What if an algorithm could meet the needs of the economic system driving suburban housing development while also designing more diverse building types? One architect has already experimented with this provocative thought experiment.
"American architects have masterminded dozens of suburban housing styles," writes Diana Budds to introduce a radical, technology-enabled departure from that suburban tradition.
One of the problems with that tradition, according to critics of the suburban model, is that the industrialization has "exerted the most influence over how much of the country lives today," according to Budds. That's where John Szot, a Brooklyn-based architect, comes in.
[Szot's] proposal for introducing more diverse architecture into the suburbs is on view in Mass Market Alternatives, a new exhibition at the Boston gallery Pinkcomma. The project shows how algorithmic design could make it just as easy and cost-effective to build diverse suburban architecture as it is for developers to design and build boring tract houses.
The idealistic hope of Szot's experiment: that more visually diverse architecture would appeal to different people. The article includes lots of renderings and plan views to get a taste for the ability of algorithms to take suburban housing to a new stylistic level.
FULL STORY: The Unlikely Way Algorithmic Design Could Transform Suburbia
Minneapolis Bans Rent-Setting Software
Four cities have enacted restrictions on algorithmic software that can inflate rent costs.
Innovative Water Towers Popping Up in Sweden
Swedish cities are encouraging designers to dramatically reimagine the humble water tower.
Mental Health Facility Uses Design to Improve Outcomes
Far from the drab and claustrophobic mental health facilities of cinematic fame, Ohana aims to serve patients in an aesthetically soothing, nature-driven environment.
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