• Detroit selects ‘Pink Zone’ partners

    City planning department, with funds from the Knight Foundation, hires teams to explore reducing red tape in development projects.
    Detroit’s planning department has selected three design firms to help envision revitalizing the city’s vacant commercial strips while reducing the bureaucratic hurdles that can stand in the way of redevelopment. Farr Associates/PlaceMakers/CHA, SmithGroupJJR and Laavu were selected from among 38...Read more

  • Finding Tucson's lovable places

    Whenever we are writing character-based zoning, one of the first things we do is a regional tour to analyze the DNA of the most loved places. Places cannot be resilient unless they can be loved.
    I was inspired and delighted last week by working in Tucson and Marana, Arizona . Whenever we are writing character-based zoning , one of the first things we do is a regional tour to analyze the DNA of the most loved places . Places cannot be resilient unless they can be loved. It’s one of the...Read more

  • New blocks and streets repair a Sunbelt city

    Here's how Orlando replaced a hole in the city with connective tissue.
    In the mid-1990s, the City of Orlando faced the closure of the 1,100-acre Naval Training Center, two miles from downtown. The easiest reuse option for the land would have included big box stores, an office park, and/or suburban housing pods. The easy route would have provided more of what the...Read more

  • Portland considers anti-McMansion measures

    Proposed code changes are designed to reduce teardowns and encourage multiple small units in existing neighborhoods.
    Portland, Oregon, is considering an anti-McMansion ordinance designed to discourage 1:1 demolitions of small single-family homes to build very large large single-family homes. Such demolitions, usually associated with rising real estate markets where the housing stock has reached a "certain age,"...Read more