Kaid Benfield revisits the results of a plan to revitalize the town center of Plessis-Robinson, a suburb of Paris, with the suggestion that its success could inform similar efforts in the United States.
Begun in 1990, the revitalization of Plessis-Robinson consists of public buildings, retail, market-rate and subsidized affordable housing, parks, schools, gardens, sports facilities, and a hospital under the vision of creating "a highly walkable environment, while using locally sourced materials as much as possible, and preserving wetland habitat."
Completed after a decade of construction, the project was named "the best urban neighborhood built in the last 25 years" by the European Architecture Foundation. Benfield links to a video showing the town's progress and suggests that, "American suburban communities currently contemplating transformative updates, such as Dublin, Ohio, parts of Prince George's County, Maryland, and parts of Silicon Valley in California might do well to take note."
Read the full story: Can US communities learn from this European suburban retrofit?
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association