The city of Milwaukee will require new commercial developments to include a 15-foot "street frontage zone" to encourage walking.
"As more and more apartment buildings take hold across Milwaukee, the Department of City Development (DCD) is updating the zoning code to clarify how the first floor should be designed," reports Jeramey Jannene.
"A new policy will require that street-activating uses, be it [sic] an apartment lobby, fitness center, community room or commercial space, be at least 15 feet deep," adds Jannene.
The changes to the city's frontage requirements will impact most developments on commercial corridors, depending on the zoning designation of the development.
"The Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee unanimously approved the change as part of an omnibus update to the city’s zoning code," according to Jannene. The article cites a 2015 article by Laura Bliss in making the case for the walkability effects of first-floor design requirements.
Read the full story: City Adjusts Zoning for First Floor Design
Zoning Code Update Makes the Nightly News in Cleveland
The potential of form-based codes to re-legalize the historic fabric of Cleveland is explained for the nightly news audience.
Planning for Love, Part 3: Enhancing human connection through walkability
In the third and final installment of this series, author Hannah Kosoff examines what her research findings say about modern dating and urban form.
Planning for Love, Part 2: What happens to dating in a car-centric world?
A survey of over 150 adults about their dating lives reveals stark differences based on their neighborhood's walkability.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello