Vancouver — Livable Lanes: A Study of Laneway Infill Housing in Vancouver and Other Growing B.C. Communities

The term “laneway housing” or “carriage housing” refers to a detached form of infill housing that is ancillary to a principal dwelling and typically located in a rear yard and oriented towards the lane.

This research presents single-lot, laneway, infill housing as a key part of an overall residential intensification strategy that Canadian municipalities can use to help meet critical housing needs while meeting a range of other key sustainability objectives. Laneway infill housing can occur incrementally without requiring redevelopment or parcel assembly, which can be onerous in time and expense.

With a focus on Vancouver, this research establishes opportunities for expanding laneway housing and identifies a number of key barriers limiting or preventing its adoption. The results of the research are a set of specific recommendations and strategies that municipalities can use to overcome barriers to expanding this form of housing in residential neighbourhoods.

Analysis of Regional Spatial Planning and Decision Making Strategies and Their Impact on Land Use in the Urban Fringe

 This report describes and analyses the efforts of regional partners to steer land use developments in the urban fringe of The Hague Region, a polycentric city region with nine municipalities in the urbanized West of The Netherlands. It summarizes trends that drive land use change and recent land use developments, and describes important governmental and private actors and their objectives and strategies with respect to the urban fringe. It focuses on the ways in which actors, and especially The Hague Region itself, influence land use in the urban fringe. Special attention is given to agriculture, which dominates land use in the urban fringe enclaves in The Hague Region. Another subject of study is recreation, as one of the main arguments used by authorities to prevent further urbanization of the urban fringe areas. Culture and identity are discussed as issues that may influence discourses and decisions. The report describes strategies for these three issues, in relation to actors, coalitions, discourses, spatial concepts and resources. This report is the first on the case study of The Hague Region. It will be followed by a report that contains assessments of the strategies.

Portland — The Infill Design Toolkit: Medium-Density Residential Development

This guide is intended to serve as a resource for community members—builders, designers, neighbors and others—all who are involved in designing, building, or participating in dialogue about the new development that continues to shape the form of Portland’s neighborhoods. Its focus is on new “infill” development in established neighborhood areas, particularly where continuation of positive aspects of existing character is a community priority. Infill development can take place as construction on vacant land or as redevelopment that replaces pre-existing buildings.

Housing Prototypes — Solutions for Achieving Density and Neighborhood-friendly Design on Small Infill Sites

The housing prototypes of this section are intended to serve as a problem-solving tool to help improve the design of medium-density infill housing projects, particularly in the R2 and R1 multidwelling zones. The prototypes highlight medium-density housing types and configurations that are suitable for common infill situations, meet City regulations and design objectives, and are feasible from a market perspective. They illustrate solutions for common infill design challenges such as balancing parking needs with pedestrian-friendly design and providing usable open space while achieving density goals. They are also intended to help broaden the range of housing types being built in Portland by presenting innovative configurations, with a particular focus on arrangements conducive to ownership housing. The prototypes continue characteristic neighborhood street frontage patterns by featuring house-like building volumes along street fronts and by providing opportunities for landscaping.

Integrated Land Use and Transportation Policies: What Can Reykjavík, Iceland and Other Cities Learn from Portland, Oregon?

This paper discusses integrated land use and transportation planning policies in Portland, Oregon and the lessons learned in the city’s fight against sprawl and extensive automobile-use. In particular, it focuses on how Portland’s experience with such policies can be of use to other cities which are dealing with sprawl and extensive automobile-use, particularly Reykjavík, Iceland. Portland is very famous for progressive planning and there is a wealth of information in the literature about its experience. The city is often mentioned in relation to planning initiatives such as urban growth management, smart growth, transit-oriented development (TOD), New Urbanism, and integrated land use and transportation planning to name a few. Integrated land use and transportation planning aims at mitigating problems stemming from automobile use and creating a compact and liveable city environment with land use solutions. Like most North-American cities, Reykjavík was mostly developed after the arrival of the automobile and is considered sprawled compared to most other European cities. Therefore it could learn from cities such as Portland which has dealt with similar problems as Reykjavík in an innovative and strategic way for close to four decades.

