Urban Infill

Is the New Urbanism effective in rebuilding and revitalizing cities? According to academic research presented to the Association of American Geographers this year, the answer is yes. Four residential development projects in Pittsburgh designed and built with new urbanist principles were examined by Sabina Deitrick of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and Cliff Ellis of the Department of Geography and Planning at the State University of New York. The largest was Crawford Square, a project on 18 acres with more than 400 units, a community center, and a small park. Crawford Square, designed by Urban Design Associates (UDA), reestablishes a network of streets and a mix of housing types on a section of the city previously consisting of vacant lots. The other projects consisted of housing on smaller infill sites (approximately a block or less), mostly designed by architect Stefani Ledewitz. The paper is not a comprehensive evaluation of the projects — it makes no attempt to analyze long-term trends in property values, crime, and community stability. Rather the authors rely on site visits, interviews, and archival research. Essentially, they found safe, aesthetically appealing projects with strong occupancy and sales. “Four recent projects in Pittsburgh suggest that new urbanist principles offer a promising alternative for infill projects at all scales,” the authors write. “Community development corporations in Pittsburgh chose these designs because they show respect for the local context, mix different housing types effectively, enhance the pedestrian environment, and meet a complex array of financial and marketing requirements. While it is too early to pronounce any final judgments, so far these projects appear to be successful.”
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