperation between public and private entities to create a downtown that Rockville never had. It centers around a brand-new public plaza, which Buntin describes as "...designed to encourage seating and gatherings, formal and otherwise, and like other successful New Urban developments, fosters chance encounters."
FULL STORY: Unsprawl Case Study: Rockville, MD

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

San Antonio Remains Affordable as City Grows
The city’s active efforts to keep housing costs down through housing reforms and coordinated efforts among city agencies and developers have kept it one of the most affordable in the nation despite its rapid population growth.

What Forest Service Cuts Mean for Cities
U.S. Forest Service employees work on projects that have impacts far beyond remote, rural wilderness areas.

North Texas Transit Leaders Tout Benefits of TOD for Growing Region
At a summit focused on transit-oriented development, policymakers discussed how North Texas’ expanded light rail system can serve as a tool for economic growth.
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