Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.1.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Missing Middle Housing ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Rebuilding for Those in Need: Opticos Designs for Wildfire Cottage Initiative](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/rebuilding-for-those-in-need-opticos-designs-for-wildfire-cottage-initiative/) - [Five Reasons Demand for Walkability is Growing Across America](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/five-reasons-demand-for-walkability-is-growing-across-america/) - Walkability is not a new value: in fact, it’s an old one. But, with the rise of the automobile in the 1920s came the decline of walkability in America, and suburban sprawl became the defining feature of 20th-century development. Only recently has the tide started to turn back toward urban development patterns that focus on - [Akanda SmartCode: Coding for Sustainability in Developing Countries](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/akanda-smartcode-coding-for-sustainability-in-developing-countries/) - [Opticos Works with the Prince's Foundation in Gabon, Africa](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-works-with-the-princes-foundation-in-gabon-africa/) - Opticos worked with the Prince’s Foundation to prepare a Master Plan and initial SmartCode calibration for Phase II of the Angondje New Town Master Plan in Gabon, Africa. Angondje is the largest growth area in Gabon with a proposed population of well over 100,000 people. Our work began with Daniel Parolek attending a design charrette - [Why Form and Scale Matter in the Missing Middle Housing Conversation](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/economics-form-scale-matter-missing-middle-housing-conversation/) - [Why Walkability Matters to Us](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/why-walkability-matters-to-us/) - This statement perfectly captures the central belief that drives our work at Opticos Design, and over the last several years, we’ve watched with excitement as the the demand for walkable living has grown among everyone from millennials to baby boomers and city dwellers to suburbanites. If you’ve been reading our blog for awhile, you know - [The “Missing Middle” Housing Affordability Solution](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-missing-middle-affordable-housing-solution/) - The lack of affordable housing is an increasing problem in many places—particularly those that are walkable and have transit service. The demand for walkable places continues to increase, but too much of what our zoning allows and what the market has traditionally built is sprawl. This has created a classic supply/demand issue, where the demand - [Shaking Up the 21st-Century Multifamily Market with a Missing Middle Neighborhood](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/shaking-up-the-21st-century-multifamily-market-with-missing-middle-neighborhoods/) - [Designing a Missing Middle Plan for Small Infill Sites: The Art of Creating Value and a Sense of Place on a Two-to-Five Acre Site, Part 1](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/art-designing-2-5-acre-missing-middle-site-plan-creating-value-sense-place-small-sites-1/) - [Designing a Missing Middle Plan for Small Infill Sites: The Art of Creating Value and a Sense of Place on a Two-to-Five Acre Site, Part 2](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/art-designing-two-five-acre-missing-middle-site-plan-part-1-creating-value-sense-place-small-sites-2/) - [The Power of Public Art: How Murals Beautify Cities and Build Communities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-power-of-public-art-murals/) - Across the country, cities large and small are looking a little more colorful lately—and that’s not because of the changing seasons. Groups that aim to promote local talent and engage the community have been turning empty city walls into huge public canvases and the results of their labor can have a lasting effect on local - [Innovative Missing Middle Housing in Daybreak Makes Livability an Attainable Reality](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/innovative-missing-middle-housing-in-daybreak-makes-livability-an-attainable-reality/) - [“Making Room” and Constructing Change with the National Building Museum](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/making-room-and-constructing-change/) - [Missing Middle Housing Close Up: Bungalow Courts](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-close-bungalow-courts/) - [Part 2: Addressing Missing Middle Housing and Missing People in the Queen City: Cincinnati’s Form-Based Code and Transect](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/addressing-missing-middle-housing-and-missing-people-in-the-queen-city-cincinnatis-form-based-code-and-transect-2/) - As part of a charrette held the week of Saturday April 28th, Opticos Design built upon months of field documentation, including many hours spent on Google Earth, mapping analysis, photography, and an assessment of the existing zoning code to refine an initial calibration of Cincinnati’s Urban-to-Rural Transect. Choosing and refining a form-based Organizing Principle for a city the size of Cincinnati with such a diverse range of pre-1940’s urban patterns and a rich urban morphology is one of the most challenging, but underappreciated aspects of creating a Form-Based Code (FBC). For Cincinnati, the Urban-to-Rural Transect was selected as the Organizing Principle and was up to the task. The calibration of the transect allowed the team to create a framework that would reinforce the fine-grain fabric and rich palette of building types, both Missing Middle and others, that are an important part of defining the community character of the City’s urban neighborhoods. - [Part 1: Addressing Missing Middle Housing and Missing People in the Queen City: Cincinnati’s Form-Based Code and Transect](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/addressing-missing-middle-housing-and-missing-people-in-the-queen-city-cincinnatis-form-based-code-and-transect/) - Cincinnati’s urban neighborhoods are at a tipping point. The City has lost 40% of its population since 1950 leaving suburban densities in the city’s formerly urban neighborhoods. Many residential buildings and lots sit vacant or unmaintained, with over 10,000 historically contributing units in need of renovation. Neighborhood main streets have withered due to lack of people, competition from nearby big box stores, and bad thoroughfare design that speeds cars and potential customers through these neighborhoods rather than to them. In addition, jobs followed the people to the suburbs. - [Austin, Texas: Cool Neighborhoods, Walkability, and A Culture of Creativity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/austin-texas-cool-neighborhoods-walkability-and-a-culture-of-creativity/) - Opticos’s Dan Parolek and John Miki were in Austin, TX, last week for the successful kick-off of the citywide code rewrite. They were energized by a Code Advisory Group meeting, which demonstrated excitement about the project and confidence in the Opticos Team. On a tour of the city, they discovered many cool neighborhoods and great - [Hamilton Square: Missing Middle Housing in Practice](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/hamilton-square-missing-middle-housing-in-practice/) - Opticos is kicking off an exciting Missing Middle housing project in Novato, CA, on a two-and-a-half acre site located on the former Hamilton Air Force Base along Main Gate Road, less than a quarter mile from the future SMART Station area. The client, West Bay Builders had several early concepts for the site created by - [Opticos Participating in APA PTS Training on Form-Based Planning and Coding in Seattle this June](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-participating-in-apa-pts-training-on-form-based-planning-and-coding-in-seattle-this-june/) - Dan Parolek and Tony Perez of Opticos Design along with Jennifer Carlat from the Nashville Davidson County Planning Department, Bill Spikowski of Spikowski Planning Associates, and Ed Starkie of Urban Advisors, will lead an Advanced Form-Based Planning and Zoning workshop as part of APA’s PTS training series June 11 – 12 in Seattle. This is an - [Bridgeport Main Street Revitalization Featured on PPS Website](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/bridgeport-main-street-revitalization-street-improvements-featured-on-pps-website/) - The Bridgeport Main Street Revitalization set the record for the quickest implementation ever in a long history of Opticos projects. The feature on the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) website states it best: “9 week period from the first public meeting to installation!” The project team worked closely with Bridgeport residents, County agencies, and Caltrans - [Missing Middle Implementation: The Selby Live/Work Building in Buena Vista, CO](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-implementation-the-selby-live-work-building-in-buena-vista-co/) - Siblings Jed Selby and Kate Selby Urban envisioned a more thoughtful way of living when they decided to develop the community of South Main in Buena Vista, CO. They envisioned a town that celebrated and preserved the landscape, a place where you could walk everywhere you needed to go, and meet your neighbors on the - [Why I Bike](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/why-i-bike/) - I don’t remember if I had any as a kid, but it had never occurred to me to buy them as an adult. After buying my daughter a new pair each year for five years, I finally realized that I could buy my own pair (and I wouldn’t grow out of them in a year). - [Building Healthy Communities in South Kern County](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/building-healthy-communities-in-south-kern-county/) - The project included some interesting ideas for bringing central amenities and services to disadvantaged neighborhoods, and is characteristic of the kinds of interdisciplinary partnerships necessary to make good things happen these days. Some background: The plan included community design charrettes for one town, Arvin, and two unincorporated communities, Lamont and Weedpatch. All three communities have - [Missing Middle in Rural Communities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-in-rural-communities/) - Despite the recent downtown most places in California are expected to grow. Municipalities struggle to meet their RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation), that outlines targets for housing at varying degrees of affordability and requires them to zone land sufficient to meet these requirements. The reasons why places tend to chronically fail to meet their RHNA - [Petaluma's New SMART Station Master Plan and Code Receives Unanimous Approval](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/petalumas-new-smart-station-master-plan-and-code-receives-unanimous-approval/) - On June 17, the Petaluma City Council voted unanimously to adopt a Master Plan and SmartCode