Single-lot infill is the practice of tearing down homes in established neighborhoods to build a new home in its place. While not a problem is the new house fits in with the established neighborhoods, in many locations infill has been occuring in a way that many feel is destructive aesthetically and economically. If the new homes are not build with any regard for the established neighborhood, it can begin a pattern of dilapidation where the original homes become parked as rentals and the neighborhood slowly gets squeezed and rebuilt in a new form. At least that was the idea.
At the time of the housing bubble peak in 2005, the issue of single-lot infill gathered attention in many areas of the country. Single lot infill is a national issue in one sense, because the pattern of development has been occurring in many cities coast to coast, but it is a local issue even more so because any political solution to the problem must come at the county or city level. In my own neighborhood in Atlanta, we had may battles to try to develop a set of ordinances to permit redevelopment of single lots in a sane manner without destroying the character of established neighborhoods. At this stage though, a battle which was never won politically, now seems to be resolving economically. For years my own neighborhood has been a continuous construction zone, and the building is still continuing. However, within a quarter mile there are fifty $million dollar homes on the market, but maybe three have sold in the past year. The builders are going bankrupt.
I know this isn't the most important issue in the world, but what I would like to know is whether or not any neighborhood has grappled with the problem of how to become fixed after being marooned in half in-filled screwed up state left over from the housing bust. Here is a picture of what my neighborhood looks like:
Infill is over. I don't think that the market will sustain such a model of development for many years. What I would like to know is whether or not there is another model that may allow neighborhoods to become fixed economically and aesthetically which have been marooned by infill.