• Making ‘missing middle’ work in an anti-density region

    Cape Cod is desperately in need of housing diversity. Combining ‘visual preference’ with ‘missing middle’ housing types could point the way.
    Cape Cod, the quintessential New England vacationland, has a growing affordable housing problem. The housing stock of the 70-mile-long peninsula is mostly single-family detached—82 percent—out of step with the aging population that swells from 228,000 to more than a half million in the summer...Read more

  • Pre-approved accessory units streamline small-scale infill

    Seattle, which adopted one of the nation’s most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinances for cities, has taken this idea a step further by streamlining plans and designs that work. In late 2019, Seattle approved an ordinance that allows up to two ADUs on single-family lots, which make...Read more

  • New urban opportunity: Alleys, mews, and accessory units

    The unsung alley has the potential to create an intimate American urbanism, it just needs a little attention from urban designers.
    Alleys were a neglected and unused element of the American built environment for at least a half century, until they made a comeback through the New Urbanism in the 1980s. Traditional neighborhoods developments (TNDs) included alleys for trash collection, utilities, and the primary purpose—to move...Read more

  • Micro-townhouses designed for flexibility

    Twelve-foot-wide townhouses in Utah? They combine transit-oriented density with homeownership, and buyers can cut costs in multiple ways.
    Daybreak in South Jordan, Utah, a top-selling community nationally, shows how transit-oriented design can be achieved with production builders—and it is a laboratory of housing ideas . The latest is the “micro-townhouse.” The 12-foot-wide units range from 1,125-1,450 square feet on lots less than 1...Read more