Build A Better 'Burb: Upcycling 2.0

First Place Winner: Upcycling 2.0 
Long Island Index and Rauch Foundation Sponsored Competition:
Team: Ryan Lovett, Patrick Cobb, John Brent Simons

A New Finance and Planning Mechanism for Community Improvement

New Opportunities for Civic Amenities, Developments, and Architectural Typologies

Upcycling 2.0 is an incremental development approach that combines the positive innovations from both urban centers AND suburban neighborhoods. We refute the idea that density and privacy are mutually exclusive. Through the strategic market driven acquisition and re-appropriation of property, our proposal encourages interaction and desirability via new community associations that pool and manage funds for community improvements and amenities. This in turn closes economic, environmental, and social loops, while increasing civic participation, awareness, and accountability. There would be a direct correlation between your money and your neighborhood. Our proposal targets the ubiquitous suburban typologies: The single family detached house, strip mall, train station, street medians, big boxes, and vast seas of parking lots.

By employing a series of different re-appropriations of these typologies, three distinct zones emerge over time: An agricultural network that follows major auto-oriented developments, a mass transit-oriented network which would create regional scale economic centers, and finally a series of mixed-use neighborhood enclaves, which feature new public amenities that minimize the need for extra car trips.

The new strategy can be deployed on two fronts: The private sector can slowly acquire privately owned property, and in turn set up new rental types and housing associations, and the public sector, which could incentivize new development and mandate all new construction be more mixed-use and promote land-use equity. This bottom-up parcelized approach organically creates a myriad of densities, architectural styles, scales, affordability levels, and ultimately a unique identity that can change over time.
Selected Press: 
Architect (AIA) Magazine: Start a Revolution
About the Competition:
Build A Better Burb