Transforming low income housing areas - prosperity, inclusiveness and sustainability

In many US cities some of the low income housing projects are located in attractive areas for real estate developers. However without a blueprint/code for large scale developments and fear of gentrification and other factors, such opportunities do not come on the radar

In this proposal I will review the Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA as an example for providing improved housing  + ownership for the existing residents while attracting market buyers for condos currently in high demand in Cambridge, MA as well as developing a mixed use community that will bring many jobs to the new neighborhood.

Many large cities in the US have attractive land locations of public housing often referred to as "the projects" that present enormous opportunities for everyone from developers to the residents as well as meet market demand for housing. Such opportunities are viable where the existing density is relatively low, i.e. the public housing is in low rise buildings. 

The land area can accommodate as much as 3000 housing units (in mid to high rise buildings) from the approx 300 units. i.e. 10% of the new units can be reserved at affordable prices with mortgages - around the price  currently payed in low rent by the existing residents.

-  economies of scale -  allow for lower construction costs

In addition to prosperity and equity there will be further benefits such, better education and safety as well as higher quality of life.

 Holistic Community Design (HCD) as a code -  ensures the availabilty of desirable features which in the current models are a matter of random outcomes. Example having walkable access to parks, schools, shopping, entertainment, services, is mostly the exception than the norm in American cities. Even though the demand for these features is very high.

The market alone, cannot ensure these outcomes and tends to segregate the poor and the rich even though under different incentives and standards the populations would be more mixed - AND have overall better well-being

The market does not prioritize the creation of prosperous and healthy communities, as well as environment, general health, social capital

The HCD model expands the rules of urban growth to a larger scale - as an incentivized model -  defined by a minimum scale to provide both the green spaces and body of water as well many efficiencies for a self contained community, that are not available in current models.

In many US cities some of the low income housing projects are located in attractive areas for real estate developers. However without a blueprint/code for large scale developments and fear of gentrification and other factors, such opportunities do not come on the radar

In this proposal I will review the Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA as an example for providing improved housing  + ownership for the existing residents while attracting market buyers for condos currently in high demand in Cambridge, MA as well as developing a mixed use community that will bring many jobs to the new neighborhood.

Many large cities in the US have attractive land locations of public housing often referred to as "the projects" that present enormous opportunities for everyone from developers to the residents as well as meet market demand for housing. Such opportunities are viable where the existing density is relatively low, i.e. the public housing is in low rise buildings. 

The land area can accommodate as much as 3000 housing units (in mid to high rise buildings) from the approx 300 units. i.e. 10% of the new units can be reserved at affordable prices with mortgages - around the price  currently payed in low rent by the existing residents.

-  economies of scale -  allow for lower construction costs

In addition to prosperity and equity there will be further benefits such, better education and safety as well as higher quality of life.

 Holistic Community Design (HCD) as a code -  ensures the availabilty of desirable features which in the current models are a matter of random outcomes. Example having walkable access to parks, schools, shopping, entertainment, services, is mostly the exception than the norm in American cities. Even though the demand for these features is very high.

The market alone, cannot ensure these outcomes and tends to segregate the poor and the rich even though under different incentives and standards the populations would be more mixed - AND have overall better well-being

The market does not prioritize the creation of prosperous and healthy communities, as well as environment, general health, social capital

The HCD model expands the rules of urban growth to a larger scale - as an incentivized model -  defined by a minimum scale to provide both the green spaces and body of water as well many efficiencies for a self contained community, that are not available in current models.

Ultimately the HCD model can influence the expansion of cities in the future to look more like in the image below - i.e. the growth would be in "cells" resembling the features of a town. A proposed code will optimize the balance of residential and commercial spaces, as well as other services - generally mimicking the accessibility of a small town between 10-30k inhabitants.

The target population is the low income housing community - however the outcomes benefit the general population.

Social Capital: the ability of a society to function effectively through the value of social networks, bonding and bridging between diverse people who live and work in that society.

How would Social capital improve? 

The HCD has many pathways that makes it easy to access all the areas by walking across green spaces providing ample opportunities for the occupants to see one another and interact. The likelihood of running into familiar faces combined with the beauty of the park incentivizes the occupants to go for walks which contributes to general health.

Pathways serve both as recreation as wall as providing easy access to any destination of the HCD community.

In addition to bringing prosperity and equity for the low income housing residents HCD model provides benefits that are usually not available without a blueprint with a minimal scale to aggregate the desired goals.

Further benefits and issues addressed are:

Transportation - lack of walkable access to frequent destinations – school, work, shopping, services…

Nature - lack of contact with natural elements such as water, trees, parks, pathways,  in the vicinity of residences and workplaces

Urban Heat & Flooding – lack of requirements for ratio of built up area to green spaces to allow water to be absorbed.

Socializing - lack of opportunities to socialize and cooperate both via common shared areas  in the immediate vicinity of residences, as well as public spaces within walkable distance

Density - lack of systemic models that ensure optimal density

Security - lack of security inducing environments that as a systemic design that induces self policing

Segregation by income – lack of code ensuring high quality housing

On the macro level HCD code include spaces dedicated for schools, green space  in the middle with pathways and benches, body of water with dedicated swimming ares, various sports and recreation facilities; and other min/max areas, dedicated for other features such as urban farming and more.

The code would require diversity of buildings from high rises to private homes to maximize attractiveness for the wider population. However the general aim is to maximize density - to have plenty of apartment buildings - by making them as attractive as possible to compete with the house in the suburbs - the code would require minimal standards for all apartments including ample private outdoor space, natural light, minimum square footage (per bedroom).

