Why should the big spenders have a monopoly on architecturally distinctive dwellings?
Architects and developers of affordable housing, with the help of city planners, are beginning to inject more imagination and innovation into the design for modest homes.
In the greater Milwaukee area, a partnership between the American Institute of Architects’ Wisconsin’s southeast chapter and architecture students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is reinventing residential design in the lower price points, producing drawings for three modernist homes will sell for about $150,000. Students will design 1,400 square-foot infill homes for vacant lots in central city neighborhoods in Milwaukee, Racine, and Waukesha.
The local Habitat for Humanity is adding more sensitively designed roofs, windows and porches to its standard house design that will be part of 22 new units this year. And the city of Milwaukee promises to streamline approval for proposals for affordable housing to go on city-owned land that adhere to prototypes of modernist and neo-traditional designs.
FULL STORY: Architects show modest budgets don't require modest design
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.
Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.
Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service