Living

Many Viennese went from hot bedding to superblocks overnight. Could they even imagine  an apartment complex 1000 metres long built along two streets with even more massive landscaped courtyards? Could they conceive of 1400 apartment units built to house 5000 people on 56,000 square metres or 38 acres of land.  Or a vertical build-out that […]

Vienna had been a poor city even before the First World War. “Normal” housing arrangements  meant six to eight people sharing one room and a kitchen. Then, in early 1919, just after the Armistice,  the cost of living tripled in two months. Bed lodgers could no longer afford their 8-hours a day in a shared […]

I am not keeping up with my commitment to write more often. I am busy. In addition to my usual advisory work, I am investing a lot of time into three inter-connected initiatives for improving urban life. Interconnected because they are all about improving urban life and providing homes for everyone and everything. How did […]

Creative development in Los Angeles.

People living on the street have come to symbolize the global housing crisis but they are only the tip of the iceberg. While the examples of Finland and Houston demonstrate a focussed plan pursued diligently can resolve the housing situation for the chronically homeless, addressing the affordable housing problem is much more complex.  Defining Affordability […]

Kings Cross, once a thriving industrial and transport centre in London, was effectively closed  off  to the public by the end of the 20th century.   Then in 1996, the decision was made to move the British terminus for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from Waterloo to St-Pancras. The landowner saw a re-development opportunity for […]

I have postulated that cities and towns evolve. That towns and villages first grow in areas where the basics to support life were plentiful. Typically, that means good agricultural land and good access to water. Other valuable considerations include safety, and resilience. The bonus – access to trade routes.  Walt Disney and the Fully Formed […]

I found the last three articles in the “Cities Series”  difficult to write because I wanted to get it right. So, I thought I would change it up this week with some blurbs on different kinds of Places to Live.  Willowbrook Apartments, Los Angeles  Designed by Los Angeles Architect Michael Lehrer, these seven small but […]

A Tale of Two Cities This is a Tale of Two Cities. Houston, Texas is the fourth largest city in the United States. It has a population of about 2.4 million people and Harris County about has about 4.3 million residents. Over the past ten years Houston / Harris has reduced chronic homelessness by 63%. […]

What did Finland do? As already set out in an earlier instalment, Article 19.4 of the Finnish Constitution establishes housing as a basic human right in.  Finland bases its resultant strategy on four guiding principles to eliminate homelessness: 1 – Housing enables independent Lives The homeless can go straight to living in a rental apartment […]