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.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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