Apartment Look

This article is the last of a series of articles based on new research into the place of lower-income and disadvantaged households in a compact city. More and more of us living in denser cities where apartments and high-rise developments are increasingly common. This creates specific health concerns for residents of these areas, and for lower-income households in particular. We already know socioeconomic status is closely related to health and wellbeing. The importance of equity was highlighted in the 2016 Boyer Lectures. Entitled Fair Australia : Social Justice and the Health Gap, the lectures were delivered by a world leader in health inequality research , Professor Sir Michael Marmot . Further reading: Social determinants – how class and wealth affect our health Marmot examined the challenges for poor communities in achieving good health from early life to old age. His message focused on the social determinants of health. And the built environment , including its environmental co...

In densely populated urban hubs , apartment buildings are a necessary fixture. But all too often, rental or condo complexes are built simply to fill a need—to increase apartment supply —and developers overlook the opportunity to provide something different and distinct in bustling downtown areas . However, in recent years, some developers and architects are moving away from the traditional apartment model and embracing a more unique approach: building high- end apartments inside of shipping containers . As far as ingenious adaptive reuse goes, the shipping container complex is cutting-edge. “In Phoenix, we don’t have buildings that were once warehouses or manufacturing facilities that everyone’s now turning into lofts. So the shipping containers allow us to bring a little bit of that richness that’s really missing here,” says architect Brian Stark in a video explaining how the container complex was built. “[The containers] have been all over the world traveling, and now they’r...

When it comes to condominium development , Cascadia’s two largest cities couldn ’t be more different. Last year nearly 60 percent of new housing starts in the city of Vancouver, BC , were condominiums; meanwhile, Seattle saw no new condominium buildings open . And that’s not changing anytime soon: less than 10 percent of all building slated for downtown Seattle in the next three years will be condos. What’s the difference—why the blossoming of condominium construction in one city and the almost complete dearth in the other? The short answer is economics. In Vancouver, apartments are saddled with an unfavorable tax code , making condos the more lucrative multi- family housing investment even despite high rental demand . In Seattle’s skyrocketing rental market , one that’s climbed even faster than the condo market in recent years, apartment buildings are much more financially attractive, while condos come with bigger risks and, typically, lower returns. Compounding this profit differe...

Diners enjoy lunch at Tortilleria Sinaloa, which has top-notch tacos in tortillas made the right way — by hand. The unassuming storefront in Fells Point is one of several cheap-eats destinations in a city suddenly flush with award-winning chefs. (Doug Kapustin/For The Washington Post) Baltimore is that rare city with a dish so fundamental to its culture that the food’s name is an answer to a crossword puzzle. But if the crab cake is Charm City’s calling card, it can also be a cross to bear for those planning to open a restaurant there. The chef who dares to ignore the crab cake is the chef who risks losing the tourist searching for Baltimore’s signature dish, typically built with Chesapeake jumbo -lump crab, saltine cracker crumbs , a mayo binder and, of course, Old Bay. “You will find that in many restaurants there is a crab cake,” says Suzanne Loudermilk, restaurant critic for the Baltimore Sun. “It’s just part of our cuisine. When people do come from out of town, they inevitabl...

Walk into any Brooklyn home goods boutique and you’re bound to stumble upon whimsical designs by Cold Picnic—cushion covers and woven bathmats emblazoned with casually sketched body parts , hand- knotted macrame plant hangers , plush rugs in desert-landscape palettes, quilted throws in abstract colorblocks. Launched in 2010 by husband-and- wife team Phoebe Sung and Pete Buer, the label has evolved from its early years as a women’s accessories line to a full- fledged interiors endeavor (though you can still score some of their jewelry and bags at their online “Sample Sale”). We caught up with Buer and Sung (and their two fluffy rescues, Phillip and Daisy) in their Ridgewood, Queens apartment/studio where they make the magic that is Cold Picnic. You guys were on the boobs-on-things train before the trend really blew up. What is your take on it now?   Phoebe: I feel like women are taking back boobs , which [are] typically sexualized. Our Private Parts collection started as a joke be...