via Planetizen
Laura Bliss reports on a new set of maps from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that offers a "data-driven perspective" to the question of the effect of historic preservation on housing affordability. ... The Atlas illustrates the perhaps unsurprising conclusion that "high-character blocks tend to have higher shares and numbers of affordable units of rental housing, compared to low-scoring blocks," writes Bliss, before noting that Kyle Shelton applied the Atlas to Philadelphia's example and nonetheless found some surprising results. Bliss concludes the article by making a few suggestions about how the tool could be improved.1
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A new set of maps from the National Trust for Historic Preservation contributes a data-driven perspective to this complex issue. The Atlas of ReUrbanism charts 50 U.S. cities by the “character” of their building stock. That’s a charged word in urbanist circles; here, “character” is an equally weighted measure of the median age of buildings, the diversity of age of the buildings, and the size of buildings and parcels, according to an accompanying report. What’s revealing is how the geography of “high-character” blocks—where the building stock is mostly smaller, older, but also mixed in age—intersects with affordability and density, as measured by Census data. Older stock “serves as unsubsidized, ‘naturally’ affordable housing,” the report’s authors writes.2
