Mastodawn

If you could describe a great civic environment, it might be a place so collaborative that tiny #parks are “planned, planted, named and maintained” by neighbors, working with the city’s parks dept. Believe it or not, there are 137 of such “street parks” in S.F. They are delights for the eye and the pride of #neighborhoods, and parks officials want more of them. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/street-park-san-francisco-22204547.php #volunteers

Client Challenge

Birds Books and Bullshit 12h ago

The suburban experiment was designed to skip over the messy process of incrementally assembling a neighborhood. But those steps are necessary, if the neighborhood is to grow strong and endure. Neighborhoods built all at once go bad all at once.

–Escaping the Housing Trap

#Quotes #Books #Housing #Neighborhoods #TownPlanning

CBC Saskatchewan 2d ago

Two vehicle arsons in different neighborhoods unsettle Regina residents
Two neighborhoods in Regina are shaken after vehicles were set on fire on different days this week.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/two-regina-vehicle-arsons-different-neighbourhoods-9.7167415?cmp=rss

Otis White 5d ago

“A self-reinforcing mechanism”: Cities want to create mixed-income #neighborhoods that remain mixed. That is, that don’t end up displacing lower-income families. How can they do this? Atlanta Mayor Dickens has a theory: use tax-increment financing. An advisor to the mayor explains how it would work. https://www.ajc.com/opinion/2026/04/atlanta-is-two-cities-at-a-crossroads-we-cant-blow-it-we-must-succeed/

Opinion: Atlanta is two cities at a crossroads

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative is the path for the city's rising tide to lift all boats without leaving the most vulnerable behind.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Otis White Apr 9

We fight over terms like “density” and “single-family housing” and sometimes overlook the things right in front of us that are working reasonably well and without controversy. What would that be in #affordablehousing? Garden apartments, which are low-rise, affordable apartments that most people find acceptable in their #neighborhoods. https://www.governing.com/urban/the-everyday-housing-we-manage-to-ignore

The Everyday Housing We Manage to Ignore

Garden apartments don’t look like much, but they’ve been an important source of housing for people of modest means for a long time. Do they point the way to a residential future?

Governing

Otis White Apr 9

Every city has #neighborhoods where undesirable land uses locate, from homeless centers to drug treatment agencies. In S.F., South of Market or SoMa is one of these places The usual demand is for the city to spread out the undesirable land uses. But SoMa’s leaders have another idea: bring us market-rate #housing. And lots of it. https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/tenderloin-soma-san-francisco-homeless-22160262.php

Client Challenge

ResearchBuzz: Firehose Apr 2

Tomorrow City: Heatwave risk, down to your block: the new tool making it visible. “The WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities has just launched Cool Cities Lab, a mapping tool focused on understanding the extent of heatwaves and, above all, identifying vulnerabilities in urban areas…. It can assess how heat impacts areas at street level and even street by street, helping to visualize where […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/04/02/heatwave-risk-down-to-your-block-the-new-tool-making-it-visible-tomorrow-city/

Otis White Mar 30

A public research organization finds that only 44% of Americans would want to live in #walkable #neighborhoods rather than sprawling suburbs, if those were the only choices. So, that’s bad, right? Actually, it’s great. If we created enough walkable neighborhoods for the 44% who want them … our cities would thrive. And others might be persuaded. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/19/majority-of-americans-prefer-spread-out-communities-with-big-houses/

Majority of Americans prefer spread-out communities with big houses

55% of Americans say they would prefer to live in a community where houses are larger and farther away from amenities – compared to 44% who say the opposite.

Pew Research Center

Otis White Mar 27

A Philly council member has legitimate concerns about what happens to school buildings once #schools are closed … and a concern that some of the closings are because of the buildings’ value to real estate developers. But rezone all schools so they can never be used for #housing? That may not serve #neighborhoods well. https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-school-closures-city-council-rezoning-plan/ #BOEs

Philadelphia City Council member moves to rezone closing schools to curb developer interest in valuable land

Jamie Gauthier wants to rezone schools to limit redevelopment of school buildings, arguing their land value is driving decisions instead of students’ needs.

WHYY

Otis White Mar 27

The author of a book about #happiness offers a formula for Atlanta (or any city) to be a happier place. Have a purpose that makes your city distinctive. Build connection and belonging through inclusive public places and welcoming #neighborhoods. Then manage growth so it’s neither so little that it drives off the ambitious nor so overwhelming that it exhausts everyone. https://www.ajc.com/education/2026/03/how-atlanta-can-get-the-gold-medal-for-happiness/

How Atlanta can get the gold medal for happiness

While Helsinki may be the happiest city in the world, the rest of the world can learn a lot from the “A.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution