• Street trees are essential for Walk Appeal

    Trees should be planted either in swales (on primarily residentail streets) or in tree wells (on Main Streets). Do not listen to “urban foresters,” who insist that trees must be planted in landscape beds large enough for their mature drip lines.
    Street trees are essential for strong Walk Appeal almost anywhere in the US, which makes them a fundamental part of the public frontage, which extends from the property line to the edge of the street. We’ll talk about other public frontage parts later, but street trees are so important that they...Read more

  • 'Urban' is bigger than it appears

    A "new analytic framework" by the Urban Land Institute ignores walkability and sets back our understanding of cities and suburbs.
    ULI released a report this month, Housing in the Evolving American Suburb , which found that suburbs are grabbing more than 90 percent of metropolitan growth. The report is based on a "new analytic framework" to parse what is urban and what is suburban. ULI's sorting system is often hard to...Read more

  • Rebuilding a victim of urban renewal

    The Mercado District takes its urban design and architecture cues from Tucson's historic adobe neighborhoods.
    The Mercado District, once leveled by urban renewal, is fast becoming one of Tucson’s most significant hubs. The district takes its urban design and architecture cues from the city's historic adobe neighborhoods. The city's few historic neighborhoods that remain have recently come back to life—and...Read more

  • How to get by-right zoning right

    The Form-Based Coding process ensures that the discussion about where and what type of housing to allow happens at a community level, rather than on a project-by-project basis.
    By-right zoning is getting a lot of buzz these days as a needed tool to help solve the affordable housing crisis many communities are facing. For those unfamiliar, a zoning code is considered “by-right” if the approvals process is streamlined so that projects that comply with the zoning standards...Read more