Infill-related Articles

Resources and Articles Related to Infill Development

State Government and Urban Revitalization: How States Can Foster Stronger, More Inclusive Cities
Author: Alan Mallach
This paper investigates the role of state policy in urban revitalization in fiscal and service delivery capacity, economic competitivenes,; strengthening housing markets, and building human capital.
Tags: economic revitalization, public financing, regulatory streamlining

L.A. keeps building near freeways, even though living there makes people sick
Authors: Tony Barboza, Jon Schleuss
Health effects of housing near freeways.
Tags: public health (new)

AIA Practice Homepage
Author: AIA

Sustainable Design Guides
Authors: ASLA
Launch page for ASLA's guides to sustainable design
Tags: public health (new), contextual design, environmental sustainability, financial feasibility

Land Use Vision and Proposed VMT Reduction Measures for the AB 32 Scoping Plan
Author: California Strategic Growth Council
The AB 32 Scoping Plan is the State's official GHG reduction plan. One  method of reducing GHG emissions is infill development, although this has faced many fiscal barriers.
Tags: development fees, environmental sustainability, financial feasibility, public financing

New Urbanism Resources
Authors: Congress for the New Urbanism
Resources related to building and development following guidelines of New Urbanism.
Tags: public health (new), economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, parking and TDM

Council of Infill Builders Website
Authors: Council of Infill Builders
Tags: public health (new), housing affordability, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, financial feasibility, infrastructure planning, parking and TDM, social equity & displacement

Regulatory Strategies for Encouraging Infill and Redevelopment
Author: Denver Regional Council of Governments
This report on regulatory strategies for infill and redevelopment describes the process of assessing and adjusting zone districts to better facilitate infill and redevelopment. It also addresses assessing and modifying building codes.
Tags: assessment tools, regulatory streamlining

Smart Growth and Economic Success: Investing in Infill Development (2014)
Author: EPA
As the demand and prevalence of infill housing development increases, its challenges are decreasing, allowing for greater smart growth.
Tags: economic revitalization, financial feasibility, public financing

Attracting Infill Development in Distressed Communities: 30 Strategies (2015)
Author: EPA
Infill development poses even more challenges in distressed communities. This report examines Fresno and several other case studies to outline a series of strategies for infill development in such communities.
Tags: assessment tools, development fees, economic revitalization, financial feasibility, infrastructure planning, public financing, regulatory streamlining

EPA's Smart Growth Webpage - various topics
Authors: EPA
Tags: housing affordability, economic revitalization, financial feasibility, social equity & displacement

Greenbelt Alliance Report: Fixing the Foundation - Local Solutions for Infill Housing (2013)
Author: Greenbelt Alliance
This article uses case study evidence from 12 Bay Area cities to identify the top 10 barriers to infill development and what can be done about them.
Tags: housing affordability, development fees, financial feasibility, parking and TDM, public financing, regulatory streamlining

Green Your City's Footprint: a toolkit for climate-friendly general plans
Authors: Ellie Casson, Stephanie Reyes
A guide on how to address climate change through the improvement of each section of a city's General Plan
Tags: community engagement, environmental sustainability

Strategies for Fiscally Sustainable Infill Housing (2011)
Authors: Chris Schildt
Cities can utilize several strategies to generate new revenues out of new infill housing developments and increase financial sustainability by cutting various costs associated with these types of developments.
Tags: housing affordability, assessment tools, development fees, financial feasibility, public financing

Infilling California: Tools and Strategies for Infill Development
In this seminar-lecture series, speakers discuss ways to address challenges and emerging opportunities for infill as California's economic and demographic conditions and environmental mandates change.
Tags: environmental sustainability, financial feasibility

Working Papers and Reports
Author: Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Collection of research papers from Harvard JCHS

Patching the Fabric of the Neighborhood: The Practical Challenges of Infill Housing Development for CDCs
Author: Emily Felt
This study examines why CDCs tend to have negative perceptions of infill affordable housing developments. Despite their many social benefits, their cost and complexity along with municipal context can affect the decisions of CDCs.
Tags: housing affordability, community engagement, contextual design, economic revitalization, social equity & displacement

Healthy Community Design
Author: Local Government Commission
Web page outlining guidelines for creating healthy communities including links to several other resources on the topic.
Tags: public health (new), environmental sustainability

Infill Development: Completing the Community Fabric
Author: MRSC
A page with links to resources on infill development policy, strategies, barriers, studies, and other reports.
Tags: housing affordability, community engagement, economic revitalization, financial feasibility, parking and TDM, regulatory streamlining

Infill Development
Author: Paul Beyer
A general outline of infill development's community benefits and the barriers to its implementation.
Tags: economic revitalization, infrastructure planning

HIP Tool: Infill Development
Author: Puget Sound Regional Council
Toolkit for using infill development as a means of achieving goals in housing affordability and density.
Tags: housing affordability, assessment tools, social equity & displacement

Regional Transit Oriented Development Strategy
Author: SANDAG
San Diego Region's TOD strategy focused on smart growth and sustainability.
Tags: housing affordability, assessment tools, community engagement, environmental sustainability, financial feasibility, infrastructure planning, regulatory streamlining

Getting to Great Places
Author: Benjamin Grant
How the city of San Jose can use quality urban design to meet the goals outlined in its new general plan and serve the region's ever-growing demand for housing and jobs.
Tags: assessment tools, contextual design, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, parking and TDM

Freedom to Move: How the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority can create better transportation choices in the South Bay (2014)
Author: Ratna Amin
Seven strategies for how VTA can work with the towns and cities of the South Bay to deliver more reliable and sustainable transportation options.
Tags: environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning, public financing

SPUR's Agenda for Change in the San Francisco Bay Area (2016)
Author: SPUR
SPUR's vision for the Bay Area's central cities, summarizing the main ideas of their work related to planning and urban design.
Tags: housing affordability, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning

The Future of Downtown San Jose: How the South Bay’s urban center can achieve its potential (2014)
Authors: Egon Terplan
San Jose is growing rapidly but lacks many characteristics that could allow for better success. This report details six big ideas for achieving a more active downtown.
Tags: contextual design, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning

Seamless Transit: How to make Bay Area public transit function like one rational, easy-to-use system (2015)
Author: Ratna Amin
The Bay Area's fragmented transit systems make it inefficient and difficult to use, stifiling ridership growth. SPUR proposes five strategies for improving transit intergration.
Tags: financial feasibility, infrastructure planning, public financing

Fossil-Free Bay Area: A cleaner future for the region’s energy (2016)
Author: SPUR
SPUR aims to create a policy agenda to accelerate the transition toward high-efficiency energy and away from carbon-based fuels, to create a model for other urban regions to do so and to become more climate resilient in the  process.
Tags: environmental sustainability

Smart Growth California
Smart Growth California homepage. "Funders working together to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities across California."
Tags: economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, financial feasibility, infrastructure planning, parking and TDM

Transform Reports
Collection of reports from Transform spanning a variety of topics.
Tags: economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning, parking and TDM, social equity & displacement

Infrastructure & TOD
Author: Urban Land Institute
ULI San Francisco seeks to improve the economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability of the Bay Area through increasing investment in smart infrastructure, especially transit and transit-oriented development.
Tags: environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning

Infrastructure 2014: Shaping the Competitive City
Author: Basil Hallberg
Assesses the role of infrastructure in supporting and attracting metropolitan real estate investment and supporting urban prosperity, and identifies key infrastructure investment priorities and bottlenecks.
Tags: economic revitalization, infrastructure planning, public financing, regulatory streamlining

Higher Density Development: Myth and Fact
Author: Richard M. Haughey
This is the sixth in a series of publications designed to dispel myths and offer good examples on issues related to growth and land use. It addresses common myths surrounding density.
Tags: housing affordability

Urban Planning 101: Walkability
Author: Collingwood Planning
Illustrated video highlighting value of and strategies for walkability
Tags: public health (new), contextual design, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability

Economic & Housing Opportunities (ECHO) Phase II
Author: Grand Boulevard Initiative
Case studies for economic revitalization and housing development in SF Bay Peninsula cities.
Tags: housing affordability, development fees, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, parking and TDM

Study of Infill Development Potential in the Unincorporated Areas of Los Angeles County
Author: Solimar Research Group
Study on potential infill sites in different areas of Los Angeles County to assist LA governments in identifying and assessing areas for smart growth projects.
Tags: housing affordability, assessment tools, financial feasibility

Affordable Cold Climate Infill Housing with Hybrid Insulation Approach
Author: US Dept of Energy
Report on a hybrid insulation approach to building housing in cold weather situations.
Tags: environmental sustainability

Incentives to Promote Infill Housing
Author: Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse
Three cities' strategies to incentivize infill development as a means of providing affordable housing.
Tags: housing affordability, regulatory streamlining

City seeks creative infill housing ideas
Authors: Steve Law
Argument for the necessity for infill housing development in Portland, Oregon to keep housing costs affordable.
Tags: housing affordability, opinion

Community Investments
Author: Community Affairs Dept of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco
Journal issue on affordable housing.
Tags: housing affordability, development fees, financial feasibility, public financing

School Quality and Affordable Housing in the Bay Area
Author: Naomi Cytron
How location of affordable housing affects quality of life.
Tags: housing affordability, social equity & displacement

The Urban Displacement Project
 The Urban Displacement Project aims to understand the nature of gentrification and displacement in American cities, and to create tools to help communities identify the pressures surrounding them and take more effective action.
Tags: public health (new), housing affordability, economic revitalization, environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning, social equity & displacement

Gentrification: What's in a name?
Author: Kyle Fee
A short explanation of gentrification, its causes, effects, and why it is relevant today.
Tags: housing affordability, economic revitalization, social equity & displacement

Mayoral Bait and Switch
Author: Robert Gammon
An article covering Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin's shifts in housing policy during his  first year in office.
Tags: housing affordability, social equity & displacement

Berkeley's Attack on Housing
Author: Randy Shaw
Opinion piece criticizing the city of Berkeley's policy proposals to impede new housing construction.
Tags: housing affordability, social equity & displacement, opinion

Despite concerns about lack of data, Berkeley votes to increase developer fee
Author: Emilie Raguso
News article outlining Berkeley's politics regarding housing, development, and the rising costs that prevent new development in the city.
Tags: housing affordability, financial feasibility

Anti-gentrification movements signify deeper issues for cities
Author: Laura Pavin
Article describing some of the core issues at hand in cities struggling with gentrification.
Tags: housing affordability, economic revitalization, social equity & displacement

Berkeley Says It’s Standing Up to Trump, But It’s Actually Busy Arguing About Zucchini
Author: Henry Grabar
How even progressive cities contribute to environmental issues by fighting new housing developments.
Tags: environmental sustainability, parking and TDM, opinion

Residential Infill Project
Author: City of Portland
Landing page for Portland's residential infill project updates and information.
Tags: assessment tools, community engagement, financial feasibility, public financing

Regulation and the High Cost of Housing in California
Authors: John Quigley, Steven Raphael
How policy and regulations have contributed to the dramatic increase in housing costs in California.
Tags: housing affordability, regulatory streamlining

The New Exclusionary Zoning
Author: John Mangin
Report on the effects of exclusionary zoning  and land use policy on housing affordability.
Tags: housing affordability

California's High Housing Costs
Author: Mac Taylor
An analysis of the factors that have led to high housing costs in California.
Tags: housing affordability

Inclusionary Housing Calculator
Author: Grounded Solutions Network
A tool allowing communities to explore the relationship between local incentives and the development of mixed income housing.
Tags: housing affordability, assessment tools

Getting it Right: Examining the Local Land Use Entitlement Process in California to Inform Policy and Process
Authors: Mora O'Neill, Giulia Gualco-Nelson, Eric Biber
A study on how CEQA and other local regulations have affected California's housing crisis.
Tags: housing affordability, environmental sustainability, regulatory streamlining