Santa Cruz is encouraging infill by offering blueprints for seven prototype accessory dwelling units.
"Like many desirable places to live, Santa Cruz, California, suffers from a lack of affordable housing. But in recent years the city, located 70 miles south of San Francisco, has initiated an impressive program to combat the problem by promoting Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), or "granny flats," on single-family lots. For years the state of California has been pushing its municipalities to loosen restrictions on ADUs, seeing them as a low-cost way to accommodate surging population growth without increasing sprawl. But the Santa Cruz program--which recently won an AIA award for urban planning--goes several steps further in its embrace of the humble garage conversion."
Read the full story: The Granny Flat Grows Up
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
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.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
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.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association