Central Falls, RI is a small, high density city, that extends the Providence conurbation to the north of the city proper. At 1.29m2, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S. but has a very low homeownership rate. The Central Falls Redevelopment Agency has been coordinating an effort to create owner-occupied affordable housing on vacant parcels in the city - parcels that are small, oddly shaped, steeply sloped, or are otherwise difficult to develop, and have therefor remained vacant up until now.
While serving as the Director of the Central Falls Redevelopment Agency, Peter Friedrichs led staff efforts to achieve development on these vacant proposals. Small local architectural firms were engaged to develop housing designs to achieve the Agency’s goals. Two of the designs were featured in the book Vacant Providence, which accompanied an exhibit at the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.