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PAS ReportsEach quarter APA's Planning Advisory Service publishes a new PAS Report providing authoritative guidance on current issues and innovative practices. Subscribing organizations automatically receive each new PAS report as it is published. Subscribers may borrow past reports and purchase them at a 50 percent discount from APAPlanningbooks.com. PAS Super SalePAS Subscribers: Complete your PAS Reports collection with 90-plus selected reports now at a bargain price of $7.50. Non-subscribers pay only $15. Latest ReportThe Rules That Shape Urban Form
In the latest PAS Report, authors Donald Elliott, FAICP, Matthew Goebel, FAICP, and Chad Meadows, AICP, look at six approaches to "form-based" zoning. The report includes case studies describing the pros, cons, and consequences of form-based zoning regulations in Austin, Texas; Mooresville, North Carolina; Denver; Arlington, Virginia; Livermore, California; and Miami. Interviews with planners in each community give real-world perspectives on choosing, implementing, and evaluating form controls. Because form doesn't exist in a vacuum, the report also looks at the planning challenges of housing affordability, carbon emissions, aging populations, and preservation. Which form controls support positive change in these areas — and which work against it? Lessons learned from cities across the country offer guidance for planners facing these challenges in their own communities. PAS subscribers received the report in October. Additional copies are available through APAPlanningBooks.com. Chronological List of ReportsWhatever issue you're working on, chances are there's a PAS Report that covers it. Since 1949, PAS has published more than 550 reports on a wide range of planning topics. Take a look at the PAS Reports list to see all the titles in this vital resource series. PAS subscribers: Is the title you want not on your department's bookshelf? Contact us for a loan copy, or purchase your own from the bookstore with your 50 percent PAS discount. Historic Reports
Information Report No. 218, January 1967 Regulating Storage of Major Recreational EquipmentAmericans have long had a love affair with the open road, and the rise in prosperity of the 1950s launched an explosion in recreational equipment — by 1967 there were more than 1.2 million RVs in use. But where would these campers, trailers, and boats be stored when not in use? This month's historic PAS report looks at the early steps cities took to regulate where and how recreational equipment could be parked in residential districts — an issue some communities continue to grapple with today. Selected Reports OnlineLooking for land use definitions? Need some examples of parking standards for a certain use? PAS Subscribers, we've provided you with digital access to the popular reports below. Jobs-Housing BalancePAS Report 516
Community IndicatorsPAS Report 517
A Planners DictionaryPAS Report 521/522
Parking StandardsPAS Report 510/511
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Since New York City adopted its pioneering zoning ordinance in 1916, land-use regulation has affected the physical form of urban development. While most early zoning codes implicitly defined an "invisible box" through a combination of front, side, and rear setbacks and maximum heights within which buildings had to be located, it is increasingly common for contemporary zoning ordinances to incorporate explicit, prescriptive form controls.
PAS published its first Information Report in 1949. To celebrate this history, each month we're presenting a new report from the archives. We hope you enjoy these fascinating snapshots of planning issues of yesteryear.
This report examines a controversial concept — jobs-housing balance. Some have argued that the market is the mechanism that will achieve such balance. Jerry Weitz, in his research of four types of jobs-housing imbalance, concludes that the market has failed to achieve balance in three of the four scenarios he lays out. He provides case studies to support his findings, including one from King County, Washington, showing that increases in housing costs are more gradual in areas with a jobs-housing balance. This report counters the skeptics and points to those actions planners can take to help bring appropriate housing, jobs, and workforces together, resulting in overall community improvements.
Community indicators help planners evaluate and monitor the full range of factors — social, environmental, economic, and more — that affect the well-being of a community or region. This report reviews the use of indicators in planning practice and explores their relationship to citizen participation, quality of life, and sustainability. It summarizes the types and scale of indicators and describes how to identify, select, and develop indicators that are appropriate for a particular community. Rural and urban examples show how planners have used indicators in their practice. Includes an annotated list of resources and web links.
This dictionary, a revised and updated edition of the Planning Advisory Service's best selling Glossary of Zoning, Development, and Planning Terms, contains more than 4,200 terms used by planners around the nation. This new edition contains an introduction by Harvey Moscowitz, FAICP, chief editor of The Illustrated Book of Development Definitions, and Carl Lindbloom, AICP. Contributors include many APA Research Department staff, who culled through hundreds of ordinances, plans, and planning documents to offer readers choices of definitions and commentaries that add depth and value to the dictionary.
This report, an expanded and updated version of a previous best seller, contains an exhaustive set of parking standards and an exploration of the complexities of creating practical standards. There is general agreement that when the supply of parking greatly exceeds typical demand, the results are detrimental to a range of stakeholders. Benefits may come from minimizing off-street parking, but downsizing requirements can be tricky because many communities fear the impact on overall community development. This report addresses that quandary and explores techniques such as shared parking, maximum parking standards, downtown parking standards, and more.
