Zoning Reform
Commentary: Minimum Lot Sizes Drive Up Housing Costs
How making residential building requirements more flexible can ease the housing crisis and make neighborhoods more livable for more households.
Analysis: Localized Upzoning Less Effective
Changing zoning rules for a small number of parcels can increase land values and housing costs without boosting the housing supply.
NYC Likely to Legalize ADUs as Part of ‘City of Yes’ Reforms
Homeowners in some neighborhoods could soon be able to build accessory dwelling units in their backyards, garages, or basements.
Office Conversion Sees No Sign of Slowing
The adaptive reuse of office buildings for residential and other uses will grow by as much as 63 percent in 2024 over last year.
Portland, Maine to Revise Zoning Code
The ReCode initiative promotes more diverse housing types and reduces parking requirements, among other changes.
New Jersey Calls for 85,000 New Housing Units
A state law known as the Mount Laurel Doctrine mandates that each jurisdiction accommodate enough new housing units to meet the local demand for affordable housing.
Zoning for Good
A new book highlights the power of zoning to change communities for the better.
Pittsburgh Mayor Proposes Zoning Changes to Curb Housing Shortage
The mayor’s plan includes legalizing ADUs in single-family neighborhoods, eliminating parking requirements, and adding new affordability requirements to buildings with over 20 units.
Court Blocks Arlington County Zoning Reform
The county’s zoning reform plan would have promoted ‘missing middle housing’ types of up to six units on lots previously zoned for single-family housing.
Dallas Approves Forward Dallas Comprehensive Plan Upgrade
The approval came with a raft of amendments, including one that calls for a reevaluation of the plan after five years.
‘City of Yes’ Zoning Reform Gains Planning Commission Approval
The proposal to overhaul New York City’s zoning code, popular with voters, to make housing development easier faces opposition in the City Council.
Can Zoning Reform Save Pittsburgh’s Affordable Housing?
With home sale prices growing faster than anywhere in the country, the Steel City could enact major reforms to boost density and lower housing costs.
Texas Needs 300,000 Housing Units to Close Affordability Gap
The state’s comptroller warns that demand will continue to outpace supply without zoning reforms and a reduction in regulatory barriers.
Only Two US Metro Areas Are Affordable for Homebuyers
Northeast Ohio is the last remaining bastion of housing affordability, according to an analysis from the National Association of Realtors.
Experts Say Zoning Reform Isn’t Likely to Solve Housing Crisis
A survey by Fannie Mae found widespread skepticism among housing experts that zoning reforms will be enacted widely enough to make a major impact on U.S. housing supply.
Montana Supreme Court Upholds Zoning Reform Bills
The decision invalidates a preliminary injunction that blocked two key housing bills.
Can NYC Produce Half a Million Housing Units in a Decade?
The city’s ambitious ‘City of Yes’ zoning reform plan requires a broad array of sometimes controversial policy changes.
How Massachusetts Zoning Reform Impacts ADU Laws
Cities and towns have until February to adjust their zoning codes to reflect more permissive rules for accessory dwelling units.
Birthplace of Single-Family Zoning Poised to Pass Upzoning Plan
Berkeley, California, pioneered exclusionary zoning in the early 1900s; with its new upzoning proposal, the city hopes to reverse that negative legacy and boost its housing supply by eliminating single-family zoning.
Democrats Embrace YIMBY Ideas
Vice President Harris’s housing platform is shaping up to include some long-awaited support for pro-density policies and zoning reform.
Pagination
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello