A growing body of research examines the question of how to make places more attractive and healthy, without then making them more expensive.

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow provides access into an ongoing debate about "environmental gentrification": "Low-income communities tend to suffer from various kinds of environmental injustice, including shortage of green space. But when these concerns are addressed — the power plant closes, a park opens — the neighborhood becomes more desirable, often kickstarting a process of so-called 'environmental gentrification.'"
Researchers and advocates have proposed a "just green enough" model that "seeks to remedy injustices without introducing the fancy amenities that can radically transform a neighborhood," according to Tuhus-Dubrow.
The approach is the subject of a new paper in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, by University of California, Berkeley professor Jennifer Wolch and coauthors.
The paper concludes with recommendations for pulling off the “careful balancing act” of improving conditions without inducing environmental gentrification, including:
- "Planners must be willing to design projects determined by specific community needs and preferences."
- "…prioritize small and scattered parks and community gardens, which can distribute access throughout a neighborhood, rather than flashy, large-scale projects of the type that tend to attract attention and real estate speculation."
FULL STORY: Pretty Park, Affordable Rent: Making Neighborhoods “Just Green Enough”

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.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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