Building Codes
DC energy efficiency rule requires buildings to upgrade their infrastructure or face millions in fines
Building owners and condo co-op members say the upgrades are often prohibitively expensive.
New Maryland housing laws protect developers from mid-project rule changes, encourage TOD
The laws allow developers to withhold certain fee payments from cities and counties until projects are underway to prevent delays due to code changes.
NYC Puts 250 Most Distressed Apartment Buildings on Enhanced Oversight List
The city’s Alternative Enforcement Program prioritizes buildings with the most unaddressed code violations, allowing the city to make repairs where needed.
Florida Lawmakers to Reconsider 2024 Law Blocking Local Resilience Efforts
Legislators are proposing changes to a bill that froze all local land use and building code changes, including those designed to reduce risks from flooding and hurricanes.
Single-Stair Design Contest Envisions Human-Scale Buildings
Single-stair building construction is having a resurgence in the United States, where, for the last several decades, zoning codes have required more than one staircase in multi-story housing developments.
Dallas Code Reform Makes Way for Missing Middle Housing
The Dallas City Council voted to change the city’s building code to allow up to eight residential units in three-story buildings.
Homeowners Blame PG&E for Delays in ADU Permits
The utility says it has dramatically reduced its backlog, but applicants say they still face months-long delays for approvals for new electrical work.
Single-Stair Reform Gains Strength
The movement to legalize single-stair multi-story buildings is gathering momentum, with the typology offering a more efficient, flexible, and healthy way to build housing.
A Guide to Regulating Adaptive Reuse
How building codes and zoning laws can guide the safe and effective conversion of existing properties to residential units.
California Building Code to Add Bike Parking Requirements
Convenient and secure bike parking can make a major impact on whether people adopt biking as a daily transportation option.
Berkeley Voters to Decide on Building Gas Tax
The city could tax large buildings that use gas in lieu of enacting a law that would have banned gas-powered buildings altogether.
Op-Ed: Making Housing More Affordable Through Modular Construction
A relatively minor change to the federal government’s regulations on modular construction could bring down the cost of building and deploying modular housing to more communities facing housing shortages.
Chicago Looks to Boulder Landlord Registry as a Model for Tenant Protections
Unlike the Colorado city, where code violations in rental housing are quickly identified and fixed, Chicago lacks a robust system of inspection and enforcement.
California First in the Nation to Limit Embodied Carbon in Buildings
California’s Building Code accomplished a first-in-the-nation step to mitigate carbon emissions from the construction and maintenance of buildings, by limiting embodied carbon in some commercial and school buildings.
Rooftop Solar Hampered by New York City Fire Code
Requirements in the NYFD fire code make it costly and difficult to achieve the city’s solar installation goals.
How a Staircase Requirement Can Impact Housing Affordability
Critics of the double-staircase mandate for multi-story buildings argue that it does little to improve fire safety while raising the costs of housing construction and limiting community interaction.
Industry Continues to Push Back Against Carbon-Slashing Building Codes
The battle over the efficiencies and infrastructure required in building codes continues.
Colorado Springs Drafts New Regional Annexation Plan
A regional planning proposal in El Paso County, Colorado calls for uniform standards for unincorporated developments, which would make it easier to receive city services if annexed in the future.
Industry Wins a Round Over Building Efficiency Requirements
New regulations prohibit cities from enacting stricter efficiency standards in new buildings.
Los Angeles Streamlines ADU Permits with High-Design Templates
Los Angeles' ADU Standard Plan Program will offer homeowners a set of pre-approved designs that will save them time and money.
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.
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
