Archinect - News

LA’s cramped rezoning plan still short of housing goals says UCLA study

2024-11-19T11:09:00-05:00

Under state laws designed to remedy a housing shortage, the city has to set aside land for the construction of 250,000 more homes than allowed through existing zoning rules. Measures under consideration by a City Council committee are likely to satisfy the state requirements, the UCLA analysis found. But when analyzing the likelihood of what developers would actually build, researchers found the number of new homes would be far lower.

The L.A. City Council is expected to vote later this afternoon to approve the rezoning measure. The report's co-author Shane Phillips of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies says the city would be better served if its generous slate of incentives was expanded to cover the remaining 72% of neighborhoods currently zoned for single-family houses. Others have labeled this plan as exclusionary for that reason. Planners face a state mandate to find space for at least 250,000 new housing units by mid-February.

L.A moves new rezoning plan forward, critics say it will codify exclusion

2024-09-28T10:07:00-04:00

Will L.A. continue to preserve communities dominated by single-family homes? Or will the city make a historic shift to allow for more affordable housing in areas that have long excluded it?

City Planning officials voted on Thursday to approve the plan, which the LA Times pointed out is limited to just 28% of the city and areas that are heavily zoned for commercial and/or multifamily construction.

The publication had to use a F.O.I.L. Act petition to obtain a copy of the city-funded Architectural Resources Group/USC-UCLA report on outdated single-family zoning policies, which reads: "Detached single-family residences cover a disproportionate amount of the land zoned residential. This has resulted in an unaffordable housing market due, in part, to a pervasive lack of supply and the fact that single-family homes are more expensive than multi-family residences."

City Council has until February to approve a final rezoning plan in line with the state's original 2022 mandate.

Wealthier communities are cracking down on the size of megamansions

2024-08-12T19:37:00-04:00

The fight to curtail so-called megamansions was picked up recently by Realtor.com. They say the colloquial square footage "horse" has "already left the barn," adding the caveat that the typical American home size has increased by 150% between 1980 and 2018.

Some other choice takeaways include Paul Goldberger telling a Hamptons community meeting in May: "We want to be East Hampton, not Levittown-By-the-Sea." (The growth of estates there began back in the Gilded Age, however.) Zoning regulations in wealthy enclaves such as this tend to focus on a design's aesthetic features and proportions relative to its lot size. The phenomenon of "Iceberg Houses," e.g., where much of the home expands below grade, is another area of scrutiny as more scrupulous planning ordinances begin to take hold.

On the comparative difficulty of family-sized apartment dwellings in North America

2024-05-24T12:04:00-04:00

One major consequence of this difference in design is that the North American double-loaded corridor buildings are much worse at providing family-sized units. To illustrate the point, we’ll go through the different sized apartments one by one, and compare the floor area and design. You’ll notice that the American plans have significantly more floor area for the same number of bedrooms, and have much more lightless interior space up against the common corridor to fill.

Stephen Smith is a former journalist and the Executive Director of the Brooklyn-based Center for Building in North America. His analysis of spatial challenges created by multifamily apartments and zoning conditions was featured recently in Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast. This is an adroit relaying of an issue affecting both developers and architects in pertaining markets and compliments an earlier 2021 report on post-pandemic trends in multifamily residential design from the website Propmodo.

Smith writes: "The merits of North American building and zoning codes can be debated, but the effect is clearly that apartments, in order to provide the same number of bedrooms and give everyone a window, must necessarily consume far more floor area than point access block designs possible in other countries. So if you’re looking for a family-sized apartment in the U.S. or Canada and finding that new buildings don’t have what you’re looking for, it’s not you, it’s not the architect, and it’s not ...

Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies publishes research on the state-by-state effectiveness of ADU policies

2023-11-10T18:36:00-05:00

The publication of a new research paper from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has provided policymakers with a useful nationwide assessment of different state-level policies regarding Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the United States.

