• Launched with Tactical Urbanism, code reform advances

    Hands-on process is changing the planning and development culture of San Marcos, a suburban Texas municipality.
    Form-coding and conversion of a one-way thoroughfare to two-way are advancing through public hearings in San Marcos, Texas—a mostly suburban city between Austin and San Antonio. In the meantime, development patterns are changing—some building owners are turning parking lots in front of buildings...Read more

  • Conventional suburban vs. sustainable urban

    This diagram [FOOTNOTE:1] explains a key difference between conventional suburban (top) and sustainable urban (bottom) development patterns. The conventional suburban area, governed by conventional zoning codes, separates uses into distinct areas that branch off of the automobile-oriented...Read more

  • Yesterday a danger zone—today, pure San Francisco

    The Choice Neighborhoods development brings order to a city sector laid out in squiggly postwar cul-de-sacs. Newly redesigned streets lead directly to shops, transit, and other services.
    By any measure, San Francisco ranks among the world’s most beautiful cities. Yet for years, in a sector that tourists never see, 50 barracks-style buildings constructed in 1943 housed 264 families in poverty and fear. Now, a new project is helping the community at Hunters View write a brighter...Read more

  • Seven key concepts to teach form-based planning

    These items are the sum of innovations by colleagues and reinforce practices that have successfully entered the mainstream.
    Having taught form-based planning and zoning academically and professionally over the past ten years , there are a few key concepts I make it a point to teach to my students. In many cases, these are holes that a traditional planning education does not fill; in other cases, these items are the sum...Read more