Originally built in 1948, Regent Park is undergoing a decades-long redevelopment from low-income public housing to a mixed-income neighborhood with a focus on community health, economic development, and relocation supports.
The impetus for redevelopment began 25 years ago, stemming both from residents who demanded neighborhood improvements and from the foresight of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), which also recognized the growing need for significant repairs. TCHC is leading the transformation—expected to be complete around 2030—and has prioritized health-promoting features such as parks, athletic grounds, a community center, and the area’s first supermarket. TCHC has also ensured that all original residents have the right to return to Regent Park and that they will be rehoused in an appropriate replacement unit.
AF Bornot Dye Works is a loft apartment and retail project that involved the adaptive use and restoration of three timber and concrete factory buildings north of Center City Philadelphia. The three four-story buildings include 17 rental residences on the upper levels and 13,210 square feet of retail space across two lower levels. The developer, MMPartners, built upon 15 years of experience renovating and building scores of residential and retail properties in the nearby Brewerytown neighborhood. The $10.7 million development was funded with a conventional loan, federal and state historic tax credits, a city incentive loan, partner equity, and a $375,000 mezzanine loan from an online crowdfunding platform.
Bridgeland is an 11,400-acre master-planned community northwest of Houston, Texas, which will be home to 65,000 residents when complete in 2037. Like the Woodlands, its predecessor, the Bridgeland site plan centers on scenic lakes that improve water quality, irrigate during droughts, and draw residents to common areas for recreation. These lakes form a stormwater system that exceeds local design requirements, and which has managed storm events much larger than those anticipated.
Kashiwa, a city with a land area of 115 square kilometers (44 sq mi) and a population of just over 400,000, is in Chiba Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo in Japan’s Kanto region. Though home to companies in food processing and other industries, as well as a professional soccer team, it is now best known as the home of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City. Currently being developed on 273 hectares (675 ac) in northwestern Chiba Prefecture, Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City was launched in 2005 with the opening of Kashiwa-no-ha Campus Station on the Tsukuba Express train line. The land is divided into 299 parcels, to be subdivided further into blocks with interconnecting streets and pathways. Initial development is taking place in parcels 147, 148, 149, 150, and 151. This 42-hectare (104 ac) group of parcels extends outward from Kashiwa-no-ha Campus Station and encompasses the University of Tokyo Kashiwa Campus, Chiba University Kashiwa-no-ha Campus, Kashiwa-no-ha Park, and industrial areas.
Accessible from Tokyo in less than an hour by train, Kashiwa-no-ha is an area rich in natural beauty as well as the home of a concentration of academic and research institutions. Creation of the grand design for the project was from the beginning a collaborative endeavor, with Chiba Prefecture, Kashiwa, the University of Tokyo, and Chiba University involved in the planning and deliberation.
The Interlace is a 1,040-unit mixed use development inspired by the old villages of Singapore. Developer CapitaLand Singapore Limited partnered with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture to create eight courtyards, cascading rooftop gardens, and terraces within a “vertical village” to provide views, ventilation, and green spaces for all levels of the 24-story complex. The hexagonal arrangement of the development was designed and tested to provide passive cooling and shade in Singapore’s tropical climate.
Physical activity, social interaction, and aging-in-place is encouraged through a wide range of facilities. There is a series of play pools, an Olympic-sized lap pool, three tennis courts, and a fitness center. Bicycle storage and parking facilities are provided underground and vast green spaces, covering over 112 percent of the original property, are provided at ground level and above. Community gardens, playgrounds, barbeque pits, dog runs, and outdoor exercise equipment promote outdoor physical activity and social gatherings. A running track around the perimeter of the Interlace is so wide it doubles as access for fire and emergency response vehicles. The universal design features of the Interlace, including specialized aging-in-place units and wheelchair-friendly fitness centers, was recognized by Singapore’s Building Construction Authority with the Gold Plus (Design) award.
The Century Building is the first affordable housing development in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The building contains 28 workforce units, and 32 market-rate units, along with street-level commercial, retail, and amenity spaces. It was the first mixed-use residential development in Pittsburgh to achieve LEED Gold certification for green building practices, with recycling on every floor, Energy Star appliances, efficient light fixtures and windows, low-flow water fixtures, and dual flush toilets. The Century Building is the adaptive reuse of a historic 1907 office complex, developed by the TREK Development Group and designed by Koning Eizenberg Architects with Moshier Studios.
Asthma and allergy rates for residents have reportedly decreased, in part due to the property’s non-smoking policy, nontoxic building materials, open-loop geothermal system for consistent heating and cooling, recovery ventilation system for fresh air, and energy-wheel to manage heating and odors. A bright green bicycle mural on the building’s north wall welcomes city cyclists and calls attention to a collaboratively-financed secure Bicycle Commuter Center on site. The property also includes a fully-equipped fitness facility, a community room, and a green rooftop deck with views of downtown that serves as a gathering space for residents.
Jackson Walk is the redevelopment of a 17-acre remediated brownfield site into a multiuse neighborhood featuring a wellness center, a medical clinic, 149 market-rate apartments, 32 affordable and market-rate single-family homes, and over 30 new businesses in downtown Jackson, Tennessee. Developer Healthy Community LLC—a partnership between Crocker Construction Company, HCB Development, and Henry Turley Company—along with architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss, joined the city’s “JumpStart Jackson” coalition to tackle childhood and adult obesity rates, which once ranked as the second-highest in the nation.
The anchor of Jackson Walk is the LIFT (Living in a Fit Tennessee) wellness center, which offers preventative, primary, and rehabilitative care, a sugar-free café, a recreational gym, community outreach events, and educational programs for children and seniors. Activity throughout the day from the LIFT facility benefits the restaurants and retailers in Jackson Walk. Parking was divided into smaller segments and shared by commercial developments to provide a parklike ambience on site, interspersed with walking and bicycling trails with outdoor exercise stations. New trees, landscaping, sidewalks, and streetlights surround Central Creek, a former concrete-lined drainage ditch, throughout the property. Downtown and midtown amenities, including a farmers’ market, a university, a dog park, an outdoor amphitheater, an entertainment district, and the city’s largest employers, are all accessible by foot or by bike.
Jackson Walk was recognized for its commitment to sustainability and health by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s National Award for Smart Growth Achievement in 2015.
The 1221 Broadway Project was the first major residential development in the long-neglected, formerly industrial neighborhood of River North. The project’s proximity to the two-mile (3.2 km) extension of the Riverwalk and the city’s commitment to revitalizing this ragged edge of downtown were key reasons AREA Real Estate purchased the abandoned project. Developer David Adelman recognized that the Riverwalk would be a major draw for the project’s primary target market—young professionals and empty nesters. “Our residents are renters by choice who are seeking a healthy lifestyle,” he says.
Located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of downtown, 1221 Broadway is an adaptive use of a housing development that initially failed during construction in 2007. Occupying three blocks, 1221 Broadway transformed the abandoned concrete superstructure into a four-story structure offering 307 apartments and 10,000 square feet (930 sq m) of ground-floor office space.
Innovation Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the 200-acre redevelopment of a suburban IBM complex into an office park focused on fitness and health. Developed by BECO South LLC and designed by Redline Design Group, this project features amenities promoting work/life balance and well-being. Outdoor and indoor wifi-enabled brainstorming spaces, charging stations for electric cars, subsidized daycare, a dry cleaner, a farmers’ market, and multiple on-site food options provide tenants with an opportunity to collaborate and unwind.
Indoors is the BECO Fitness Center, which offers YMCA-led classes twice a day, an eight-week wellness program, individual audio-visual stations, and strength building equipment. Annually, over a two-hour lunch session, local chiropractors, life coaches, nutritionists, and other alternative health care professionals meet with employees to encourage active lifestyles. Innovation Park also features a popular bikesharing program with trainings and group rides organized by the YMCA. An indoor track for walking groups and joggers connects the 13 buildings of the complex.
Selandra Rise is a 284-acre master-planned community focused on providing diverse and affordable options for housing, employment, health, and well-being. Australia’s largest real estate developer, Stockland, partnered with the Planning Institute of Australia to create a community of 1,300 homes at buildout using sustainable building materials.
The local government, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, and the Growth Areas Authority partnered with Stockland to provide services to promote health, wellness, and active lifestyles. All homes are within a quarter-mile walk of parkland, including the Clyde Creek trail, small pocket parks, playgrounds, a community garden, and an outdoor fitness station. Selandra Rise developed a comprehensive network of permeable, walkable, and tree-lined sidewalks and paths. Throughout this community, wayfinding signs indicate the time it would take to walk or bike to various destinations. Bicycle lanes are separated from car traffic and walking paths lead to recreational areas. Selandra Community Place organizes twenty to thirty free programs per month focused on health, wellness and social engagement.
