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12 Pa rk DuValle Park DuValle,located on approximately 125 acres on the west side of Louisville,Kentucky,is a HOPE VI mixed-income community developed by the Community Builders that,at completion,will have 1,008 rental and homeownership units. The goal of the income mix at Park DuValle is to include lower-,middle-,and upper- income residents,with 40 percent of the units occupied by households making 30 to 50 percent of the area median income,30 percent of the units occupied by households making 50 to 60 percent of the median income,and 30 percent of the units occupied by house- holds at or above 60 percent of the median income. Organized according to a new urbanist master plan by Urban Design Associates (UDA)––and with the strong support of then-Mayor Jerry Abramson and the city of Louisville––Park DuValle consists of compact residential blocks in small-scale neighborhoods with houses attrac- tively sited on a boulevard or on narrower residential streets and garages with rear alleys for services. UDA devoted substantial time and attention to the devel- opment of a pattern book (a reference for the shapes and forms of buildings in the neighborhood) for Park DuValle,based on traditional architectural styles found in Louisville neighborhoods. The pattern book represents a strategy the firm has employed with great suc- cess in community revital- ization plans as well as new,market-rate develop- ments. Designed to blend seamlessly with the sur- rounding neighborhoods, the residences,streets, and public spaces in the Park DuValle master plan seek to build on Louisville’s traditions of community design.25 Profile W hen people think of affordable housing, they may imagine the drab, monolithic, concrete high rises that characterized some of the most visible public housing projects of the mid-20th century. Yet the reality is that the design of today’s affordable housing—housing that meets the users’ needs, is responsive to its context, enhances its neighborhood, and is built to last—has made great strides in the last two decades as its ben- efits to the community have become more widely recognized.23 For mixed- income developments, good residential design is often a competitive selling point to attract market-rate residents. Mixed-income housing and good design are a winning combination that has demonstrated the capacity to encourage faster project approvals, attract the support of future residents, and overcome the fears of neighbors who are uncertain about the prospect of affordable housing next door. As a result, design principles for mixed-income housing typically incorporate human-scale buildings, architectural features that blend in with the surround- ing community, walkable neighborhoods, and appealing land- scaping. Over the long term, attractive mixed-income housing is becoming a neighborhood asset. Well-designed units also make the property more resilient and likely to succeed over the long term. The growing popularity of the new urbanism since the early 1990s also has influenced the design of affordable and mixed- income housing. Many new urbanist design features—such as a grid street pattern, on-street parking, sidewalks, and pedestrian- friendly streets—have become common features in affordable and mixed-income housing in the last decade. HUD has collab- orated with the Congress for the New Urbanism to urge public Myth #4 Affordable housing is unattractive and a blight to the neighborhood. Fact #4 Mixed-income housing developments help raise the standards for good design in affordable housing, provid- ing appealing residences that blend in with surrounding communities. Organized according to a new urbanist master plan, Park DuValle consists of compact residential blocks in small-scale neighborhoods with attractively sited houses. TH E C O M M U N I T Y B U I L D E R S