Seeking to help improve the city's livability and boost its attraction to talented workers, the Miami Foundation has launched an open competition to identify, and ultimately build, neighborhood public spaces.
"The 'Our Miami Public Space Challenge,'’ which launches Wednesday, is the brainchild of the Miami Foundation, which last year embarked on a comprehensive effort to help locals feel more love for the place they call home," reports Andres Viglucci. "The idea is based on a growing number of studies that show a close relationship between fiscal prosperity and cities whose residents feel a warm affinity for their hometowns. That’s in part because cities that people are proud to live in also tend to attract and retain the skilled, talented workers who drive economic growth."
"The Miami Herald and WRLN/Miami Herald News are the Miami Foundation’s media partners in the new contest, which poses a fresh challenge: To come up with feasible, creative ideas for a shared space that can give a specific neighborhood a meaningful boost in livability and identity," he adds. The foundation has committed to investing $100,000 "to make the ideas become reality."
FULL STORY: Contest offers cash prizes for making better public spaces in Miami

Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.

HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Research: Walkability Linked to Improved Public Health
A study reveals that the density of city blocks is a significant factor in communities’ walkability and, subsequently, improved public health outcomes for residents.

Report Outlines Strategies for Resilient Wildfire Recovery in LA
Project Recovery offers a roadmap for rebuilding more sustainable and climate-resilient communities after wildfires and other disasters.

New Executive Order Renews Attack on Public Lands
An order issued late last week pushes for increased mineral extraction on federally owned public lands.
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