Land Use

The Promise of Urban Food Forests
Planting food-producing trees can offer both shade and a source of healthy foods in concrete-dominated neighborhoods.

DC Issues Draft Adaptive Reuse Regulations
A proposed tax abatement program would promote the conversion of office buildings to housing.

Atlanta Eliminates Parking Mandates Near BeltLine
Developments near the city’s popular greenway will no longer be subject to minimum parking requirements to make way for more effective development.

Pittsburgh To Develop Comprehensive Plan
The city voted to spend $6 million on a plan to address future development.

Des Moines Plans to Repurpose Downtown Parking Lots
City officials want to encourage the redevelopment of underused surface parking lots.

Assessing Houston’s ‘Climate Abandonment Areas’
Most of the census tracts designated at high risk of flooding are in less affluent neighborhoods.

A Survey of Texas Zoning Reform
Zoning changes at the local and state levels are making it easier and faster to build housing.

Proposed Legislation Targets Arizona Housing Crisis
A series of state bills address barriers to housing production including parking minimums and ADUs.

Opinion: Austin Zoning Reform Won’t Have Major Impact
Despite heated controversy, some experts believe the zoning changes made last year won’t make a significant dent in the local housing crisis.

How a National Zoning Atlas Can Clarify a Legal Patchwork
A massive effort is underway to compile local zoning regulations and other laws that impact how and where housing is built.

Revitalizing Suburban Office Space
Suburban office buildings are also losing tenants, but face some unique challenges compared to their urban counterparts.

Walkability Report Ranks NYC #1; Others May Surprise You
More surprising entries on the list include Houston and Los Angeles.

Church Housing Movement Takes Hold in Virginia
A Richmond-based congregation plans to build over 200 units on its property, and a proposed state law could lead to more projects like it.

Boston Cap Park Closer to Reality
The proposed Dorchester Greenway would create a new linear park above part of the Red Line subway.

California Housing Advocates Closely Watching Bay Area Rezoning Deadline
California’s reaction to cities that fail to submit compliant zoning plans could reverberate across the state as other regions near their deadlines.

Minnesota Legislator Proposes Parking Reform Bill
The bill would build on nationwide momentum to eliminate minimum parking requirements.

What Happens to Defunct Solar Plants?
In most states, solar companies are required to provide an end-to-end plan for solar power installations.

Ohio Pastor Criminally Charged for Zoning Violations After Housing the Homeless in His Church
The city of Bryan says it’s a residential use in a commercially zoned property; the church says it’s religious discrimination.

Office Conversions at Record High
The number of office-to-residential adaptive reuse projects in the works for 2024 is four times as high as in 2021.

Montana Land Use Reform Overhauls Public Participation Rules
In a bid to streamline housing permits, new state legislation limits public input to the land use planning stage.
Pagination
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Planning for Universal Design
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Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont