Community Planning and Design “Best Practices” Part 4: Design your Density
Current planning and zoning practices almost exclusively focus on density and land use, often to the exclusion of more holistic neighborhood design criteria such as built-form, walkable streets, open space and public health. This bias perpetuates the segregation of land uses (and people by race and class); the development of car-dependent, sprawling land patterns; and ignores the growing desire among residents of all races and income levels, to live affordably in healthy neighborhoods. If affordable housing is solely reduced to matters of density and relieving market pressures however, then we will consign children born into poverty today to an unhealthy future devoid of fresh food, parks, and tree-lined streets safe and cool for walking, bus riding and cycling. The only way to avoid this outcome is to practice the fourth out of these five “Best Practices;” Define, Engage, Explain, Design and Substantiate—(DEEDS.)
Design your Density
Design principles provide the framework for zoning ordinances and are critical to addressing inequities in the built environment between neighborhoods.(1) Developing those principles however will require taking these few steps at a minimum.
• Consult Prior Work. As a case in point, a small area plan and form-based code (FBC) inspired by a previously failed attempt by Charlottesville, VA to secure an Obama-era Choice Neighborhood grant, were developed over a five-year period for an area south of Charlottesville’s Downtown Pedestrian Mall known as the Strategic Investment Area (SIA.) Neighborhood charrettes, in-person open houses and small group meetings, produced a set of neighborhood-based design principles that provided the framework for new zoning. The resulting FBC replaced the existing density and land use biased district with a new walkable block and alley network, public parks, transition zones between areas of low and high intensity development (a.k.a. character zones) and a system of automatic height bonuses ONLY in exchange for on-site affordable housing.(2) Latest planning efforts have not consulted these or other community documents that regard design principles as foundational to zoning that promotes a high quality of life.(3)
• Consult other Models and Experts. Canadian transit planner Todd Litman advocates for more density and these good design principles: use missing middle housing strategies; reduce fees and requirements for affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods close to transit; reduce parking minimums; create neighborhood-focused, mixed-use centers close to homes and jobs; support walking, bicycling and public transit; insist on well-designed, assisted housing for the low income.(4) American planner Reid Ewing agrees but also stresses the importance of short blocks with alleys, continuous sidewalks with few curb cuts, interconnected streets and human-scaled, well-articulated buildings oriented toward the street to activate pedestrian activity and slow car traffic.(5) Albemarle County, VA has made most of the above principles an integral part of its “Neighborhood Model” District Ordinance.(6)
• Consult the Residents. Go directly to the residents to “ground-truth” assumptions. For instance, with regards to the residents of the SIA, has anyone asked their opinion about the up-zoning of their neighborhood along Garrett Street from 9 to 10 stories (not 4 stories + a 2-story bonus height for affordable housing as per the SIA’s FBC) or along South 1st Street from 3 to 5 stories (not 3 stories + a 1-story bonus height for affordable housing as per the SIA’s FBC?) Has anyone asked their opinion about the new 9-story building on Garrett Street or consulted the Public Housing Association of Residents’ “Vision for Redevelopment” that called for a 3-story maximum height with more open space?(7)
1. Robert Woods Johnson Foundation on place and public health, https://www.rwjf.org/en/our-focus-areas/topics/built-environment-and-health.html
2. Strategic Investment Area (SIA) Plan and Form-Based Code (FBC,) https://www.charlottesville.gov/1150/Strategic-Investment-Area-SIA and https://www.charlottesville.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2989/Form-Based-Code-Update—Draft—December-2019-PDF
3. Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR) 2016 “Resident Directed Vision for Redevelopment,” http://www.pharcville.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Positive-Vision-Resident-Summary-FINAL-APRIL-4.25.16.pdf
4. “A Recipe for Achieving Real Housing Affordability” by Todd Litman, April 30, 2021
5. “Pedestrian and Transit-Friendly Design: a Primer for Smart Growth” by Reid Ewing for the Smart Growth Network
6. “The Neighborhood Model,” and “The Neighborhood Model District,” Albemarle County, VA https://library.municode.com/va/albemarle_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH18ZO_ARTIIIDIRE_S20ANEMOMD
7. Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR) 2016 “Resident Directed Vision for Redevelopment,”