Rural Response to Urban-Biased Land Use Policy — New Bottom-up Planning Strategies in Norway

Many rural councils are in favour of dispersed low density housing as it takes advantage of a country location. They are likely however to increasingly come into conflict with the planning system and with governmental planning policies which favour a planned and dense development. We discuss the degree to which six rural councils on the urban edge have developed dispersed housing as a strategy and how this is addressed in their planning. Five of them have strategies for dispersed housing and used local planning as a means of realizing this goal. Nevertheless, only two had proactive plans to address this strategy. Despite governmental policy to ban dispersed housing, such areas are identified in negotiations between local and regional authorities who then subvert institutional barriers. We conclude that while central planning policy does not seem to constrain dispersed housing, local planning does. Local authorities do however set limits on dispersed housing through sector interests.

Chicago — Urban Design Strategy Report

As commute times lengthen, energy prices rise, and housing preferences change, compact, walkable urban designs have gained a higher profile nationwide. The Chicago region is no exception. Affluent suburbanites are returning to the central city and new mixed-use, transit-oriented developments are emerging in communities like Glenview and Grayslake. Recent research links compact, mixed-use developments to improved health, vibrant economies and many other social and environmental benefits. As the GO TO 2040 plan develops, good urban design will serve as the foundation on which many other regional strategies are built.

This report defines “good urban design,” identifies elements of this concept, and provides examples of how it can be measured. It also describes the effects of implementing urban design, rather than conventional development, in terms of economics, transportation, environment, and other areas. Finally, the report describes the differing effects of applying urban design in different parts of the region. This report addresses transit oriented development (TOD), which is essentially the application of urban design principles near transit; the redevelopment of greyfield sites; and the planning of new greenfield development sites using urban design principles within the development.

Dutch Spatial Planning: From Implicit Towards Explicit Sustainable Urban Development

Since the 1960’s the containment of urban growth and the maintenance of a certain level of concentration within the urban pattern are policy goals In the Netherlands. With hindsight this so-called ‘concentrated deconcentration’ can be understood as an implicit strategy towards sustainable urban development. The explicit discussion on sustainable development that started around 1987 focused strongly on environmental issues, and lead amongst others to environmental standards.

More recently urban development strategies are more explicitly focused on sustainable development using the well-known frame of people, planet and profit. Together with this shift of focus the future – or the long term – became a more intrinsic part of the policy formation process. The triple-P frame of reference has been used for a strategic study for the Randstad Area for the period 2020-2040 currently undertaken. Striking in this study is that with the shift of focus towards triple-P the environmental issues have disappeared from the spatial agenda. Using the Randstad case as a pièce de résistance we will discuss the continuities and discontinuities in the ways of understanding of and intervening in sustainable urban development in the Netherlands.

Calgary — Medium Density Design Brief

The Medium Density In ll development pattern doubles the population and jobs in existing low density residential neighbourhoods. The target areas for this type of intensify cation are those where there is a need for growth (e.g. areas close to City Centre). By intensifying population within existing neighbourhoods in the city, this pattern significantly supports Sustainability Principle 8: Support compact development; and, 7: Strategically direct and manage redevelopment opportunities within existing areas.

Hammarby Sjöstad Stockholm, Sweden: A Case Study

The Hammarby Model, which is the district’s attempt at a balanced, “closed-loop urban metabolism”, accounts for the unified infrastructure of energy, water and waste. In addition to the Hammarby Model infrastructure, the presence of urban-scaled density, access to multiple modes of transit with an emphasis on reduced car commuting, preservation and restoration of existing natural systems, and progressive construction and housing policies make Hammarby Sjostad an “effective demonstration that ecological and urban go together” by means of comprehensive planning (Beatley 2004:251, 255).

Guiding Infill Development in Winnipeg

The City of Seattle’s Design Review Program is among the most sophisticated and comprehensive in North America. It exemplifies a community-based, participatory approach to design, which provides a forum for citizens and developers to work together towards achieving a better urban environment. The Design Review Program, which consists of both design review boards and design guidelines is intended to shape how new development can contribute positively to Seattle’s neighborhoods, focusing on compatibility, site planning, street life and the pedestrian experience. This case study will highlight the lessons learned from Seattle’s Design Review Program, and discuss the potential opportunities and barriers faced by the City of Winnipeg in adopting similar design guidance strategies.

Spatial Planning in Denmark

Denmark will not become beautiful and well-planned spontaneously. Visions are required about what type of country, landscapes and municipalities are desirable. This requires strategies and planning to create and maintain high-quality surroundings – in nature, in the environment, in landscapes and in cities and towns.

Spatial planning creates the surroundings in which people will be living their lives. Political decision-making processes with public participation and balancing of various interests are therefore an important and exciting part of democracy.