written by Opticos, connecting the city's new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Line (SMART) station with the downtown core of Petaluma, CA. A new urban district with a pedestrian connection will rejuvenate the Petaluma River waterfront and introduce a series - [Oceano Revitalization Plan Receives Unanimous Approval](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/oceano-revitalization-plan-receives-unanimous-approval/) - On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Board of Supervisors in San Luis Obispo County, CA, voted unanimously to adopt the Oceano Revitalization Plan. Opticos worked on the project, which was funded by a $149,974 Caltrans grant, with the Local Government Commissiom, Lisa Wise Consulting, and Nelson\Nygaard. The new plan builds on the existing Oceano Specific Plan and aims to guide - [Tracing the History of the Original New Urbanist Town](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tracing-the-history-of-the-original-new-urbanist-town/) - Architect Dhiru Thadani’s latest book about the planned town of Seaside, Florida, Visions of Seaside: Foundation, Evolution, Imagination, Built & Unbuilt Architecture, is a complete history of the town, from the project’s inception, to its planning, to projects that remain unbuilt. Opticos’s plan for the Seaside Town Square and Beachfront Master Plan, Seaside Markets, and - [Community Planning Inspired by Cultural Tradition on Kaua'i](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/community-planning-inspired-by-cultural-tradition/) - Ancient Hawaiians did not recognize the concept of private property, but they did follow a complex system that divided land according to the natural landscape, from whole islands, down to single units that families used to cultivate crops. An ahupua’a was a larger unit of land controlled by a chief—the size of an ahupua’a depended - [Opticos Named to 2013 B Corp Best for Workers List](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-named-to-2013-b-corp-best-for-workers-list/) - Opticos Design, Inc., was named to B Lab’s “B Corp Best for the Workers List,” honoring the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations in the world that have made a positive impact on their workforce. “Study after study shows that being ‘best for workers’ means being best for shareholders because the name of the - [Giving Back: Opticos Donates CNU Charter Award Money to Cincinnati Nonprofit Public Art Group](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/giving-back-opticos-donates-cnu-charter-award-money-to-cincinnati-nonprofit-public-art-group/) - Earlier this year, Opticos Design was awarded the CNU’s Charter Award Grand Prize for Best Planning Tool for our work on the Cincinnati Form-Based Code. As we discussed what to do with the prize money, we decided the best thing to do would be to give the money back to an organization making a difference - [Why B Corps Are Better Companies](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/why-b-corps-are-better-companies/) - B Lab recently launched its new B the Change campaign to both celebrate and reward businesses around the world working toward the greater good. Opticos Design is proud to be both a B Corp and California Benefit Corporation. There are over 900 Certified B Corporations in 29 countries worldwide. B Corps hold themselves to higher standards - [A Season to Give Something Back](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/season-give-something-back/) - As a Certified B Corporation, Opticos is committed to a triple bottom line that includes sustainable business, accountability, transparency, and meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance. As part of our B Corp goals, Opticos sets aside a portion of money on an annual basis to give to a charity or group of charities - [Transforming an Urban Greenway: From an Unobserved Gem to a Great Address](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opening-up-a-greenway-transforming-an-urban-greenway-from-an-unobserved-gem-to-a-great-address-and-stormwater-filtration-system/) - Opticos led a team of consultants in re-imagining Richmond’s commercial corridors through a public multi-day design-based visioning process called a charrette. The efforts of the visioning done at the charrette will eventually lead to a Form-Based Code for the corridors. As part of this work, Opticos and the consultant team focused on ways in which the Form-Based Code could help support the local efforts in polishing up the urban gem that is the Richmond Greenway... - [Incremental Placemaking: Creating Place and Incubating Small Businesses With Temporary Structures](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/incremental-placemaking/) - Creating a place and incubating small businesses through the use of temporary structures In response to the challenging economic climate in which many of our clients have found themselves, we recently included an economist as a part of our charrette team. In addition to helping us assess the current market demand, the economist also has the rather daunting task of providing us with the ever needed reality check of what type of development (use, intensity, construction type) will actually pencil based on existing rents and sale prices. In some instances, the economists feedback is as simple as increasing or decreasing the various program square footage, staying under ‘x’ stories or going above ‘y’ stories to maximize the return on your construction type costs, increasing the number of units, or decreasing the unit size. - [Michigan Missing Middle Housing Design Competition Draws Global Talent](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/michigan-missing-middle-housing-design-competition-draws-global-talent/) - An elite group of industry leaders including Opticos Design’s Dan Parolek served as judges for the competition. The winners were announced on June 23 at during an awards symposium at One Woodward in Detroit. The five winners were selected for their unique take on the concept of Missing Middle Housing. The phrase “Missing Middle” refers - [Opticos‘ South Kaua‘i Community Plan and Form-Based Code Is Adopted by The County Council](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-designs-south-kauai-community-plan-and-form-based-code-is-adopted-by-the-county-council/) - Hawai'i’s Kaua'i County has been working on several fronts to create more walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly communities on the island, including the adoption of a countywide multimodal land transportation plan, and recent work on Community Plans for Līhu'e and South Kaua'i. A straw poll conducted by the county in June of last year identified walkability - [3 Ways Walkability and Bikeability Help Neighborhoods Thrive](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/3-ways-walkability-and-bikeability-help-neighborhoods-thrive/) - We believe that the benefits of walkable urbanism don’t stop there. What other benefits of walkability and bikeability can you identify? Today, we’re taking a closer look at how walkability and bikeability impact community life and contribute to thriving local businesses. Have you experienced these benefits of walkability in your own community? Foot Traffic Helps - [What Makes a Community Walkable?](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/what-makes-a-community-walkable/) - “Walkability” isn’t a vague buzzword; there are proven methods for a place to be considered walkable. They include: Most things within a 5-10-minute walk from home and work Streets designed to enable and encourage walking Access to public transit Thoughtful design and development choices can help communities achieve all three of these methods, and in - [The Role of Missing Middle Housing in Detroit’s Urban Neighborhoods](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-role-of-missing-middle-housing-in-detroits-urban-neighborhoods/) - Unless you have been living in a cave, you have noticed that Detroit has been all over the press lately in regards to the impressive urban revitalization that has taken place in its core, the innovative planning that has been done in the Detroit Future City process, and the opportunities and challenges that still lie - [The Top Seven Things I Teach About Form-Based Planning and Zoning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-top-seven-things-i-teach-about-form-based-planning-and-zoning/) - #1: Use physical form, rather than land use, as the primary organizing principle Since its U.S. beginnings in the early 20th century, zoning and planning have been organized on the principle that land use is the most important of many factors. This has proven to be ineffective, especially when that thinking is applied to places that - [Why I Make Form-Based Codes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/why-i-make-form-based-codes/) - Zoning Isn't New I have met many people across the country who were unaware of zoning and that it has been regulating their property for the past century. It’s not that they didn’t know there were rules in place—it’s more that they couldn’t have told you what actually regulated building or land use activity in - [Beaufort County FBC Gets the Nod from Driehaus, CNU Charter Awards](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/beaufort-county-cdc-gets-nod-driehaus-cnu-charter-awards/) - Beaufort County has experienced incredible growth in the past 10 years, and is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. To help channel future growth toward existing urban areas, and protect the county’s rural character, the county, the City of Beaufort, and the Town of Port Royal launched a regional planning effort in 2007, and - [Progressive Planning & Revitalization Strategies in Rural California](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/progressive-rural-planning-and-revitalization-strategies-in-california/) - U.S. Highway 395 (shown above), otherwise known as the Three Flags Highway, is the only road not part of the interstate highway system that extends from the Canadian border to southern California, through some of the most scenic and remote parts of the Western United States. The project included a road diet that re-envisioned Main - [Nashville Sees Significant Economic Effect in the Wake of Form-Based Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/nashville-sees-significant-economic-effect-in-the-wake-of-form-based-code/) - Read Rick Bernhardt’s article in Better Cities and Towns, “Nashville values, development rise with form-based code,” which discusses the impacts Nashville’s Downtown Form-Based Code has had on the city since it’s introduction in February 2010. Opticos performed a professional review of the Form-Based Code for comprehensiveness, clarity, quality of presentation, and ease of use. Read - [Avoiding Common Form-Based Code Mistakes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/avoiding-common-form-based-code-mistakes/) - Dan Parolek’s article “Avoiding Common Form-Based Coding Mistakes, Part 1” was published in the May 2013 issue of Zoning Practice, a