A new study looks at some of the reason why there has been a return of population to city centers over the past decade.
Wayfinding for Walking
Link Round Up- Housing and Equality
The Super Bowl and a Broken San Francisco: We all have heard about San Francisco's housing affordability crisis, and Eugene is working to make sure it Doesn't Happen Here. This article discusses the connection between zoning codes, housing affordability, and inequity.
Little Homes in Big Backyards: San Francisco's Housing Solution: The creation of accessory dwelling units as a partial solution to San Francisco's housing woes.
The Dark Side of a Tech Boom: Unlike San Francisco, Reno is a mid-sized city like Eugene. They haven't built enough housing to accommodate their recent growth, resulting in an increase in homelessness and families living in motels.
The poor are better off when we build more housing for the rich: The Washington Post reports on recent research that indicates that adding housing targeted at any income level can benefit low income families. Update: More from the Post on this.
The Missing Middle in Housing
Will US Cities Design Their Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis?
Eugene has a lot of single family homes. We have a fair number of apartment complexes. But, like many places around the country, we are missing the middle category-- housing that is in between single family homes and apartment complexes in terms of scale, density and affordability. How to handle this is an active debate in Eugene.
“We used to build lots of in-between housing in this country: rowhouses, duplexes, apartment courts. In other countries, the middle is still the default.... But the United States stopped building this way decades ago.
The result, critics say, is huge unmet demand from millions of people whom our bifurcated housing supply doesn’t serve. ”
Fewer Licenses Issued
Decline of the Driver's License.
One reason why increasing walkability is so important is that few and fewer people even know how to drive.
“Among young adults, the declines are smaller but still significant—16.4 percent fewer 20-to-24-year-olds had licenses in 2014 than in 1983, 11 percent fewer 25-to-29-year-olds, 10.3 percent fewer 30-to-34-year-olds, and 7.4 percent fewer 35-to-39-year-olds. ”
Parking Minimums and the Future
Newer code suggestions for Eugene, such as in the proposed South Willamette Special Area Zone, have lower parking minimums than have been common in the past. Changing trends in driving habits indicate that this might be a good idea, as discussed in this article about the future of parking:
“We are, they say, on the cusp of a new era, when cities can begin dramatically reducing the amount of parking spaces they offer. This shift is being driven by a one-two punch of social and technological change. On the social side, people are increasingly opting to live in urban centers, where they don’t need—or want—to own a car. They’re ride-sharing or using public transit instead.
And technologically, we’re seeing the rapid emergence of self-driving cars. ”
The Problem with Parking
The Problem with Too Much Parking
An article in the Washington Post discusses the link between increased parking supply and increased driving. Recent Eugene plans, such as the South Willamette Special Area Zone, call for reduced statutory parking minimums. This can only help with Eugene's climate change goals, which will require reducing the amount of miles-traveled-by car to be successful.
“These are all patterns consistent with a causal relationship. They don’t definitely prove one, but the researchers conclude they amount to “compelling evidence” that more parking is a cause of car use. Not the only cause, but a cause. Which, McCahill argues, should be enough to warrant cities reconsidering how they manage this stuff.”