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A sympathetic design raises the bar for affordable housing in a not-so-affordable city. Affordable housing in Santa Monica sounds like an oxymoron. In 2013, the city's average monthly rent of $2,328 was the priciest in Los Angeles County. Adding insult to injury are local homeowners who fear that buildings for lower-earning households will be eyesores that drive down property values.

Adapting to a changing program, an inventive project in Seoul mixes micro and small apartments with arts-focused functions. Although they used repetitive units and simple construction in their Songpa Micro Housing in Seoul, Jinhee Park and John Hong of Single Speed Design (SsD) brought variety and style to the 5,500-square-foot project by animating the spaces in between and around the tiny apartments.

As cities wrestle with an affordable-housing crisis, some people see micro units as one option to explore. Chances are, if you live in a city, you live alone. More than half of all adults living in New York, Austin, Denver, and Seattle live by themselves; in Washington, D.C., 71 percent of adults are single.

A new condominium building in an old waterfront section of San Francisco sparks up the neighborhood with its serrated facade. 'When I was looking for an apartment, I saw the facade and immediately called my real-estate agent,' says Mark Chila, a resident of 616 20th Street in San Francisco. 'I was lucky: the condominiums were almost sold out.'

A low-income housing project brings together seniors and families in a residential development designed to respect its neighbors and accommodate the sub-tropical climate.

The reimagining of two city blocks is helping to shape a new identity for one of San Francisco's bleakest neighborhoods. Mention “the projects” to San Francisco residents and they are likely to think of long rows of low-rise apartment buildings, painted pink and other pastel hues, terraced along the hills on the southern edge of the city.

The history of aviation in Long Beach, California, is legendary—from the landing, on its sandy shores, of the first transcontinental flight to its female-powered aircraft production during World War II and its more recent output of mammoth commercial and military jets.

A sleek new train station by Silvio d'Ascia Architecture helps to rejoin two long-severed neighborhoods.

Although just 1,800 Amtrak passengers use it each day, the recently renovated King Street Station in Seattle serves as a landmark and urban catalyst at the junction of several changing neighborhoods.