publication put out by the American Planning Association. Read the synopsis from the Zoning Practice website below. One of the biggest zoning-related stories over the past ten years has been the rise of form-based - [How Form-Based Codes Can Modernize Your Community’s Zoning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-form-based-codes-can-modernize-your-communitys-zoning/) - In an article that appears in the August 2013 issue of the Better Cities & Towns newsletter, Tony Perez, Opticos Design’s director of Form-Based Coding, explains how Form-Based Codes can modernize and simplify a community’s zoning. He says that FBCs are designed to directly respond to the physical structure of a community, creating more walkable and adaptable - [Avoid These Mistakes to Write Better Form-Based Codes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/avoid-these-mistakes-to-write-better-form-based-codes/) - In his article, “Avoiding Common Form-Based Coding Mistakes, Part 2,” Dan Parolek discusses several common mistakes of writing Form-Based Codes—and how to avoid them. He says that a lack of planning can undermine a Form-Based Coding effort and takes a closer look at how use permissions and development standards need to be revised to ensure - [Reversing the Trend in America’s Post-Industrial Cities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/reversing-the-trend-in-americas-post-industrial-cities/) - Can a Form-Based Code reverse the economic decline seen in many post-industrial cities? We think so! In a recent blog post on urbonfile.com, Aaron M. Renn points to Cincinnati as a post-industrial city-to-watch, to see if public investment could turnaround several decades of population and economic decline—the population of Cincinnati’s core peaked in 1950. Even in - [Steve Mouzon Is At It Again: New Media for Designers + Builders](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/steve-mouzon-is-at-it-again-new-media-for-designers-builders/) - Steve Mouzon is always thinking one step ahead of the rest of us and at the same time providing us with practical information we can integrate into our daily practices, whether it be urban design, architecture or building. The author of Original Green and numerous other publications has done it again with the release of - [Does the Cost of Your Commute Make Your Housing More or Less Affordable?](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/does-the-cost-of-your-commute-make-your-housing-more-or-less-affordable/) - As housing costs climb in popular metropolitan areas, the idea of moving to a far-reaching suburb where housing costs are lower is appealing to many. But as the cost of gasoline rises, so do transportation costs, especially in areas not served by public transportation. Do you know how much you pay for transportation? A new - [Building on a Town’s Historic Fabric](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/building-on-a-towns-historic-fabric/) - New Urbanists—Opticos included—often talk about increasing walkability through high (or higher) density, mixed-use development. Many small cities and towns across the country hope to become The Next Big Thing by opening up large areas to commercial mixed-use development, rather than concentrating development along the existing downtown corridor. But new development should not sacrifice the assets - [Missing Middle Communities Offer Quality and Simplicity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-communities-offer-quality-and-simplicity/) - Missing Middle housing, located within walking distance to shops and amenities, fills the gap between single-family homes and apartment buildings. Opticos’s Dan Parolek was recently interviewed for an article by John Van Gieson, “Mid-Range Density: The middle ground of development,” which appeared in the Winter 2014 issue of On Common Ground. In the article, Parolek - [An Important Win for Housing Diversity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/win-housing-diversity/) - Preserving historic micro units in a neighborhood adjacent to a university is a win for housing diversity in Norman, OK I just got one of those random emails today that totally made my day, if not my year. The call was from Keith McCabe, a small infill builder in Norman, OK, letting me know that he took - [How Does Missing Middle Housing Fit Within Walkable Communities?](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-fit-within-walkable-communities/) - Since my first article on Missing Middle Housing was published in 2012 in what was then New Urban News, the concept has rapidly gained interest from the private and public sectors across the country. I continue to be amazed at the variety of ways that planners, builders, architects, and community members are embracing the concept - [The West Leads the Nation for Percentage of Households That Walk & Bike](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-west-leads-the-nation-for-percentage-of-households-that-walk-bike/) - The U.S. Census Bureau added new questions to the 2013 American Housing Survey to determine how many American households use public transit, walk, and bike as a means of transportation, how often, and how convenient it was. The Bureau also collected information about neighborhood amenities and services to determine how convenient they were for walking and - [Alphabet Soup for Zoning? No Thanks, I’ll Have It Form-Based](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/alphabet-soup-for-zoning-no-thanks-ill-have-it-form-based/) - As David Walters so accurately describes in his recent blog post, people and real places nationwide have had to adjust themselves to the unclear and inconsistent tool that is conventional or “use-based” zoning. Because of the inability of this zoning to recognize real and appealing places, all sorts of experts have developed to interpret the - [Missing Middle Housing: Responding to the Demand for Walkable Urban Living](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-responding-to-the-demand-for-walkable-urban-living-2/) - Unfortunately, the solution is not as simple as adding more multi-family housing stock using the dated models/types of housing that we have been building. Rather, we need a complete paradigm shift in the way that we design, locate, regulate, and develop homes. As What’s Next states, “It’s a time to rethink and evolve, reinvent, and - [Why We Became a B: Making a Commitment to a Triple Bottom Line](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/why-we-became-a-b-making-a-commitment-to-a-triple-bottom-line/) - I feel like I’m tempting the fates, writing on this topic today. I just got my second biennial email reminding me that it’s time to re-certify as a B Corp. As we have done at least twice before, we must take the B Impact Assessment to evaluate our overall social and environmental performance, which makes me tremble a bit. This is a good thing­—if we’re going to talk the talk, we’d better be walking the walk. Here’s the story... - [Bicycles in Rome](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/bicycles-in-rome/) - (Okay, I’m not doing that right now, but I was about two hours ago, before my siesta. Now, I’m sitting in my apartment, writing.) The pace of life in Rome is just my speed. Work in the morning, take a few hours off midday for lunch and a siesta, work a few more hours in - [Pedestrians First](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/pedestrians-first/) - ~The Overriding Rule, “A New Theory of Urban Design” by Christopher Alexander, Hajo Neis, Artemis Anninou and Ingrid King, p22. Rick Bernhardt, a truly magnificent city planner, retired recently after many years as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Planning Department. He once told me that he started every presentation with that quote. Over - [Reasons to Invest in Missing Middle Housing: A Call to Action for Cities and Developers](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/reasons-to-invest-in-missing-middle-housing-a-call-to-action-for-cities-and-developers/) - In addition, the market is demanding walkable living, and both cities and developers must listen up.The Urban Land Institute (ULI) reports that 76% of Americans are interested in a walkable lifestyle and 50% consider it a high priority. This demand creates financial opportunities for developers. For cities, studies have proven clear economic benefits to walkable - [Opticos in Action: Plan Downtown Oakland](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-in-action-plan-downtown-oakland/) - We kicked off the program on Monday with a hands-on design workshop, and are currently in the midst of the Open Design Studio portion of the charrette through Tuesday. The program includes a walking tour and open house on Saturday, and a presentation of work-in-progress next Wednesday. The Plan Downtown Oakland project seeks to address - [Missing Middle Housing is Everywhere in 2016 Housing Trends](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-is-everywhere-in-2016-housing-trends/) - Housing Experimentation Fueled in part by the changing needs and wants of urbane millennials and aging boomers, experimentation is the name of the game in producing new, creative housing that fits the post-recession zeitgeist. Diverse new housing types are becoming part of the discussion for communities looking to address the demand for new housing and walkability. - [Why is Missing Middle Housing "Missing?"](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-missing/) - One recent study shows that 40% of respondents would like to live in a walkable urban place. Another notes how this demand is reflected in housing prices nationwide: in many cities, home prices in urban areas are climbing faster than other areas. Why is this? Amenities are part of it, but we see it also as - [Opticos Goes Back to School: 2016 Edition](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-goes-back-to-school-2016-edition/) - Tony took this year’s crop of students through four main assignments: understanding a site from the form-based perspective, applying policy direction to address the needs and expected outcomes identified, framing a form-based vision, and expressing a 20-year plan along with a code framework to implement the plan. The sixteen students were organized into four teams. - [Does Missing Middle Housing Fit Your Needs?](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/does-missing-middle-housing-fit-your-needs/) - Millennials Today, more and more millennials—that cohort of tech-savvy young adults increasingly descending upon the housing market—are looking for living options with a special something. The ability to walk to neighborhood amenities—bars, restaurants, farmer's markets, entertainment, and events—remains a strong factor in where millennials choose to live. With Great Recession memories lingering, many in this - [A Tale of Three Places](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/a-tale-of-three-places/) - When you first think about walkability, you may think of a bustling street, filled with interesting stores and people ambling to and fro. You may also think of an old neighborhood you used to live in, where the walk to the corner bodega was just a nice thing to do. Or you may think of - [Missing Middle Housing Close Up: Carriage Houses](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-close-up-carriage-houses/) - As we’ve highlighted over at karenp55.sg-host.com, carriage houses are an important type of Missing Middle Housing. They exist across the country, and like a lot of Missing Middle Housing types, they were built extensively before 1940 but haven’t been produced much in the last 50 – 75 years, in large part due to their obstruction by - [How to Get By-Right Zoning Right](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-to-get-by-right-zoning-right/) - For those unfamiliar, a zoning code is considered “By-Right” if the approvals process is streamlined so that projects that comply with the zoning standards receive their approval without a discretionary review process. Housing advocates and developers rightfully claim that discretionary review processes are contributing to housing crises across the country by increasing the cost and - [2016: A Big Year for Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/2016-a-big-year-for-missing-middle-housing/) - The Buzz Speaking Tour 2016 was quite the whirlwind, with Opticos founder Dan Parolek taking a yearlong, marathon Missing Middle speaking tour that included over two dozen events across the U.S.