Grand Boulevards: A Framework for Workforce Housing, Environmental Repair, and Economic Balance

Webinar Summary: Housing is at the crux of some of our biggest global challenges, but continually expanding outward is an unsustainable trend. We know the only rational direction is inward—infilling, repairing, and enhancing our existing communities—shifting from cars to walking, biking, and public transit. But how and where? A solution might lie in the strip malls across U.S. cities that have largely become a sign of time gone by, relics filled with the economic decay born of our increasingly online lives. The retail ribbons crosscutting communities can form a network of next-generation workforce housing and transit, transforming placeless arterials into “Grand Boulevards”— providing places to live that are more affordable to the environment, to households, and to our cities. Repair the strip, build accessible workforce housing, invest in transit, and humanize the asphalt wastelands that divide our communities. This presentation will explore the possibilities of “Grand Boulevards” with examples from Los Angeles County and San Francisco.