A plan included in New York Gov. Andre Cuomo's draft 2022 budget will make it easier to do adaptive reuse for new housing in New York City.

"For the next five years, certain New York City building owners may be able to get around some local zoning rules to convert properties to residential use," reports Kathryn Brenzel.
If enacted, owners of hotels with fewer than 150 rooms, other forms of temporary lodging, and class B and C office buildings in Midtown could "avoid local zoning restrictions related to light and air requirements for residential conversions," according to Brenzel. The ability to avoid zoning restrictions would contingent on commitments to set aside 20 percent of the new housing units as affordable, or as supportive housing.
Valerie Campbell, a partner at Kramer Levin who focuses on land use issues, is quoted in the article predicting that the proposed incentives would make it much easier and faster to complete adaptive reuse projects in New York.
More details on the geographic limitations of the incentives and the history of similar incentives for adaptive reuse in the state are included in the source article.
Declining demand for office space as a result of the pandemic is fueling the move to make it easier to convert hotel and office uses to residential, as predicted in an article by Edie Small for the same publication in March 2020.
FULL STORY: State proposes zoning override for commercial-to-resi conversions

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.

New White House Housing Initiative Includes Zoning Reform Incentives
The Biden administration this morning released a new program of actions intended to spur housing construction around the United States.

Study: Most of Vancouver Is a ‘15-Minute City’
A large majority of Vancouver residents can access a grocery store in 15 minutes or less by bicycle or on foot.

Urban Design, Transport, and Health
The Lancet medical journal published a series of articles that explore how to evaluate and guide urban planning decisions to create healthy and sustainable cities. Live long and prosper!

Detroit Bike Share Celebrates Five Years
In its five years of operation, Detroit’s MoGo bikeshare has added electric and adaptive bikes to its fleet of more than 600 bikes.
Urban Planning Partners
Sandy City
Ada County Highway District
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
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.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.