In an obviously difficult market for new housing, Cross Creek Ranch is standing out from the pack with a master-planned community that restores a degraded dirt parcel to a native landscape.
Theresa Burney at Builder Magazine reports on one thing you'll find at Cross Creek Ranch you won't find in many master-planned communities: deliberately wild and unkempt landscaping. The green space "...mimics the native coastal prairie by including tall grasses that don't need to be mowed."
Trendmaker Development has planted thousands of trees on the land and attempted as much as possible to improve the natural state:
"When Trendmaker bought the 3,300-acre parcel it was flat, almost treeless, farmland bisected by an eroded ditch. Under the direction of landscape architects SWA Group, the ditch became more akin to a creek with native black willows planted on its banks to naturally stabilize the stream."
Read the full story: Prairie Nouveau
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority