Upzoning

Is Mass Timber the Solution to California's Housing Crisis?
One writer argues that cost, versatility and visual appeal makes this new building material exactly what the state will need if planned regulatory changes go through.

Minneapolis Draft Comprehensive Plan Would Allow Fourplexes in Single-Family Neighborhoods
If the rezoning of single-family neighborhoods succeeds in Minneapolis as part of its ongoing Comprehensive Plan process, we could be looking at one of the most ambitious pro-development zoning schemes in the country.

Amendments Proposed for California's Landmark Pro-Housing Development Legislation
Amendments are circulating for one of the most-closely watched, and passionately debated, pieces of housing legislation in the country.

Property Owners Jostle for Deals After Midtown East Rezoning
A flurry of air rights purchases have already begun as large property owners take advantage of Midtown East's upzoning. Some big names include JPMorgan Chase and the Archdiocese of New York.

Mapping All the Transit Corridors Targeted for Upzoning Under California's SB 827
SB 827, announced last week by California State Senator Scott Wiener, would revoke density maximums, parking minimums, and set permissive height limits along transit corridors all over the state.

Study: New York Suburbs Need to Zone for Higher Density Transit Oriented Development
The Regional Plan Association released a new study that recommends steps toward higher density transit oriented development in transit adjacent communities around the New York region. The study also teases a big release coming later this month.

Controversy Follows Proposed Midtown East Plan
A very public spat over proposed Midtown East plan took place in the pages of Crain's this week.
Austin Neighborhood Objects to Proposed Transect Zone
The CodeNext project of updating the city of Austin's zoning code and land use policies has faced a controversial and protracted period of public scrutiny. The Allandale neighborhood provides a case study.

Seattle Tackling Equity Challenges With Global Lens
Seattle is faced with an affordable housing crisis that has led the new Planning & Community Development Director Sam Assefa to look globally for solutions.

Progressives Against Housing
In Zoned Out!, Tom Angotti, of City University New York (CUNY) tries to make the case against upzoning New York's neighborhoods (or at least its poorer ones).

Planning and Zoning for Growth: A Few Lessons from Los Angeles
C.J. Gabbe guest blogs about a recent article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Rezoning Coming to East Harlem
New York City has commenced a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in the neighborhood of East Harlem. This would be the second rezoning toward Mayor de Blasio's goal for 15 rezonings.

Seattle Upzones its Urban Core
A large swatch of downtown and an adjacent neighborhood can develop taller and denser after the Seattle City Council approved zoning changes this week.

Surveying Developers for Answers to New York City's Housing Crunch
Developers have a lot of opinions about how to fix New York's housing market (probably not a surprise) and not all of them consider themselves to be evil (maybe a little bit of a surprise).

Land Prices and New Housing
Some commentators argue that even if cities allow housing supply to expand, more permissive zoning will cause land prices to increase, causing rents to rise rather than fall. This post disagrees.

Op-Ed: Environmentalists Must Fight for Density
Members of the Sierra Club and the Young Democrats of University of Washington come together to advocate more dense zoning in one of Seattle's most transit accessible neighborhoods.

Seattle Could Upzone its Way to Affordability
Seattle is considering a proposal to upzone some of the densest parts of the city as part of its Mandatory Housing Affordability program.

Mapping L.A.'s Zoning Changes Finds Little Room for Upzoning
A new study makes a visual case against the narrative that spot zoning and a broken development approval process are running roughshod over the entire city.

Denver Suburbs Preparing for a Transit-Oriented Future
With a slew of new rail transit lines opening on the FasTracks system, Denver-area suburbs are readying their development environments for transit-oriented opportunities.

Op-Ed: Upzonings Hurting Affordability More Than Helping in Vancouver
Zoning for new housing supply isn't the answer to Vancouver's housing affordability crisis, according to an editorial in the Vancouver Sun. In fact, it might only be making the problem worse.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)