Neighborhood Density

Sub Categories: Neighborhood Density

Housing – The Next Engine of Downtown Opportunity

For the past two decades, North America has faced the most urban housing market since WWII – offering unparalleled opportunity to transform housing into a powerful tool to enliven downtown streets, attract talent, create innovation districts, expand fiscal benefits, and yield similarly rich dividends for downtowns, cities and regions they lead. 

Housing Attainability in Downtown Portland

In recent years, housing costs in Portland have been rising as the city becomes increasingly attractive within the State of Maine and as compared to other regions nationally. There has been little development of new housing affordable to current Portland residents and very little construction of new housing at all between 2007 and 2014. To address the issues of housing availability and affordability the City of Portland adopted a host of strategic policies and initiatives.

The Challenges of Unlocking Neighborhood Potential Through Planning Policy

City planning tools like zoning and comprehensive planning are powerful forces that can help unleash the potential of neighborhoods, but the process of updating them can be a lengthy and a deeply political endeavor. Hear two case studies of planning policies being modernized to better reflect the current and future needs of neighborhoods.

Coxe Avenue Complete Street Demonstration Project

The project was initiated to accelerate mobility improvements to a developing corridor in an Asheville neighborhood. Coxe Avenue formerly contained a high density of automotive uses but is now the site of mixed-use developments and dining options. The project involved a public engagement process, held on a compressed timeline. The design features a shared-use path and an intersection mural. The final installation includes eight new crosswalks, a multi-use path, and the 6,000 sq. ft. mural.

Jeff Speck Master Talk

Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA is a city planner and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design.

Annie Milli Master Talk

Annie Milli is the Executive Director of Live Baltimore, a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) Residential Marketing Organization. A self-described “accidental urbanist,” Ms. Milli began her career as a graphic designer, later becoming an art director and executive in the field of commercial advertising. Ms. Milli led Live Baltimore’s marketing division from 2013 to 2017, during which time she developed a resident retention initiative, targeting city families.

Gabe Metcalf Master Talk

Gabriel Metcalf is the President & CEO of SPUR. Under his leadership, SPUR has grown dramatically in influence and membership. Before becoming head of SPUR 2005, Gabe headed up SPUR’s policy and advocacy work for five years. A prolific writer and speaker, Gabriel earned his Master’s degree in city planning from the University of California, Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design.

Simon O’Byrne Master Talk

Simon O’Byrne is an award-winning urban designer/planner with Stantec’s Urban Places who has been frequently quoted in European and North America media and spoken at many international conferences. Simon has led multi-disciplinary design teams in the planning and delivery of complex and politically charged projects. His experience ranges from intensive urban revitalization redevelopments, to the Ice District in Edmonton, to creating resiliency in Hull, UK, to the Alberta Legislature Grounds.

Northeast False Creek Plan

The Northeast False Creek Plan is an innovative and comprehensive plan to replace the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts (2.6 km of elevated freeway infrastructure) with a new mixed-use waterfront community. As a result of intensive collaboration between the landowners, senior levels of government and the community over an 18-month planning process, a 20-year plan for the buildout of Northeast False Creek was adopted by Vancouver City Council on February 13, 2018.

South End Vision Plan

Among the fastest-growing urban districts in the US, Charlotte’s Historic South End neighborhood has experienced rapid revival and reinvention. With room still to grow, we created a vision plan that will guide billions of dollars in new public and private investment throughout the business improvement district. Following mixed reactions to redevelopment, it became clear that action was needed to ensure that future growth would preserve the South End’s historic charm and its authenticity.

Colorado Springs ULI/IDA Advisory Panel: Affecting a Downtown Reniassance

IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel was tasked with creating a strategy for a downtown renaissance. The panel highlighted assets to leverage, identified challenges, and identified specific opportunities to execute high-payoff actions to focus time and funding on. The presentation details the panel’s findings and recommendations.

Downtown Boise Associaton Advisory Panel: Strategic Visioning and Balanced Development

IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel focused on tailoring an updated mission and vision for the downtown place management organization and provided recommendations on how to approach development moving forward. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.

Form Follows Finance: Unplugging Economic and Planning Barriers

Data visualizations, economic impact modeling and policy hacks, oh my! This session is a must for anyone interested in the intersection of downtown economic development, placemaking, Smart Growth and regional infrastructure development. Participants will learn about cutting edge applications of geoaccounting, design and ninja policy moves in downtown Durham, NC and Minneapolis, MN.