Zoning
Mark Vallianatos argues Los Angeles is still contending with the legacy 1920 era land use restrictions built on racist, exclusionary zoning policies, the remnants of which aren't worth saving.
Los Angeles Times
In an interview, urbanism scholar Emily Talen discusses what it would take to restore "main street principles" to American towns and cities. Understandably, small retailers play a big role.
Sidewalk Talk
A critical analysis of a proposal that would incrementally increase density in parts of Seattle.
Sightline Institute
A plan to rezone a stretch of Jerome Avenue in the Bronx is the fourth rezoning completed during the tenure of Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the first to visit the Bronx.
Commercial Observer
After the worst wildfire season ever, changes to local land use and state insurance rules essentially ensure that the same thing will happen again.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
An op-ed raises a damaging point to counter the California-style progressivism that opposes new housing development: "local control is actually bedrock conservatism."
East Bay Express
Can zoning be optimized with the help of machine learning algorithms to deliver the greatest possible good?
TechCrunch
Michigan voters decided that the Detroit City Council shouldn't have as much power to limit marijuana in their city, so the Detroit City Council shut it all down.
The Detroit Free Press
Richard Florida takes a look at a new report that traces the affordability crisis to cities' inability to densify their older, inner suburbs.
CityLab
Passion for urban planning, love of South Central LA communities, and historical background of the neighborhoods combine in this personal account by Jonathan P. Bell of community-based zoning enforcement.
UrbDeZine
A piecemeal, reactive approach to historic preservation in the capital may burden the future with too many buildings of "middling merit."
Greater Greater Washington
Even in liberal states like California, government-sanctioned residential segregation persisted in the 20th century. In a recent talk in L.A., Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, charged planners with undoing this shameful legacy.
California Planning & Development Report
A local resident reviews an important new neighborhood plan in Austin from a pro-development and livability perspective.
Austin On Your Feet
A statewide zoning reform bill that made it part of the way through the Massachusetts State Legislature in 2016 is back up for consideration this year.
The Boston Globe
This list is a wishlist of the most ambitious possible YIMBY political platform.
Urbanize LA
A lawsuit challenges a law in Washington, D.C. that prevents the conversion of full-service gas stations into any other kind of commercial or residential land use.
WAMU
The powers, and the limitations, of zooming are explained in a series of posts on Greater Greater Washington.
Greater Greater Washington
Earlier this month, the Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously on a revised zoning code that lets builders forgo parking citywide.
Streetsblog USA
Blog post
The concept of "eyes on the street" is relevant to a wide variety of neighborhoods, not just the low-rise urban areas that Jane Jacobs wrote about.
Zoning ordinances are one of the most powerful ways local governments regulate development, and they should work to implement the policies in a Comprehensive Plan Update.
PlanIt - Metropolitan Council
