Prague’s concrete paneláks aren't finished yet.

Having grown up under the tutelage of a father who went out of his way to avoid urban areas, and this being America, my exposure to urban settings began in 1985 during my first visit to Europe. Near the end of the trip on a bus into Leningrad, we rolled through acre after acre of high-rise Soviet suburbs; then in 1987 and 1989, I spent much of my travel time behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe.

To put it mildly, the world of panelák apartments (and their brethren outside Czechoslovakia) fascinated me. 

Khrushchyovka! The rise and fall of typical Soviet-era housing in Russia.

Gdansk and the Falowiecs: "Can Poland’s Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed?"

Berlin looks to Communist-era "slab buildings" to alleviate a housing shortage.

Seemingly everywhere, Havel's "rabbit hutches" (see below) are making a comeback, even in Prague.

design-behind-prague-s-concrete-apartments" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">

design-behind-prague-s-concrete-apartments" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Prague’s Communist-Era Apartments Get a Second Life, by Feargus O'Sullivan (CityLab)

Outside the picturesque city center, Prague’s concrete panelák apartments solved a need for fast, modern housing in the Communist era. They’re still thriving today.

If you want to see where the average Prague resident lives, you’ll have to put in more effort than a quick trip around the city’s historic heart.

Jump on a tram heading out of the Czech capital’s tourist-filled center and pre-1914 tenements soon give way to something very different: large complexes of modernist apartment blocks, their concrete often brightly painted after recent renovations, looming over greenery set back from the main road. Look closely at these apparently endless tiers of blocks that provide a rampart around the city, and you’ll see they are composed of row after row of concrete panels that give this type of building its Czech name — panelák.

I took this photo from Castle Hill in Prague in 1989. You can see them clearly.

Back in 2012, I read a book about manufactured housing in the former Czechoslovakia, and reviewed it in my ON THE AVENUES column. 

It is reprinted here.

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The late Vaclav Havel famously referred to them as “rabbit hutches,” and even today, more than two decades after the end of the Communist period, one-third of all Czechs inhabit pre-fabricated, modular housing blocks, particularly ones erected with increasing haste and decreasing art from the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

To stand on Castle Hill in the middle of architecturally glorious Prague and look outward toward the suburbs is to view what first appears to be a gray wall around the city. Actually, the wall is an optical illusion, a composite of these modular housing blocks in seemingly endless rows.

All across the former East Bloc, the Communist period witnessed the construction of high-rise housing units like these, quickly manufactured elemental housing that left travelers with an indelible image of a commensurately grim and manufactured life, but as Kimberly Elman Zarecor explains in her book, Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity: Housing in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960, the story was at least a bit different there.

Because Czechoslovakia was the industrial heartland of the deceased Austro-Hungarian Empire, its income levels and educational attainment were above the norm during the period between the wars. Avant-garde and modernist schools of architecture in German, Scandinavia and France were represented by Czechoslovak architects in their projects of the time, and overall, the future seemed bright for the country’s development as a stable, liberal democracy.

Successive Nazi and Soviet occupations deferred this dream for almost a half-century, with a lasting and sometimes quite ugly contribution to the area’s physical landscape.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, with a pressing need for housing reconstruction, and amid the forced imperative to organize the economy according to Communist principles of heavy industry, Czechosolvak architects fought gamely, for the most part as socialist loyalists, to retain their interwar aesthetic. There were some initial successes, but their influence steadily declined as Communist rule tightened and five-year production quotas submerged all other considerations.

After Stalin’s death put an end to the worst excesses of enforced socialist realism, which in practice meant emulating the Soviet dictator’s grandiose, leaden, Commie Gothic personal tastes, housing in Czechoslovakia became an exercise in the rapidity of modular manufacturing, with assembly-line construction far more utilitarian than any purpose-designed building, and on the cheap, with sloppily pre-cast concrete panels bolted together in stacks as high as engineering principles permitted.

Manufactured housing in Communist Czechoslovakia may have been inevitable, but Zarecor deftly shows that the route from free-form blueprint to rabbit hutch was more winding than commonly assumed, even if the end results were the same. What will the outskirts of Prague look like in twenty more years? I can only hope I’m still around to return there, and to experience the visceral reaction at another, perhaps less jarring, time.

We Are Coming Father Abraham.

I appreciate any author who bases an argument in the historical record.

As it pertains to issues like poverty and homelessness, we find that a "higher purpose" in this context truly represents bipartisanship in Southern Indiana.

By this I mean that while certain members of both major political parties have involved themselves in the issues, it remains that in the main, not one of the higher ups will touch them. 

A People's Contest: Searching for Our Higher Purpose, by Nick Vaughn (The Aggregate News)

On July 4th, 1861, shortly after Fort Sumter had been shelled by Confederates, President Abraham Lincoln addressed Congress. In his speech to Congress, Lincoln declared that the conflict facing the fractured nation was "a People's contest," stating "On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men...”

Elevating the condition of men, as Lincoln put it, was an issue that transcended the Civil War, but by declaring the war a People's contest, Lincoln was able to frame the war in a way that would pit the foundational principles of the Constitution and of mankind's contract with government against those who sought to destroy them.

Today, there is no armed conflict that threatens to disband our Union and pit family against family, instead there is a deep political divide that threatens to irreparably fracture our civic institutions, especially at the local level. Through the partisan battles and name-calling conflicts, our community has lost sight of our higher purpose ...

The Tell-Tale Fart: This peachy "apartments at Steinert's" project may seem to be free-market capitalism, but the deal's a lot more tangled than it first appeared.

I'd gently argue Steinert's was the building suited to be described as iconic in a way mere "used to be there" vacant lots cannot ever be, but this would be picking nits. It is noteworthy that in a distinctly post-election way, as soon as the campaign was over and the mayor safely re-enthroned, suddenly he has "elected" to refrain from interjecting his dull mug into every announcement.

The reality speaks differently.

Our Shopping Cart Napoleon already had this Steinert's fix quite firmly into place. Before linking to the local chain newspaper's story, let's have a look at the interconnected participants.

Here's Vitor Bueno.

TSI Construction was the contractor for the sewer overflow project by St. Mary's Cemetery at Charlestown Road and Silver Street, during which equipment and materials were being stored in ... a big vacant lot where Steinert's once stood.

TSI was purchased in 2016 by an "investment firm" -- 3 Crown Capital, the leadership of which all formerly worked for Neace Ventures.

The former Steinert's site is owned by a Neace offshoot (son).

And NB Develop, which will build apartments on the Steinert's site, stands for Neace Bueno.

Oh, and the Neace/Bueno has a connection with a newly elected at-large councilman.

Extol Magazine now operating under Neace Ventures.

(November, 2016)

John Neace was the first person to support our dream of starting Extol by becoming our initial investor. He and Vitor Bueno both jumped on ship as minority owners in this venture that was started by Sales Director/Managing Partner Jason Applegate and his wife Angie Fenton, Extol's editor in chief. We are so grateful for this opportunity to grow and further our mission.

Yes, and by the way ...

John Neace is Jeff Gahan's 5th-largest career campaign finance donor.

There was quite a lot left unsaid in the newspaper account, wasn't there?

Development coming to former Steinert's site in New Albany, by John Boyle (Bill Hanson's Jeffersonville First)

NEW ALBANY — An iconic New Albany property could soon see new life.

Steinert's Grill and Pub, located near the intersection of Silver Street and Charlestown Road, was a local landmark and watering hole for decades, with the building having been there since 1877. All of that history was lost over a decade ago, when the structure was destroyed in a 2008 fire.

In the years since, the property at 2239 Charlestown Road has sat vacant, with nothing but the Steinert's sign standing as a remnant among the empty asphalt. Now, developers have plans to fill the void with a $3.5 million, three-story apartment building.

Vitor Bueno said NB Develop set its eyes on the property in part due to its well-known former occupant.

"Steinert's has been a place that a lot of people have come through and have a lot of family memories at," he said. "I think that's a nice part of the site. With it being on top of a hill in a three-story building, people can have a nice view of New Albany."

Plans call for 24 units, half of which will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms and the other half having one bedroom and one bathroom. Units will range in size from 754 square feet to 1,131 square feet ...

Paging Bill Allen: "Blight is eating American cities. Here’s how Mobile, Alabama, stopped it."

Long article, good article.

Blight is eating American cities. Here’s how Mobile, Alabama, stopped it, by Hana Schank (Fast Company)

The story of blight in Mobile, Alabama, is the story of the rich and poor in America, of unregulated real estate, and of centuries of inequality. But in Mobile, a small team figured out how to change the narrative.

... This is the story of how one city reduced blight, but it is also the story of what happens when cities think differently about how to solve their problems, when politicians are willing to embrace policies that might not line up with the party line, when city workers look beyond band-aid solutions. It is the story of how cities can do good things for their residents, and how people can work across the city to unravel knotty problems that are centuries in the making. While the crafters of the Alabama constitution wrote the document as a giant middle finger to the rest of the nation, to the government, and to any elected official who might ever try to wield power, Mobile’s modern-day residents have discovered that they need government’s help. They perhaps don’t want to be left alone as much as Mobilians did a century ago. They see their perpetual potential ...

An idea so good that it's doomed: Metro Louisville "should turn its golf courses into walkable neighborhoods."

We have all been here before.

Experts say golf is dying, and if so, expect the redevelopment vultures to circle New Albany Springs.

I think it's a great idea to repurpose golf courses into something remotely useful. Retain some of the green space, build living spaces, and make it walkable.

Golf scramble? Nah, but scrambled eggs and chorizo sound good to me right about now.

Streets for People: Metro should turn its golf courses into walkable neighborhoods, by Chris Glasser (Insider Louisville)

As Insider Louisville’s Joe Sonka reported last week, Mayor Greg Fischer’s 2020 budget calls for the closing of up to four of the city’s 10 public golf courses. Reports indicate that only three of the courses are operating at a profit, with the courses showing an overall operating loss of $700,000.

With the golf courses on the chopping block, the question has become what to do with them?

The most straightforward approach, potentially, would be to find a private company to run them. Councilman Brandon Coan has floated another idea for the course in his district: donating Cherokee Golf Course to the Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

Scott Martin, the former director of The Parklands at Floyds Fork and current director of River Heritage Conservancy, mused on Facebook that the Cherokee Golf Course would have been a great site for the Botanical Gardens project.

I would like to propose a quite different option: the city should repurpose some of these courses as mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable neighborhoods.

As has been observed in Metro Council hearings on the matter, golf as a sport is losing popularity, and courses across the country are closing because of it.

“Long term . . . I think we’re going to keep seeing a greater and greater amount of general funds being drawn into golf,” Metro’s budget director David Frockt said.

Put another way, this isn’t so much a Louisville budget problem or even, as some would like to make it, a government mismanagement problem; it’s a golf problem.

This reality makes closing some of the Metro Parks courses a fundamentally different kind of decision than that of closing the Metro Parks swimming pools ...

Buttigieg, housing and homelessness? This Twitter thread by Luke Savage is a must-read.

Luke Savage writes for Jacobin.

"This week I did some research on Mayor Pete Buttigieg's administration and South Bend. There's a lot more work I need to do on his policies overall, but specifically I looked into his approaches to housing and homelessness - both of which I think both deserve sharp criticism."

Read the whole thread here. I was struck by this tweet.

Hmm, where have I heard the name of Barnes & Thornburg? Was it in a Marx Brothers movie?

Spongebuild Squareparts: "I think accountants are designing these buildings.”

It is a recurring question.

Why do all new apartment buildings look the same? by Patrick Sisson (Curbed)

The bland, boxy apartment boom is a design issue, and a housing policy problem

A wave of sameness has washed over new residential architecture. U.S. cities are filled with apartment buildings sporting boxy designs and somewhat bland facades, often made with colored panels and flat windows.

Due to an Amazon-fueled apartment construction boom over the last decade, Seattle has been an epicenter of this new school of structural simulacra. But Seattle is not alone. Nearly every city, from Charlotte to Minneapolis, has seen a proliferation of homogenous apartments as construction has increased again in the wake of the financial recession.

This is hilarious.

A Twitter query seeking to name this ubiquitous style was a goldmine. Some suggestions seemed inspired by the uniformity of design in computer programs and games: Simcityism, SketchUp contemporary, Minecraftsman, or Revittecture. Some took potshots at the way these buildings looked value-engineered to maximize profit: Developer modern, McUrbanism, or fast-casual architecture. Then there are the aesthetic judgement calls: contemporary contempt, blandmarks, LoMo (low modern), and Spongebuild Squareparts.

Getting down to the particle board of the matter:

Good architecture should always respond to the local context. In the case of these buildings, the local economic context just happens to be the same in just about every major U.S. city.

“Critics don’t understand what we’re working with, the parameters and the financial constraints,” says Black. “It’s like any other business: If you’re selling autos or selling widgets, there are certain costs, and a certain profit you need to make to do business in the future.”

Gdansk and the Falowiecs: "Can Poland’s Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed?"

Falowiecs, Gdansk.

Thanks, W.

Gdansk, here we come -- well, in a bit. While other tourists remain marooned in the heart of the rebuilt old town, I'll be looking for the bus that takes me to the Falowiecs. I'll have a beer, and perhaps a sausage.

This might be of interest to some. It's where Lech Wałęsa lived during the time of Solidarity.

Before Lech Wałęsa was thrust into the limelight and into the history books from the beginning of the 1980s, he lived like most of his co-workers in one of the huge housing developments which were built up around the city. While the picture of a grey socialist tower block may not be most people’s idea of a desirable residence, to have your own flat in Zaspa and similar developments were long-term ambitions for most Poles.

I've underlined a relevant passage in this excerpt because it's what I've been telling people since the 1980s; there are at least as many things right as wrong about the Falowiecs.

Can Poland’s Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed? by Akash Kapur (New York Times)

Long derided as relics of an oppressive regime, the country’s Communist-era buildings are being given a second look, and a new life.

... Gdansk, in the north of the country, at the edge of the gray Baltic Sea, is the home of Solidarity. In many ways, it is the birthplace of Eastern Europe’s anti-Communist revolution. Here, I visited one of the most formidable housing developments in Poland, and indeed the world: the gargantuan apartment blocks known as the Falowiecs. Erected in the 1960s and ’70s, these eight massive complexes undulate in the form of a wave (fala means “wave” in Polish), some stretching for almost a half-mile; they are among the longest blocks on the planet, collectively housing an estimated 12,000 people.

I visited a family that resided in the largest Falowiec, at Obroncow Wybrzeza Street, right next to a McDonald’s. Michal Jaskiewicz, who lived with his partner and infant son in the building, inherited his 410-square-foot one-bedroom apartment from his grandmother, a member of Solidarity. As he showed me around the Falowiec, he spoke of an aging population, and of how many younger Poles had rejected these Communist buildings. They were inspired instead by a version of what he called “the American dream”: moving to a stand-alone home in the suburbs, buying a car, commuting to work.

We took an elevator to the 10th floor. From up there, it was easier to appreciate the scale of those buildings — the way they stretched like vast centipedes over the flat land, surging toward the sea. We discussed the curious fate of buildings like these across Poland — some had been preserved, some had been torn down, others were simply neglected and crumbling into disrepair.

Lately, though, Jaskiewicz had noticed a new trend. Many of the same young people who had left these buildings for the suburbs were gradually returning. He explained that, for all the faults of Communist housing, the spaces were actually better thought-out, and in many ways more livable, than the suburban sprawl that members of his generation had sought. The housing estates were self-contained units that included schools, grocery stores, hair salons and a range of other conveniences. He talked of an emerging communist chic that was rejuvenating the reputation of these buildings. Speaking of his own family, he said, “It’s true these places don’t have such a good reputation. But we have a good life here.”

Berlin looks to Communist-era "slab buildings" to alleviate a housing shortage.

If I seem to be a tad fascinated by the topic of post-WWII communist times in eastern/central Europe, it's because I've never been able to shake the impressions left by traveling there in the late 1980s.

It's a kinky urbanist streak in my character, but here are a handful of links to past posts tangentially related to housing in these places.

History & photography: "What East Germany Was Really Like."

Khrushchyovka! The rise and fall of typical Soviet-era housing in Russia.

ON THE AVENUES: Two books about truth and housing.

Estonia Spring Break 2016: Day Five (2 of 2), featuring a bus ride to the 'burbs and two Old Town pubs.

"Life Behind the Berlin Wall" and other documentaries about East Germany, all of them ideal for history obsessives like me.

This latest amazing revelation includes a useful reminder, in that when these structures first were raised, they were regarded as luxurious examples of modern housing in the context of previous domiciles.

This doesn't excuse Soviet colonial rule or domestic repression. It just helps explain a few things.

A Second Life For Berlin’s Plattenblau, by Feargus O'Sullivan (CityLab)

The city is looking to the ubiquitous building type from its Communist past to help solve a housing crunch.

Yesterday, Berlin’s Senate announced a project to add more units on top of already existing buildings in the city’s east, with a possible capacity of up to 50,000 new homes. The plan to add floors isn’t novel in itself, of course, even in Berlin. What’s striking is the specific type of building chosen for the experiment: East Berlin’s Plattenbau. These mass produced, partly prefabricated modernist apartment complexes (the name translates as “slab buildings” in reference to the concrete panels that form their walls) were put up in huge numbers during the Communist era. When a German thinks of a Communist-era building, a Plattenbau likely springs to mind.

After reunification, however, Plattenbau were heavily derided as dreary, meretricious, and frequently remodeled, demolished, or reduced in size. Now, it seems these buildings are set for another reversal, rising high again as their role in providing decent housing is reassessed ...

"Here are three steps that would make our cities work for people of all ages."

Jeff "Swish" Gahan takes three down the middle of the plate -- and the bat never left his shoulder.

Maybe it's time for some seasoning in the minors -- say, from about January 1, 2020.

Click through to read the entire explanations, and while you're there, explore the good sense on display at Strong Towns. Team Gahan probably has blocked the site.

Want a city that works for people of all ages? Take these 3 steps, by Rachel Quednau (Strong Towns)

Growing older shouldn't have to mean relocating from the community and neighborhood you love, but in so many American cities which are oriented around cars instead of people, seniors end up relegated to suburban apartment complexes or become increasingly isolated in homes they can't manage. Simple adjustments to the way we structure our cities and neighborhoods could change that scenario and in turn, make life a whole lot happier, healthier and easier for everyone.

Here are three steps that would make our cities work for people of all ages:

1. Make cities safe and easy to get around without a car.

2. Create housing options that work for people of all ages and abilities.

3. Build communities that give people purpose and meaning.

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: These four real estate ideas to fix a broken housing system might be considered radical. To me, that's a potent recommendation.

“The current U.S. housing system, rooted in the commodification of land and housing and speculation, is not our only option. There are alternatives, and these alternatives do work and are guided by a vision of housing as a human right and undergirded by principles including community control.”

A cherished conceptual descriptor, this "radical."

radical
[rad-i-kuh l]
adjective

1. of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.

2. thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.

3.favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but if it needs fixing ...

4 Radical Real Estate Ideas To Fix Our Broken Housing System, by Eillie Anzilotti (Fast Company)

In almost every community in the U.S., it’s clear that market-based housing is not affordable for the vast majority of people. Here are some radical alternative models that are–and that policymakers should consider as ways to make our cities and towns livable and equitable.

At the core of the American housing system of today is the fundamental belief that housing should be a vehicle for private wealth creation. Privately owned housing on the market makes up 96.3% of the total housing stock in the U.S. Home ownership, once one of the surest ways for a family to accumulate wealth, has declined across the country; rates dropped to 63.4% in 2016, their lowest since 1967. Big banks and mortgage companies attach stringent criteria and high interest rates to loans that often lock lower-income people out of buying a home.

So instead, they’re forced into the rental market. As wages have stagnated and property costs have continued to rise, an astonishing number of Americans struggle to afford monthly payments. Almost half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent, which is the ratio the federal government deems affordable. One in four renters shell out half their income to hold onto a place to live. Homeowners aren’t any better off: Around 41% are struggling to make mortgage payments, and risking foreclosure as a result. Across market-based housing, people of color, gender nonconforming people, and those with a criminal record routinely face barriers to securing housing.

Scattered throughout this mess is the remaining 3.7% of the American housing stock. These homes fall under the category of “social housing” which includes government-owned housing, and nonprofit-financed, community-based models. Investment in the former has fallen precipitously; Chicago’s demolition of the Cabrini-Green Homes, completed in 2011, perhaps best encapsulates the nation’s move away from public housing and increasing dependence on the market to provide housing for low-income people. Permanently affordable, inclusive housing models like community land trusts (CLTs)–represent a tiny portion of the housing stock, but if it could go mainstream, they could give people the affordable options they need and the market can’t provide.

I've snipped a lot; following are the four concepts with only a brief summary retained.

LIMITED EQUITY COOPERATIVES
In this model, member-residents jointly and democratically own and reside in their building, which they secure through a combination of collective purchasing and a low-interest mortgage, often with the assistance of a nonprofit.

COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS
If LECs manage buildings, who controls the land upon which they build? In places like Oakland, where exorbitant land costs have hampered affordable housing (developers feel pressured to charge enough to tenants to recuperate the costs of land), land management is a crucial part of the affordable housing picture that’s often left out. Community land trusts can work in tandem with long-term affordable housing structures like LECs to keep both land and units affordable.

TENEMENT SYNDICATES
While the U.S. has a handful of LECs and CLTs, the Tenement Syndicate model originated in Germany, and is confined to Europe. This model defines itself as a “solidarity network” and its key feature is a dual ownership model, in which member buildings are managed by two entities: the tenants organized by individual housing projects, and an overall syndicate, which provides organizational support and supervision, and is comprised of members of each house project as well as legal support and counsel, often provided by associated nonprofits. Tenants decide issues like setting the cost of rent and what building renovations are necessary, and the syndicate manages loans for projects, and advises the individual buildings within the network on operational matters.

MUTUAL AID HOUSING COOPERATIVES
Like tenement syndicates, mutual aid housing cooperatives (MHACs) are a foreign concept in the U.S., but quite popular in several countries in Latin America, where they were first established in the 1960s. What sets it apart from the previous three models is that the residents of a MAHC work together to both maintain and build their own housing.

Shared points of value: "Taking Sides? With Walkability, There’s No Need."

Given our own perennially miserable Rosenbargerian experience locally, it's an almost revolutionary idea.

To get walkable places, advocates of good urbanism have to answer “What’s the value to me?” for both developers and the public.

The author's three-part format identifies the topic and provides points of value for developers and the public alike.

Walkability
Quality Building Fabric
Open Space and Trails
Frontages
Variety of Housing Types

It is clear and concise, and accordingly, there's almost no chance Deaf Gahan can hear it.

Taking Sides? With Walkability, There’s No Need, by Arti Harchekar (Opticos Design)

As advocates of walkable, livable places, we’ve been involved in urban design discussions around the country and worldwide, observing, learning and understanding firsthand the key steps to successfully creating walkable places—and supporting existing ones.

Form-Based Coding is a key tool to unlocking walkability, but we’ve found simply having empathy for all parties at the table can be paramount. While almost always interested in building the long-term value of a community, administrative staff may be facing certain political pressures in the present. At the other end of the room, developers are often focused more on a near-term gain than long-term assets. Working through design alternatives that positively impact both of these interests can be challenging.

A rule of thumb? To get walkable places, advocates of good urbanism have to answer “What’s the value to me?” for both developers and the public. Here are some of the top discussion points we’ve seen gain traction with both “sides” of the urban design discussion.

Walkability

What Is It? Having amenities and jobs close to housing; building activity geared to the public realm; a physical environment that’s nice to be in, not just pass through

Developer Value: Walkability adds long-term value by catering to the 50% of the population that considers being able to walk to daily goods and services a high priority. Near-term value is gained through narrower streets in well-connected networks by generating better access to the lot and adjacent lots, reducing traffic speeds, reducing stormwater runoff and reducing cost for construction and maintenance. Reductions in traffic speed can potentially increase adjacent residential property values. Long-term value is gained through the ability of such a network to be able to adapt more easily to unexpected market shifts.

Public Value: An interconnected network of streets with pedestrian-oriented characteristics adds long-term value by creating a better balance of land uses and economic generators. Narrower streets in well-connected networks decrease accident rates, facilitate mobility choice, and enable the reduction of vehicular miles traveled.

Khrushchyovka! The rise and fall of typical Soviet-era housing in Russia.

The video here offers an "upscale" example, based on what I've seen.

Khrushchyovka! Typical USSR Apartment Building. "Real Russia" ep.17

In this video we'll show you how is the famous typical USSR apartment building, known as "Khrushchyovka" looks like and visit my friend Nataly, who lives in one of Khrushchyovka apartments that to show you how it looks like not only outside but inside as well.

"Khrushchyovka" is a type of low-cost, cement-paneled or brick three- to five-storied apartment building which was developed in the USSR during the early 1960s, during the time its namesake Nikita Khrushchev directed the Soviet government.

Hope you enjoy!

Now that you've seen a typical Khrushchyovka ...

Moscow to demolish 8,000 Soviet-era housing blocks

Moscow city authorities are to tear down about 8,000 blocks of flats built in the 1950s and 1960s in a major clearance programme that will involve rehousing 1.6 million people in the coming years, it's reported.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told a council meeting on Wednesday that the decision follows a positive review of an earlier, more modest demolition of about 1,700 of the low-rise prefabricated buildings known throughout the former Soviet states as "Khrushchyovkas", Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports.

Back in 2012, I read a book about manufactured housing in the former Czechoslovakia, and reviewed it in ON THE AVENUES. It is reprinted here.

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The late Vaclav Havel famously referred to them as “rabbit hutches,” and even today, more than two decades after the end of the Communist period, one-third of all Czechs inhabit pre-fabricated, modular housing blocks, particularly ones erected with increasing haste and decreasing art from the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

To stand on Castle Hill in the middle of architecturally glorious Prague and look outward toward the suburbs is to view what first appears to be a gray wall around the city. Actually, the wall is an optical illusion, a composite of these modular housing blocks in seemingly endless rows.

All across the former East Bloc, the Communist period witnessed the construction of high-rise housing units like these, quickly manufactured elemental housing that left travelers with an indelible image of a commensurately grim and manufactured life, but as Kimberly Elman Zarecor explains in her book, “Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity: Housing in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960”, the story was at least a bit different there.

Because Czechoslovakia was the industrial heartland of the deceased Austro-Hungarian Empire, its income levels and educational attainment were above the norm during the period between the wars. Avant-garde and modernist schools of architecture in German, Scandinavia and France were represented by Czechoslovak architects in their projects of the time, and overall, the future seemed bright for the country’s development as a stable, liberal democracy.

Successive Nazi and Soviet occupations deferred this dream for almost a half-century, with a lasting and sometimes quite ugly contribution to the area’s physical landscape.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, with a pressing need for housing reconstruction, and amid the forced imperative to organize the economy according to Communist principles of heavy industry, Czechosolvak architects fought gamely, for the most part as socialist loyalists, to retain their interwar aesthetic. There were some initial successes, but their influence steadily declined as Communist rule tightened and five-year production quotas submerged all other considerations.

After Stalin’s death put an end to the worst excesses of enforced socialist realism, which in practice meant emulating the Soviet dictator’s grandiose, leaden, Commie Gothic personal tastes, housing in Czechoslovakia became an exercise in the rapidity of modular manufacturing, with assembly-line construction far more utilitarian than any purpose-designed building, and on the cheap, with sloppily pre-cast concrete panels bolted together in stacks as high as engineering principles permitted.

Manufactured housing in Communist Czechoslovakia may have been inevitable, but Zarecor deftly shows that the route from free-form blueprint to rabbit hutch was more winding than commonly assumed, even if the end results were the same. What will the outskirts of Prague look like in twenty more years? I can only hope I’m still around to return there, and to experience the visceral reaction at another, perhaps less jarring, time.

Then Bob Caesar turned to no one in particular and asked, How 'm I doin'? (city council wrap).

Did I miss something, or did the News and Tribune completely lap the Courier-Journal this week on the two-way street reversion story -- not once, but twice?

Meanwhile, there was a city council meeting last night. I had another commitment and could not attend. The newspaper gets the nod.

Two New Albany ordinances move forward; Ordinances address police vehicles, housing violations, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — Two game-changing New Albany ordinances are one step closer to being approved after the Thursday meeting.

"If we start to address segregationist policies, we may have some hope of creating fairness."

Read about Louisville's 9th Street divide.

Just one of those periodic reminders to those of you who insist on believing the playing field is level.

America’s history of separate lives is a root cause, by Natalie Y. Moore (The Guardian)

Nobody chooses to live in segregated districts, they were created by a rigged system that still operates

 ... Many of our cities are defined by entrenched residential segregation that created black ghettos and continues to perpetuate inequity. This was not by accident. In the 20th century, the government created housing policies that discriminated against black people and favoured white people in terms of wealth building. Despite the idea of “separate but equal” being struck down by our courts, the ideology still lingers in housing and public education. This isn’t about hokey ideas of harmony, of black and white people smiling and getting along just for the sake of getting along. Instead, if we start to address segregationist policies, we may have some hope of creating fairness.

Estonia Spring Break 2016: Day Five (2 of 2), featuring a bus ride to the 'burbs and two Old Town pubs.

(As is my custom when posting trip summaries, I'm backdating them to the actual day of occurrence. Previously: Day Five, 1 of 2)

Pulling ourselves away from the weirdness of Linnahall, it was well before lunch and we'd done enough walking, so we hopped a tram to a bus stop and rode #42 toward the southern and western outskirts of Tallinn, through Nõmme (Estonian for "heath") and Mustamäe to the end of the line at Haabersti.

Perhaps because Nõmme is the ritziest borough in Tallinn, it boasts an excellent open air market with kiosks for year-round sales.

Nõmme also is known as the "forest town," sits at a high point of elevation, and thus overlooks the western districts of Tallinn. Many people live in these areas, residing in vast housing estates of variable quality erected during the Soviet period. In effect, neighborhoods like Mustamäe and Haabersti are the places for affordable housing in Tallinn. Google street views provide a glimpse.

I'm seldom in the habit of defending the development strategies of the Soviet bloc, but I will say this. As bleak as these blocks might appear to us, at least they were built to be serviced by public transportation, and equipped with retail and shopping options, often within walking distance of one's flat.

Granted, none of it was "free" market in orientation (although it is now), and the shops might have been empty in the bad old days. Still, it might help to take a balanced view.

At this point in our day, it still wasn't 2:00 p.m. We circled back to the center on another bus, and walked into the Old Town to find the Hell Hunt, which bills itself as "The First Estonian Pub," founded in 1993.

