Buildings and homes built as a product of the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s are being torn down at a rate that some find unsettling.
"'It's ironic to be tearing them down just when America is going through tough times again,' said the biographer Robert Caro, who wrote about the WPA in 'The Power Broker,' his book about the builder Robert Moses. 'We should be preserving them and honoring them. They serve as monuments to the fact that it is possible to combine infrastructure with beauty.'"
"Professors, authors and architects have formed the National New Deal Preservation Association. State governments from Arkansas to California are compiling lists of WPA-era projects still standing.
'They are redolent of a moment when there was more emphasis on making an integrated community - not just building houses, but auditoriums, community centers and schools,' said the architect Hugh Hardy, who restored Radio City Music Hall in New York City. 'It's a better use of energy, in a time of fiscal restraint, to see what we can reuse, remake and renew,' he added. 'It's monstrous to say you have to tear them down.'"
FULL STORY: New Deal architecture faces bulldozer
New Research Reexamines HOLC's Role in Redlining
New Deal agencies did engage in discriminatory lending practices–but not quite in the way we think.
Biden Learning From the Unrealistic Expectations of Past Economic Stimulus Efforts
Taking lessons from his time working in the Obama administration, President Biden is tempering promises of quick job creation with long-term reinvestment.
Lessons From Decades of Racist Land Policy
President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Dr. George McCarthy traces the legacy of racist policy and offers guidance toward an economic recovery that begins to undo systemic racism.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