The paper centers on two markets – New Hampshire and Portland, Oregon – as a means of comparing measured and more aggressive approaches (the latter having already been long-established as a national model).

Researchers were seeking to combat the “self-reinforcing negative cycle” that is born out of patchwork regulations and has made market conditions even more challenging to their production. The results offer proof, according to the authors, that “robust changes can have dramatic impacts.”

Related on Archinect: A possible future for ADUs and its growing 'familiarity factor'. Image courtesy of Abodu.

Comparisons of the failures of different approaches to by-right approvals in creating new housing in the New England states i...

New York City unveils major zoning overhaul to boost housing stock

2023-09-25T15:41:00-04:00

Mayor Eric Adams proposed on Thursday a major overhaul of New York City’s approach to development that his administration says could make way for as many as 100,000 additional homes in the coming years and ease the city’s severe housing crisis. [...] The proposals could bring new housing development to nearly every corner of New York City and reflect a growing political consensus that the city must do everything it can to build.

In last week's announcement of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, several measures designed to achieve the declared goal of adding 100,000 new residential units were listed, including the end of parking mandates for new housing, the legalization of ADUs, encouraging shared living and office conversion, a Universal Affordability Preference policy, updated town center "main streets" zoning along commercial corridors, and a push to utilize available space on campuses across the city.

The proposed town center “main streets” zoning updates could spur new residential development along commercial corridors. Credit: New York City Department of City Planning

“Our goal is to create ‘a little more housing in every neighborhood’ to finally tackle New York’s housing shortage head-on,” said New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick. “By addressing the root cause of New York’s high housing costs, displacement, homelessness, and the imbalance of power between...

New Terner Center study assesses the impact of SB 4's implementation in California

2023-09-16T10:37:00-04:00

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation has uncovered over 171,749 acres of developable land owned by nonprofit colleges or faith-based organizations in the state, bolstering the aims of the “Yes in God’s Backyard” movement as it pushes Governor Gavin Newsom to sign SB 4 by the end of next month.

The bill passed the state senate along with the related SB 423 on Monday. If signed into law, it would streamline the process by which churches and other nonprofit organizations can enact housing at sites that previously had been limited by local land use restrictions and the California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA).

Supporters of the measure have said it will help increase housing in much-needed communities where displacement and homelessness have become the norm as rising expenses and pushback on the part of local municipalities in the wake of SB 9 threaten to derail efforts statewide.

Previously on Archinect: Plan to let churc...

New Terner Center for Housing Innovation paper unpacks five years of SB 35's impact on the California housing crisis

2023-08-21T18:05:00-04:00

The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley has released a statewide assessment of the development of housing five years after the implementation of California's Senate Bill (SB) 35 began in 2018.

The bill eased the barriers to housing production for builders, in some cases removing the required review process under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other policies that had been targeted as key impediments to the effort to meet a crisis that has become the defining issue of the time for embattled local governments, residents, and planning officials.

Statistics revealed that 18,000 new units were able to be developed thanks to the streamlining of nearly a thousand multifamily infill housing projects as a direct result of SB 35. The rate of successful developments peaked in 2020, with a noticeable dip recorded in the past year. The study also found encouragingly that most projects covered by SB 35 were considered 100 percent affordable.

Related on Archine...

NYC approved zero new housing starts for Manhattan last month despite glaring crisis

2023-08-14T18:18:00-04:00

The borough of Manhattan, home to 1.7 million people, approved no new units of housing last month and just 10 buildings with 279 units in total were approved last month in the other four boroughs combined. City leaders are raising the alarm about the anemic pace of development.

The lack of new housing starts mirrors a nationwide dip that was recorded at 24% for the month of June, according to the latest Dodge Construction Network report. Manhattan has seen ruinous housing cost increases since the pandemic abated, irking those in power who feel the need to end a citywide crisis is being blocked by a lack of tax incentive support and prohibitive zoning measures. By way of comparison,1,208 new units were approved in the Borough in July of 2013.

In May, the city's chief Housing Officer, Jessica Katz, resigned in frustration over the ineptitude. Some 560,000 units are needed to meet demands by the end of the decade, a scant 14% of which is currently under development according to statistics released by the city in December along with its "moonshot" plan for 500,000 new affordable units within the same timeframe. One now has to question what happened to the "quantum leap in the creation of new homes" called for at the time by Department of City Planning Director...

Code compliance platform UpCodes launches AI assistant and raises $3.5 million

2023-06-01T12:43:00-04:00

The code compliance platform UpCodes has raised $3.5 million in funding. The San Francisco-based company describes itself as a “platform for architects, engineers, GCs, tradespeople, building owners, and homeowners” to provide a “searchable library of the adapted codes, updates, amendments, and errata across most major US jurisdictions.”

Archinect reported on UpCodes in 2018, where it was being used by firms including Ennead and FXCollaborative as a compatible plug-in for Revit. Today, the platform is used by over 650,000 monthly users, and claims to host over 5 million code sections (updating over 7,000 per month), and 1,700 state and city codes.

In tandem with the latest funding results, the company has unveiled an AI-powered code research assistant named UpCodes Copilot. Utilizing GPT-4, Copilot’s UI will feel familiar to users of ChatGPT. The AI interface can answer user questions about its dataset of over 5 million code sections. In addition to answering the question directly, ...

A 50-story housing proposal is shaking up planning officials in San Francisco

2023-04-19T18:07:00-04:00

A proposed new high-rise development in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district is standing out over its disputed manipulation of statewide density laws.

The LA Times is reporting on CH Planning‘s unlikely new proposal, which could add a Solomon Cordwell Buenz-designed 50-story tower to the neighborhood via provisions in California’s Density Bonus Law — a regulation they say allows for permitted deviations from local building restrictions to provide options for affordable housing.

“It simply defies logic that a building in a 100-foot height district seeking a 50% bonus could somehow rise to 560 feet,” Daniel Sider, chief of staff for San Francisco’s Planning Department said in a rebuke published by the newspaper. “While we agree that this site is ripe for housing, and we hope to work with the developer to achieve that, there is no provision in state or local law to permit the downtown-style building that’s been proposed.”

“The proposed project is flat out inconsistent with local zoni...

ADU construction is now outpacing single-family developments in Seattle

2023-04-10T16:39:00-04:00

The simplest takeaway from Seattle’s new report is that ADU production is up. The city granted permits to 988 units last year, and more than 650 were built — not all projects are built during the year they get permitted — outpacing the construction of single houses for the first time

As the Seattle Times reports, a change in regulations in 2019 led to the ADU boom locally. The city will now permit up to two ADU developments per lot, leading to a better-than-predicted 1,336 units being constructed against a total of 554 single-family homes being razed over a two-year period ending in 2022.

Seattle is estimated to need an additional 55,000 units of housing per year for the next two decades, over half of which need to be reserved for households that qualify as low-income. The report indicated builders' acceptance in terms of adaptation thus far. Citywide, two-thirds of all new single-family designs built last year included at least one ADU in their construction.

Black churches are leading the fight to create affordable housing nationwide

2023-02-10T17:29:00-05:00

As the religious and urban landscape changes in North America, churches have had to adapt and evolve. [...] Black churches are responding to these shifts in religiousness, population change, and lack of housing by working to change land use regulations and asking how church property can serve a different function in the community.

Seattle’s Nehemiah Initiative is cited as one example of the nationwide movement that is taking root in Washington, D.C., San Diego, and Oakland, among other places. There, certain neighborhoods have seen more than 50% declines in their Black population. A pair of University of Washington studio courses recently produced feasibility studies for nine churches in the Central district, resulting in four entering into the predevelopment process for housing starts.

Churches are a known commodity in the fight against other forms of injustice and are now turning to zoning regulations as a means of pressing local policymakers into action in increased numbers. More than 4.3 million units are needed to meet demands by 2035 nationally, and successful programs like Alameda County’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) are seen as the best models for abatement of that problem in league with a...

American Planning Association publishes policy guide to address inequalities in zoning

2023-02-10T12:35:00-05:00

The American Planning Association (APA) has released a policy guide titled ‘Equity in Zoning’ which advocates for planning-led zoning reforms that can dismantle discriminatory barriers. The 53-page guide addresses zoning across local, state, and federal levels and “prioritizes reversing and alleviating the disproportionate impacts of zoning through three aspects of zoning: rules, people, and mapping.”

“The nation is short 3.79 million housing units due in part to exclusionary regulations that disproportionately harm disadvantaged and vulnerable communities,” the association notes. “Planners have the data-driven insights, understanding of broad community impact, and long-term perspective to help decision makers and communities avoid unfair outcomes in all parts of the zoning process and create more diverse housing options in places they are needed most.”

The APA’s approach t...

McMansions are making LA’s housing crisis a lot worse

2022-12-19T12:05:00-05:00

There is another cause of overcrowding and homelessness. It is mansionization, the demolition of older, smaller, less expensive houses by real estate speculators who quickly replace them with spec McMansions: boxy, shoddily built houses that max out the permitted building envelope.

The disincentive to build multifamily and affordable housing is made worse by the popularity of these easily repeatable home designs, which also cost more to construct while taking up more space and using more water and electricity. Certain communities around L.A. County have developed effective anti-McMansion ordinances that work by limiting the size of structures, although loopholes abound.

A possible solution can be taken from LA's 35 existing community plans, which contain some version of language to “protect existing stable single-family and low-density residential neighborhoods from encroachment by higher density residential uses and other uses that are incompatible as to scale, character, or would otherwise diminish quality of life.”

An open letter to LA's next mayor outlines 10 proposals to speed up the production of affordable housing

2022-09-30T13:20:00-04:00

The Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA) has released an open letter to mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass suggesting 10 fixes to zoning requirements and the approval processes that would positively impact citywide efforts to tackle an ongoing housing crisis that has taken center stage ahead of the November election.

Echoing the tone of a recent LA Times op-ed, Koning Eizenberg principal and AIA|LA Government Outreach Committee member Brian Lane wrote on behalf of the organization, saying that, as the system is currently arranged, there are "a thousand ways to 'no.'" Their letter claims that city bureaucracy gets in the way of the design community's efforts and that production can be significantly increased via the proposed set of solutions.

"Dear Mayor," the text begins. "It takes about $600,000 and 5 years to build one affordable housing unit. That’s one person or family moved off the streets of over 69,000 experiencing homelessness in LA...

Is 'Yes, in God’s Backyard' the answer to California's housing challenges?

2022-09-28T12:40:00-04:00

Houses of worship in California are now in the position to take on the state’s largest social problem with the adaptation of new legislation that allows for housing development on plots that are, in almost every case, zoned exclusively for commercial use.

In July, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that dropped a zoning requirement that mandated a certain number of parking spaces if the religious organization would build 100% affordable or workforce housing on its property. Obstacles remain, but case studies from Berkeley and other embattled communities have provided some examples of how the measure can positively stem the tide of displacement that has particularly affected people of color and other marginalized groups.

"Churches are some of the last, I think, property owners of color throughout Berkeley," local church leader Derrin Jourdan told KQED recently. "If we don't find ways of leveraging our support, we're going to find it enormously difficult to hold on to the property."

...

Developer withdraws ShoP Architects-designed One45 project in Harlem following local opposition

2022-05-31T16:42:00-04:00

The developer of a controversial Harlem complex that would have brought 915 new apartments to an underutilized stretch of 145th Street — half of which would have been income restricted — has scuttled the plan ahead of a subcommittee vote on the project Tuesday morning.

Developers Pointsfive reportedly withdrew their application for the zoning needed to build the mixed-use, ShoP Architects-designed One45 hours before it was set to be voted on by the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. The proposal included a pair of 363-foot-tall towers on the corner of West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue, with residential, office, and retail space, along with a rooftop events space.

