The southern city’s growth is prompting questions about how to increase the housing supply, maintain affordability, and accommodate new residents.
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The debate between those who want to preserve single-family zoning and housing advocates who say increases in density are necessary to make housing affordable is heating up in cities and non-urban areas around the country as the housing crisis spreads. As Sean Keenan reports in Atlanta Civic Circle, Atlanta is no different.
In metropolitan Atlanta, “NIMBY” groups concerned about ‘neighborhood character’ and the negative impacts of density increases are finding themselves in conflict with growth advocates who say increasing density is the only way to keep housing affordable for all income levels.
According to Abundant Housing Atlanta co-founder Alison Grady, “Atlanta is becoming more and more unaffordable, in large part due to the outdated zoning code that encourages suburban sprawl and huge homes on huge properties and discourages—or outright bans—more affordable options, such as tiny homes, duplexes, and small apartment and condo buildings.” Now, cities in the Atlanta metro are rewriting decades-old zoning codes to accommodate more growth and create more affordable housing for a growing population. “If Atlanta, Clarkston, and other metro-area cities truly want to make intown living attainable for lower-income residents—and ‘mitigate some of the negative social and environmental impacts of urban sprawl’—upzoning should be part of the equation,” says Sonia Hirt, a planning scholar from the University of Georgia. Atlanta itself is undergoing a revision of its zoning code, scheduled for completion in summer 2024, while other local cities are loosening regulations on ADUs and other ‘missing middle housing.’
FULL STORY: As metro Atlanta cities rewrite zoning laws, will they follow national trend of embracing density?
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‘Forward Together’ Bus System Redesign Rolling Out in Portland
Portland is redesigning its bus system to respond to the changing patterns of the post-pandemic world—with twin goals of increasing ridership and improving equity.
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Plan to Potentially Remove Downtown Milwaukee’s Interstate Faces Public Scrutiny
The public is weighing in on a suite of options for repairing, replacing, or removing Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee.
![Conceptual rendering of Rikers Island redevelopment as renewable energy facility](/files/styles/small_400/public/images/Screenshot%202023-08-23%20at%2011-49-44%20ARTICLE%20Green%20Future%20for%20Rikers.png.webp?itok=d6m2GusQ 1200w,
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Can New York City Go Green Without Renewable Rikers?
New York City’s bold proposal to close the jail on Rikers Island and replace it with green infrastructure is in jeopardy. Will this compromise the city’s ambitious climate goals?
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700-Acre Master-Planned Community Planned in Utah
A massive development plan is taking shape for lakefront property in Vineyard, Utah—on the site of a former U.S. Steel Geneva Works facility.
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More Cities Ponder the End of Drive-Thrus
Drive-thru fast food restaurants might be a staple of American life, but several U.S. cities are actively considering prohibiting the development of new drive-thrus for the benefit of traffic safety, air quality, and congestion.
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Air Pollution World’s Worst Public Health Threat, Report Says
Air pollution is more likely to take years life off the lifespan of the average human than any other external factor, according to a recent report out of the University of Chicago.
Placer County
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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
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