A redesign costing a mere $12 million transformed the main street of the desert city of Lancaster, Calif., from an ordinary retail strip to a genuine place. If Lancaster can do it, any city can.

The BLVD, which is the brand name that refers to a nine-block stretch of Lancaster Boulevard, began life as a 1950s-style one-story retail strip in the heart of Lancaster, near the city's Southern Pacific (now Metrolink) station. It was and is the type where storefronts, rather than parking stalls, abut the sidewalk and where curb cuts don't cut through every single block. Even in its early heyday, it was surely nothing special, but vastly preferable to a bunch of strip malls.
I don't want to presume that The BLVD has solved all of Lancaster's problems or made the desert bloom. I also don't want to presume that, as much as progressive planners (myself included) might tout density and walkabilty, that residents of Lancaster don't like their single-family homes and multilane boulevards. But I have to believe that they appreciate an alternative. The BLVD might occupy just a few short blocks–and the average Lancaster resident might not go there more than a few times a year–but it provides at least one place that's special and pleasant in a place that is spectacular but also bleak.
FULL STORY: Lancaster's BLVD Delivers

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.
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