Previously on Archinect: First look at One45-Museum of Civil Rights in Harlem designed by SHoP Architects

Since its inception, the project has faced pushback from Harlem’s local community board and especially from recently seated local Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan. The Harlem native has claimed that the levels of affordability proposed by One45 aren’t in line with the needs of the community, fearing that it would instead indirectly displace Harlem’s Black residents and drive up gentrification. In a round of last-minute moves to gain support for the pro...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams appoints Eric Ulrich as Commissioner of the Department of Buildings

2022-05-05T11:57:00-04:00

Former New York City Council member Eric Ulrich has been appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by Mayor Eric Adams.

Ulrich will serve alongside Kazimir Vilenchik, the new First Deputy Commissioner, and replaces Gus Sirakis, who has been serving as the DOB’s Acting Commissioner for the past six weeks.

Earlier on Archinect: NYC Department of Buildings shuts down 322 construction sites in 'zero tolerance' safety sweep

“Our city and our economy cannot recover from the COVID-19 pandemic without a strong construction industry, and this team will deliver while prioritizing worker safety and customer service,” Adams said before thanking Sirakis for his service during the pandemic.

Ulrich comes to the job with a reputation for having played a critical role in New York’s post-Sandy recovery efforts through his role on the council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. His initiative in that capacity to rezone vulnerable communities in the city affected by coastal ...

Outdoor dining one step further towards becoming permanent in New York City

2021-11-19T15:23:00-05:00

Despite some ongoing litigation, New York City took a major step this week toward making outdoor dining a permanent part of the city's infrastructure. On Monday, the City Planning Commission voted unanimously for a zoning text amendment that will create a clean slate for the city to develop and regulate a permanent program, and will ultimately allow more restaurants to set up outdoor dining structures across the city.

The amendment removes geographic restrictions on where outdoor dining spaces can be located in New York, making the application process for sidewalk and roadway eateries much simpler.

The City Council and mayor will now have to approve the text amendment. Confidence that it will go through is high, given that the City Council voted to make outdoor dining permanent last year and current Mayor Bill de Blasio and incoming Mayor Eric Adams have both pledged support for the move. Once approved, the city will begin developing the specifications for the program, which will include a six-month outreach program in order to receive public input on the program’s design and rules.

Outdoor dining area sitting requirements. Diagram: © NYC DOT

Opponents of the plan argue that the outdoor structures for dining add litter, create more noise at night, and take up parking spots. As reported by Gothamist, a group of 22 New York City residents recently filed a lawsuit to block the Open Restaurants Prog...

The New York City Council's Land Use Committee approves Gowanus Rezoning

2021-11-11T15:32:00-05:00

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial plan to rezone Gowanus is poised to move forward, fulfilling a decade-old ambition that aims to increase development and affordability in the fast-changing industrial enclave. The deal was approved by the City Council’s Land Use Committee on Wednesday, after the administration agreed to additional investments in public housing and sewer infrastructure.

The plan will pave the way for 8,000 new apartments to be built over the next decade, with more than a third reserved for low-income residents. The City Council’s Land Use Committee backed the proposal unanimously after last-minute negotiations between the mayor and two local council members, Brad Lander and Steve Levin, whose approval was contingent on the city’s commitment to invest $200 million to modernize two public housing complexes in the neighborhood. An additional $174 million will upgrade sewage infrastructure along the canal.

Previously on Archinect: New York City Planning Commission approves Gowanus Rezoning proposal

With the Gowanus Canal currently undergoing a federal clean-up, opponents of the plan fear that new construction could unearth toxins and pollutants, which would primarily impact the low-income residents that are intended to live there. Others argue that the area’s sewer system will not be able to withstand the volume of new residents.

As stated by Gothamis...

NYC's new planning director Anita Laremont on the importance of the public realm

2021-11-04T15:08:00-04:00

COVID-19 also showed us the divide that we have in the city. There are BIPOC communities and communities with lower incomes that have very poor-quality public realms that we need to focus on more closely. People who live in the South Bronx need to have the same kind of opportunities to be outdoors and in quality settings in ways that they didn't before.

Anita Laremont, the newly appointed Director of the NYC Department of City Planning and Chair of the City Planning Commission, when asked about her priorities in light of Mayor Bill de Blasio's term coming to an end soon: "We believe our priorities will continue to be the new mayor's priorities in dealing with the challenging issue of not having enough affordable housing for all our citizens. Other public realm issues we face coming out of the pandemic are job opportunities and economic development."

New York City Planning Commission approves Soho/Noho rezoning proposal, clearing the way for more housing

2021-10-22T17:47:00-04:00

The future of Soho and Noho is now up to the City Council. The City Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a high-profile proposal to rezone the neighborhoods, largely to allow for more residential and ground-floor retail. The proposal covers 56 blocks in the neighborhoods, largely zoned for manufacturing use — despite the area’s reputation as a prime retail destination.

In support of the plan, City Planning Commission Chair Anita Laremont said: “The plan significantly advances New York City’s equity and inclusivity goals, helps to address our severe and ongoing housing crisis and serves to speed New York City's economic recovery.”

According to The Gothamist, the rezoning, which aims to address growing housing needs, could see the construction of up to 3,500 new apartments, including as many as 900 subsidized units through New York’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing requirement. This is the latest rezoning Mayor Bill de Blasio is attempting to push through following the NYC Planning Commission’s approval of the Gowanus rezoning proposal in September.

Previously on Archinect: New York City Planning Commission approves Gowanus Rezoning proposal

Concerns surrounding the proposal include fears that the rezoning could lead to too much commercial development and does not provide enough protection for historic districts. Additionally, opponents argue that i...

DTLA 2040 rezoning plan gets one step closer to Los Angeles City Council approval

2021-09-27T15:15:00-04:00

After a pair of marathon hearings, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission has amended and approved the draft DTLA 2040 plan, sending the proposed rezoning of the city's Downtown core on to the City Council for consideration next.

The area has been particularly beset by the pandemic, which is being seen more and more as a potential hub for housing in the city (and state) whose political landscape is increasingly shaped by affordability issues.

Ten new land use designations, proposed under the DTLA 2040 plan for Downtown Los Angeles, will establish baselines and universal building standards in the expanded area, which will accommodate approximately 20% of the anticipated residential growth that could add capacity for 175,000 additional residents to the area in just under two decades.

The plan would eliminate parking requirements for developers as well as scrapping much of a decades-old TFAR program. Urbanize LA has more on the proposed plan’s details here.

New York City Planning Commission approves Gowanus Rezoning proposal

2021-09-23T17:10:00-04:00

Mayor Bill de Blasio is one step closer to realizing his goal of adding tens of thousands of units of affordable housing in New York City, after a key panel passed the city’s plan to rezone a swath of industrial properties surrounding the Gowanus Canal

The proposal was approved by nine of the ten New York City Planning Commission members in a vote earlier this week. The plan calls for the rezoning of an 82-block section of Gowanus, along Fourth Avenue, between Atlantic Avenue and 15th Street. It would pave the way for the construction of up to 8,000 homes, with 3,000 of them set below market rate.

It will now make its way to the City Council, however, support may not be as unanimous. Councilmembers Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, who represent the area, reportedly want the city to commit $200 million towards repairs for two public housing complexes in the neighborhood before they can support the effort. Additionally, Brooklyn Borough President and presumptive future mayor Eric Adams, backed the plan given the city pledges $274 million for repairs at New York City Housing Authority complexes over the next five years.

The proposal has received blowback, with opponents arguing that it will lead to an influx of luxury towers and that...

Judge issues final ruling on challenge that would have cut down 200 Amsterdam

2021-09-14T14:25:00-04:00

A zoning battle over the height of a planned residential tower in Manhattan’s Upper West Side has been resolved in the New York Supreme Court, ending a yearslong legal dispute that was seen by some as a potential harbinger for luxury development schemes in the nation’s largest city.

