High design is entering the realm of affordable housing, with numerous projects around the country garnering acclaim.
"Public housing used to mean fortress-like blocks and soulless rows of cheaply built townhouses. But now there's a new model: privately developed homes and apartments that are well-designed, well-built and attractive enough to win over wary neighbors. A growing number of architects, from established stars to ambitious up-and-comers, are looking to such projects as an opportunity to do innovative work."
"Groundbreaking architecture still makes up a relatively small percentage of the thousands of units of low- and moderate-income housing that are built in the U.S. each year. Most of the design is "competent," says James Stockard, curator of the Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard School of Design and an expert in the field. Even that, however, is progress. Until the 1980s, almost all low-income housing in the country was built by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, designed with an eye to quantity, not quality."
FULL STORY: Architects Bring High Design To Affordable Housing

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
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Philadelphia Is Expanding its Network of Roundabouts
Roundabouts are widely shown to decrease traffic speed, reduce congestion, and improve efficiency.
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.
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Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service