Many scholars and housing activists view market forces and housing affordability as mutually antagonistic: Either a community remains affordable for its low-income residents, or it attracts capital investment, development, and growth. If there is a way out of this fundamental contradiction, Boston's Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) has found it.

The strong organizing base of the DSNI has created a unique, resident-driven model of planning. This is in stark contrast to the conventional path through which city government develops a master plan before seeking community input. The DSNI is recognized as an example of bottom-up mobilizing that succeeded in getting attention from local and state government, local and national foundations, and a federal government that has grown enamored with local self-help "best practices."

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