Design Guidelines
What Is Historic Preservation?
Historic preservation is a controversial, highly contested cause, with a long history of failures and successes in the United States.
Balancing Aesthetics and Affordability
Policies too narrowly focused on design can drive up the cost of construction and prevent the development of affordable housing.
New 'Design Excellence Overlay' Aims to Inspire New Development in Missoula
The city of Missoula professes a strategy of "focusing inward" when it comes to growth and development. A new 'Design Excellence Overlay' will help achieve more goals toward that strategy in the city's downtown.
The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Sustainable Transportation
How to design a transit system that is safe, green, and beautiful.
Seattle's Popular Capitol Hill Neighborhood Getting New Design Guidelines
The new guidelines will allow for new design decisions in a neighborhood undergoing rapid change.
BART's Transit-Oriented Development Bill Sets Disturbing Precedent, Says APA
AB 2923, which would allow the Bay Area Rapid Transit District to rezone their properties near stations for transit-oriented development, passed its first committee. The California chapter of APA objects to the preemption of local land use authority.
Keeping Our Children Safe After the Parkland High School Shooting
In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, the debate has been wide-ranging, from gun safety to arming teachers. All agree students must be safe, so why not look at architecture? The NRA has some tips.
Faced With Rapid Growth, Seattle's South Lake Union Revamps its Design Guidelines
A popular and changing neighborhood in Seattle has recommitted itself to urban design.
NACTO Releases New 'Urban Stormwater Guide'
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) adds a logical supplement to their library of street design guides: a guide to stormwater infrastructure that is often built alongside or as part of road infrastructure.
New York Unveils Design Guidelines for Climate Resiliency
New York is piloting new building design guidelines aimed at improving the city's climate resiliency.
How Not to Solve a Housing Crisis
More trouble in River City, as Portland and Oregon struggle with rising housing costs and come up with a puzzling solution.
Design Guidelines for the New York City Housing Authority
An article notes the signs of change at the New York City Housing Authority, which has adopted its first-ever design guidelines in a renewed effort to deliver safe and healthy homes to residents.
The Battle Against McMansions Continues in Burbank
With a two-year Interim Development Control Ordinance set to expire in March 2017, Burbank, California is working on new design guidelines for single-family homes.
A New Guide for Siting Bikeshare Stations
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) is on a multi-modal roll, releasing two guides to non-automobile forms of transportation in recent weeks. The most recent offers guidance on why, where, and how to site bikeshare.
NACTO Releases New Transit-Focused Street Design Guide
One of the national centers of authority for street design is onboard with trends already in motion in local jurisdictions all over the United States. So let it be written; so let it be done?
Trump Would Move Infamous Sign From Chicago to the White House If Elected
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has announced his plan to expand his branding if elected President of the United States in November.
A New Design Guide for Affordable Housing Developments
New affordable housing is only one step toward creating livable communities—a quality mix of uses on the ground floor, designed to integrate with the street and public spaces is also vital.
Charlotte Grows Weary of the Bland Cookie-Cutter Apartment Buildings
Designers and architects in Charlotte, North Carolina are asking the city to raise the bar when approving new apartment buildings to prevent more of the repetitive wood-frame design that has swept the city.
Topics Planners Don't Often Think About, But Should
There are a number of areas of planning that offer planners a role, but are not necessarily at the front of our minds. At the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference, researchers shared results that can impact practice.
Op-Ed: No Room for Subjectivity in Los Angeles Design Guidelines
Sam Lubell outlines the good and bad of recent small lot design guidelines approved by Los Angeles.
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
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.
