How can we make use of smaller spaces in our cities for living and working? How should urban housing address the needs of families with children, the elderly and young entrepreneurs?

Our cities are about to change more in the next five years than they have changed in the last 50 years because of new urban housing. What are the actions we can take to make change a positive choice?

These and other topics will be addressed during Activate14’s “Urban Housing: Changing North Carolina Cities” on Saturday, September 13, beginning at 2 p.m. at the AIANC Center for Architecture & Design in downtown Raleigh.

Activate 14 organizers will also announce the winners of the Live/Work Micro-Dwelling Competition, an ideas competition generated by the presence of many left-over spaces in cities that could be used for innovative micro-housing. Thirty-six competition entries will be on display.

Activate14 is an initiative by the American Institute of Architects’ North Carolina chapter (AIANC) to educate the public on the benefits of good design and sustainability through a series of events and design competitions, held at the AIANC Center for Architecture and Design, 14 East Peace Street, Raleigh.

All activities are designed “to empower people to make a difference in shaping the world around them” according to the organizers.

Along with other activities that day, professionals involved in urban housing will make presentations, including:



Nils Peterson on “The Housing Bomb: Why Our Addiction to Houses Is Destroying the Environment and Threatening Our Society”


Architect Tina Govan on “Urban Environments for Families”


Architects Ted Van Dyk and Frank Harmon on “Hillsborough Street housing”


Architect Matt Griffith and President of DHIC Gregg Warren on “Affordable Housing”


Psychologist + Wake-Raleigh Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness board member, David Smoot, on “Homelessness in Wake County”


Architect Mike Standley on innovative small-scale urban housing in Charlotte. 



Presentations will be followed by a discussion with all the speakers.



The Saturday event will include food provided by the Ko Kyu food truck, beer, and coffee.



For more information on this and future Activate14 events, go to http://activate14.com.