Critics say the design of homes that come with gentrification is too often uninspired, incompatible, and downright ugly.

"When [Maria] Nicanor looks at the newer houses in Houston that she calls 'white elephants'—those wonky, stacked boxes that look more like what children build with Legos than what they draw with crayons—it’s not so much that she finds the architecture aesthetically dubious (though she does), it’s that she sees right through it to 'the systems that over decades have made it this way,'" writes Allyn West.
Nicanor is the executive director of the Rice Design Alliance, and her take on housing design in Houston describes the standardization of architecture as gentrification sweeps through that city and others throughout Texas.
The phenomenon reflects the inability of cities to balance new development with what has long existed there, says West. "Nicanor wonders what can be done at city hall, from rewriting zoning laws and enacting preservation ordinances to protecting renters and supporting community land trusts. Should the market make all the decisions?"
West looks at a variety of examples of this gentrification architecture in various Texas cities, including huge homes out of scale with the bungalows and cottages around them, packs of generic townhouses, and houses dominated by their garages.
Architect Ben Koush has an issue with mammoth homes, whose design reflects the market more than what neighborhoods need, notes West. "I think it’s almost disrespectful when you build a big, hulking box," Koush says. "But I’m also not a developer, so I see things differently than they do, and they think it’s probably stupid to build what I did. And they’re like, 'You’re an idiot.' And I’m like, 'You’re an idiot.'"
FULL STORY: The Architecture of Gentrification

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
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.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions