Land Use

How Design Can Help Mitigate Extreme Heat
To prepare for hotter summers, designers and architects can build resilience into the urban environment.

Want Less Traffic and More Parking? Start Charging for It!
Cities often fail to effectively manage parking—and the public pays for it.

Sacramento Council Approves Upzoning Proposal
If given final approval, the plan would increase the allowable floor area ratio to permit denser housing development in single-family neighborhoods and near transit.

Green Spaces Benefit Neighborhoods—When Residents can Reach Them
A study comparing green space and walkability scores found that, without effective access to local parks, residents of greener neighborhoods don’t reap the health benefits.

Eugene Ends Parking Minimums
In a move that complies with a state law aimed at reducing transportation emissions, Eugene amended its parking rules to eliminate minimum requirements and set maximum parking lot sizes.

Alexandria Passes Zoning Reform
The city is one of a growing list to eliminate single-family zoning.

Montgomery County Moves to Eliminate Parking Mandates
The council unanimously supported a proposal to remove minimum parking requirements near for developments near transit.

Op-Ed: Why NYC Needs a Comprehensive Plan
The city’s congestion pricing program could change transportation and land use in radical ways. A comprehensive plan would make the most of those changes.

San Diegans at Odds Over ‘Granny Towers’
A provision in the city’s ADU ordinance allows developers to build an essentially unlimited number of units on single-family lots.

The Rise of Zoning Reform
As the housing affordability crisis spread from mainly coastal cities to the rest of the nation, cities and states are taking a serious look at outdated zoning codes that hamper efforts to build more housing.

Seattle Council Rejects Transportation Impact Fee
Councilmembers who opposed the proposal say the fee would have slowed housing development and raised housing costs.

Magical Thinking and NIMBYism
Comparing different types of NIMBYism and where they go wrong.

Newark Announces Supplemental Zoning Board
The temporary board will help speed up the application review process during a development boom.

New TOD Breaks Ground in Atlanta Area
The project will include over 500 housing units, commercial and retail space, and park spaces.

Durham Eliminates Parking Requirements
Another domino has fallen in the parking reform movement.

It’s That Time of Year: #BlackFridayParking
An annual social media project underscores just how much parking goes unused, even on the busiest shopping days.

Mixed-Use Project Planned for Southeast Atlanta Neighborhood
A nonprofit-led housing development will include 72 housing units and retail space.

Audit Reveals Utah’s Housing Shortage
The state must build 28,000 housing units each year to keep up with a growing need.

Fort Worth Amends Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Industrial Zone
After residents protested the size and location of a proposed industrial growth zone, the city council voted to adopt an amended version of the plan.

El Paso Zoning Changes Could Bring Opportunity—or Displacement
Some residents feared proposed zoning reforms aimed at redressing historic injustices could harm residents in the short term.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions