More Smart Land Use Reform in Saint Paul
St. Paul planning staff have been doing great work to reform the planning process. The latest change proposes to fix a broken petition requirement for certain developments.
Category: Land Use
National Links: Rethinking City Sounds
What if we rethought sound in busy cities? In Rotterdam, city officials believe that train bells and other noises are just background noise, but to many, it’s an unbearable hum. Still, some are looking for ways to extract and enhance new sounds to create new and valuable urban experiences.
National Links: Dark Stores and Geographic Gas Taxes
Around the country more dark stores and ghost kitchens are popping up in empty retail spaces. These stores, which promise 15-minute deliveries of food and goods, don’t have a front door and can’t be patronized on foot. Along with e-commerce, they are also wreaking havoc on local businesses and impacting the soul of cities in a way that will be hard to recover.
Early Engagement on St. Paul’s 1-4 Unit Housing Study Looks Pretty Good
St. Paul staff ran a first round of public engagement about ending single-family zoning. The results are promising.
Minneapolis 2040’s First Real Test: 635 Van Buren Street NE
The Minneapolis 2040 Plan was a true accomplishment and vision for more housing, reducing inequity and improving sustainability. It set the stage for many other cities and states across the country to push for and succeed in adopting new, denser zoning laws. For the first time since its 12-1 passage, that Plan is now being […]
The Northstar Is Broken. How can we fix it?
Contributor Ian Gaida offers musings on how to make the Northstar a more useful – and utilized – system.
How Housing Development Creates a Collective-Action Problem, in St. Paul and Beyond
Here’s one reason we have a housing shortage: New development creates diffuse benefits, but has concentrated costs. Local control over land use ensures we’ll undercount the benefits.
Waking Up from the Car Cult
When you hear anyone say that the Twin Cities Boulevard vision isn’t possible as part of Rethinking I-94 — when we face a climate emergency and the literal loss of a stable, civilization-supporting habitat — remember that you live in a car cult.
The Hillcrest Master Plan is Pretty Solid
“We should use these big opportunities to do big things.” The redevelopment of the Hillcrest site on St. Paul’s East Side is a unique opportunity to build homes, create jobs, and connect the neighborhood.
National Links: The American Nightmare Mall
The American Dream mall in New Jersey is a dreadful reminder of America’s consumer culture. The boondoggle suffered from decades of delay, shady business deals and billions of dollars spent in taxpayer money – its eponymous name certainly seems fitting.