In about two decades the HCD model can proliferate to become the
dominant model. In an optimistic scenario a metro area  such as Boston
there may be as many as 100 sites (currently malls parking lots, unused spaces. An HCD  community would be about 10,000 people, and would result in sustainable habitation for over one million people as well as a dramatic  drop in URBAN SPRAWL, in addition to the other main benefits: equity, prosperity, human health, security reduced pressure on traffic growth (and cost)

Explain why you and your team are the right people to design and deliver this solution to the target population.

Presently I am in the early stages of this project and I am looking to build a team to advance this model and capture market forces (i.e. demand for the aggregate features provided by the HCD model) to develop a platform that brings together, developers, urban designers and related city hall staff with consumers, investors and other parties needed for an HCD development.

How is the Team Lead and your team overall representative of these communities?

I am not in a position to represent a community in a low income housing area. However I interviewed residents for my masters thesis and recorded their feedback showing strong interest in the proposed development I described for the Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA location. Particularly theability to replace the rent with a mortgage payment towards the ownershipseemed an important factor - to "work towards something".

How is the design and implementation of your solution meaningfully guided by the communities’ input, ideas, and agendas?

I interviewed a number of community members;  from a prosperity perspective the HCD would address one of their aspirations summarized in a comment "We've been paying rent here for many years but we own nothing."

The HCD proposal for the Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA would provide all the occupants more attractive apartments with mortgages at the level of their current rent.

There are many other beneficial factors, such as better schools, greater security, interaction with a more economically diverse population and more.

What have you built and tested so far?

So far I created my masters thesis which I can provide.

Additionally I consulted a number of PhDs in Urban design and other disciplines and thus far received positive feedback.

Why are you applying to Solve?

I believe SOLVE can be a bridge to reach out to a number of organizations - listed below - to begin reviewing the HCD model.

What specific financial, technical, legal, cultural, or market barriers
that you face do you hope Solve can help you overcome, and how?

My goal is to partner with players both on the business and policy making side as well as community leaders to explore the development of a Holistic Community Design (HCD) such as the one proposed for the Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA. First and foremost to partner with the community leaders at this housing project as well is with MIT  Department of Urban Studies  and Dept. Architecture and Planning.

This proposal and, the HCD model in general, may be also advanced by the MIT Media Lab to research and develop the digital platform needed for all the parties to cooperate, as well as the other features of HCD

List of Institutions to bring together to create a proposal and consensus for the Holistic Community Design Model

MIT Media Lab   https://www.media.mit.edu/

Graffito - Addressing Inequity - https://graffito.com/about/

The Urban Land Institute  -  https://uli.org/about-uli/

Metropolitan Area Planning Council - https://www.mapc.org/

American Planning Association – Massachusetts Chapter - https://www.apa-ma.org/resources/massachusetts-regional-planning-agencies/

NAIOP - Commercial Real Estate Development Association - https://www.naiop.org/about-us/

- Developers of large scale projects:  Example UNION POINT PROJECT

Would be interesting to consider how the HCD model might have provided better chances for success in light of the results The Smart City That Wasn't

One of the advantages of the HCD model would be that the development would be more gradual / incremental, i.e. one HCD at a time - rather than investing on a much larger scale.
Also providing consumers with a platform to determine what they like, and what they are willing to pay, and even invest upfront would have provided a more predictable outcome. All this in addition to the better density and quality of life that the HCD model provides.

HCD provides a platform and a framework to better accomplish not only equity and prosperity but also other desirable outcomes such as environmental and mental health, improved overall well being, and greater social capital which is interconnected with all the desired outcomes.

The HCD model includes a certain percentage of high end residences, penthouses - to make the development more attractive - and ultimately to maximize the diversity of the income levels the population that forms the community

a strong theory of change provides evidence to support the existence and
strength of those links, such as third-party research, findings from a
process or impact evaluation, data from interviews with your target
population, etc.

The Holistic Community Design model uses a number of deign theories - which contain ample evidence since the early 60's and before.

- Social Capital

- Biophilia

- Defensible Space Theory

- Attention Restoration Theory

On a broader scale the proposed model provides a means to change urban
growth in a way that incentivizes a number of critical needs to be
provided by new developments - via the adoption of new model to be incentivized by urban development authorities.

on how the business, prosperity, equity, environmental, human health factors converge is shown in the diagram below.

In the proposed site at  Newtowne Court in Cambridge, MA the results would
bring improved housing + Ownership at current rent they pay for low income housing for the existing residents. The improved services and amenities as well as onsite businesses will have a strong impact in bringing prosperity and equity - while attracting market buyers for condos currently in high demand in  Cambridge, MA as well as developing a mixed use community that will bring many jobs to the new neighborhood.

In general terms the HCD model would be a drastic improvement to the current urban design models in accomplishing the outcomes in the green boxes in the diagram below

The essence of the HCD model is in having all the "ingredients" needed from the start in order to ensure that desired outcomes outcomes. The "ingredients" comprise a list of amenities and resources from green spaces to access to services, jobs, recreation, facilities, commercial spaces etc etc - that are built into the model from the start.

 The core of the model is in being able to bring together an array of players from the start -> so as to ensure the desired outcomes.

The technology would be (yet another) app - which would make possible the incremental planning of the development as it would bring together all the players - particularly consumers and developers - to create the vital information needed in terms of costs versus market demand.

Players converging to develop an HCD site.

Presently none, however I plan to bring together a number of organizations particularly advocacy groups, municipalities and developers.

About two years, as part of my masters thesis the full spectrum of players needed to make the HCD model a new topology for urban design.

I intend to create an org that will have a wide spectrum of backgrounds including community members from low income housing areas as well as developers, policymakers and more.

The HCD would be a non profit - with revenues from the platform where all the players would collaborate to come to a consensus needed to move forward with an HCD land proposal.

The app / platform for the HCD model would provide the revenue to justify the investment.