Previous Events

Node Date

Building Communities and Reducing Construction Costs: Insights from the Center’s 2019 Gramlich Fellows

Date: Friday, February 7, 2020
Margaret Haltom and Hannah Hoyt will discuss the work they carried out as 2019 Gramlich Fellows in Community and Economic Development. The Gramlich Fellowship in Community and Economic Development gives Harvard graduate students the opportunity to identify, research, publish, and present promising approaches for addressing challenges related to affordable housing and community development

America's Rental Housing 2020

Date: Friday, January 31, 2020
With the number of cost-burdened renters again on the rise, local governments are increasingly on the front lines of a rental affordability crisis. Earlier this year, Minneapolis became the first large American city to end single-family zoning, a bold and decisive move which has the potential to greatly expand the rental supply and improve affordability.

Housing + Innovation: Lessons from the Ivory Prize

Date: Friday, November 15, 2019
Despite robust demand across the country for affordable starter homes and rental units, stringent land-use regulations, high construction costs, and an ongoing shortage of skilled laborers have made it difficult, if not impossible, to profitably produce middle-market housing. Innovative strategies to overcome these challenges will be the focus of this half-day symposium, which will feature the finalists from the inaugural Ivory Prize in Housing Affordability.

Housing as History: the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and Orchard Gardens

Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2019
By the 1980s the Dudley Square neighborhood of Roxbury was facing significant challenges. Absentee landlords had allowed property to deteriorate, left units vacant, or had used arson to raze buildings and make insurance claims. Facing what many considered insurmountable obstacles, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative was formed to create a comprehensive plan for “development without displacement.”

Bringing a Comprehensive Approach to Development

Date: Friday, November 8, 2019
Alloy Development is a real estate development company that has built residential buildings along the Highline, in Hudson Yards, and in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood. Its website states: “Our belief in making great architecture guides our practice,” and adds “we have a responsibility to make the experience and quality of our work meaningful.”

Deliberative Democracy and Transforming Urban Policy Design in Buenos Aires

Date: Thursday, November 7, 2019
In recent years, Buenos Aires has set out to become more inclusive and sustainable, and city government has made serving its most vulnerable populations a priority. To that end, the Housing Authority of the City of Buenos Aires has designed an innovative Socio-Urban Integration Plan which seeks to involve the relevant actors in the decision-making of the slum-upgrading intervention.