Raleigh has begun opening the door to missing middle housing.

We’re seeing more conversations and more permits around ADUs, duplexes, and townhomes. That matters. That’s real progress.

But if we’re being honest, something about the conversation still feels incomplete.

Because there’s a whole range of housing types between a single-family home and a large apartment complex, and we’re only beginning to tap into it.

As a kid, I used to ride my bike down Raleigh Blvd, usually coming from the Boys and Girls Club. I would pass by 1950 N Raleigh Blvd all the time and never gave it a second thought.

Years later, I find myself driving past that same property and asking a question.

Why aren’t there more of these?

A six-unit building, built in 1984, sitting on about a quarter acre. Nothing flashy. Nothing out of scale. Just a small apartment building that fits into its surroundings.

The more I think about it, the more it feels like proof.

Proof that the next chapter of missing middle housing in Raleigh has been here the whole time.

Townhomes, duplexes, and ADUs are important tools to end the housing shortage, but they’re just the beginning.

There’s an opportunity to expand our definition of middle housing to include fourplexes, small 6–10 unit apartment buildings, and even neighborhood-scale 10–20 unit developments. Not as a replacement, but as the next layer.

Because if missing middle stops at adding one or two units at a time, we’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible.

What’s interesting is that Raleigh already has examples of this kind of housing scattered throughout the city.

In older neighborhoods like Five Points, Boylan Heights, Mordecai, and parts of Southeast Raleigh, you’ll find small multifamily buildings that have been part of the fabric for decades.

Four units. Six units. Sometimes more.

They don’t stand out as disruptive. They don’t feel out of scale. They just feel like part of the neighborhood, and most people don’t think twice about them.

That’s the point.

By allowing 4 to 20 unit buildings in Raleigh’s neighborhoods, we aren’t introducing something new. We’re just recognizing what was once commonplace.

There’s a wide range between a single-family home and a 200+ unit apartment building.

And right now, we’re barely using it.

Not because it doesn’t work, but because we haven’t fully allowed ourselves to.

A fourplex on a standard lot can look and feel like a large home. A 6–10 unit building is often just two or three stories, similar in height to many of the houses being built today.

And a 10–20 unit building can still feel neighborhood-scale when it’s designed with intention, especially when it includes walkable layouts, shared green space, and thoughtful massing.

This isn’t about inserting large buildings into small neighborhoods.

It’s about allowing more flexibility within the scale that already exists.

Raleigh is growing.

That growth is putting pressure on housing prices, restricting land availability, and determining who gets to stay in the communities they’ve been part of.

If we want to respond in a meaningful way, we don’t just need more housing.

We need more ways to build housing.

Smaller-scale multifamily, especially in the 4 to 20 unit range, creates more attainable entry points for residents, more flexibility in how sites are used, and more opportunities for incremental, neighborhood-based growth.

And just as important, it creates space for smaller, local developers to participate in shaping the city.

This isn’t theoretical.

In places like Pasadena, small courtyard-style apartment buildings in the 10–20 unit range are some of the most desirable housing in the city.

Not because they’re large, but because they strike a balance between density and livability. That same balance is possible here.

As we think about expanding into this range, there are a few systems that will need to evolve alongside it.

Zoning and entitlement pathways.
Financing tools for smaller projects.
Appraisal and valuation approaches.
Predevelopment support for emerging developers.

These levers shape what gets built and what doesn’t.

Raleigh is in a position that a lot of cities wish they were in.

We’re growing. We’re attracting people. And we still have the ability to shape how that growth shows up in our neighborhoods.

If missing middle housing stops at duplexes and ADUs, we’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible.

The real opportunity is in the layer just beyond that.

And the question isn’t whether it works.

The question is whether we’re ready to treat it like it belongs.

Desmond Dunn is a husband and father of two, building a path in small-scale real estate development. He’s an emerging affordable housing developer and an Urban Design and Development Consultant at r.plan, focused on projects that strengthen underserved communities like Southeast Raleigh through good design and real community benefit.

More by Desmond Dunn:

Happy May CITYBUILDERs!

It was a busy April, and and there’s even more in store for May! You can find all the CITYBUILDER events, plus events by local friends and allies at the CITYBUILDER event page!

In April we were excited to join with allies from throughout the housing advocacy spectrum (from direct service providers to elected officials) at the North Carolina Housing Coalition Legislative Lobbying day to speak with our representatives about the importance of funding and supporting housing in North Carolina. It was inspiring to connect with so many people doing this important work.

This past month we had the pleasure of connecting with pro-housing advocates from across the Triangle. We saw our friends from the Sierra Club at RaleighForward and WakeUp Wake County’s earth day event, where one tree-expert panelist stated that density is the most important thing we can work towards if we want to preserve and promote tree canopy.

Last month we held our first Virtual Walkthrough Policy Talk with Steve Wilk at Loft3 in Raleigh. We were excited to showcase their innovative design and building methods used in this housing built with inclusionary zoning. (You can read more about the project here.)

And this past Friday, we were thrilled to host a lunch celebration for the final review of NC State Architecture School’s Single Stair Studio course. Local advocates and elected officials joined us in celebrating the work of these students, whose designs explored what we could build if we were to legalize this innovative yet traditional building form. (Learn more about the benefits of Single Stair reform and how you can support at Single Stair NC).

For May, we are excited to share several events by our friends and allies. The Durham Community Land Trustees are celebrating 50 years this Spring with their Bringing Durham Home Gala event on Saturday May 16th. The DCLT continues to be a vital force in creating permanently affordable homes through the land trust model.

Over in Orange County, the Chapel Hill Community Land Trust also serves to provide affordable homes in a land trust model. You can register for a bus tour of their neighborhoods happening this Thursday May 7th. More information and registration at their website.

Later in May, the Home Builders Associations of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties are continuing their 2026 Housing Summit Series with an event exploring how development math actually works; Making the Math… Math. This working session is built around a simple premise: public and private sectors are partners in housing, and we get better results when we understand each other. CITYBUILDERs get 50% off their registration with the code CITYBUILDER.

And of course, CITYBUILDER is continuing to host our Policy Talk and Book Club series. At our May CITYBUILDER Book Club, we’ll be discussing A Paradise of Small Houses by urban planner Max Podemski. This book traces the history of the dense, affordable, urban housing that was built in our great cities in the past, and how we could build this way again today to tackle the housing crisis.

For the CITYBUILDER Carolina Policy Talk this month we are thrilled to be joined by Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, Director of Housing Policy at the North Carolina Housing Coalition, Theo Nollert, Chapel Hill Town Councilor and Director of Policy at Carolina Forward, and David Crawford, Executive Vice President of AIA North Carolina to discuss the Legislative Agenda for their orgs during this short session.

If that’s not enough, May is also National Bike Month! The City of Raleigh and Oaks and Spokes each have a robust lineup of events, Durham is hosting their annual Bike Stampede, Cary is hosting Bike Bingo all month, Carrboro is hosting events all month including a Cinco de Mayo ride, Chapel Hill also has a lineup, including a Bike-Themed movie in the park (it’s E.T.) As we published recently, bike advocates must advocate for land use reforms if we want to make a meaningful impact on safety. Read more in the latest VERBATIM piece.

If you haven’t yet come to an event, May is a great time to show up for housing! It’s been great getting to know many of the repeat-attendees. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you again, or for the first time, real soon.

Thanks everyone!

Best,
Charlotte Chapman
Executive Administrator, CITYBUILDER

CALLS TO ACTION

Watch This Space! Rezonings & Legislation will Need Your Support

There are several housing projects throughout the Triangle that may (or may not) end up before Planning Commissions and City Councils in May, plus pro-housing legislation that could end up before the legislature. Continue to subscribe to CITYBUILDER updates, including our weekly CITYBUILDER Brief (paid subscribers only) for updates about when to show up and where.

Be an Early Bird for YIMBYtown 2026!

ICYMI - YIMBYtown 2026 is coming to Raleigh in November! Registration opens this week. Be the first to find out early-bird registration launch, speaker topics, and hotel blocks by signing up for updates at yimby.town

MAY EVENTS WITH CITYBUILDER

CITYBUILDER BOOK CLUB:
A Paradise Of Small Houses: The Evolution, Devolution, and Potential Rebirth of Urban Housing by Max Podemski
with Payton Chung

Thursday May 28th • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
PRESS Coffee, Crêpes & Cocktails • 400 Hillsborough St, Suite 108, Raleigh

Join us for our monthly book club. This month, we’ll be discussing Max Podemski’s A Paradise Of Small Houses: The Evolution, Devolution, and Potential Rebirth of Urban Housing with discussion led by Payton Chung, LEED AP ND.

This book explores the history of diverse, small-scale urban housing types, arguing that reviving typologies such as bungalows and row houses is a practical, human-scale solution to the modern housing affordability crisis.

Our discussion lead, Payton Chung, is a developer and author who writes about the interrelated crafts that build cities: architecture, development, finance, landscape, planning, and transportation. He has written for the Urban Land Institute, Greater Greater Washington, the American Institute of Architects, Streetsblog, and the Congress for the New Urbanism. He is a Cary native and currently working on transit-oriented residential developments in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Payton is also a CITYBUILDER board member and regular contributor.

Reading the book is never required, but always encouraged. Come discuss the themes and enjoy lunch from Press. CITYBUILDER will buy you the (non-alcoholic) beverage of your choice.

CITYBUILDER POLICY TALK: Into to NC’s 2026 Legislative Session with Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, Theo Nollert, and David Crawford

Thursday May 21st • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Please RSVP for this virtual talk

Join us for our May CITYBUILDER Carolina Policy Talk where we will be joined by three change makers to discuss what’s coming up for housing in the short legislative session this year.

We’ll be joined by Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, Director of Housing Policy at the North Carolina Housing Coalition, Theo Nollert, Chapel Hill Town Councilor and Director of Policy at Carolina Forward, and David Crawford, Executive Vice President of AIA North Carolina to discuss the Legislative Agenda for their orgs during this short session.

Register to join this virtual call where you can learn more.

ALLIED EVENTS

CHAPEL HILL COMMUNITY HOME TRUST: Neighborhood Tour

Thursday May 7th • 3:00 PM
Registration at the Link

Join the Chapel Hill Community Home Trust on a Neighborhood Tour more about the communities where CHT residents live and see some examples of our homes for yourself. The neighborhood tour lasts approximately two hours and starts with coffee and conversation at our office. Space on the bus is limited and registration is required.

DURHAM COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTEES: Bringing Durham Home 50th Anniversary Gala

Saturday May 16th • Registration at the Link

The Durham Community Land Trustees are celebrating 50 years this Spring with their Bringing Durham Home Gala event on Saturday May 16th. The DCLT continues to be a vital force in creating permanently affordable homes through the land trust model.

HBA OF DURHAM AND ORANGE COUNTIES: Housing & Development Summit: Making the Math...Math

Wednesday May 27th • 8:00AM - 12:00PM
Register Now and get 50% off with code CITYBUILDER

The Home Builders Associations of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties are continuing their 2026 Housing Summit Series with an event exploring how development math actually works; Making the Math… Math.

This working session is built around a simple premise: public and private sectors are partners in housing, and we get better results when we understand each other.

CITYBUILDERs get 50% off their registration with the code CITYBUILDER. More information and registration.

During the March 17th Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) meeting in Durham via Zoom, City Council members Matt Kopac and Carl Rist stated the importance of reforming Durham’s land use policies in the new (but stalled) Durham Land Development Code (LDC, née UDO).

Per Action 1 of the unanimously passed Vision Zero Action Plan, “Update Land Use Policy,” changing land use practices to limit vehicle miles traveled will be critical in achieving Durham’s Vision Zero Goals.

Vision Zero is a a global strategy aimed at eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries. Durham adopted a Resolution Committing to Vision Zero in September 2017, aiming to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries by 50% by 2035 and achieve the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on Durham roadways by 2045. Durham is not on track to meet these targets.

