Community Concerns - Raising Property Values
Some people seek rising property values while others fear it. Communities must decide how much they wish to have the collective value of their real estate to rise, how to calibrate and forecast such levels, what they can do to affect the desired results, and what to do if their goals aren’t met (or are).
Neighborhoods - Street Networks
Economically healthy and cherished neighborhoods are those that are well connected. These connected areas provide the community with valuable assets and opportunities for many years.
Neighborhoods - Tools for Planning
If raising property values is a community desire, or a community fear, then the subject should be candidly discussed and assessed at community gatherings and public workshops. This is the only effective way the issue can be addressed. Find out some tools to reach common understandings of people within a community and find ways to achieve desired results.
Streets - Fundamental Ingredients
High value communities have street corridors that provide pedestrians, bicyclists, and micro-mobility users as comfortable a traveling environment as motor vehicle passengers. Amenities such as on-street parking, character-defining and unique collector strips, and wide sidewalks create an inviting and marketable neighborhood.
Streets - Scale and Proportion
Designing street corridors with purpose, and setting the regulatory framework right, allows communities to calibrate the development intensity it wants. Establishing zoning, and other standards that set the scale of streets and the buildings that form them, can leverage infrastructure for achieving the economic goals set by a community.
Streets - Intersections and Streetscape
For a community to hold its value and thrive, it is necessary to have a safe and welcoming realm for pedestrians. The way to form this realm is through different features of intersections and streetscape.
Buildings - Architectural Design
The quality of design of buildings is inextricably linked to the value of a neighborhood (real and perceived). A high quality of design includes buildings with street-facing doors and windows, buildings that are complimentary to the context of the community, and buildings with human-scaled proportions and rhythm.
Public Places - Sidewalks and Cafes
Sidewalk cafes and storefront windows are excellent features for adding value to a community. See how they indicate an open and vibrant environment which is sought out by visitors.
Public Places - Small Gathering Spaces
Unique gathering places can provide a community with character and pride. There are many different ways that these places can be formed, each providing a special space for people to enjoy their community and interact with others. But, they must be thoughtfully designed in order to maintain or raise property values. Not doing so could devalue a neighborhood by creating a vacant, scary, or even despondent place.