Expanding Housing Choice at San Antonio’s Missing Middle Housing Summit

Ian Caine discusses vacant land and infill housing at the Missing Middle Housing Summit. Image: Skye Vielle.

Many thanks to the San Antonio Housing Trust for inviting me to participate in this week’s Missing Middle Housing Summit. I joined Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns, Kristen Ramirez of the City of San Antonio, Drew Finke of Opticos Design, and Adam Terenyi of HR&A Advisors for a panel discussion moderated by Seema Kairan of the San Antonio Housing Trust. Building on Chuck’s keynote presentation the previous evening, we explored strategies to expand housing affordability and choice in San Antonio.

The day-long summit brought together developers, designers, policymakers, housing advocates, and community members to explore opportunities for expanding Missing Middle Housing. Our panel focused on overcoming zoning and permitting barriers, improving access to financing, identifying infill development opportunities, and supporting incremental growth in established neighborhoods.

District 1 Councilmember Dr. Sukh Kaur introduced the opening panel and highlighted her recent initiatives to advance Missing Middle Housing in San Antonio. The summit also featured a hands-on workshop led by the Incremental Development Alliance, exploring practical approaches to small-scale development.

Talking Urban Design, Power, and Place at ACSA Intersections Conference

Ian Caine and Gabriel Díaz Montemayor present at ACSA Intersections Conference. Image: Brian Holland.

Great to be in New York City last week for the ACSA Intersections Research Conference: Urban Design Matters, where Gabriel Díaz Montemayor and I presented “Practicing Urban Design in Environmentally Distressed Landscapes: Lessons from South Texas.” The paper describes two recent urban design projects along the Gulf Coast and in the Rio Grande Valley.

Big thanks to Brian Holland of the University of Arkansas for moderating our session, “Urban Design, Power, and Place,” and to fellow presenters Dingliang Yang, Vicky Achnani, Priyanka Thakur, Ho Kyung Lee, Yasushi Ishida, Erin Ishizaki, and Despina Matzakos for a fantastic discussion.

Thanks also to the ACSA, The City College of New York, New York Institute of Technology, and the Urban Design Academic Council for bringing together such a thoughtful group of urban design educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Vacancy to Vitality Receives Publication of the Year Award from APA Texas

Image: APA Texas

Vacancy to Vitality, a research initiative led by Ian Caine and the Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research at UT San Antonio, received the 2026 Publication of the Year Award from the American Planning Association Texas Chapter Central and Southwest Sections.

The project examines how San Antonio can accommodate future population growth within its existing urban footprint by converting vacant and underutilized land along the city’s planned rapid-transit corridors into multifamily housing.

The award recognizes the work of an interdisciplinary team, including Wei Zhai, Gabriel Díaz Montemayor, Huanchun Huang, Esteban López Ochoa, Rudy Niño, and Christine Quattro. Additionally, student researchers Meesha Afkami, Andrea Albarrán Montes, Eduardo Lopez, Sergio Martinez, Sajida Noor, and Angel Villalobos made significant contributions.

Special thanks to the SOM Foundation, the City of San Antonio, the San Antonio Area Foundation, and the San Antonio Public Library for supporting the research!

The award was presented on August 28, 2026, in San Marcos, Texas.

Academy for Public Scholarship Announces 2026-27 Cohort

2026-27 ACSA Academy for Public Scholarship on the Building Environment Cohort. Image: ACSA.

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) announced the 2026–27 cohort of the Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment. Twelve architecture faculty members have been selected to participate in this year’s program, which focuses on the timely theme of Spatial Determinants of Health.

The Academy equips architecture faculty with the tools and training to engage broader audiences and bring academic knowledge into public discourse. Through virtual workshops, peer exchange, mentorship, and expert-led sessions, participants will strengthen their ability to write, communicate, and engage as public scholars—translating research into accessible and actionable contributions to issues shaping cities and communities.

Ian Caine will work with colleagues on the ACSA Research & Scholarship Committee to administer the 2026–27 Academy, helping participants strengthen their public scholarship and extend the reach and impact of their research.

Ian Caine Presents at SA Climate Ready Speaker Series

Image: City of San Antonio

Last Wednesday, Ian Caine presented “Vacancy to Vitality: Exploring Housing Futures along San Antonio’s Housing Corridors” as part of the SA Climate Ready Speaker Series, hosted by the City of San Antonio Department of Resilience and Sustainability.

The series brings together researchers, practitioners, and community leaders to share ideas and strategies for advancing San Antonio’s climate goals and building a more sustainable, resilient city. Caine’s presentation explored opportunities to accommodate future housing growth within the existing urban footprint by transforming vacant and underutilized land along San Antonio’s major transit corridors.

providers and policymakers discuss affordable housing along the Green Line

Image: Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers

On Wednesday Ian Caine participated in the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers’ (TAAHP) San Antonio LAMA Breakfast on April 15 at Mi Tierra Café y Pandería. The session, “Advancing Affordable Housing along the Green Line,” brought together a great mix of perspectives on transit-oriented development.

Moderated by TAAHP’s Jean Latsha, the panel also included Sukh Kaur (San Antonio City Councilmember District 1), Pete Alanis (San Antonio Housing Trust Foundation), and Joel Pollack (Streamline Advisory Partners). The panel discussed both the opportunities and constraints of developing housing on vacant properties along the VIA Green Line.

Thanks to TAAHP and the event sponsors for hosting such a thoughtful and timely conversation!

panel examines strategies for affordable housing and urban density

Image: Opportunity Home San Antonio

On Friday Ian Caine participated in “The Housing Blueprint: Affordable Smart Strategies for Urban Density,” a panel sponsored by Opportunity Home San Antonio as part of the 2026 Affordable Housing Outlook. The session brought together local leaders to discuss practical strategies and contemporary approaches to supporting smart growth in San Antonio’s urban core neighborhoods.

Moderated by Lorraine Robles (Opportunity Home San Antonio), the panel included Ian Benavidez (Neighborhood and Housing Services Department), Trish DeBerry (Centro San Antonio), and Mario Peña (Able City). The conversation focused on policy tools, development strategies, and design approaches that can help increase housing supply while reinforcing walkability, affordability, and neighborhood stability.

Thank you to Opportunity Home San Antonio and the event organizers for hosting a timely and solutions-oriented discussion!

caine discusses adaptive reuse and circular cities at Full Circle Summit

Image: Circular San Antonio

Ian Caine participated in the Full Circle 2026: Texas Circular Economy Summit, hosted by Circular San Antonio on February 13, 2026. The session, “The Asset Revolution: Transforming Global Cities from Commodity to Community through Reuse,” was moderated by Beverly Baldwin (Alamo Architects) and also included Jen Weaver (Vivid Development) and Charlie Cottingham (Roble). The panel examined a major structural shift in global commercial real estate, including the growing surplus of vacant office space, and discussed how adaptive reuse can convert underutilized assets into housing and community-serving uses.

Thank you to Circular San Antonio and the event organizers for hosting a timely and forward-looking discussion!

Architects, planners, and policymakers talk housing at Exhibition Opening

Panel disussion at the Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening at the San Antonio Central Library.

Research presentation at the Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening at the San Antonio Central Library.

Thanks to Paola Aguirre Serrano, AICP of Borderless Studio for moderating our Vacancy to Vitality panel Tuesday evening at the Central Library. Thanks also to panelists Christine Vina of VIA Metropolitan Transit, Jim Bailey AIA of Alamo Architects, and Esteban López Ochoa, PhD of UT San Antonio for sharing their time and insight!

The 75-minute program brought together academic researchers, design practitioners, and public-sector leaders to examine how vacant and underutilized land along San Antonio’s proposed rapid-transit corridors could be redeveloped to add housing while strengthening existing communities.

