NIMBYs
Facing a severe housing shortage, Washington, D.C. grapples with how to approach the challenges presented by local stakeholders who oppose any and all development.
WAMU
With several years of contentious political debates, many surrounding homelessness, ravaging Seattle, a writer attempts to explain how the politics of city building got so heated.
Crosscut
Blog post
Do shortages of infrastructure justify restrictive zoning?
Kanye had 45 days to submit plans for the unpermitted buildings built on his property in Calabasas, California. Instead, the rapper tore the buildings down.
TMZ
There's a new front in the city of L.A.'s ongoing conflict between anti-development forces and efforts to add density at and around transit.
Los Angeles Times
New research using the Terner Center California Residential Land Use Survey also connects demographic trends to housing development opposition.
Terner Center for Housing Innovation
Blog post
Gentrification is apparently quite rare—so why do urban affairs commentators devote so much time arguing about it?
Voters in Phoenix are already casting ballots in an election to be decided next week. Proposition 105 would end planned light extensions, and Proposition 106 would cap city spending.
Arizona Republic
Using a mid 20th-century painting as his point of reference, Benjamin Schneider points out that the vast, disruptive changes we often associate with San Francisco are only affecting the city's eastern side.
San Francisco Chronicle
New York City, which earlier this decade ago experienced wild controversy surrounding the addition of bike lanes and bikeshare to city streets, is once again faced with a battle of drivers versus bike lanes.
The New York Times
Reform of the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) is underway at the local level after a new state bill offered "safe harbor" under the law for a menu of land use and development reforms.
The Urbanist
Kanye West's first foray into the development business is off to an inauspicious start.
TMZ
Most of the reasons street trees are sometimes unpopular with residents are either untrue or can be mitigated.
PlanPhilly
New evidence reveals the deep involvement of Koch Industries funding in the Phoenix anti-light rail campaign.
Phoenix New Times
A scathing critique of city planning, and the special interests that hold the system in thrall, in New York City.
Gotham Gazette
Residential zoning has long been considered a local issue, but some presidential candidates have started weighing in on zoning and housing. Journalists, pundits, and researchers have plenty of complexity to examine as the debate changes venue.
KCRW
In a scathing response to arguments in favor of a "slow growth" ordinance in Lakewood, Colorado, Mike Eliason rebukes the idea that capping growth is a green policy.
Medium
Projects to add housing resources to help give homeless people a roof over the head have run into all sorts of public opposition—often times fueled by ignorance of how different kinds of homeless housing options work.
Voice of San Diego
A group called Safe Embarcadero for All is suing to block the construction of a homeless shelter on city-leased land across from piers 30-32 on the San Francisco waterfront.
San Francisco Chronicle
The Montgomery County Council is preparing to vote on an amendment that would loosen restrictions on the controversial building type known as accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
WAMU
