News

The streets of Manhattan’s touristy Meatpacking District are going car-free forever after Mayor Bill de Blasio closed them and dozens of others to regular car traffic during the height of COVID. 

“We see the Meatpacking District as an ideal location to promote and support changes to the public realm that emphasize pedestrians, promote foot traffic for businesses, support outdoor café culture, and allow for more cultural programming on our streets,” BID Director Jeffrey LeFrancois told Time Out New York. 

https://nypost.com/2021/08/04/nyc-neighborhood-going-car-free-permanently-after-test-run/?fbclid=IwAR0Ix7oRwrrD4lK3wQ0YPc-1oIFnNh16vh7mkbtQCoCiZ6KgWdYChp-QCsY

Consulting Planners of Mass. members Daphne Politis, AICP, principal at Community Circle, and Darrin Punchard, AICP, CFM, principal at Punchard Consulting, are part of the Class of 2022 Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. 

Nominated by their peers, they are recognized and honored for their contributions as a professional planner. The AICP states they "left demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of planning and the communities they served."

Congratulations!

Developer has converted an former tobacco industrial building in the Athens area of Piraeus into Greece’s first green car parking area. "Parksmart is a unique rating system in the world that is designed to promote sustainable design and operation of parking structures,” 

https://insightsgreece.com/athens-becomes-home-to-greeces-first-green-car-park/?fbclid=IwAR2WJO5yQu3QQqeap7wY6XMSN0dtj7gGseM7qwEEFBBRYBGKCgbNinosJ8sDevelopers 

Italy’s most populous metro area will build hundreds of kilometers of protected cycling lanes to ward off worsening pollution from cars and trucks. Reaching from Milan’s core far out into the surrounding countryside, the ambition is to make cycling the first and easiest choice for getting around the Metropolitan City of Milan — a district that includes both the city proper, its suburbs and some of its immediate rural hinterland. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-14/milan-plans-bike-lane-infrastructure-to-rival-paris?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=citylab&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1vR1y7sSuEHA4MbEjIWzWRVJSX2mgqMKFflVgorGOZmCO7EGZW70QAdRI

Brighton & Hove Council's policy stipulates that all new buildings above five metres should include bee bricks, as well as bird nesting boxes suitable for swifts.

These bee bricks are the same size as regular bricks, but integrate a series of narrow openings like those where solitary bees are known to nest.

https://www.dezeen.com/2022/01/24/bee-bricks-planning-requirement-brighton/?fbclid=IwAR0uf8PwzfwGkWFCQccULr2sHxaHaRURzqRWFyr36kYiH1nAaq-GbLEwkQE

Climate Change and Design: Integrating Mitigation and Adaptation into your Practice, another great Donovan Hatem LLP Roundtable, is Wed. Feb. 16 at 10:00 am. CPM member Julie Eaton Ernst of Weston & Sampson is featured with Molly Dee-Ramasney from Jaros, Baum & Boles in NYC.

Free online event. Register at 

https://www.donovanhatem.com/february-roundtable-climate-change-and-design-integrating-mitigation-and-adaptation-into-your-practice/

Their analysis found that "a surprising number of other zoning requirements have the potential to interfere with efforts to open more land to multifamily dwellings." These include public hearing requirements that can delay or derail projects, minimum parking requirements, height limits, lot coverage, floor area ratio requirements, and occupancy restrictions. As others have pointed out, upzoning alone doesn't guarantee new construction if demand doesn't exist or other restrictions make development too onerous and expensive.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/01/116001-more-evidence-upzoning-alone-wont-boost-housing?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-01312022&mc_cid=abc2240ea7&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0

Responding to the rise in housing costs that has affected even remote corners of the world, New Zealand recently passed "sweeping zoning reform legislation" that encourages mid-density housing development. As Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy writes, these reforms provide some valuable lessons for other countries.

The island nation is mandating mid-density zoning requirements and transit-oriented development in an effort to increase housing affordability and encourage compact development.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/01/116004-zoning-reform-lessons-new-zealand?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-01312022&mc_cid=abc2240ea7&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0

The citizen-driven plan that the city is considering now would create the largest car-free area in a city anywhere in the world.

See Fast Company article, 1/13/22

https://www.fastcompany.com/90711961/berlin-is-planning-a-car-free-area-larger-than-manhattan?partner=rss&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss&fbclid=IwAR0GcemgJ436m4G1RRlMwoGqPz8dVyq4IOv6clSDVJCVNrTVnY4Lf2m_iFA