The ForwardDallas plan is part of the city’s effort to make address exclusionary zoning practices, increase affordable housing for all residents, and bring essential businesses and services to more areas.

A land use plan years in the making in Dallas seeks to redress historic inequity in the city’s land use patterns, reports Leah Waters in The Dallas Morning News. The city will now hold public meetings to receive community input on the draft plan.
The plan, known as ForwardDallas, “will be the city’s first comprehensive land-use plan, which will be one factor in future zoning decisions, including how the city will accommodate more housing for a growing population,” said interim director of Dallas’ Planning and Urban Design department Andrea Gilles.
Rather than a strict rulebook, the plan will be a guide that “will help decision-makers understand how the land should be used without restricting certain kinds of development,” according to Gilles. It will also create more clarity around land use in areas that currently have no clear development guidelines.
“ForwardDallas’ color-coded map designates 12 particular “placetypes” or kinds of uses, such as Traditional Residential, which should be used for single-family homes and auxiliary dwellings, and Blended Residential, which is meant for single-family and multifamily homes,” but none of these types are limited to just one use. The plan is designed to allow for ‘context-sensitive’ land use decisions.
“The plan also allows the community to influence the “adjacency uses” of placetypes, which would allow neighborhoods to shape how near industrial development is to their homes,” Waters adds.
FULL STORY: City releases draft of first land-use plan to address inequity that’s divided Dallas

San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.

The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.

Has President Trump Met His Match?
Doug Ford, the no-nonsense premier of Canada's most populous province, Ontario, is taking on Trump where it hurts — making American energy more expensive.

Honolulu's Iwilei Center Plans for Redevelopment Into Mixed-Use Space
Striving to expand affordable housing options for Oahu residents, Honolulu's Department of Land Management requests to redevelop the Iwilei Center into a mixed-use space.

Biketown Lives
Despite public perception of its decline, Portland’s bike share system is alive and well.

‘Stockholm Tree Pit’ Saves Dying Urban Trees
After noticing that two-thirds of its trees were dying, Stockholm developed a new planting method to protect trees surrounded by concrete.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Edmonds
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research