Land Use

'Housing an Inclusive Denver' Plan Approved
The city of Denver has a new five-year housing plan, but the details of housing spending will still play out during an annual process.

Seattle Considering a Sweeping Parking Reform Package
There are a lot of ways to "right-size" parking, as the city of Seattle is showing with an ordinance under consideration by a City Council committee today.

Inclusionary Zoning Under the Microscope as Housing Development Declines
An inclusionary zoning case study is emerging in Portland. Even if inclusionary zoning isn't broken, it might still need a fix, say local planners.

Two Transit Agencies Using Their Clout to Spur Affordable Housing
More transit agencies are recognizing that it's not enough to build transit infrastructure if the people who really need it don't live close enough to use it.

A Small Zoning Change With a Big Effect
The city of Lexington, Kentucky recently amended its B-6P zone, which regulates "Planned Shopping Centers."

How Sidewalks Literally Sideline the Pedestrian
Plenty of sidewalks stand in need of improvement, and many aren't there at all. But they're also a symbol of the automobile's engineered dominance of our roads.
Technology and Today's 'City Observed'
Computer vision and machine learning promise to change the way we see and understand urban life.

How About a 'Climate Change National Park'?
One of the nuggets included in the Regional Plan Association's Forth Plan, released in late 2017, is a proposal to create a national park out of the New Jersey Meadowlands.
State Affordable Housing Policies as Sprawl Enabler
A critique of New Jersey's housing policies lends historical perspective before taking an unexpected rhetorical turn.

The World's Most Iconic Architecture, Brought to You By Taxes and Regulation
How many now-classic design features are actually tax-avoidance strategies?

New York Parking Pilot Favors Car Share
New York is the latest city that will prioritize shared uses when it divvies up public parking spaces.

Hispanic Families Left Behind in the Central Texas Boom
A new report shows the need for Central Texas counties and cities to invest in their Latino populations.

Detroit Approves Moratorium on New Marijuana Dispensaries
Michigan voters decided that the Detroit City Council shouldn't have as much power to limit marijuana in their city, so the Detroit City Council shut it all down.

How Urban Planning Is Changing in the 21st Century
Thanks to innovative advancements in permeable pavements and vertical farming, modern urban planning takes an action-oriented approach that retains its traditional focus of meeting residential needs.

The Invisible Hand That Designed Your City
Years of subtle changes to land use and zoning have slowly become the invisible forces that shape our behavior, whether we realize it or not.

Dormant Inner Suburbs and the Affordability Crisis
Richard Florida takes a look at a new report that traces the affordability crisis to cities' inability to densify their older, inner suburbs.

Unexpected 'Airbnb Ban' in Detroit's Residential Neighborhoods Causes a Stir
Somehow the city of Detroit managed to start enforcing an Airbnb ban in single-family neighborhoods without anyone realize the council had approved the regulation.

Bay Area Design Challenge Takes On Sea Level Rise
For the next several months, nine sites will be the focus of efforts to design for resilience as sea levels rise. Proposals involve "threading nature back into an urbanized terrain."

Changes to Parking Requirements Made Big Impact on Minneapolis
Five years ago, Minneapolis rolled back parking requirements near transit. Since then, construction is up, rents are down, and the look of projects in these places has changed.

Housing Limits Potentially on the Ballot in Colorado
A ballot initiative is moving forward in Colorado that would severely limit housing production in the already housing-constrained Front Range region. We're not talking about urban growth boundaries here.
Pagination
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Fort Worth
planning NEXT
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie