The unique planning and eclectic architecture of Savannah, GA, provide a PhD education on urban design—but there are also cautionary tales about development to be gleaned from this historic city.
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This Philadelphia museum has won regional and national praise, and titled a “Philadelphia Cultural Treasure.” Yet, that didn’t stop the Zoning Board of Adjustments from challenging the homegrown institution's right to operate.
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Wanting to encourage people toward using bikes for transportation is all fine and good, but not when it makes it harder for developers to build much-needed housing.
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If your city, like so many others, needs more housing and fast, then here’s a way some places are streamlining the process.
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This story about a revitalized church’s parking requirements might sound absurd, but it’s reflective of the very real and very absurd regulations most communities face when it comes to parking.
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Reopening a neighborhood store that was a fixture in its community for decades shouldn’t be this hard.
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Philadelphia is a great place to visit, but not because it’s a great place to park. City officials don’t seem to see it that way, though, given the recent restrictions placed on its outdoor dining program.
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“Community character" is often invoked to support exclusion and discrimination, but there are also communities whose unique "character" matters—a lot. How (if at all) should local government support such places?
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Many older homeowners face a tough choice: Age in a home that’s too large or inaccessible for them, or give up their property and move somewhere else. Here’s how one resident of Delta, BC, found a third option.
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A small, local, mixed-use business versus a new Amazon warehouse. Let’s put these two business proposals before the Shark Tank (Winnipeg edition).
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Although they stand in very different parts of the country, these college towns are spearheading the push to eliminate harmful, longstanding land-use policies.
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The problems with "community input" are many and obvious. One misguided response is to favor more top-down policy making, simply overriding the objections of local "NIMBYs." But there is a third way.
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Real-world examples of the administrative friction that holds back small-scale developers.
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What kind of zoning reform do we need in order to build strong towns?
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Incremental development today is far from the path of least resistance. To do it, you'll need the ability to navigate dozens of regulatory barriers.
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What can we do at the most immediate, local level when water reservoirs run low?
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Local decision-making must become more accessible to everyday people. Here's how to make that happen in your place.
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One of the realities about cities is that they change—but in America, most cities are trapped in a regulatory environment that makes change extremely costly.
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The “Takings Clause” prohibits the government from taking private property without just compensation. But what if it’s interpreted in unexpected ways?
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In the history of urban planning and zoning, pretext has often been used to achieve unstated goals, with (at best) questionable public purposes.
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