—from Atlanta to Boston, Washington DC, Chattanooga, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and more. The rest of the Opticos crew, including Principals Karen Parolek and Stefan - [Taking Sides? With Walkability, There's No Need](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/taking-sides-with-walkability-theres-no-need/) - Form-Based Coding is a key tool to unlocking walkability, but we've found simply having empathy for all parties at the table can be paramount. While almost always interested in building the long-term value of a community, administrative staff may be facing certain political pressures in the present. At the other end of the room, developers - [Public Draft of Austin's CodeNEXT Land Development Code Now Live!](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/public-draft-of-austins-codenext-land-development-code-now-live/) - To help educate Austinites on the features of CodeNEXT, we collaborated with city staff to create a Code Draft Preview and poster series that provide a peek into how the code works and how the updated code will help realize the community’s ambitions for the city. In addition to an overview of Transect zones and conventional zones (the - [Calling a Duplex Home](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/calling-a-duplex-home-2/) - It’s been almost a year since I moved out of the stacked duplex I shared with friends in San Francisco, but I haven’t gone a month without running into one of my neighbors somewhere in the city. This isn’t to say that San Francisco is small, but that my neighborhood made it easy to make - [Missing Middle Housing Opportunities in Small Towns and Rural Communities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-opportunities-in-small-towns-and-rural-communities/) - The first stop for this information is typically the General Plan and, in particular, the Housing Element and its magic-formula RHNA, or Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Our recent work in South Kern led us to these resources in Kern County, as well as to the recently-completed San Joaquin Valley Blueprint, an ambitious vision for the - [Soft Solutions to Preserve and Protect Huê´, Vietnam](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/soft-solutions-to-preserve-and-protect-hue-vietnam/) - Huê´ sits at the mouth of the Tam Giang lagoon and Huong River estuary. With most of the land outside the citadel not much more than one meter above sea level, it has always been a low-lying landscape permeated by water. Historically, semi-annual monsoon rains have brought much-needed rainfall and carried rich sediments downstream, supporting - [Huê´, Vietnam Workshop Follow-up](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/hue-vietnam-workshop-follow-up/) - Huê´ is a beautiful city that on one hand seems to have changed little since the Citadel was constructed in the 1830s. With a patchwork of leafy parks, tree-lined streets, and a sophisticated network of canals and moats, it provides an incredible backdrop for the daily lives of some 60,000 residents that still live inside its - [Opticos at Home: Living in a Missing Middle Neighborhood](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-at-home-living-in-a-missing-middle-neighborhood/) - [Designing Neighborhoods for Safer Destinational Walking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/designing-neighborhoods-for-safer-destinational-walking/) - This kind of walking seems to be such a fundamental right that in many of the rural communities and small towns where we work, we are often surprised by the difficult and challenging conditions pedestrians must confront on a daily basis. Neighborhoods consistently lack sidewalks and safe pedestrian crossings, and residents must routinely navigate their - [Sustainability Takes Shape in Colorado](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/sustainability-takes-shape-buena-vista-co/) - Jed Selby didn’t consider himself a land developer when he and his sister Katie Urban purchased some 42 acres on the banks of the Arkansas River in Buena Vista, CO, in 2003. The former pro kayaker envisioned a cozy town with tree-lined streets, where he could walk everywhere, and that offered world-class waves. “I just - [Opticos Principal Daniel Parolek to Lead Walking Tour of Oakland Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-principal-daniel-parolek-to-lead-walking-tour-of-oakland-missing-middle-housing-2/) - This weekend, Opticos is headed to the California Chapter of the American Planning Association’s 2015 Conference: Rooted in AuthentiCITY. Daniel Parolek, Tony Perez and John Miki will all be presenting at the event, which will take place at the Oakland City Center Marriott and run from Saturday, October 3 through Tuesday, October 6. We are - [Opticos’s Cailin Shannon Demonstrates Her Superb Sketching Skills at ICAA Event](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/cailin-shannon-institute-of-classical-architecture-and-art-drawing-event/) - Senior Designer Cailin Shannon honed her drawing skills as a classical architecture student at the University of Notre Dame, where she was awarded the Andrew F. Kervick Award for excellence in freehand drawing. In addition to her project management responsibilities, Cailin either creates or oversees most of the in-house renderings at Opticos. This past weekend, - [Dan Talks Missing Middle Housing on Strong Towns Podcast](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/dan-talks-missing-middle-housing-strong-towns-podcast/) - Opticos Principal Dan Parolek is at the Congress for New Urbanism's annual conference in Dallas/Fort Worth this week, where he sat down with the Strong Towns podcast to talk about urban planning in the Bay Area, how to retain the characteristics and qualities of a place that make it unique, and the new Missing Middle Housing - [Opticos Is Excited to Announce Our New Missing Middle Housing Website!](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-website-now-live-online/) - MissingMiddleHousing.com is a new online resource dedicated to helping planners, architects, and builders implement a diverse range of housing types for the walkable communities of the future. Opticos Design’s Daniel Parolek coined the term “Missing Middle” in 2010 to define a range of housing types that provide a solution to the mismatch between the available - [Opticos Goes Back to School on Form-Based Codes, Part 2](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/form-based-coding-class/) - This winter quarter at UCLA, Tony Perez, director of Form-Based Coding at Opticos Design, is teaching UP 252, a graduate-level class on Form-Based Coding and planning on Thursday evenings in a three-hour studio format. Working in small teams, the students are learning the differences between conventional planning and Euclidean zoning and form-based planning and coding. - [Missing Middle Housing Takes Off in Michigan with First-Ever Design Competition](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-design-competition-michigan/) - The first-ever 2015 Michigan Missing Middle Housing Design Competition challenges architects, designers, and urban planners nationwide to come up with innovative solutions for affordable housing options that offer a walkable lifestyle. The goal of the competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects Michigan, is to bring awareness to the mismatch that exists between the current American housing stock - [Mayor Tom Bates Walks the Walk](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/berkeley-mayor-tom-bates-walks-the-walk/) - Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has led several efforts to combat climate change and make the city more sustainable. He’s added separate glass and paper collection bins to the city’s recycling program, played a leadership role in the successful effort to pass Measure G, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, making - [Beaufort County Eliminates PUDs in Favor of Walkable Neighborhoods!](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/beaufort-county-council-votes-9-1-adopt-new-development-code/) - After several years of analysis and discussion, the Beaufort County, SC, Council voted 9 to 1 to adopt the Community Development Code, a comprehensive overhaul of the county’s zoning code. The CDC is a hybrid code, incorporating new zoning regulations for both walkable urban and driveable suburban areas. The Code will encourage pedestrian-friendly mixed-use neighborhoods - [Celebrating 15 Years of Walkability at Opticos Design!](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/celebrating-15-years-walkability-opticos-design/) - Opticos excited to celebrate 15 years of designing cities and towns to be more walkable, bikeable, and liveable! Will you join us for the next 15? Click these links to learn more about our projects, services, and process. Or, contact us for more information or to set up a speaking engagement. - [Dan Parolek Joins TransForm Board of Directors](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/dan-parolek-joins-transform-board-directors/) - ­Opticos Design is proud to announce that Principal Dan Parolek has joined the board of TransForm, California’s leading non-profit promoting transportation and walkable communities. TransForm seeks to change regional transportation priorities to link land use and transportation decisions by merging the goals of social justice and environmental groups, and encouraging them to broaden the way they - [Initiatives Work to Make Austin a Top City for Biking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/initiatives-work-make-austin-top-city-biking/) - According