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm is crafting policies and using planning to create a more sustainable society. The planning system in Sweden is termed “community planning”, which is a system that focuses on enhancing or altering the production and consumption of society that is normally left up to the market to determine. Planning is about formulating strategies to improve the quality of life for Swedes and the quality of the natural environment. Planning and environmental policies focus on this “dual” purpose of urban development patterns and green space preservation—crafting guidelines and policies to ensure that humans are close to nature and that natural areas maintain their ecological functions.

Building and Urban Development in Norway

This publication has been prepared in connection with the 48th IFHP World Congress in Oslo 2004. Its purpose is to provide a general impression of the planning and building situation in Norway, and describe some of the important challenges facing us in the first years of the 21st century. In it, we present descriptions and analysis of issues confronting local and central authorities, property developers and the building industry, as well as the planning community and the public in general.

The Effects of Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary on Urban Development Patterns and Commuting

This research investigates the effects of Portland’s urban growth boundary (UGB) on urban development patterns and mobility. Three different methods are adopted for evaluating Portland’s UGB: intermetropolitan comparisons; comparisons inside and outside the UGB; and, statistical analyses utilising regression models. Intermetropolitan comparisons do not support the conclusion that Portland’s UGB has been effective in slowing down suburbanisation, enhancing infill development and reducing auto use. A significant level of spillover from the counties in Oregon to Clark County of Washington took place during the 1990s, indicating that the UGB diverted population growth into Clark County. Results from the statistical analyses also support the above findings. The UGB dummy variable was not significant during the 1980s and 1990s, indicating that the UGB had little impact on the location of new housing construction during the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike the UGB, the Clark County dummy variable is significant for both models, supporting the spillover effects of the UGB.

Spacial Planning in Denmark

Spatial planning aims to create and maintain the qualities of urban areas and the countryside. The challenges of spatial planning change as society develops.

From the early 1950s to the mid-1970s, Denmark’s population grew, the standard of living increased and the population migrated from rural to urban areas. Large new suburban estates were created outside the historical town centres. The industrialization of construction and increasing affluence enabled unprecedented growth in the size of dwellings and in business construction. These new suburbs, which were planned to have spatially differentiated residential estates, business districts, urban centres and service functions, now encompass more than half the developed urban land in Denmark.

Denmark – A Green Room in the European House

This chapter discusses Danish planning up to the change of government, 20th November 2001. The new government changed in many ways the political attitude. This is also true for the field of spatial planning as illustrated in a newspaper article by Michael Rothenborg (2002), titled “Murder in the Ministry”. In this article he suspects the new government to abolish the achievements in the fields of environmental protection and planning which the former Minister of the Environment had fought for. So, the near future will tell to what degree Danish planning and planning policy will change.

Harvard Patterns: An Analysis of the Allston/Cambridge Campuses

As Harvard faces a period of great physical growth and change, it is particularly important for its planners and designers to work from a strong basis of understanding of the varied patterns that make up the University’s existing fabric. This report comprises an initial effort by Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE) to document and analyze those patterns. It is intended as a working document for the many members of the University community who share responsibility for decisions concerning the future of the unique and rich physical setting that is the Harvard campus.

Vancouver/Williams Corridor Infill Strategy

The Vancouver / Williams Corridor in inner North / Northeast Portland is one of Portland’s oldest commercial districts – serving first as the downtown for the City of Albina, and later becoming the Main Street for Portland’s African-American community.

The Corridor is strategically located just north of Portland’s Central City, with proximity and ready access to key regional transportation routes, employment centers, meeting and entertainment venues, and shopping. As a result, the Vancouver / Williams area is now

A community planning effort led by the Vancouver / Williams Task Force has been underway for several years to capitalize on this new environment of opportunity for the Corridor. The goal has been to restore and enhance the historic vitality of the Corridor and nearby neighborhoods. Through the Task Force’s efforts, a shared community vision has emerged for the Corridor – one that is supported by area residents and businesses alike. At the heart of this vision is a strongly held communitywide belief – a desire that existing residents and businesses should benefit from new development as it occurs along the Vancouver / Williams Corridor.

Oregon — The Infill and Redevelopment Code Handbook

In a strong real estate market, infill and redevelopment may occur without supportive public policies. More often, coordination of public policies and private investment is required to encourage development of under-used and skipped-over areas. Such areas may be targeted for infill and redevelopment when adequate public facilities are available, or can be made available. There may also be active neighborhood support. The area may be important for economic, social, or cultural reasons. Under any of these scenarios, the public and the development community can benefit from strategies that encourage well-planned infill and redevelopment.