I remain fully convinced that if new developments retained the sense of style and appreciation of beauty that characterised previous periods of building (a style that should only be popularised by cheaper modern production methods), we wouldn’t have half the NIMBY problem we have. Much like with AI it seems we are hell bent on using the fruits of technology to make our lives worse than they need to be.
One of the things I like about Cincinnati is the way our 52 neighborhoods are organized. It's almost like having 52 small towns in confederation, each with its own community council. Not all are as active as my neighborhood's, but many are.
When a new 83 unit apartment building was proposed to replace blighted buildings on a corner of our business district, the developer reached out to my neighborhood community council. They came to multiple monthly meetings, showing their plans and getting feedback, and made alterations based on that.
While not everyone in the community is onboard with this new development - the first time we've added this much multifamily housing in over 60 years -- I sense more are coming around as they watch the building near completion. It's so much nicer than the kinds of multifamily housing I see going up elsewhere, including neighboring communities.
There's an expectation here that developers will work with the community on major projects like these. While the NIMBY attitude is alive and well here, our city's new Connected Communities rezoning plan makes it more difficult to oppose new development entirely.
The collaborative approach ensures that community members are heard and gives developers an opportunity to make reasonable accommodations to their concerns. When it works well, I think it makes the project stronger than it would be if pushed through by the developer alone.
"In some ways, love of place and cautious acceptance of change go together." Helpful observation. Reverence for local history and character does not preclude "transformative placemaking" grounded in that very reverence and centered on having it abundantly.
"walling something off, declaring it “finished” or “full,” is, in a sense, killing it."
This is a giant truth. When factories move to China, we often turn them into museums. Good for tourism but terrible for the ordinary men who formerly made middle-class wages in the factory. Life is messy. Useful work is messy and even polluting. We used to understand this connection.. China understands it now, so China has all the useful work.
I remain fully convinced that if new developments retained the sense of style and appreciation of beauty that characterised previous periods of building (a style that should only be popularised by cheaper modern production methods), we wouldn’t have half the NIMBY problem we have. Much like with AI it seems we are hell bent on using the fruits of technology to make our lives worse than they need to be.
One of the things I like about Cincinnati is the way our 52 neighborhoods are organized. It's almost like having 52 small towns in confederation, each with its own community council. Not all are as active as my neighborhood's, but many are.
When a new 83 unit apartment building was proposed to replace blighted buildings on a corner of our business district, the developer reached out to my neighborhood community council. They came to multiple monthly meetings, showing their plans and getting feedback, and made alterations based on that.
While not everyone in the community is onboard with this new development - the first time we've added this much multifamily housing in over 60 years -- I sense more are coming around as they watch the building near completion. It's so much nicer than the kinds of multifamily housing I see going up elsewhere, including neighboring communities.
There's an expectation here that developers will work with the community on major projects like these. While the NIMBY attitude is alive and well here, our city's new Connected Communities rezoning plan makes it more difficult to oppose new development entirely.
The collaborative approach ensures that community members are heard and gives developers an opportunity to make reasonable accommodations to their concerns. When it works well, I think it makes the project stronger than it would be if pushed through by the developer alone.
"In some ways, love of place and cautious acceptance of change go together." Helpful observation. Reverence for local history and character does not preclude "transformative placemaking" grounded in that very reverence and centered on having it abundantly.
"walling something off, declaring it “finished” or “full,” is, in a sense, killing it."
This is a giant truth. When factories move to China, we often turn them into museums. Good for tourism but terrible for the ordinary men who formerly made middle-class wages in the factory. Life is messy. Useful work is messy and even polluting. We used to understand this connection.. China understands it now, so China has all the useful work.