At last week's Municipal Art Society Summmit in New York City, one panel of experts attempted to answer just that. Neither overbearing zoning rules, contextual zoning, or the current environmental review process was left untouched.
Noah Kazis provides a recap:
"Each of the panelists endorsed a move toward what moderator Vicki Been, a professor at the NYU Law School, called the 'Vegas principle' of zoning: 'What happens in the building, stays in the building.' Zoning, they argued, should be more concerned with how buildings meet the public realm or impact public infrastructure than what people choose to do inside their property. 'There's nothing unsafe about having a business on the same floor as an apartment, if the people in the building agree to it,' said Michael Kwartler, a national expert on planning who helped write the zoning laws for midtown Manhattan."
FULL STORY: Planning Experts Call for an Overhaul of NYC Zoning Rules

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
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