On Charlesgate East, a developer is converting two Emerson College dormitories into residential rental units. Another developer has proposed a new residential high rise next to the Colonnade Hotel on Huntington Avenue, also to be used for rentals. Two other development proposals have also been floated: one for a residential development at the apex of Huntington and Blagden Street (immediately behind the Boston Public Library), a second for a development at Battery Wharf in the North End.

There is a theme to these projects that is exciting and bodes well: the renaissance of Boston as a residential city.

In recent years, Boston has seen little in the way of residential development. For twenty years, residents have been fleeing the city, scared by concerns for public safety and a disastrous public school system. The city’s residential population, 641,071 in 1970, declined to 601,095 in 1980 and then to 574,283 in 1990. At the same time, Boston’s rent control laws, now repealed, acted as a virtual block on new rental development, putting off investors who feared the city would try to extend rent control’s reach to touch any projects they might develop.

Admittedly, the location of each project means that they will be higher-priced rentals, out of reach of those with average or below average incomes. Some greet this with dismay, arguing that development of higher-priced rental units will increase rental prices around the city, thereby reducing the availability of affordable housing.

The reverse is true. Collectively, these projects will add 625 rental units to the city’s housing stock. The result will be Economics 101 in action: an increase in the supply of residential units will mean that average prices will drop.

There are other benefits as well. Because they are new uses, the new projects escape Proposition 2 ½’s tax limitations, and their full value is added to the city’s tax base. (Particularly welcome is the conversion of nontaxable dormitory space to taxable rental space.) The increase in revenues can be used to fund basic services or to help reduce the tax burden citywide. In addition, of course, any construction-related developments create jobs, both in the short-term during construction and in the long-term via the staffing needed to manage the developments.

Any particular development needs to be evaluated on its own merits, of course. The two projects on Charlesgate East have received overwhelming support from the community and now have all of the approvals needed to proceed forward. The Colonnade project is more troubling; while the community supports some sort of development, the current 25-story proposal is looked upon with trepidation by the St. Botolph neighborhood. The other projects are too new to judge.

But in general this is a good phenomenon. The challenge for city officials is to take this beginning and expand upon it. It’s no secret that some neighborhoods are more attractive than others. Our task is to create the conditions that will encourage a renaissance in all of Boston’s neighborhoods, not just a few.