Television: The Drug of the Public Realm
I have been constantly astounded since I moved back to the city last summer at the extent to which television has penetrated our public spaces. I don’t mean out in parks or on the...
Portland Gets Proactive on Gentrification
We've been talking about gentrification and displacement a bunch here on Rooflines recently. One of the perennial problems in dealing with displacement has always been knowing when to start. Our report...
Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Part 2)
Last week I wrote the first installment of my miniseries about Cincinnati’s remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. As I wrote then, this distinct and historic quarter adjacent to Cincinnati’s downtown is full of promise but...
Conflict and Placemaking in Humboldt Park: Paseo Boricua
The area surrounding Paseo Boricua is not exclusive space, but in a gentrifying part of the city, it is undeniably—and perhaps unavoidably—contested space.
In Mississippi, the New Urbanists Take Charge
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, but it actually hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi much harder. Several towns were literally wiped off the map, and cities like Gulfport and Biloxi saw every structure within...
NOLA Brings a Holistic Focus to Resilience
Cities cannot weather the effects of climate change without going beyond infrastructure to address institutional racism, historical inequities, and access to physical and mental health services.
It’s Not Either/Or: Neighborhood Improvement Can Prevent Gentrification
Even where gentrification is only a distant threat (or hope, depending on your perspective) it looms large in any discussion of neighborhood change.
Where Community Is at Work Making Itself
Creating and proctecting third places in low-income communities. A conversation with May Louie, Neeraj Mehta, Ken Reardon, and Chuck Wolfe.
Why Do Low-Income Residents Oppose Development Even When Displacement Risk Is Low?
There’s more than one way to be excluded from your community.
Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine, On the Verge
Cincinnati’s historic and very centrally located Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is poised to become one of America’s greatest revitalization stories, in the process creating a national exemplar of green, sustainable development. But a lot of...
Gentrification in Brooklyn the Result of Plans, Not Markets
Doug Henwood, editor/publisher of Left Business Observer, has an interesting piece in the Nation this week that argues that gentrification and displacement in New York City are aided and abetted, and really even driven,...
Revitalizing Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine (Series Conclusion – Making It Green)
This is the final installment of my miniseries (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) about Cincinnati’s remarkable Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, potentially a national model for smart, green revitalization. The reason that revitalizing Over-the-Rhine should...
How Artists Helped a Housing Organization Adapt to Demographic Change
An in-depth look at the lessons one housing organization learned after receiving a multimillion grant to integrate arts and culture strategies in its work. Has the organization changed the way it operates?
In Defense of Asian American Neighborhoods
How do you address a history of anti-Asian housing discrimination? Not by destroying Asian American communities.
Who Is It For?
A Washington, D.C. nonprofit undertakes a redevelopment project and tackles the issue of cultural displacement.
The Best Thing I Didn’t Hear All Week
I'm in Lexington, Ky., this week for the National Community Land Trust Network conference, hosted by the Lexington Community Land Trust.
The Lexington CLT had an unusual start—it was created as part of the mitigation...
Data Systems for Social Change
Throughout Chinatown Community Development Center’s 39-year history in San Francisco, we have grown to encompass multiple strategies in our quest for comprehensive community development. We are housing developers, organizers, neighborhood planners, service providers, youth...
Fighting Displacement Fights Crime
There's an utterly fascinating recent post by John Roman on the Metrotrends Blog of the Urban Institute called “Gentrification Will Reduce Crime and Violence—But Only if Poor People Stay.”
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From Eyesores to Assets: CDC Abandoned Property Strategies
To save a neighborhood that’s in danger of going down, you can’t simply add new homes. You have to put the process of decline in reverse
Q: Is a Land Bank the Same as a Land Trust?
A: Nope. They are totally different, though complementary tools. This chart will walk you through the differences.