CEUs
1.5 LU/HSW
Cost
Free
AIA Members and general public
$25
Non-Members seeking continuing education credits
Location
Zoom
Urban Design Salon
Our communities develop and change, yet the impacts are not universally beneficial. Our neighborhood business districts exist in a dynamic, ever-evolving landscape where they face difficult obstacles to thriving, people-centered economic and social commerce. Further, our communities face a large gap between the available housing supply, affordability, and need.
The incremental development strategy can address all of these complex issues through an organic process of making small investments one project at a time. This is primarily in-fill development, which happens over time. It is deeply rooted in a community and reflects its character. Most significantly, incremental development focuses on “Missing Middle Housing”, which spans the gap between detached single-family homes to large apartment buildings. This helps communities address the large disconnect between the available housing supply, affordability, and need.
Also, because they tend to be small, incremental development projects can be undertaken by small scale developers who are more likely to be people who have not traditionally made up the real estate developer demographic. Since incremental development is not always an easy process, there is much to learn.
Registration deadline noon on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
Learning Objectives
Participants will understand the legal, financial, physical, and economic limitations of incremental development which may impact the health, safety, and welfare elements of an architect’s design. Smaller buildings with lower budgets still require life safety elements and consideration of healthy, sustainable aspects. Architects will learn what pressures incremental developers face and how to balance life-safety elements (as well as health and environmentally sustainable elements) with those pressures.
Incremental development can be undertaken by non-traditional developers from the communities being developed and can include input from community stakeholders. This can contribute to the more equitable distribution and retention of wealth and knowledge within communities and can foster greater community pride. An involved community can also understand the complexities of real estate development. Participants will learn why getting the community involved in development (in meaningful ways) from the time a project is first conceived creates a more invested, proud community.
Disadvantaged neighborhoods have many blighted lots and dilapidated buildings – some which house people (who fear disclosure of poor conditions will force them into homelessness) despite very poor conditions. When buildings are put back into service, residents don’t have to be displaced, and can have healthy, safe places in which to live. Participants will learn how incremental development can be employed in disadvantaged neighborhoods, what effects these projects have on the health and welfare of neighborhoods, and how key development can be leveraged to initiate the further redevelopment of blighted neighborhoods.
Program participants will learn how incremental development can be undertaken by smaller developers who are more likely to be people outside the traditional real estate developer demographic (including women and people of color), who may live in the very neighborhoods being developed. Architects have to accommodate the limitations of knowledge and experience non-traditional developers may have, and must coach non-traditional developers during the course of design and construction.
Presenters
Jenifer Acosta is driven to build dynamic communities with a strong sense of place, where people feel connected to their surroundings and others - both past and present. Known for redeveloping historic buildings and her innovative work in community development, Jenifer works to revitalize communities with a triple bottom line approach. As faculty for the Incremental Development Alliance, Jenifer teaches small-scale real estate development.
Sarah Thomas is a dedicated Northside resident and business owner. Her passions meet at an intersection of urban density, historic preservation and the idea that thoughtful development bolsters great communities. Sarah is a principal at Grey Rock Property Development, a developer of residential and commercial buildings in the thriving, historic neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio and the executive director of NEST.
