Work is nearing completion on the Regional Housing Strategy, a coordinated effort to develop investment and policy recommendations to support mixed-income neighborhoods and regional growth. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), the City of Columbus, Franklin County, and additional regional partners announced the Regional Housing Strategy in mid-2019. Since then, great progress has been made [...]
COVID-19 may have delayed an insight2050 Academy on affordable housing again, but MORPC and the OSU Knowlton Alumni Society still have hopes of offering a design-based academy once the pandemic dangers are eased. The program was originally proposed this past spring, but was postponed due to the COVID outbreak. Along with the Alumni Society, MORPC [...]
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission is renewing its focus on how residents and visitors can safely and efficiently travel by foot, bike, and other similar modes through the development of its 2020 Active Transportation Plan (ATP). MORPC has long advocated for people to be able to walk, ride a bike, and ride transit safely and [...]
The COVID-19 stay-at-home order this spring slowed the pace of the Regional Housing Strategy (RHS), but it did not shut it down. In fact, the pandemic has added an important dimension to the initiative in a world and region that will never be quite the same. RHS stakeholders have been working toward a shared vision [...]
Mike Pettit, economic development director for the City of Lancaster, had never heard of “missing middle” housing or Opticos, the California-based design firm that coined the term. But he knew what his city needed in some of its working-class neighborhoods. Opticos would probably approve. For a number of reasons, Pettit and Mayor David Scheffler settled [...]
The Spring 2020 insight2050 Academy on affordable housing is the latest postponement amid efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The Academy was scheduled for the mornings of April 3, 10, and 17, with planning and architectural professionals exploring and demonstrating the role of design in affordable housing. MORPC remains committed to moving forward with this [...]
The Spring 2020 insight2050 Academy will focus on the role of design in affordable housing. The sessions, which MORPC is co-hosting with Ohio State’s Knowlton School Alumni Society, will be April 3, 10, and 17. They are aimed at design practitioners in architecture, planning, and related fields. The April 10 session will include hands-on project [...]
Housing and affordability are hot topics at MORPC and throughout the region. In December, MORPC hosted a mini-insight2050 Academy on the complexities of affordable housing, and held the first session of a winter speaker series on housing-related issues. The mini-academy was held as a primer on regional affordable-housing issues for a broad range of planners, [...]
By Brian Williams Central Ohio has been blessed with some developers and policymakers who were ahead of their times – and whose foresight came from their hindsight.Jack Lucks of Continental Real Estate Companies foresaw 25 years ago the appeal of living in an urban apartment above shops and restaurants in modern buildings that reflect the character [...]
Strong Towns started in 2009 as a modest website with big ideas. After an initial small investment in time and money, the site attracted the notice of like-minded urban advocates and planning professionals who wanted to help out. So founder Charles L. “Chuck” Marohn built an addition, you might say, onto his growing site to [...]