200 Amsterdam came under scrutiny almost immediately after being announced in 2016 from a slate of organizations who claimed the 52-story apartment building was able to exploit a loophole in order to obtain the building permits necessary to put a high-rise development in a neighborhood that has traditionally been residential.

The Elkus Manfredi-designed building saw its initial permit temporarily revoked in 2017 thanks to a challenge filed with the city’s Department of Buildings. The permit was re-issued that September, and what followed was a torrent of lawsuits, reviews, stop-work issues, and an attempt at obtaining a restraining order that was eventually denied.

All the while work continued on the s...

California may be about to clear a major hurdle in its mad scramble to find more affordable housing

2021-08-27T14:20:00-04:00

California needs more affordable housing — quickly. 1.8 million homes by 2025 to be exact. What the state will actually do about is becoming clearer after a Thursday decision to advance Senate Bill 9, a measure that would allow for multi-unit development on suburban lots previously reserved for single-family dwellings, in the state assembly and (hopefully) to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsome ahead of his September 14th recall election.

The vote comes after years of legislative attempts to unstick the state from its current housing predicament. Since 2010, California has been able to add only one housing unit for every five new residents to the state, which only began to contract in the last year owing to a variety of economic and environmental factors.

The squeeze has produced attendant problems like increasing homelessness and a debilitating loss of younger professionals who can no longer aff...

Zoning and craft in Montreal's 'Plexes'

2021-08-10T09:00:00-04:00

Anyone who has visited or lived in Montreal has seen an impressive variety of external staircases that decorate the homes of the Canadian city’s historic neighborhoods. Beyond the range of architectural styles that adorn the facades and interiors of this local type, the Plex is mostly defined by these acrobatic outdoor stairs, which contort themselves to link the two, three, and even four levels of separate apartments to the street. Built in the 19th and early 20th century for multiple income levels, the plexes ranged from simple to ornate, though many housed large working-class families.

“Once known for affordability, Montreal has now joined Canada’s real-estate frenzy,” writes Sandrine Rastello of Bloomberg. Today, plexes are increasingly sought after as wealthy urbanites renovate and update, and architects and developers build contemporary interpretations of the form with up to six levels.

Outdoor spiral staircase in Montreal. Image: Cobra Libre (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Similar to New Engl...

City Planning: Who designs cities?

2021-06-02T08:50:00-04:00

Who designs cities? Architecture school may lead young designers to believe that their profession shapes the spatial and aesthetic qualities of the built environment, but a look at the composition of city planning boards suggests otherwise.

City planning has existed for millennia. The Roman castrum, the Spanish Law of the Indies, and Puritans’ utopian plans for cities like New Haven, Connecticut, all used precise grids to organize urban space. Nevertheless, city planning in its contemporary form is integrally related to zoning, which began in New York City.

In 1915, a 42-story skyscraper called the Equitable Building was constructed. The 1916 Zoning Resolution followed. Regulating the height and bulk of new buildings, the resolution controlled the rapid growth of the many tall buildings that sprang up on the island of Manhattan as steel framing and elevators revolutionized architecture and building technology. Today, zoning controls much more than height and bulk, underwriting not...

California continues to stumble on housing densification

2020-09-02T15:40:00-04:00

Supporters saw [SB 1122] as a way to ease California’s affordability problems that most economists blame on a lack of supply that has forced people to bid up home prices and rents to find a place to live. [...] But like previous efforts to upend California zoning rules, SB 1120 faced pushback from community groups concerned it would ruin single-family neighborhoods, making them into denser places with too much noise and traffic.

Another attempt to bring statewide housing reforms to California's zoning code has failed after a last-ditch effort to pass a bill that would allow homeowners to build two units per lot fell short. SB 1122 was created as response to the failure of the recent SB 50 densification plan, which would have allowed homeowners to build four units per lot.