The National Trust for Historic Preservation's new Atlas for ReUrbanization relies on a metric called "character" to explore the relationship between historic preservation and affordability.
Laura Bliss reports on a new set of maps from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that offers a "data-driven perspective" to the question of the effect of historic preservation on housing affordability.
"The Atlas of ReUrbanism charts 50 U.S. cities by the 'character' of their building stock," explains Bliss. Yes, the word "character" is charged in urbanist politics, but for the purposes of the Atlas of ReUrbanism, however, the word measures "the median age of buildings, the diversity of age of the buildings, and the size of buildings and parcels…"
The Atlas illustrates the perhaps unsurprising conclusion that "high-character blocks tend to have higher shares and numbers of affordable units of rental housing, compared to low-scoring blocks," writes Bliss, before noting that Kyle Shelton applied the Atlas to Philadelphia's example and nonetheless found some surprising results. Bliss concludes the article by making a few suggestions about how the tool could be improved.
FULL STORY: Mapping the Value of Neighborhood 'Character'
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DC Residents Want Affordability Over ‘Character’
A poll finds that most residents want to see changes in zoning and land use laws that unlock more housing construction in the District and improve affordability.
Permanent Supportive Housing Providers Face Steep Insurance Hikes
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What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
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‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
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The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research