Land Use

Review: Neighborhood Defenders
A new book explains why people object to new housing in their neighborhoods, and whether these "neighborhood defenders" are representative of the public as a whole.

Missing Middle Zoning Reform Advances in the Vermont Legislature
The Vermont State Senate voted unanimously to approve legislation that would reduce barriers to more compact residential development. The Vermont House of Representatives is up next.

The Untapped Resources to Add Hundreds of Thousands of New Housing Units
A new report explores the untapped housing opportunities for the region around New York City, and suggests planning tools for adding hundreds of thousands of housing units without building hundreds of thousands of new buildings.

Structural Racism in the Zoning Code
A pair of articles from the Twin Cities, revealing the racist motivations of exclusionary zoning.

New Development Code in the Works for Piqua, Ohio
A southwest Ohio city is updating its development code in response to a desire in the community to better protect the city's existing communities.

New York Updating its Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
Vision 2030 will update the award winning Vision 2020 New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan.

What Is Urban Planning?
Urban planning is the most common term used in the contemporary United States to describe the professional and academic field of planning, but understanding the implications of the term requires a discussion about the history of the word urban and the changing politics of planning.

Chicago's New Approach to Air Quality Includes Zoning Changes
Improved air quality can help achieve equitable economic growth, according to Chicago's newly announced Air Quality Agenda.

Friday Funny: Al Fresco on the Freeway
Fake news site The Onion imagines the logical result of car-centric planning during a pandemic.

Hired From Short-Term Rental Industry, New Land Use Head Will Also Lead Economic Development in NOLA
New Orleans is attempting a "major paradigm shift" in marrying land use control with economic development goals.

The Equity Case for Upzoning Wealthy Neighborhoods
New York City has completed a series of rezoning processes focused mostly on lower-income areas in the city. Here's what it would take to upzone wealthier parts of the city, and why the city should make it happen.

'Accessory Commercial Units' for a 15-Minute City
A Portland, Oregon urban planner is pitching the idea of ACUs, or accessory commercial units, as a means of repairing the effects of excluding retails uses from residential neighborhoods.

Lockdown Benefits Urban Farmers In Paris
Pandemic induced lockdown kept Parisians within 1 km of their homes during lockdown, benefiting urban farmers and advocates for a diversified local food supply.

Agrihoods: Futureproofing the Cities of America
The development and planning team behind Middlebrook Farm in Iowa explains how the master-planned community balances productive farmland with new community development.

Well Done, Kiwis! New Zealand Delivers Big Planning Policy Reforms
New Zealand’s new national urban development policy prohibits parking minimums and increases allowable building heights near transit stations. This is a watershed moment for the country’s cities and towns.

Trump Finally Follows Through on Threat to Gut Obama-Era Fair Housing Rule
It's not clear if President Trump is aware that his administration has been working to rescind the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule since 2018, but he's recently doubled down on messaging that pit suburbs against the Fair Housing Act.

A Tale of Two Real Estate Markets
Hotels, retail, and office properties, along with renters, have been ravaged by the economic downturn of the pandemic. Meanwhile home sales are booming as people with money in the bank take advantage of low interest rates to upgrade.

New Zealand Eliminates Parking Minimums and Height Limits to Increase Urban Infill
Once again, New Zealand shows the way! The national government's new urban development policy will eliminate off-street parking requirements and remove low height-limits near transit stations to encourage more efficient infill development.

NYC Rezoning Plan Reinstated Despite Lack of Racial Impact Analysis
The New York Appellate Division's First Department made short work of a ruling that reinstated the Inwood NYC Action Plan, which a lower court dismissed in December 2019.

The Great Debate: Will the Pandemic Alter the Course of Urbanism?
The geography for the coronavirus has changed, but most of the debate about the future of cities continues along many of the same lines as in the early months of the pandemic.
Pagination
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