Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Density
Washington State is the latest example of a state that wants to preempt local planning law to make it easier to add housing units to single-family residential properties all over the states.
Sightline Institute
A recently published white paper written by the Seattle Planning Commission calls on the city to follow in the footsteps of the city of Minneapolis and the state of Oregon.
The Urbanist
A model of accessory dwelling unit reform will be under consideration this year in the Washington State Legislature.
Sightline Institute
The ranks of states considering or taking steps to override local control to allow new density in the residential neighborhoods of cities has swelled once again, this time with a state senator in Nebraska pitching statewide legislation.
1011 Now
Developers of a ski town in Utah are expanding the weekend tech conference into a village with permanent residents.
The Architect's Newspaper
The ambitious "Homes for All" plan would include upzoning as only one tool for addressing the acute housing affordability crisis in the state of Maryland.
CityLab
News broke yesterday that the dormant SB 50, a bill proposed last year by California State Senator Scott Weiner, has new life in the new year.
CALmatters
The Commonwealth of Virginia will consider a bill that would legalize duplexes in single-family zones throughout the state.
CityLab
Almost 90% of Arlington County land zones for residential use is reserved for single-family homes. Would adding missing middle housing in the form of duplexes and triplexes keep the price of housing in a more manageable range?
WAMU
Architects Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa discuss their new exhibit and the challenges to planning and building affordable, livable density in Southern California today.
The Planning Report
The city of Santa Rosa has made a concerted effort to plan for new development, but projects have yet to materialize.
San Francisco Chronicle
Cities looking to follow Minneapolis's lead in overturning the status quo of exclusionary zoning should consider "gentle density," according to this article.
Brookings
PBS NewsHour devoted a ten-minute news segment to the subject of the avant-garde of urban planning: the Minneapolis 2040 comprehensive plan.
PBS NewsHour
An article in The Urbanist suggests the ire over new developments is misplaced.
The Urbanist
Mountlake Terrace is the latest Seattle suburb to make substantial space for new development in anticipation of a forthcoming Link light rail line extending north of Seattle.
The Urbanist
Move over Minneapolis. An Indiana college town joins the avant-garde of planning innovation by nearing the finish line with a new Unified Development Ordinance that would allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes in single-family neighborhoods.
Hoosier Times
Even when fewer people live in sprawling suburban communities than dense urban communities, one of these settlement types has the benefit of being much cheaper to serve.
LSE US Centre
Blog post
Many jurisdictions have vehicle travel reduction targets. Integrated Smart Growth policies can help achieve these and other planning goals.
Low-density suburbs are on their way out, and the suburbs of the future will better address the present-day needs of the people living in them.
Common Edge
Feature
Thirty years after a seminal study attempted to connect increased density with decreased automobile use, several new studies are raising doubts about that central assumption of contemporary planning.
