Livable Communities: America’s Hometowns
August 5th, 2010
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced in June that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Design is reaffirming its commitment to smart growth, location efficiency, and sustainable communities through the housing agency’s upcoming Sustainable Communities Planning Grants, which combined with other programs, totals $3.25 billion in available funds.
“By focusing on livability, we can help transform the way transportation serves the American people—and create safer, healthier communities that provide access to economic opportunities,” Donovan asserted.
This commitment parallels that of CDCs, community development corporations – organizations that exist to provide programs, education, services and engage in real estate development activities that promote and support community investment. Often associated with the creation of affordable housing, CDCs have long known that livable communities are America’s hometowns.
BartonPartners provides planning and design services to CDCs through our integrated planning and architecture approach. We believe that revitalized downtowns and walkable neighborhoods bring people, employers, and housing closer fostering economic development.
Barton professionals have successfully managed the design process for many community redevelopment projects. Ultimately all projects have financial constraints – and it is in designing affordable projects that we have to be the most creative and cognizant of construction costs, building materials, detailing, building systems, funding sources and labor techniques. At BartonPartners we take great pride in our ability to provide thoughtful and creative solutions for our CDC clients in their community redevelopment mission.