to the Alliance for Biking & Walking, bike share programs across the country are surging. Earlier this year, the alliance published its biennial Bicycling and Walking in the United States, 2014 Benchmaking Report, which collects and analyzes data on bicycling and walking demographics, safety, funding, policies, infrastructure, education, public health indicators, and economic impacts in - [Tehachapi City Council Set To Adopt Groundbreaking Hybrid Zoning Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tehachapi-city-council-set-adopt-groundbreaking-hybrid-zoning-code/) - Tehachapi, CA, will soon have a groundbreaking new citywide hybrid code. The first reading took place at the city council’s meeting on October 6, in which council members voted unanimously to adopt the code. Project leaders say the new code has been completely reorganized to be easy to use, and to make the 2012 Form-Based General Plan and - [How Historic Buildings Can Make Your City Modern](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-historic-buildings-can-make-your-city-modern/) - Recycled structures and buildings and reclaimed spaces have been all over the news lately, from a West London water tower that was converted to a townhouse (now available for rent), to an artificial island floating on 250,000 recycled plastic bottles off the coast of Mexico. But a recycled building isn’t only one that is created - [In Seaside, Sustainability Isn’t a Design Choice; It’s a Design Ethic](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/seaside-sustainability-isnt-design-choice-design-ethic/) - Florida’s Emerald Coast stretches some 100 miles from Pensacola to Panama City along the state’s panhandle. The area sometimes affectionately referred to as the “Redneck Riviera” features white sandy beaches and azure waters, as well as the idyllic beachfront community of Seaside. One of the country’s first communities wholly planned using New Urbanist principles, Seaside - [Farmers’ Market Shoppers Contribute $2 Million to North Berkeley Economy](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/farmers-market-shoppers-contribute-2-million-to-north-berkeley-economy/) - The North Berkeley Farmers’ Market was launched in 2004 after the North Shattuck Association approached the Ecology Center with the idea of launching an all-organic market in the heart of the city’s Gourmet Ghetto district. Ten years later, the market at Shattuck Ave. and Rose St. serves some 1,700 shoppers weekly—most of who arrive by - [Mini Parking Craters Ideal for Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/mini-parking-craters-ideal-missing-middle-housing/) - How often will you be encouraged to walk down a street if you are walking past parking lots versus engaging storefronts or stoops? Spend some time browsing Google Maps and across the country, you will see a landscape punctuated with empty surface parking lots. Zoning codes frequently set minimum parking requirements based on parking generation rates measured - [9 Great Examples of Reclaimed Space](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/9-great-examples-of-reclaimed-space/) - Downtown Berkeley is fortunate to feature a variety of reclaimed spaces that add value to businesses and properties and contribute to customer experience. Scroll down to see our top picks, and imagine how you might adapt space around your business. Alley Sol y Luna is a tiny taqueria on Shattuck Ave. It uses a narrow, - [Reclaimed Spaces Add Value to Businesses and Communities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/reclaimed-spaces-add-value-to-businesses-and-communities/) - When it comes to great urban design, it’s often not about what you build, it’s about how you use what you already have. Distinct character is hard to replicate; reclaiming space around your business and reusing it in a creative way can add value to a property with minimal expenditure. Jupiter, a popular Berkeley beerhouse located - [My First Charrette: Four Days in Vallejo](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/first-charrette-four-days-vallejo/) - Opticos Design’s newest team member Megan Reineccius writes about what it was like to participate in her first charrette. When they told me we were going to work four 12-hour days in a row, I felt like I was being shipped off to architecture boot camp—and I was really excited. It’s exactly what I had come - [Visioning Charrette in Vallejo Focuses on Building Design](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/visioning-charrette-vallejo-focuses-building-design/) - Opticos Design was in Vallejo, CA, recently to host a multiday charrette that brought together business owners, property owners, and community members to refine the 2013 Corridor Design Plan’s vision and to establish a framework for the city’s Sonoma Boulevard Specific Plan. Sonoma Boulevard is Vallejo’s most important north-south corridor; it connects several of the - [Move Beyond Green Buildings: It’s Time for Green Communities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/moving-beyond-green-buildings-time-green-communities/) - Green building design standards have been around since the early 1990s. The movement has grown to become the most important and progressive trend in the building industry, but community-wide projects are still few and far between. How can we create sustainable communities that will be good for all people throughout time? To spur the development - [Cincinnati Form-Based Code Earns Top Award at CNU22](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/cincinnati-fbc-takes-top-award-cnu22/) - The Cincinnati Form-Based Code led by Opticos was awarded the Grand Prize for Best Planning Tool or Process at the Congress for the New Urbanism’s 13th Annual Charter Awards in Buffalo, N.Y., held during CNU’s annual Congress, June 4 – 7. “As the application of Form-Based Codes in major cities becomes more prevalent, it is important - [Aging U.S. Population Boosts Demand for Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/growing-missing-middle-housing-demand-among-u-s-aging-population/) - The American Association for Retired Persons recently released a new report, “What is Livable? Community Preferences of Older Adults.” The report, which surveyed 4,500 people 50 years and older, showed that increasingly, the nation’s older citizens don’t want to retire in an out-of-the-way community full of golf carts and bingo, rather, they want to stay - [Opticos Goes to School on Form-Based Codes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-goes-school-form-based-codes/) - Tony Perez, Opticos Design’s Director of Form-Based Coding, has gone back to school this spring, teaching a graduate-level studio dedicated to Form-Based Coding at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, CA. While some universities invite guest lecturers to speak about FBCs, Perez’s class, “Form-Based Codes in the Context of Integrated Urbanism,” is one of the - [Austin Community Character: Keeping it Weird](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/austin-community-character-keeping-weird/) - The City of Austin, TX, prides itself on being weird. So much so, that the city’s unofficial slogan is “Keep Austin Weird.” Entire news articles have been devoted to whether the city’s weirdness is on the decline. “There’s new weird stuff, and there’s still old weird stuff here. But it’s endangered,” said Red Wassenich who - [Parking Guru Donald Shoup: The Pseudo-Science of Parking Regulations](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/parking-guru-donald-shoup-pseudo-science-parking-regulations/) - “It’s embarrassing for someone from L.A. to come to Bay Area to give advice on anything,” said Professor Donald Shoup as he opened a March speaking event in Berkeley. Shoup is a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning UCLA. His lecture, “From Parking to Paradise: An Evening with Professor Donald Shoup,” was organized by TransForm, an - [Quick, High-Quality Results for Mesa’s Downtown Form-Based Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/quick-high-quality-results-for-mesas-downtown-form-based-code/) - The City of Mesa, AZ, hired Opticos to create a Master Plan and Form-Based Code that would remove existing barriers to revitalizing the city’s downtown. The code was adopted in June 2012, and the first project to be developed with the code was completed in November of last year. The FBC was written to encourage - [Excursion: Classical Architecture in Atlanta](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/excursion-classical-architecture-in-atlanta/) - If you visit the Millennium Gate monument in Atlanta, GA, you will see the name of Opticos Principal Daniel Parolek carved into its base as one of the original designers. In 2000, Dan was one of 10 winners of an international design competition sponsored by Richard Driehaus to design a gateway for Washington, D.C. The - [Port Royal Moves Forward with FBC Approval Process](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/port-royal-moves-forward-with-fbc-approval-process/) - The town council in Port Royal, SC, voted unanimously to give preliminary approval to the proposed Form-Based Code at its March 12 meeting. The Beaufort-Port Royal Metropolitan Planning Commission approved the proposal in December. Opticos Design was commissioned to create a multijurisdictional Form-Based Code for Port Royal, the City of Beaufort, and Beaufort County, SC, - [Opticos Tops Riverside Smart Code Consultant Team Rankings](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-tops-riverside-smart-code-consultant-team-rankings/) - Opticos Design is excited to work with the City of Riverside, CA, on its upcoming Smart Code Specific Plan. The city announced this week that Opticos has topped the consultant selection process rankings for the project. Opticos Principal Stefan Pellegrini and Director of Form-Based Coding Tony Perez were in Riverside on March 13 to meet - [Austin’s Community Character Initiative Surpasses 100-Box Milestone](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/austins-community-character-initiative-surpasses-100-box-milestone/) - Austin’s CodeNEXT team is excited to announce that more than 150 Austin residents have signed up to host a group to complete a Community Character in a Box kit. The project surpassed a milestone this week—122 kits have already been prepared or picked up by registered participants. Community Character in a Box is part of - [DIY Community Character Documentation Launches in Austin](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/diy-community-character-documentation-launches-in-austin/) - The City of Austin is in the process of rewriting its land development code through an initiative called CodeNEXT and is calling upon Austenites to get involved. Residents are asked to help the CodeNEXT team to better understand the diverse character of the built environment found across the city’s various communities. In late January, Dan Parolek - [APA Excellence Awards Recognition for