Progress Through Undevelopment

Today Streetsblog Network member blog Hub and Spokes picks up on an interesting story from the LA Times about how falling real estate values could mean an opportunity to develop more public spaces:

46320039.jpgAn abandoned apartment complex in Tampa, Florida, might become a park instead of luxury condos. Photo by Martha Rial/St. Petersburg Times.

With all the foreclosure and false starts on major housing development projects a new trend is developing: un-development. Land
that had been acquired for future development is now being targeted as land that can be returned to its original use or some type of green space.… I know we are in discussion in St. Paul exactly about this idea. A 3-acre site that was going to be developed into housing might now instead be turned into a community green space.

Anyone out there have other local examples?

Other news from around the network: California High Speed Rail Blog asks what the state should do next to get HSR rolling; the National Journal wonders what effect cap-and-trade legislation would have on transportation; and CTA Tattler passes along an amusing story of how a sweaty bus ride might convince Illinois legislators that transit needs a source of capital funding.

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