Infill
Building Up the 'Zoning Buffer' to Increase Housing Supply Without Raising Land Values
New research helps explain why urban housing prices are escalating and how communities can increase affordability. It emphasizes the need to upzone sufficient urban land to create a large competitive market for parcels ready for infill development.
What Is Infill Development?
Billed as an alternative to urban sprawl, infill development encourages the development of underused or vacant land in existing urban areas to increase density and place new development near existing resources and infrastructure.
How the Iconic Dingbat Took Over Los Angeles
The low-slung, car-oriented apartment buildings represent a mid-century solution to a housing shortage and offer valuable lessons for new development.
The Housing Affordability Recipe
Smart policies can ensure that low- and moderate-income households can find suitable housing in good neighborhoods where transportation costs are low. The research is clear: upzoning works.
Seattle Has a Housing Crisis, Not a Land Crisis
Like many attractive, economically successful cities Seattle has a housing crisis, but not a land crisis. There is plenty of land if the city will just grow up.
A Critical Review of "Sick City: Disease, Race, Inequality and Urban Land"
Patrick Condon's new book, "Sick City: Disease, Race, Inequality and Urban Land" recommends tax reforms and housing subsidies to create more affordable and inclusive communities. It is attractive propaganda that deserves critical analysis.
What California Can Learn from France About Tackling a Housing Crisis
As California continues to grapple with staggering housing issues, France's experience offers lessons about the kinds of housing policies and strategies that work.
Don't Miss the Middle: The Critical Role of Moderate-Priced Housing to Affordability
To increase affordability communities should support moderate-priced housing development. This increases housing options for middle-income households, and for lower-income through filtering, as households move from low- to moderate-priced units.
On the Massive Carbon Savings of Gentle Density
A thought experiment compares the carbon impact of three new single family homes with the same block if it contained a duplex, a triplex, and a fourplex.
New Urbanists and New Housing
The Charter of the New Urbanism favors infill development, yet new urbanists sometimes oppose infill, especially in historic urban areas. This post speculates on why that might be the case.
Op-Ed: Seattle Merely 'Inching Forward' on ADUs
They're a good start. But compared to similar policies in cities like Portland and Vancouver, Seattle's new policies around accessory dwelling units may be lackluster.
Dynamic Planning for Affordability
Conventional planning is static, designed to lock in existing land use patterns. We need more dynamic planning to respond to changing household needs and community goals.
More Evidence of the Economic Upsides to Traffic
Because it forces infill and efficient transit, among other things, traffic is actually good per capita GDP and jobs.
Post-SB 827, California Addresses Infill and Local Planning
California State Sen. Ben Allen has authored SB 961 to finance optional neighborhood infill TOD districts, with support from fellow legislators. Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand is considering an initiative to protect local zoning.
True Affordability: Critiquing the International Housing Affordability Survey
The International Housing Affordability Survey rates affordability in selected urban regions. Although presented as objective research, the IHAS is actually propaganda. Users of this information should be warned about its biases
AIA: Demand for High-Density Development Is Down
For the first time in four years, a quarterly survey indicates “market saturation in urban areas.”
Boise Residents Revolt Over Planned CVS
A huge public response shows that the booming city is defining a new future with smart growth.
Dan Savage: Doing Something Real About Gentrification and Displacement
Urbanites' complaints about gentrification have much in common with suburbanites' complaints about commutes. Scarcity due to the ridiculous amount of land zoned for single-family housing deserves as much blame for displacement as gentrification.
YIMBYs Attacked from the (Far) Left
Pro-housing activists in San Francisco are blamed for displacement of vulnerable communities because they support luxury housing developments. A report from the independent progressive website, Truthout, ties YIMBYs to the "alt-right."
California Lawmakers Continue Push For More Affordable Housing
The author of California’s successful accessory dwelling unit legislation last year discusses this session's efforts, as well as the role of the state in determining local housing supply.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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