9 Ways to Build Community with Urban Housing

Community plays a crucial role in shaping how we live and if we thrive. As our world continues to urbanize, densify, and intensify, community is more critical than ever. Drawn from more than three decades’ experience designing affordable multifamily housing, these elegant, economical, and human-centric strategies support a high quality of living for residents and neighbors alike. The “9 Ways to Build Community with Urban Housing” range from the large-scale “Reweave the Urban Fabric”—which focuses on maximizing adjacencies and reconnecting street grids—to the intimate “Get Personal”—which builds in opportunities for self-expression. These flexible, accessible, and complementary design strategies dignify and uplift residents, improve wellness and stability, and support people to forge key bonds. Illustrated by examples from dozens of built projects and long-time collaborations with developers, this talk shares a wide range of successful applications of these community-oriented principles.

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