Housing, Gentrification & New Urbanism
Bohl, C.C. (2010). New urbanism and the city: Potential applications and implications for distressed inner-city neighbourhoods. Housing Policy Debate, 11(4), 761-801.
Abstract: New Urbanism has been described as the most influential movement in architecture and planning in the United States since the Modernist movement. In recent years, New Urbanist design principles have been adopted for many housing and neighborhood planning efforts. This article considers the applications and implications of New Urbanism for distressed inner-city neighborhoods. Claims and criticisms of New Urbanism are examined and the long-standing debates over the extent to which physical planning and design can affect human behavior are revisited.
The article concludes that New Urbanism is not a panacea, but that its design principles are consistent with broader policies aimed at revitalizing and improving living conditions and opportunities for inner-city residents. New Urbanism needs to be viewed as one strategy to be integrated within the larger array of economic, social, and community development programs attempting to revitalize and improve the quality of life in inner-city neighborhoods.
Keywords: Development/Revitalization; Low-income housing; Urban planning
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Butler, T., and Hamnett, C. (2012). Chapter 8: Social Geographic Interpretations of Housing Spaces. In Clapham, D.F., Clark, W.A.V., and Gibb, K. (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Housing Studies (147-162). Sage Publications Ltd.
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Grant, J.L. and Perrott, K. (2009). Producing diversity in a new urbanism community. Policy and Practice, 80(3), 267-289.
Abstract: Since the mid-1990s, Markham in Ontario has embedded new urbanism and smart growth principles in its plans. The policies presume that policies for place diversity – requiring a mix of housing types, uses and densities – will produce social diversity. This article examines planning policies and reviews interview data to understand the challenges in interpreting and implementing a diversity agenda in practice. Although respondents describe Markham as ethnically diverse, census data reveal new kinds of social homogeneity. Planning policies and regulations that call for diversity in housing types, land uses and densities may contribute to place vitality and economic health, but the Markham case suggests that they may not produce social equity. Planners’ faith in place diversity as a means to social diversity faces significant challenges in practice.
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Larsen, K. (2005). New Urbanism’s Role in Inner-city Neighbourhood Revitalization. Housing Studies, 20(5), 795-813.
Abstract: The new urbanism has become an increasingly popular development strategy for outlying greenfield sites. Recently, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the formal arm of the movement, began emphasizing urban infill and revitalization. This paper explores the public sector’s application of the new urbanism through planning and regulatory tools intended to foster inner-city revitalization. Specifically, it examines a local variation of the new urbanism and its implementation within a broader framework of neighborhood revitalization that seeks to balance economic development, smart growth and equity goals to realize the ideal of the just city. Assessing over 12 years of experience in Orlando, Florida, this study demonstrates the difficulty of fully implementing the new urbanism in such projects, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods, and inherent conflicts when design solutions, economic development and housing goals are not mutually supportive.
Keywords: Gentrification, affordable housing, new urbanism
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Purdy, S. and Kwak, N.H. (2007). Introduction: New Perspectives on Public Housing Histories in the Americas. Journal of Urban History, 33(3), 357-374.
Abstract: This article introduces a special issue on the history of public housing in the Americas, with contributions on the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Argentina. It briefly surveys the state of public housing in the Americas and the contrasts and parallels between countries as well as between developed and developing regions; it stresses the political and social importance of state housing provision during the urban crises of the twentieth century; and it broadly charts the historiographical trends. In introducing the various articles that deal with the history of public housing and public housing tenants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, and Barbados, the article highlights the shift away from narrow policy histories to interpretations set in broader political, economic, social, and transnational contexts that use diverse primary sources such as oral testimony. It also highlights the crucial role played by historical actors such as public housing tenants themselves and the media.
Keywords: public housing; historiography; United States; Canada; Caribbean; Latin America
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Trudeau, D. (2013). New Urbanism as Sustainable Development?. Geography Compass, 7(6), 435-448. Doi: 10.1111/gec3.12042
Abstract: New urbanism is an urban design movement to create pedestrian-oriented settlements that also advance social equity and mitigate the environmental impacts of development. Proponents of the movement have suggested it offers a model of sustainable development. This paper investigates this claim by discussing the implications of empirical research on new urbanism for the ways in which the movement contributes to sustainability. The paper uses the concepts of environmental and social sustainability to frame the discussion. The paper traces the origin of new urbanism and the evolution of its interest in sustainable development. Review of scholarly research on new urbanism in practice shows the movement supports in limited ways both environmental and social sustainability. Moreover, this research also shows that some forms of new urbanism development unintentionally counteract environmental sustainability goals while other forms fail to achieve social sustainability goals. Citing the diverse ways in which new urbanism is put into practice, the paper concludes by considering how understanding the heterogeneity of new urbanism as it exists in the world will impart greater clarity to further analysis of the ways in which the movement actually contributes to sustainable development.
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Vakili-Zad, C. (2002). Public Housing: A Summary of Major DIfferences Between the United States and Canada. Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, 11(2), 111-115.
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