Initiatives

At the core of PURL’s activities is a set of initiatives exploring a variety of issues critical to the Phoenix metropolitan area and typically underrepresented in current urbanist dialog. Through a combination of supported research, coordinated coursework and public programming, including lectures, symposia, exhibitions and publications, PURL brings together different academic units within the university and bridges the university and the public spheres. Our goal is to generate innovative solutions that have true impact on the quality of our urban environment.

Retrofitting Sprawl

Suburban Retrofitting

Suburban Retrofitting
 (Symposium: Spring 2012)

Suburban retrofitting (also known as sprawl repair) is the retrofitting of abandoned chain stores, dead malls, disconnected apartment complexes, and segregated housing pods. The endgame of suburban retrofitting— walkable, mixed use, sustainable neighborhoods — is not substantially different from what planners have been trying to do for decades. The problem is the development pattern that has defined so much of our built environment: wide arterials, separation of uses, huge parking lots, and complete car dependency.

Transit Town


Image is from the book The Sprawl Repair Manual, by Galina Tachieva.

Transit town is a new PURL initiative intended to help Phoenix visualize the future possibilities of development around the Light Rail corridor. We are investigating the redevelopment potential of areas served by Phoenix’s Light Rail Transit system. The project is an investigation of the possibilities of accommodating 30% of Phoenix’s projected 2020 population in walkable, transit serviced neighborhoods. To make this assessment, we are mapping the areas around the light rail, investigating retrofitting potential, and developing a taxonomy of development types appropriate for different contexts and scales. This is both an urban design study, as well as an analysis of the planning, policy and regulatory requirements needed for successful accommodation of 30% of Phoenix’s future population. We are investigating the needs of “complete” neighborhoods that are open to people of all ages and income levels. This project is in progress. Please check back soon.

Interactive Map

Granny Flat


Granny flats, also known as accessory dwelling units, guesthouses, backyard cottages, and sidekicks, are secondary living quarters on a single-family home property. They take many forms, including converted basements, garages, attics or rooms, detached cottages, and attached apartments. Popular in the early to mid-twentieth century when multigenerational households were common, localities began outlawing them in the postwar period as single-family home subdivisions became the norm.

Complete Neighborhoods

Complete Neighborhoods (Symposium: Fall, 2012)

Affordable housing requires more than a roof and four walls. It requires good places — those that mix uses and housing types, and provide access to jobs, services, recreation, and public transit. A neighborhood is not truly sustainable unless it offers affordability to a broad range of people. Phoenix, like many cities, has too many neighborhoods that are economically segregated. Too many low–income neighborhoods are not well serviced with ready access to basic daily life needs, thus fostering car dependency and adding to a lack of affordability. Meanwhile, the efforts of developers to create walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods often end up undermining affordability.

Latino Urbanism

Photo by Dawud Austin, Calle 16 Mural, Phoenix, AZ

Latino Urbanism is an emerging approach to development that responds to Latino lifestyles, cultural preferences, and economic needs. The Latino Urbanism Symposium, held at ASU's Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory in downtown Phoenix on May 4 – 5, 2011, highlights Latino Urbanism and its role in American placemaking. Through public presentations, panel discussions, community outreach and a design forum, we celebrate and seek to understand how Latino Urbanism is reshaping the American urban landscape.