• Read the lot before the facade

    The threat is not modern architecture. It is losing fine-grained urban structure while preserving enough historic vocabulary to make the loss look compatible.
    Walk south from Gerrard Street into Cabbagetown Southwest, Toronto, and the obvious heritage story presents itself immediately: brick houses, bay windows, front gables, porches, narrow setbacks. It is easy to decide that the thing worth saving is the picturesque surface. The facade is what...Read more

  • Legalizing single-stair, a path to affordable housing

    A report from Massachusetts quantifies the significant potential of legalizing four- to six-story single-stair buildings.
    Loosening the rules against single-stair buildings could significantly increase the supply of much-needed housing in Massachusetts. Utile Design, in collaboration with Boston Indicators—the research arm for the Boston Foundation—and Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, published “Legalizing...Read more

  • City adopts code for compact, sustainable growth

    Plan Bentonville creates a framework for fiscally sustainable growth in a fast-growing region. DPZ CoDesign won a Merit Award in the Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of the 2026 CNU Charter Awards.
    Note: CNU 34 will be held in Bentonville, Arkansas, May 12-16, where the plan and code will be discussed along with important urbanism topics worldwide. The Bentonville Community Code, a unified, Transect-based land-use code, was adopted by the City Council in mid-April. The action codifies the...Read more

  • A statewide, build-ready catalog for missing-middle housing

    A Toolkit of the Vermont “Homes for All” initiative, a Charter Award-winning project in 2025, addresses regulatory barriers. Now, the state is creating a catalog of homes for manufactured missing-middle housing.
    For the past decade, Vermont planners have worked to legalize missing-middle housing. Duplexes are allowed. ADUs are permitted. Small multiplexes are back on the books. Yet in many places, nothing changes. The code says “yes,” but the housing market still says “maybe.” Projects remain expensive,...Read more