If you want to look to the future of development, take a look at a project that is going on in Dallas this year. A San Francisco non profit group called Urban Re:VISION began talks with the city of Dallas in August, 2008 to be one of the first to host their project: to transform a single block into a place that
“creates economies, supports community, facilitates relationships and generates resources.”
The city selected a parking lot downtown and by December 2008, the project was on it’s way. A planning session was held that lead to a day-long charrette where the city officials sat with architects, urban planners,and green building experts to work on this “truly visionary project”.
A local developer, Central Dallas Community Development Corporation was brought in at the beginning to be a part of the process. Their mission,
“to build affordable housing, develop communities, and establish economic opportunities for the people of Dallas County”
fit nicely into the underlining goal of the project.
Holding a nationwide competition for design, Urban Re:VISION received hundreds of design entries for building this sustainable block. By May 2009, the group narrowed the entries to the top three and now the developer has the task of choosing the actual winner. The key is that even though this project held a nationwide competition, having a local developer involved will bring this to a local level. The city of Dallas will directly benefit from the jobs this project creates from the moment they break ground.
To take a look at one of the top three entries, the design firm, Little – Charlotte, North Carolina, presents a video of their vision:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7YQxdMlEYo&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1]
Now the question is, “Can this be done in your city?”
Additional references: World Changing
