Diversity of housing types

Sorry about the delay in posting. I was on a trip to SXSW in Austin Texas. Good times, and lots of work. While on one of the many planes I took to get there I picked up my copy of The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Still a good book. I love this passage from page 278 from my addition. “Elevator apartments do not produce standardization by virtue of being elevator apartments, any more than three-story houses produce standardization by virtue of being three-story houses. But elevator apartments do produce standardization when they are almost the only way a neighborhood is housed—just as three-story houses produce monotonous standardization when they are almost the only way in which a neighborhood is housed.”
The Minneapolis Planning Department has put great stock in increasing housing opportunities and unit density. There is also great stock put into housing diversity. However, just a gander at sections of North or South Minneapolis and all we have are huge tracts of three-story housing without any interruption. Jacobs point is that housing diversity creates vitality. Think about where housing diversity exists, and then think about where vitality exists.

Comments

[P. Victor Grambsch]

I think that the focus should ge on affordable living -- of which housing is only a part.

Transportation, for example, is expensive even if you use public transportation (such as it is) and is a real "budget buster" for many people.

I think that the appropriate housing density is the density that permits a retail district catering to "everyday" needs to flouish on walk-in business or based on dedicated local transportation (like jitney-style buses). The goal should be to allow people to minimise (or even eliminate) car use for routine activities (like comuting and routine shopping).

We need higher densities. However, the real enemy to proper density is the the City of Minneapolis itself and the zoning code which address building characterictics (height, floor area ratio, unit area ratio, etc.) but is silent living or energy use characteristics. The easiest thing to build is 2.5 story walk-up -- which is never going to "cut-it" from a density standpoint.

Also, low rise has too big a footprint and does not allow for public and green spaces on the ground. Long and lean is beautiful in buildings as well as at the beach (to mix a metaphore).

Victor

[Natalie]

Keep up the good work.