A structured audience Q&A allowed participants to submit questions in real time, reinforcing the role of public dialogue in refining research assumptions and identifying practical barriers to implementation. The program concluded with brief closing reflections from each panelist, focused on immediate actions—policy, institutional, and civic—that could move vacancy-to-vitality strategies from speculation toward execution.

Funding provided by the SOM Foundation’s 2023 Research Prize, with additional support from the City of San Antonio, San Antonio Area Foundation, and the San Antonio Public Library.

Vacancy to Vitality Exhibition Opens at the Central Library

Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening on December 9, 2025, at San Antonio Central Library.

Reviewing design prototypes at the Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening.

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night at the Central Library for Vacancy to Vitality: Exploring Housing Futures along San Antonio’s Transit Corridors. The exhibition and panel brought together UTSA faculty and students with community members, practitioners, and city leaders to examine how vacant and underutilized land along VIA’s proposed rapid transit corridors could support up to 250,000 new housing units—without expanding the city’s footprint or displacing residents.

Open from December 9, 2025, through January 10, 2026, the exhibition presented the results of a year-long research effort through data analysis, spatial mapping, and design research. It documented the scale of vacant and underutilized land—including surface parking—across seven proposed transit corridors.

Large-format maps, diagrams, and typology-based design prototypes illustrated how incremental infill and adaptive reuse of commercial building types—strip malls, motels, drive-throughs, and big-box retail—can support medium-density, transit-oriented housing while maintaining existing uses.

Here are a few moments from an evening of data, design, and conversation.

Funding was provided by the SOM Foundation’s 2023 Research Prize, with additional support from the City of San Antonio, San Antonio Area Foundation, and the San Antonio Public Library.

Caine Publishes Book Chapter “Toward a New Narrative for the Automotive Strip"

Image: Springer Nature

Congratulations to Gregory Marinic, PhD and Pablo Meninato, PhD on the release of About Streets: Perspectives on Urbanism, Architecture, and Placemaking.

This 851-page tome just landed on my desk, and it’s an impressive contribution. I was glad to contribute a chapter, “Toward a New Narrative for the Automotive Strip,” which imagines a smaller, slower, and more local future for these increasingly obsolete roads.

From the publisher: Focusing on the street as a socio-spatial catalyst, this book fosters a comprehensive conversation on the past, present, and future of streets and public space. While 'the street' is commonly associated with urban form or the metropolitan context of social dynamics and design practices, this interdisciplinary anthology highlights that urban design challenges are global, multidimensional, and transcalar.

This critical survey of the city collects a broad scope of practices and phenomena in urbanism, architecture, activism, and participatory design. Individual chapters examine the histories, theories, geographies, architecture, and design of streets offering essential reading for scholars, professionals, students, and enthusiasts of urbanism, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, planning, geography, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, economics, and the arts.  Over 50 chapters, authored by an international and diverse group of leading academics, theorists, historians, and practitioners, expand the discourse on streets and public space.

I highly recommend picking up a copy!

SA+P Awards Ian Caine 2024-25 Faculty Community Engagement Award

I'm gratified to receive this year's Faculty Community Engagement Award from the UTSA School of Architecture + Planning, which recognizes our ongoing urban design collaborations with the City of Freeport and the City of San Antonio, Texas. These efforts resulted in the development of the Comprehensive Downtown Plan and the Downtown Historic Design Guidelines for the City of Freeport, Texas. They will also produce a fall exhibition on the topic of infill housing in San Antonio. Stay tuned for details!

I’m especially grateful to our funders, including the SOM Foundation and the City of San Antonio, for supporting this work and helping us translate research into public impact.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these initiatives!

Academy for Public Scholarship Announces 2025-26 Cohort

2025-26 ACSA Academy for Public Scholarship on the Building Environment Cohort. Image: ACSA.

Today, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) announced the 2025-26 cohort of the Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment. This year, twelve distinguished architecture faculty members have been selected to participate in this year’s program, which will focus on the timely and urgent theme of Housing Equity.

