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Suburbia: What a concept by Allison Arieff.

What what most tangible in Open House was the work that remained most invisible. The design team of EFGH (Hayley Eber and Frank Gesualdi) with Irina Chemyakova explored the potential benefits that changes to code, zoning and other regulatory modifications might have on the existing suburb. The things they proposed, much in keeping with the work of others spearheading the movement to rethink suburbia like Ellen Dunham-Jones, June Williamson and Galina Tachieva, included increasing density, retrofitting existing buildings for new uses, and experimenting with public/private space.

These changes, along with residents’ inclination to improve their own communities, could lead to better models for future development. I’ve observed little glimmers of the possibilities in truly collaborative projects like Farmer D’s suburban agriculture communities in the southeastern United States, the Ainsworth Collective’s efforts to develop a sustainable neighborhood in Portland, Ore., or the livable community projects of the Dallas suburb Oak Cliff.

Research for Project Kendall.