Shaping vibrant affordable communities: insights, observations and trends

What makes a great neighborhood? The American Planning Association (APA), a nonprofit that provides leadership in the development of vital communities, highlights examples every year as part of its Great Places in America program. To choose the honorees, APA considers criteria in three categories: neighborhood form and composition, neighborhood character and personality, and neighborhood environment and sustainable practices. In 2008, the 40,000-strong education and membership association named California’s Echo Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, to its list of 10 Great Neighborhoods in America.