The Academy for Public Scholarship is designed to equip architecture faculty with the tools and training to engage broader audiences and bring academic knowledge into public discourse. Through a combination of virtual workshops, peer-to-peer exchange, and expert-led sessions, participants will strengthen their capacity to write, speak, and advocate as public scholars—translating their research into accessible, actionable contributions on issues that shape our cities and communities.

This is such a vital program, especially in today’s political climate. I'm excited to help administer this program in partnership with ACSA and my colleagues on the Research & Scholarship Committee, and I look forward to learning alongside this outstanding group of scholars over the coming year!

Now available: Navigating Funded Research and Creative Work in Schools of Architecture!

If you missed this discussion, you can still catch Navigating Funded Research and Creative Work in Schools of Architecture online! Hosted by Ian Caine and moderated by Corie Gracie Griffin, Director for Research with Penn State Sustainability, this dynamic panel brought together leading administrators to explore the challenges and opportunities of faculty-led funded research and creative work in architecture schools.

Thank you to the panelists, participants, and ACSA for the support!

Caine presents housing research at 2025 ACSA/AIA Intersections Conference

Designer Michael Bennett delivers keynote lecture at the 2025 ACSA/AIA Intersections Research Conference.

Ian Caine recently returned from the 2025 ACSA/AIA Intersections Research Conference: NEW HOUSING PARADIGMS in Austin. There, he presented a paper in the Radical Solutions: Radical Re-Use session titled A Taxonomy of Vacancy: Assessing the Capacity of Underutilized Commercial Strips to Absorb Infill Housing, which explored strategies to redevelop vacant land along commercial strips in San Antonio with multifamily housing. He also moderated the Ecology: Carbon Ecologies session, which highlighted innovative decarbonization strategies.

The conference featured inspiring keynotes, including this one from designer Michael Bennett. Many thanks to ACSA, AIA, and the UT Austin School of Architecture for hosting!

Center Presents Downtown Plan and Historic District Guidelines to Freeport City Leadership

Comprehensive Downtown Plan for City of Freeport, Texas. Image: CURPR

Downtown Historic District Design Guidelines for City of Freeport, Texas. Image: CURPR

UTSA’s Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research (CURPR) is proud to deliver the final Comprehensive Downtown Plan and Historic District Design Guidelines to the Mayor and City Council of Freeport, Texas. Freeport, a coastal city in Brazoria County with 10,696 residents, was founded in 1912 by the Freeport Sulphur Company and is now home to Dow Chemical Company's Texas Operations facility.

The plans were developed over nine months of close collaboration with Freeport residents, business leaders, and city officials. They offer a visionary framework addressing key areas such as historic preservation, economic development, infrastructure, ecology, land use, and housing. Featuring dozens of strategic initiatives, the plans also include an actionable implementation plan to help city leaders and residents transform these ideas into tangible results.

Key features include six Catalytic Projects and two Connecting Projects that will serve as the foundation for downtown Freeport’s economic, physical, and cultural revitalization. Additionally, the Historic District Guidelines safeguard Freeport’s architectural heritage while aligning preservation efforts with broader goals for sustainable growth and development.

The plan leverages Freeport’s rich Gulf Coast location, maritime heritage, industrial economy, and proximity to tourist destinations, balancing these strengths with a renewed commitment to preserve vital cultural heritage and increasingly fragile ecosystems.

CURPR sincerely thanks collaborators Post Oak Preservation Solutions, Gabriel Díaz Montemayor, Tom Tunstall, Wei Zhai, and graduate assistants Meesha Afkami, Andrea Albarrán Montes, Jacqueline Garcia, and Yaire Padilla, whose efforts were critical to this project. This work advances a thriving, resilient vision for Freeport’s future!

Ian Caine to Co-Chair National Research + Scholarship Committee

Image: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture

Ian Caine is excited to join colleague José Ibarra from the University of Colorado Denver as Co-Chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Research + Scholarship Committee.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the committee will continue advancing scholarship in climate action and social justice through the Academy for Public Scholarship in the Built Environment, launched last year. It will also focus on creating resources and programs to help faculty identify funding opportunities, build relationships with grantors, write successful grants, and foster collaborative research efforts.

CURPR Hosts Final Vision Session in Freeport to Advance Downtown and Historic District Plans

The first public visioning session allowed UTSA researchers to share progress with residents, stakeholders, and city officials. Image: Freeport Historical Museum

CURPR shared progress on the Downtown Comprehensive Plan and Historic District Design Guidelines. Image: Freeport Historical Museum

The Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research (CURPR) returned to Freeport, Texas, to lead the second of two planned public vision sessions. CURPR Director Ian Caine engaged residents and stakeholders, sharing updates on the evolving Comprehensive Downtown Plan and Historic Design Guidelines, slated for delivery to the City of Freeport in October.

Participants explored critical topics including historic preservation, economics, infrastructure, ecology, land use, and housing. The discussions provided CURPR with valuable input to refine the plans and make sure they reflect the community's vision and priorities.

CURPR thanks the residents and city officials who joined this collaborative effort, helping to shape a vibrant, sustainable future for Freeport while honoring its unique historical identity.

CURPR Hosts Vision Session in Freeport to Shape Downtown and Historic District Plans

The first public visioning session allowed UTSA researchers to leverage local knowledge and lived experience. Image: CURPR

Residents discuss the need to add and diversity downtown housing options. Image: CURPR

The Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research (CURPR) recently visited Freeport, Texas, to facilitate the first of two planned public vision sessions. Joined by Post Oak Preservation Solutions, CURPR Director Ian Caine engaged with residents and stakeholders to explore the future of the city's downtown and historic district through an inclusive community-driven process.

The session leveraged an interactive workshop format, with participants breaking into small groups to discuss key topics including historic preservation, infrastructure, mobility, and housing. Insights from these discussions will directly inform the emerging Comprehensive Downtown Plan and Historic Design Guidelines, which CURPR is set to deliver to the City of Freeport this September.

CURPR extends its thanks to residents and city officials who came out and participated in this collaborative effort to shape Freeport's future.

The next visioning session is set for July. We are looking forward to another great turnout!

SOM Foundation Awards 2023 Research Prize to UTSA Team Studying Housing

The taxonomy of vacancy will focus on seven commercial strips that align with VIA Metropolitan Transit's 2040 Long Range Plan for BRT and LRT. Image: Ian Caine

The research team will create a taxonomy of vacant or underutilized parcels, establishing parameters related to size, cost, zoning, location, and use. Image: Ian Caine, J. William Arch, Melanie Bartholomew, Devon Duffin, Phuoc Luu, Diana Rodriguez, Evey Santillan, Michelyn Smith

A University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) research team has been honored with the SOM Foundation’s 2023 Research Prize for its proposal titled "A Taxonomy of Vacancy: Are Underutilized Commercial Strips the Answer to San Antonio’s Housing Shortage?"

Led by Ian Caine, the team consists of Wei Zhai and Esteban López Ochoa from the UTSA School of Architecture + Planning, Rudy Niño, Jr. from the City of San Antonio, and Christine Quattro from Appalachian State University. The project explores how vacant or underused commercial parcels can be reimagined as multifamily housing. With a $40,000 grant from the SOM Foundation and additional support from the City of San Antonio, the team will combine data analysis and design thinking to develop innovative policies and typologies to address San Antonio’s housing crisis. This research coincides with broader efforts to accommodate a projected influx of over one million people into Bexar County, underscoring the urgency and relevance of the work.

This year’s jury included Iker Gil, Executive Director, SOM Foundation, Chicago; Carlos Bedoya, Cofounder, PRODUCTORA and Founding partner, LIGA, Space for Architecture, Mexico City; Johanna Hurme, Cofounder, 5468796 Architecture, Winnipeg; Lorcan O’Herlihy, Founding Principal and Creative Director, Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA], Los Angeles and Detroit; and Irene Sunwoo, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.