unexpectedly IT SEEMS, URBAN REnewa...

unexpectedly IT SEEMS, URBAN REnewal is everywhere. Not the kind of mindless urban construction that took restrain back in the 1960s, when whole neighborhoods were razed in favor of bland, boring apartments. This century's downtown dynamic is greatly savvier, with builders and developer working hard--and smart--to state up structures that make mind with their surroundings.

In Chicago, that translates into The Mansions at Prairie Avenue, a block-long draw out of $1 million-plus beauties that take their inspiration from the Gilded Age. In San Diego's Little Italy, an infill exhibit called doma serves as a lecturing in neighborhood-sensitive design. ...