Cincinnati](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/apa-excellence-awards-recognition-for-cincinnati/) - Plan Cincinnati: A Comprehensive Plan for the Future, Cincinnati, Ohio 2014 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan Congratulations to our client, The City of Cincinnati Planning and Building Department for leading this award-winning project! The American Planning Association recently announced that Plan Cincinnati will be one of two recipients of the 2014 David Burnham - [Westwood Set to Become Fourth Cincinnati Neighborhood to Adopt FBC](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/westwood-set-to-become-fourth-cincinnati-neighborhood-to-adopt-fbc/) - The Westwood Coalition hopes that Cincinnati’s Form-Based Code will help to revitalize the neighborhood’s historic business district. On Dec. 13, the Cincinnati Planning Commission unanimously approved a recommendation to adopt the city’s FBC in a portion of the neighborhood. The city council will consider the matter in a public hearing set for Feb. 10. If - [Different Zoning Tools for Different Places (Video)](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/different-zoning-tools-for-different-places-video/) - Opticos’s Dan Parolek traveled to Austin to speak at the Central Texas Commercial Association of Realtors’s event “Catalysts for Change” in mid-October. He was there to introduce the process and various approaches to CodeNext, the project to update Austin’s land development code. Invited to speak as an expert in New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and Land Development Codes, Parolek said - [Photo Essay: A Little Effort Goes a Long Way in Bolivia](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/photo-essay-a-little-effort-goes-a-long-way-in-bolivia/) - Last year, Opticos made a donation to the Hogar Sagrado Corazón orphanage and school in Montero, Bolivia where Opticos designer Melia West spent a year volunteering before joining the company in 2012. The money was specified for construction projects as part of Opticos's B Corp goals, and went toward the construction of a ballet room and the - [Shaping Lifestyle While Building Community](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/shaping-lifestyle-while-building-community/) - Ever wish you didn’t have to worry about how you were going to work off that holiday dinner? People who include regular walking and biking into their lifestyle don’t—they’re burning off that bird on their way to work. Aside from launching an effort to rewrite your city’s zoning code to emphasize mixed-use development (although there’s nothing - [Chicago Planning Agency Releases Guide to FBCs](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/chicago-planning-agency-releases-guide-to-fbcs/) - Is your neighborhood, community, or city considering a Form-Based Code? Maybe you think you already have one? The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning recently released a simple, little handbook to help communities and individuals understand what Form-Based Codes are, and how to use them effectively. Much in the spirit of a good FBC, Form-Based Codes: - [How Form-Based Codes Can Make Neighborhoods Great](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-form-based-codes-can-make-neighborhoods-great/) - Opticos Design has partnered with the Project for Public Spaces and the City of Omaha, Nebraska, to host an educational Form-Based Code workshop in the city’s Benson neighborhood. The public workshop will discuss how Omaha neighborhoods can use FBCs to promote smart, sustainable growth. The once-vacant storefronts along Maple Street in the historic neighborhood of - [Getting America Out of the Car and Back on Her Own Two Feet](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/getting-america-out-of-the-car-and-back-on-her-own-two-feet/) - Walkability is not a new idea. Some of the most world’s most beloved and most visited cities like Paris, Venice, and New York are inherently walkable—it’s no coincidence they were established long before the advent of the automobile. Vancouver, B.C., known for its public transportation, bike lanes, and green spaces, was incorporated April 6, 1886, - [Madisonville Becomes First Cincinnati Neighborhood to Implement New FBC](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/madisonville-becomes-first-cincinnati-neighborhood-to-implement-new-fbc/) - Madisonville is a neighborhood located 10 miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. When Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls introduced the idea of a Form-Based Code for the city some five years ago, all Cincinnati neighborhoods were invited to learn more about the FBC and what it would mean for their development. Cincinnati’s FBC replaces the city’s - [Bringing Walkable Urbanism to a Historic Small Town](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/bringing-walkable-urbanism-to-a-historic-small-town/) - Pedestrian traffic drives economic development in urban centers, but over the last half-century, rural communities have become more and more car dependent. Those same communities now face aging populations, declining local infrastructure, and limited access to economic opportunities. In October 2007, Opticos completed its work on a downtown revitalization strategy for the historic agricultural community - [The Two B’s: B Corp vs. Benefit Corporation and Why Opticos is Both](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-two-bs-b-corp-vs-benefit-corporation-and-why-opticos-is-both/) - While they have many traits in common—accountability, transparency, and a dedication to a triple bottom line—a California Benefit Corporation is not necessarily a certified B Corporation, and B Corp does not have to be a benefit corporation. Opticos Design is both. Opticos has always operated under the assumption that it was a “different kind of - [Opticos’s Dan Parolek Will Speak in Austin as an Expert on LDC Updates](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticoss-dan-parolek-will-speak-in-austin-as-an-expert-on-ldc-updates/) - Many of the country’s land development codes are outdated and overly complex. Last year the Austin City Council adopted a 30-year comprehensive plan to update and revise Austin’s LDC with the aim to create safe, modern, and well-maintained neighborhoods for the city. Opticos is leading the team that will rewrite Austin’s code, dubbed CodeNext. As - [Austin or Bust: Opticos Heads to Texas to Launch Code Rewrite](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/austin-or-bust-opticos-heads-to-texas-to-launch-code-rewrite/) - In 2012, the City Council in Austin, Texas, adopted Imagine Austin. The 30-year comprehensive plan aims to create a vibrant, more livable, and connected city through safe, affordable, and well-maintained neighborhoods; a network of parks and open space; environmental responsibility and conservation; cost-effective public transportation; and a network of community partnerships to support public education. - [How the Built Environment Can Affect Positive Change](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-the-built-environment-can-effect-positive-change/) - Before coming to Opticos in 2012, designer Melia West spent a year volunteering at the Hogar Sagrado Corazón orphanage in Montero, Bolivia. The orphanage, which opened in 1982, provides a home to around 120 girls that have been abandoned, orphaned, or victims of abuse. Melia lived side by side with the girls while running the - [Opticos-Led Charrette Succeeds in Cincinnati City Council Adoption of New Form-Based Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-led-charrette-succeeds-in-cincinnati-city-council-adoption-of-new-form-based-code/) - A powerful new Form-Based Code for Cincinnati, unanimously adopted on May 8 by the city council, will spur neighborhood development and preserve character in the city, putting physical form and how buildings should relate to each other and surrounding streets ahead of land use. The code, part of Cincinnati’s Plan Build Live Cincinnati initiative, will - [Mesa’s Form-Based Code Showing Quick Built Results!](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/mesas-form-based-code-showing-quick-built-results/) - The first building utilizing the new Mesa Form-Based Code, which was adopted in June 2012, is deep into its construction with four floors already framed. This building is a $17-million, 81-unit senior-living complex built on a 2.4-acre parcel on First Street, just southwest of the Mesa Arts Center and close to the light rail. Its - [Opticos Awarded the Austin Comprehensive Land Development Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/opticos-awarded-the-austin-comprehensive-land-development-code/) - We are very excited to announce that we have been awarded the rewrite of the Austin Comprehensive Land Development Code. This project, spanning over the next couple years, is the final “priority project” of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, adopted in June of 2012. As the first code update in over 30 years for the - [Stefan Pellegrini Leads Design Workshop in Huê´, Vietnam with UC Berkeley CED](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/stefan-pellegrini-to-attend-design-workshop-in-hue-vietnam-with-uc-berkeley-ced/) - Next week I’m headed to Huê´, Vietnam, together with seven UC Berkeley students of the College of Environmental Design, to participate in a two-week design workshop. The workshop, fondly titled “Sustainable Development of the Eco-Museum in the Huong River Valley Region” (there are always some things lost in translation!) will be the latest in a ## Pages - [Home](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/) - [Resources](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/resources/) - [Services](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/missing-middle-housing-services/) - Services Page - [Neighborhood Kit](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/neighborhood-kit/) - [How to Enable MMH](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/how-to-regulate/) - Content goes here. - [Characteristics](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/characteristics/) - Content goes here. - [Privacy Policy](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/privacy-policy/) - Opticos Design is a Certified B Corporation that supports the privacy initiative of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which means you are protected from Opticos Design storing and using any information about you without consent. You can request (at no cost to you) that we remove your data from our systems at your will. - [About](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/about-2/) - About Landing Page - [Assembly](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/assembly/) - Content goes here. - [The Types](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/the-types/) - The Missing Middle Housing types provide diverse housing options, such as duplexes, fourplexes, cottage courts, and multiplexes. These house-scale buildings fit seamlessly into existing residential neighborhoods and