uncube x VIA VERDE, THE GREEN WAY

“Via Verde, or the “Green Way”, was completed two years ago in the South Bronx – and its ideal combination of affordable housing and eco-friendliness has seemingly so far delivered on its promises. David Bench revisited the successful site, asking why the city isn’t filled with more affordable housing schemes like it. Hint: the answer has to do with something green.

Affordable housing is the quest of every New Yorker. The routes to finding it are mysterious and widely misunderstood, as they are made up of a myriad of buildings, programmes, and rules that have failed to keep pace with the production of luxury housing and gentrification of middle class neighbourhoods in the city. This apartment anxiety has led to such amusing and fateful reactions as the creation of the Rent is Too Damn High political party – whose name speaks for itself – and an economic narrative that propelled Bill de Blasio from a long-shot mayoral candidacy to an overwhelming majority on election day in 2013. Soon after taking office, de Blasio unveiled the most ambitious affordable housing program in generations, which aims to build or preserve 200,000 units in the next decade.”

Keep reading the full article here!

Two years after its completion, Via Verde has become a success story for affordable, sustainable housing. So, why aren’t there more buildings like it? Image by Jules Antonio, via Flickr.