Housing
Seattle Densification Strategy: Build Apartments Without Parking
Not just any apartments, only those served by frequent transit. Developers will still have a "mobility" requirement: In lieu of a parking space, they'll need to provide tenants with transit passes and memberships in car and bikeshare services.
Building the Inclusive City
Income inequality, housing affordability, and residential segregation are big challenges that require more self-critical analysis and less civic self-promotion.
Seattle Zealously Protects Its Parkland
Based on a history of park-friendly ordinances, Seattle parks and urban forests are largely off-limits to developers. Landowners who flout these regulations must provide the city with an adjacent and equivalent parcel.
Affordable Housing Strikes Back
Has George Lucas discovered the ultimate anti-NIMBY weapon? Hint: It's not a lightsaber
Housing Market Finally Improves for Country's Poorest Renters
New data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that the rental market is improving for the most at-risk populations in the country.
Highlights from CNU 23 Dallas
Having just wrapped up a great CNU in Dallas, April 29 through May 2, a collection of urbanists share some of the ideas that resonated the most.
California Drought Watch: Residential Builders Fear Moratoriums
Home builders fear bans on connections of homes to water systems, issued from the state and cities, will increase next month when Gov. Jerry Brown's new water mandates take effect June 1.
Welcome To Our Neighborhood: A Manifesto for Inclusivity
Housing policy is not just about houses, it is also about people, and the determination of who may live in a community. We challenge communities to proclaim, “Yes in our backyard! We welcome new neighbors. We favor more diversity.”
Focus on Affordability at APA National Conference
For all the discussion about affordable housing at the APA National Conference in Seattle last week, clear solutions have yet to emerge. Polycentric regional planning is one long-term goal.
Sun Belt Remains Destination of Choice for Migrants
Census Bureau data indicates that the shift to Sun Belt suburbs is still the majority preference. Turns out warmth, jobs, and affordable housing are a powerful triumvirate.
Oregon Moves to Lift Inclusionary Zoning Ban
By a vote split (nearly) down the party line, the Oregon House passed a bill to end state restrictions on inclusionary zoning. Municipalities may soon be able to require below-market pricing.
A New 'Livability Index' to Help Americans Age in Place
Following on research findings produced a year ago, AARP announced the release of its Livability Index earlier this week at the APA National Planning Conference.
Music Clubs in S.F. Fight for Right to Party
Local ordinances typically try to protect residents from excess noise. In San Francisco, though, a city official is proposing policies that would protect the right of musical acts to keep rocking despite the encroachment of new neighbors.
Op-Ed: End the Excuses for Lack of Housing Construction
An op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that the endless negotiations over new residential developments—including over the inclusion of affordable housing units—hurts the city's housing market.
Airbnb and Affordable Housing
Does apartment-sharing reduce regional housing supply? Probably not very much.
Greed Revealed in the Manufactured Housing Industry
A company owned by Berkshire Hathaway has been been indulging in some of the same tactics that led to the larger housing crisis about ten years ago.
Report: Downzoning Fails Demographics on Chicago's Northside
Lakeview, on the North Side of Chicago lost one percent of its total households between 2000 and 2011, while its population grew 11 percent. That means more families, but according to a new report, the neighborhood might need new zoning to keep up.
NYC Public Housing Still in Grim Shape
Public housing doesn't suffer the derision that it used to, but housing agencies remain strapped. Critics and residents contend that the New York City Housing Authority, the largest landlord of them all, continues to let down the city's neediest.
How Cities Are Regulating the Sharing Economy
Compiled from interviews conducted with city officials, this National League of Cities report gives us a regulator's-eye-view of the sharing economy. Among the topics discussed are equity, taxation, and data transparency.
Seattle's Homeless Population Is Booming Too
While rates of homelessness drop elsewhere, tents and cardboard are becoming a very regular sight in Seattle. New wealth and newly unaffordable housing may be twin culprits.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
