There are many emotions associated with the creation of a new building in our neighborhood. They can be symbols of our best hopes...or our worst fears. Many of us have strong feelings about the kinds of buildings we want in our cities and towns, but, unless we are developers ourselves, chances are good we don’t have a holistic understanding of all the disciplines involved in creating that new building — disciplines that include urban planning, architecture, law, finance, and government, to name just a few — or the risks involved.
Ben Stevens wants to help demystify the process, not just for laypeople with a vested interest in what gets built in their neighborhoods, but even for those professionals involved in one aspect of the creation of a building but who may not have a full appreciation for the other aspects.
Ben is the author of the recent book The Birth of a Building. He is a real estate developer, a project manager at an affordable housing development firm in Chicago, and the founder of The Skyline Forum, an online interview series with developers, architects, and urban planners. He is also our guest on this week’s episode of the Strong Towns podcast.
Together, Ben Stevens and Chuck Marohn talk about incremental development and why the development that’s best for our cities is often the most difficult as a business model. They discuss the “perfect storm” of housing affordability. (It’s not merely an issue of supply, but also financing, pressures from neighborhood associations, unprecedentedly high quality, and more.) They also discuss the tension at the heart of the American dream and why the creation of a building is a complex (and not merely complicated) undertaking.
Then we hear about two simple ways city officials can “kick the tires” on the development process in their own community, with an eye toward lowering risk and getting the kind of development they most want.
This promises to be the first of multiple conversations over the coming months and years. You don’t want to miss it.
Show Notes:The Birth of a Building, by Ben Stevens (book)
The Birth of a Building (website)
The Skyline Forum
Ben Stevens (Twitter)
Ben Stevens (LinkedIn)
Recent Strong Towns Articles on Incremental Development
How Incremental Development Came to Miami, by Andrew Frey
Is “Gentle Density” Enough, by Daniel Herriges
How to Get Started as a Small-Scale Developer, by R. John Anderson
Strong Towns Is Jane Jacobs in Action
The Arguments for Speed Cameras…and Why They Don’t Hold Up
Steve Mouzon: How Do We Rebuild Maui?
Walkable City Design Is Critical for Economic Health
Citizen Versus Developer? No! It’s Citizen As Developer.
Four Communities Are Becoming Examples of Change
From 500 to 5,000: What Strong Towns Members Are Doing to Make Their Places Better
Dollar Stores Are Leeching the Economic Vitality of Communities Across the U.S.
Ian Lockwood: Thoughts From an Engineer
What’s Going On With the Recent Bank Failures?
Growth Through Destruction
On the Conservative Reaction to 15-Minute Cities
The Property Tax System is Broken—Regrid Works on Tools to Help Fix It
Jeff Speck on the 10th-Anniversary Edition of Walkable City
Lawsuit Update: Making a Stand for Engineers in the Minnesota State Court of Appeals
Mike Hathorne: Where Does Decision-Making Need to Occur in Our Communities?
Ben Hunt: In Praise of Bitcoin
Thanks for a Great Year
Sam Quinones: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth
Get Ready for #BlackFridayParking
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