“Can we afford to care about design in a housing crisis?” by Daniel Herriges

Are efforts to preserve “neighborhood character” simply classist (or racist) objections to change? Or could neighborhood character actually contain something worth protecting—namely, time-tested design principles that help make a place feel coherent, livable, and pro-social? In “Can We Afford to Care About Design in a Housing Crisis?,” Daniel Herriges uses the misguided furor over celebrated urbanist Jeff Speck’s criticism of this Brookline house (hint: think garage not garish) to make the case for why practicing good urbanism means we can’t afford not to be concerned with design.