support walkability, locally-serving retail, and public transportation options. They provide solutions along a spectrum of affordability to address the mismatch between the available U.S. housing stock and shifting - [Market](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/market-trends/) - Market trends content goes here. - [Contact](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/contact/) - [About_Old](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/about/) - [Form-Based Coding](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/form-based-codes/) - [Work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/work/) ## The Types - [Duplex: Side-by-Side](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/duplex-side-by-side/) - [Triplex: Stacked](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/carriage-house/) - [Multiplex: Medium](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/multiplex-small/) - [Cottage Court](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/bungalow-court/) - [Courtyard Building](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/courtyard-apartments/) - [Fourplex: Stacked](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/fourplex/) - [Duplex: Stacked](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/duplex-stacked/) - [Live-Work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/live-work/) - [Townhouse](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/types/townhouse/) ## Documented - [Duplex: Stacked – Berkeley, CA](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/documented/omaha-ne/) - [Fourplex – Berkeley, CA](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/documented/berkeley-ca/) - [Bungalow Court – Alameda, CA](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/documented/bungalow-court-alameda-ca/) - [Duplex: Side-by-Side – Phoenix, AZ](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/documented/phoenix-az/) ## Prototypes - [Mews 1](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/mews-1/) - [Mews 2](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/mews-2/) - [Mews 3](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/mews-3/) - [Fiveplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/fiveplex-2/) - [Carriage House](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/carriage-house/) - [Mansion: Large](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/mansion-large/) - [Mansion: Small](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/mansion-small/) - [Sixplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/sixplex/) - [Fiveplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/fiveplex/) - [Fourplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/fourplex/) - [Triplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/tripex/) - Triplex content goes here. - [Duplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/plans/prototype-duplex/) - Duplex goes here ## Categories - [Updates](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/updates/) - [Form-Based Codes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/form-based-codes/) - [Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/missing-middle-housing/) - [Walkability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/walkability/) - [B Corp](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/b-corp/) - [Sustainability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/sustainability/) - [Placemaking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/placemaking/) - [Process](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/process/) - [Projects](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/projects/) - [News](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/news/) - [Events & Charrettes](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/events-charrettes/) - [Awards](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/awards/) - [Urban Design](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/urban-design/) - [Small Towns](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/category/small-towns/) ## Tags - [city planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/city-planning/) - [duplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/duplex/) - [fourplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/fourplex/) - [housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/housing/) - [Housing demand](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/housing-demand/) - [mansion apartment](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/mansion-apartment/) - [Missing Middle](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/missing-middle/) - [town planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/town-planning/) - [urban planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/urban-planning/) - [B Corp](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/b-corp/) - [B-Lab](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/b-lab/) - [Benefit Corporation](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/benefit-corporation/) - [Karen Parolek](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/karen-parolek/) - [Triple Bottom Line](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/triple-bottom-line/) - [Charrette](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/charrette/) - [hand drawing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/hand-drawing/) - [public process](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/public-process/) - [revitalization](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/revitalization/) - [Richmond Greenway](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/richmond-greenway/) - [Transit-Oriented Development](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/transit-oriented-development/) - [Placemaking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/placemaking/) - [Proxy project](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/proxy-project/) - [San Francisco](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/san-francisco/) - [Seaside](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/seaside/) - [temporary structures](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/temporary-structures/) - [Cincinnati](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/cincinnati/) - [Infill](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/infill/) - [Transect](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/transect/) - [Urban Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/urban-housing/) - [Building Types](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/building-types/) - [Form-Based Zoning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based-zoning/) - [Bicycles](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bicycles/) - [bike to school](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bike-to-school/) - [bike to work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bike-to-work/) - [Live/work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/livework/) - [Opticos](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/opticos/) - [Social Responsibility](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/social-responsibility/) - [Sustainability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/sustainability/) - [Walkable Urbanism](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walkable-urbanism/) - [transportation](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/transportation/) - [Bridgeport](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bridgeport/) - [Caltrans](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/caltrans/) - [road diet](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/road-diet/) - [rural planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/rural-planning/) - [SmartCode](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/smartcode/) - [California](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/california/) - [community planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/community-planning/) - [San Joaquin Valley](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/san-joaquin-valley/) - [South Kern County](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/south-kern-county/) - [design](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/design/) - [workshop](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/workshop/) - [awards](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/awards/) - [community](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/community/) - [Stefan Pellegrini](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/stefan-pellegrini/) - [Vietnam](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/vietnam/) - [form-based](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based/) - [Form-Based Code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based-code/) - [city development](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/city-development/) - [Urbanism](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/urbanism/) - [walkable](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walkable/) - [pedestrian-friendly](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/pedestrian-friendly/) - [Best for the Workers](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/best-for-the-workers/) - [Bolivia](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bolivia/) - [charity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/charity/) - [Melia West](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/melia-west/) - [orphanage](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/orphanage/) - [books](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/books/) - [consultant](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/consultant/) - [Dan Parolek](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/dan-parolek/) - [media](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/media/) - [urban planner](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/urban-planner/) - [Austin](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/austin/) - [Form-Based Codes Institute](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based-codes-institute/) - [Imagine Austin](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/imagine-austin/) - [Madisonville](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/madisonville/) - [neighborhood business district](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/neighborhood-business-district/) - [parking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/parking/) - [Walkability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walkability/) - [Omaha](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/omaha/) - [Chicago](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/chicago/) - [FBC](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/fbc/) - [guide](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/guide/) - [physical