Affordable housing, and particularly the Mount Laurel doctrine that mandates that every community in New Jersey has an obligation to provide its “fair share” of affordable housing, is under attack. While Governor Christie has been rebuffed by the courts in his effort to eliminate by executive order the Council on Affordable Housing established by the … Continue reading What Affordable Housing Can Do: The Ethel Lawrence Homes…
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If Demolition is the “Price for Progress,” Where’s the Larger Vision?
As the recession passes all too slowly into memory, building activity is picking up even in the most distressed communities, including Camden. Renovations of housing are proceeding around Cooper Hospital, work on the impressive Kroc Center in Cramer Hill is coming along nicely, and a new charter school located off Linden Street seemed to appear … Continue reading If Demolition is the “Price for Progress,” Where’s the Larger Vision?…
Tapping “Legacy Assets” in Post-Industrial Cities
The Inquirer has published a smart essay today about the conversion of abandoned properties to new uses, what the University of Pennsylvania’s Mark Alan Hughes and Elise Harrington call “the arbitrage of legacy assets.” They cite the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a prime example of how tapping hidden value in underutilized or abandoned sites can … Continue reading Tapping “Legacy Assets” in Post-Industrial Cities…
In Addressing Poverty, Region Matters
Earlier this week Rutgers-Camden hosted a landmark conference on urban poverty focused on the city of Camden. The convergence of Harvard’s William Julius Wilson (The Truly Disadvantaged), Princeton’s Douglas Massey (American Apartheid), and the University of Minnesota’s Myron Orfield (American Metropolitics), to say nothing of Rutgers convener Paul Jargowsky (Poverty and Place) was unprecedented for … Continue reading In Addressing Poverty, Region Matters…
New Haven’s “Downtown Crossing” A Start in Rectifying Urban Renewal Fiasco, but Where’s the Neighborhood?
The city of New Haven is trying to make up for one of the biggest mistakes to come out of the era of its own heralded program of urban renewal: partial construction of the Oak Street Connector, intended to bring automobile traffic from the newly completed Connecticut Turnpike into the city’s downtown and to towns … Continue reading New Haven’s “Downtown Crossing” A Start in Rectifying Urban Renewal Fiasco, but Where’s the Neighborhood?…
Dire Detroit
Now that Michigan has stepped in to take over the city of Detroit, we can expect even more commentary on the city and its dismal condition. In that process, there is bound to be further comment about Charlie Leduff’s Detroit: An American Autopsy, which quickly ascended onto the New York Times bestsellers list after it … Continue reading Dire Detroit…