

Why the $400,000 House Might Be Worth Less to Your Town Than the $250,000 House
Authors: Eric Kronberg Editors: Carrie Whitney, Darby Fly When communities talk about development, they tend to focus on the big numbers: the value of a new building, the number of homes created, or the total property taxes generated. But those numbers can hide something important: How much land—and how much public infrastructure—does it take to generate that value? That is why we increasingly measure Tax Value per Acre to evaluate development patterns. It is a simple cal
Oct 196 min read


Crisis of Housing Choice, Attainability, and Mobility
When we talk about the housing crisis in this country, it is often difficult to pinpoint exactly what we mean. Is it a shortage of single-family homes in the suburbs? Workforce housing on Main Street? Is it a problem of affordability, attainability, choice, or all of the above? Figuring out what kind of housing to build and where to build it requires us to precisely define the problem, without which we’re at risk of wasting time, money, and political momentum. This post defin
Nov 20, 20245 min read


Let's Keep Quick Fixing!
The City of Atlanta’s zoning rewrite is going to be a long slog. That’s why it’s not the right place to focus immediate efforts for folks...
Mar 13, 20234 min read


Thoughts on Zoning Strings
Zoning Past The City of Atlanta is exploring new ways to define and limit how properties are developed as part of the ongoing zoning...
Mar 9, 20239 min read


Power Plexes
In our previous post, we discussed powerful strategies to creatively expand housing choice in ‘single-family’ districts. These are...
Feb 24, 20233 min read


Creative Single-Family Infill
While single family only zoning still dominates land use patterns in most places, there are often overlooked and underutilized ways to...
Feb 3, 20234 min read


Attainable Housing Now
The need for attainable housing is the challenge of our time. The current human ecosystem is failing Americans, and updated approaches...
Jan 30, 20231 min read


Why ADUs Are So Hard To Build, and How Atlanta Could Make it Easier
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a popular tool for addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis. Every homeowner with an attic,...
Oct 29, 20208 min read


Love(able Neighborhoods) in the Time of Corona
After a month of social distancing, the KUA team is settling into our new normal. Aside from your standard working from home woes - hours...
Apr 20, 20202 min read


Partners for Better Places
Making places better takes a lot more than great architecture and urban design. Our work over the last decade has expanded beyond...
Feb 10, 20204 min read


KW Blog Turns Five – A Look Back at Our Favorite Posts
Today marks the five-year anniversary of our very first blog post. To mark the occasion, we took a look back at over 100 posts to select...
Nov 12, 20194 min read


PORTLAND YIMBYs, AND SO CAN YOU
Bayside Variety, Portland Maine (credit: John Phelan via Wikimedia Commons) We had the pleasure of visiting Portland, Maine this week to...
Nov 1, 20193 min read


Making Affordable Housing Cute Again
Atlanta has many charming historic Missing Middle Housing types, and we even have a new Missing Middle Housing zoning category to...
Oct 31, 20193 min read


Durham Leads the Way for Housing Choice and Zoning Reform
“Zoning reform isn’t magical, but it’s crucial.” So said Mayor Steve Schewel of Durham, NC in a stirring speech given earlier this month...
Sep 20, 20193 min read


Calling All Ideas For a Better Atlanta! Housing Choice Edition
Atlanta is changing demographically, but our housing stock isn’t keeping up. Last Friday, the Atlanta City Studio asked us to present our...
Apr 17, 20193 min read


Unpacking the Pilot Project’s Prototype Pieces
The overall corner site utilizes four 50’ x 150’ lots, a standard size in many older neighborhoods in Southeastern cities. We are also...
Mar 18, 20192 min read


When Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The Importance of Pilot Projects
Atlanta is facing an affordable housing crisis, as are most cities and towns around the state of Georgia, and the rest of the country....
Mar 15, 20192 min read


ABCs of ADUs Recap + Presentation Download
A packed house at KWA HQ! photo credit: Terry Kearns Last night’s ABCs of ADUs event was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who came out...
Feb 13, 20191 min read


Housing, Trees and Zoning Changes
The City of Atlanta is working hard on another update to our zoning ordinance. It’s another round of Quick Fixes to address smaller...
Jan 11, 20194 min read


When Not to ADU?
There are a lot of reasons to build an ADU, and a lot of reasons to do this sooner than later. There is one time that is less than ideal...
Jan 10, 20191 min read




