It's a first-rate watering hole, with house "label" beers of its own (I had pints of ale and dark lager), solid pub grub (fried Russian dumplings with sour cream), and an NBA playoff repeat (Charlotte and Miami) on the biggest screen.

With tiring feet inexorably guiding us in the direction of the southern gates, a familiar site came into view below the Toompea ridgeline.

The hanging barrel marks the location of Põrgu Brasserie, where we'd snacked and imbibed the previous evening. Back for some more? Of course.

The pork ribs are Diana's, and the delicate anchovy sandwiches are mine. My two Estonian-brewed ales were Saaremaa Koduolu, a farmhouse-style Saison from the Taako Pihtla brewery, and Sori "Winter Gorilla" Baltic Porter.

A nightcap at the hotel's subterranean Bavarian cellar was followed by an early bedtime. We had a boat to catch first thing Sunday morning.

Next: Sunday (Day Six), and a sea voyage to Helsinki for a big surprise. 

Securing inner ring suburbs by "moving away from the traditional suburban standards and making them adaptable."

This article is an excellent and timely introduction to the topic of inner ring suburban neighborhoods. In New Albany's case, many (probably most) such areas lie inside the beltway (I-265). It is an informative overview, and there are numerous points herein for initiating the discussion.

The author begins by contrasting modes of metropolitan development.

The Perils of Inner Ring Suburbs, by Pete Saunders (The Corner Side Yard)

Our metropolitan areas are finding themselves in some pretty interesting times. The force that shaped metropolitan development since World War II, namely the outward push of conventional suburban development usually characterized as "sprawl", has been tempered as a renewed focus on inner city redevelopment has risen over the last 20-25 years or so. This is creating greater recognition of and concern for what's been left behind -- the inner ring suburban type, mostly built between the 1950's and 1970's. Their future will tell us much about what our nation values and how we will move forward socially and economically.

He offers a few potential solutions.

There are ways that inner ring suburbs can combat the potential rot that could plague them. Interestingly, the solutions involve moving away from the traditional suburban standards and making them adaptable. Here are four ideas:

• Contemporize your housing stock. Many communities fall out of favor with homebuyers and renters because they don't offer the amenities that are built in to newer places in city centers or suburban fringes. Inner ring suburbs will have to find ways to make their housing stock attractive to rehabbers interested in adding space and features to older structures.
• Diversify your housing stock. The days of bedroom communities exclusively consisting of single family homes may be slowly coming to an end. More of today's homebuyers -- and renters -- are seeking more diverse environments. This means more multifamily development, more mixed use development, and even the inclusion of accessory units on single family home lots.
• Make walkability a priority. As residents of a community age, the ability to access places via the automobile may decrease. However, they deserve a chance to remain mobile. Communities can aid this by adding the sidewalks, crosswalks, trails, streetscapes, signage and other features that can connect people to places. An added side benefit is that these changes can make your community more attractive to new residents as well.
• Coordinate social services. It's likely that changing suburban demographics means changing demands from residents, and inner ring suburbs must prepare for the change. This could mean greater reliance on assistance programs that aid low-income residents, as well as programs to physically and socially engage senior residents.

For a very long time, we've been saying that New Albany's inner ring neighborhoods cannot be allowed to become the next "doughnut holes" in the urban fabric, and that in many ways, policies useful for downtown also are viable for the inner ring.

Walkability is a fine example of this, as anyone living on or near Slate Run Road will tell you.

"What Should Become of America’s Slums?"

It's hard to find just one paragraph summarizing this article, but here goes.

“We take both approaches. There’s the mobility model, which gets people out of concentrated poverty, and there’s the redevelopment model, which tries to make [poor] neighborhoods better,” he told me. “We do both of those things. They both can work.”

My gut feeling is that listening comes first. I can't speak for Austin, but in New Albany, there has not been a dialogue, and without a dialogue, no one is listening.

What Should Become of America’s Slums?, by Alana Semuels (City Lab)

Does Coffey covet Shanghai's "European-style ghost towns"?

Photo credit: The article.

Jumping Jehosaphat -- don't let Adam and the Redevelopmentals see this, or we'll be mowing downtown shotgun houses to build replicas of the Magic Kingdom.

You think I'm kidding, but is the decision-making process in New Albany much different from the top-down diktats in China?

Shanghai's European-style ghost towns – in pictures (The Guardian)

Just a decade after six European-style towns were built to absorb Shanghai’s increasing population, China’s slowing economy has left them mostly deserted. James Bollen’s images record the failure of these empty copycat boroughs.