• How to sell missing middle housing to neighbors

    In order to build a 'Missing Middle' development, a rezoning and/or a variance is typically required—which means the project must be sold to the neighborhood. This is what we have learned on how to do that.
    We spend a lot of time talking about Missing Middle Housing and its critical role in developing healthy and inclusive neighborhoods. Discussing the theory and design behind Missing Middle Housing is essential, but we also need to consider the hands-on process of making these projects real. One...Read more

  • Twenty thousand C-notes for the 'civic commons'

    Major foundations are investing $20 million into four cities, matched by local funds, to revitalize underutilized assets and improve the public realm at the neighborhood scale.
    The breaking news today is good for Akron, Detroit, Chicago, and Memphis—four post-industrial cities—that will be getting $20 million from the Knight, Kresge, Rockefeller, and JPG foundations, matched by local funding sources, to connect civic assets and improve public spaces. These cities join...Read more

  • Rebuilding a block at the heart of the city

    Saving historic facades and modernizing buildings were key to revitalizing an important downtown square.
    Pittsburgh’s Market Square was historically a bustling hub of locals and street merchants at the heart of downtown. Heavy cast iron buildings and fire-brick masonry gave the neighborhood a unique architectural charm. But by 2000, most stores that front the square had closed. Crumbling facades added...Read more

  • Grassroots public art connects people, past and present

    Today, many hundreds of the city’s horse rings are adorned with small horses and the like, placed by countless, random individuals playing their own small role in something larger than themselves.
    There’s nothing new about the subject of today’s post. In fact, that’s kind of the point. It’s an ongoing grassroots public art initiative that simply exists, and has for quite some time. Many have had the pleasure of experiencing it but many others have not. That’s the nature of artistic cultural...Read more