Infill development

Of the many raps on urban planning post-World War II, one of the biggest was that it was led by the head and not by the heart. Engineers made precise calculations that yielded efficient highways but not much by way of soul. Though that trend has largely been abandoned, the release of a new, ambitious study may usher in a new approach to empirically based planning. 

Something seems to be missing from the site plan for Quarry Village, a 42-acre proposed housing development in Hayward. Here are orderly rows of streets, a scattering of small parks and a “village center” for neighborhood-scale retail. The 950 housing units are made up entirely of three-story townhouses, arranged in rows of four and six units. What's missing? Garages.

Little Italy is one of San Diego’s most popular neighborhoods today. In some ways a high-priced residential district with an Italian theme, Little Italy also provides an example of what a city can do to restore a down-on-its heels area. Twelve years ago, few had heard of this area north of downtown San Diego. But since the late 1990s, the area has grown and prospered.

The state has gone into the infill and transit-oriented development business for the first time. But it is hard to say whether the state government’s newfound interest will reshape California.

Using money from Proposition 1C, adopted by the voters in 2006, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) recently awarded almost $500 million in infill infrastructure grants and transit-oriented development (TOD) grants. No, it’s probably not enough to alter the state’s growth patterns. But it is enough to get some projects off the ground that otherwise might have languished in the real estate downturn.