21st Century School-House

Year: 2018-Present

As Southern California evolves from the era of postwar suburban expansion into a network of 21st century cities, our public institutions must be proactively reimagined in light of public needs. Among the largest public landowners in Southern California cities are its educational institutions, many of which are struggling with issues ranging from declining enrollments to budget constraints. At the same time, one of the greatest public needs is to produce more affordable housing, since nearly one million Southern California residents pay more than 70 percent of their income on housing. cityLAB’s research examines the design of infill affordable housing for K-12 and community college schools. cityLAB is visualizing such projects, creating a series of site design prototypes that demonstrate benefits to schools, residents, and neighborhoods. As part of the multi-year initiative to co-locate housing on school land, this work directly leads to the cityLAB publication, Living in the 21st Century Schoolyard.