Mariposa is located on the site of a former public housing project in Denver, Colorado. The project is a master planned development of a transit-oriented mixed-income housing, senior housing, retail, and common outdoor areas (e.g. playgrounds and gardens) that was led by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). The development was planned to maximise the amount of residential, commercial and recreation space that is within roughly 15-minutes walking distance from public transportation. The re-development aimed to create a connected and healthy place through improved access to physical, economic, and social amenities. The goal of the master plan was to redevelop the area while preserving the positive qualities of the existing South Lincoln neighbourhood.
The DHA phased the redevelopment project over seven years to reduce the displacement of families, the elderly and disabled residents of the former public housing project. Before redevelopment, the 17.5-acre (7 hectares) Mariposa site was home to approximately 250 residents living in brick-clad apartments built in 1954. As of 2017, there were about 1,500 residents living in the same area. Of these 1,500 residents approximately 48 percent were returning residents, in comparison to the typical 10 to 15 percent for similar ‘raze and rebuild’ projects.(1)
This project is featured as one of our healthy urban development case studies and this case study was written by Elizabeth Cooper.
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