Many of us are aware of the immeasurable value that Central Park, NYC and Golden Gate Park, SF bring to their respective cities. In the words of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, “There need to be places where the rich and poor, the cultivated and the self-made shall be attracted together and encouraged to assimilate.“

Economically speaking, extraordinarily designed public places more than replace the opportunity costs of the land they take up by significantly raising the value

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It seems the hybrid car phenomenon is spreading to green building - though while auto manufacturers are finding the market for hybrids is finite, not so for buildings, as it’s quickly becoming a standard demand by the next generation of home buyers.

Here’s just a few of the recent stories this month alone:

- Brad Pitt is advocating for 500,000 new green building homes in New Orleans that would save $38 to $56 million/year, $1200 per home. Not surprisingly though, the homes look a little more

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Since transit-oriented development (TOD) sites are the most logical for initial investment in city downtowns, the Urban Land Institute (ULI, the leading organization for real estate developers) brings us an update on TOD demand, trends and incentives in TODs: Location, Location, Collaboration.

Demand - By 2030, the nine-county SF Bay Area will experience added potential demand for 248,000 housing units near transit (source - ABAG, while the same demand in Denver is expected to grow to more

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If you’re looking for one illustrative guide to define smart growth, The Smart Growth Network (SGN) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) have recently done the work for you with This Is Smart Growth.

The 32-page image-filled color document presents dozens of model communities to describe the Smart Growth Principles:
- Mix land uses
- Take advantage of compact building design
- Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
- Create walkable neighborhoods
-

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“In response to the blank canvas Savings #2 - As an up and coming home buyer in Atlanta as well as being a young architect, I love the idea of a blank canvas or “shell” although I feel as though developers would not lower the home price and instead make more profits by leaving out the “finishes” of the home and call it a feature. I think that this is a great idea but it needs to be done in such a way as to protect the young “creatives” who’s buying power is minimal.“ Kellen

It starts and ends

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There’s a key neighborhood street block in your downtown that could be the catalyst and benchmark for inspired urban design and investment to attract the next generation of downtown residents and tenants.  Is there a way then, that these emerging populations in your could city get together to design and develop their own neighborhood, buildings, workplaces, third places and homes at attainable prices?  They can via a beta community (evolved from crowdsourcing), a progressive community of

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Continuing yesterday’s entry… The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters - that’s the NY Times story that’s got home buyers excited and realtors needing to rethink their business model.  The current system awards 3% to the seller’s agent, and 3% to the buyer’s agent.  Louisville is pioneering a better model with its beta community.

“Traditional agents spend very little time brokering a deal. Most of their time is consumed looking for new clients, which is of no benefit to consumers,“ states a

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‘DIY’ - Do it yourself.  This is not DIY in terms of becoming a home builder, but using skills that have come to bear naturally by the internet generation.  Ordering exactly what you want also saves the company significantly (and I mean significantly) because it eliminate inventory, risk and interest - just ask Dell Computer, or any business school teacher.  Then there’s that one little thing called customer satisfaction, as this one reader puts it, “Why is it that I can customize a $10,000

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It’s not uncommon for many of the residents of a neighborhood not to know one another, much less do anything together.  However, what if they’d like to change that?  Not through homeowner associations, which focus more on what you can’t do than what you can.  Think nonprofit organization - this New Urban News article looks at the Seaside Institute’s New Institutes Program which helps communities establish a nonprofit to do just that.

On such community taking action is East Beach, a

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You know how real estate is… ‘wait until they build what you want’, which could be years from now if ever.  Well, last week some of the most creative, entrepreneurial and intelligent in Louisville, KY took it into their own hands not to wait, meeting at the University of Louisville and other venues to establish what is the only official, active beta community to establish a vision for partnering developers and investors to implement.

Focusing on the downtown, they wanted a place that

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