activity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/physical-activity/) - [walking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walking/) - [presentations](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/presentations/) - [donation](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/donation/) - [millennial](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/millennial/) - [College Hill](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/college-hill/) - [Walnut Hills](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walnut-hills/) - [Westwood](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/westwood/) - [American Planning Association](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/american-planning-association/) - [award](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/award/) - [Plan Cincinnati](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/plan-cincinnati/) - [CodeNEXT](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/codenext/) - [community character documentation](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/community-character-documentation/) - [Community in a Box](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/community-in-a-box/) - [Tony Perez](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/tony-perez/) - [zoning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/zoning/) - [land development code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/land-development-code/) - [architect](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/architect/) - [Atlanta](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/atlanta/) - [brownfield redevelopment](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/brownfield-redevelopment/) - [Millennium Gate](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/millennium-gate/) - [National Planning Conference](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/national-planning-conference/) - [Master Plan](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/master-plan/) - [Mesa](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/mesa/) - [cost of free parking](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/cost-of-free-parking/) - [Donald Shoup](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/donald-shoup/) - [parking regulations](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/parking-regulations/) - [community character](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/community-character/) - [Texas](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/texas/) - [teaching](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/teaching/) - [Hercules Bayfront](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/hercules-bayfront/) - [Buena Vista](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/buena-vista/) - [Colorado](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/colorado/) - [Jed Selby](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/jed-selby/) - [Katie Urban](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/katie-urban/) - [South Main](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/south-main/) - [Cailin Shannon](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/cailin-shannon/) - [John Miki](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/john-miki/) - [alley](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/alley/) - [berkeley](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/berkeley/) - [creative reuse](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/creative-reuse/) - [Jupiter](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/jupiter/) - [Jupiter Beergarden](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/jupiter-beergarden/) - [parking lot](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/parking-lot/) - [patio](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/patio/) - [reclaimed space](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/reclaimed-space/) - [reclaimed spaces](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/reclaimed-spaces/) - [Slow](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/slow/) - [architecture](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/architecture/) - [designer](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/designer/) - [learning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/learning/) - [Megan Reineccius](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/megan-reineccius/) - [Vallejo](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/vallejo/) - [visioning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/visioning/) - [reclaim space](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/reclaim-space/) - [Ecology Center](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/ecology-center/) - [North Berkeley Farmers' Market](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/north-berkeley-farmers-market/) - [organic](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/organic/) - [sustainable living](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/sustainable-living/) - [Austin B-cycle](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/austin-b-cycle/) - [bikability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bikability/) - [code update](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/code-update/) - [South by Southwest](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/south-by-southwest/) - [Dhiru Thadani](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/dhiru-thadani/) - [New Urbanism](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/new-urbanism/) - [New Urbanist town](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/new-urbanist-town/) - [Robert Davis](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/robert-davis/) - [SPUR](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/spur/) - [SPUR.org](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/spur-org/) - [Alley 49](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/alley-49/) - [Detroit](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/detroit/) - [Detroit Public Schools](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/detroit-public-schools/) - [Epicurious Garden](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/epicurious-garden/) - [historic buildings](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/historic-buildings/) - [modern cities](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/modern-cities/) - [Oakland](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/oakland/) - [Public Interest Projects](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/public-interest-projects/) - [recycled structures](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/recycled-structures/) - [Temescal](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/temescal/) - [Temescal Alleys](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/temescal-alleys/) - [walkable neighborhoods](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walkable-neighborhoods/) - [ArtWorks](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/artworks/) - [public art](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/public-art/) - [TransForm](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/transform/) - [Beaufort](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/beaufort/) - [development code](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/development-code/) - [S.C.](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/s-c/) - [Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/berkeley-mayor-tom-bates/) - [walk to work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/walk-to-work/) - [Missing Middle Housing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/missing-middle-housing/) - [conventional planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/conventional-planning/) - [Eucildian zoning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/eucildian-zoning/) - [Form-Based Coding](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based-coding/) - [form-based planning](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/form-based-planning/) - [graduate-level course](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/graduate-level-course/) - [UCLA](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/ucla/) - [housing diversity](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/housing-diversity/) - [design idea book](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/design-idea-book/) - [Mono County](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/mono-county/) - [rural revitalization](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/rural-revitalization/) - [bikeability](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/bikeability/) - [public transit](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/public-transit/) - [U.S. Census Bureau](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/u-s-census-bureau/) - [classical architecture](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/classical-architecture/) - [drawing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/drawing/) - [Institute of Classical Architecture and Art](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/institute-of-classical-architecture-and-art/) - [perspective drawing](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/perspective-drawing/) - [process](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/process/) - [AIA Michigan](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/aia-michigan/) - [American Institute of Architects](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/american-institute-of-architects/) - [Land Policy Institute](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/land-policy-institute/) - [Michigan State Housing Development Authority](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/michigan-state-housing-development-authority/) - [Michigan State University](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/michigan-state-university/) - [MSU](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/msu/) - [Urban Land Institute](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/tag/urban-land-institute/) ## Prototype Category - [Duplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/duplex/) - [1-2 Units](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/1to2-units/) - [Townhomes • Mews](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/row-house/) - [3+ Units](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/3plus-units/) - [Mews](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/mews/) - [Triplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/triplex/) - [Fourplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/fourplex/) - [Fiveplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/fiveplex/) - [Sixplex](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/sixplex/) - [Mansion Apartments](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/mansion-apartments/) - [Carriage House / ADU](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/prototype-category/carriage-house-adu/) ## Page Category - [Toolkit](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/page-category/toolkit/)