Land Use regulations dictate which uses – agricultural, industrial, commercial, residential, etc. – are allowed which locations. Critically, land use regulations are also used to determine how much of these uses are allowed in those locations, and have been used to enforce low-density development patterns (AKA sprawl). Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) refers to how far people drive in their cars. Scholars and advocates agree, we can decrease traffic fatalities by decreasing VMT, and we can reduce VMT by increasing density.

During budget discussions at a recent BPAC meeting, an advisory commission member noted that any debates affecting transit, parking, and street safety must be considered in the context of Durham’s unanimously adopted Vision Zero Action Plan.

The commission member reminded those present that the Action Plan identifies reducing vehicle miles traveled as one of the most important ways to reduce deaths and serious injuries from traffic violence, which makes land use, parking policy, and transit investment central to achieving the city’s stated safety goals.

While acknowledging that funding gaps and process constraints make progress harder, the commission member argued that Durham has already seriously committed to ambitious Vision Zero targets, and needs to commit to making steady progress, rather than falling further behind.

Councilmember Kopac Responded:

In response, a commission member explained that the BPAC’s LDC Task Force had focused mainly on bicycle and pedestrian provisions, including infrastructure and parking, but not land use changes, nor questions around where growth should go – not because BPAC members opposed Vision Zero’s tactics, but because they focused on design elements that were more tied to BPAC’s scope.

Councilmember Rist Responded:

CITYBUILDER agrees. To advocate for our communities to be places where we can walk and bike safely cannot be disentangled from the work of remediating the land use standards that created our current sprawl and car-dependent development patterns. We need more housing, and we need it close to other housing (and shops! And Work! And parks!). This is the density needed for us to bike and walk safely through our cities and towns.

Be sure to stay tuned to CITYBUILDER for updates regarding Durham’s new LDC, and for innovations and insights from across the Triangle to find out more about which local places are successfully supporting land use that allows for more housing located closer to places of employment, education, and services.

Stay safe out there.

There’s just something magical about a city at the water’s edge; yet that’s almost entirely lacking in the Triangle. Long ago, our cities and towns were founded away from water: Chapel Hill famously crests a hill, Raleigh infamously sits in Joel Lane’s tavern’s backyard. Durham, Cary, and Apex began as way stations at a time when railroads frequently followed ridge lines. Only Hillsborough has a (very) small slice of Eno River waterfront, which later fostered a mill.

But even all those years ago, foresighted planners laid the groundwork for the Triangle’s many miles of greenways, most of which sit within creek valleys. These greenways preserve public access to the water’s edge, but come with strings attached: the state’s riparian buffer requirements in the Neuse and Jordan Lake basins (i.e., most of the Triangle) make it nearly impossible to build anything except a trail within fifty feet of streams, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and estuaries.

These rules are a boon to local water quality; they prevent pollutants from flowing into streams and protect aquatic habitats. However, these same rules make it nearly impossible to have a waterfront restaurant or buildings that open out onto streamside greenways.

Read more

Portland Legalized Missing Middle, And It’s Getting Built

Even after legalizing missing middle housing, many jurisdictions see sluggish growth in ADUs, plexes, and townhomes. Oftentimes, governments allow middle housing on paper, but dozens of technical barriers remain, minimizing what can actually be built.

Portland is different: Portland, Oregon seems to have cracked the code, experiencing a major uptick in middle housing construction after it legalized up to four homes per lot citywide in 2020. From 2021-2022, more quadplexes were built than single-family homes.

How they did it: The key to Portland’s success is its reformed floor area ratio (FAR) policy. The more units a developer builds on a lot, the larger their FAR can be. In a typical R5 zone, a single-family home would have a maximum FAR of 0.5 to 1, but a quadplex on the same lot would have a maximum FAR of 0.9 to 1. This is a great example of a city taking proactive steps to make …

Read more

North Carolina Needs More Housing Options

NC is growing fast, but we’re not building enough homes that people can actually afford. Because of this, the state has a major housing shortfall. Rents and home prices keep rising, and in many communities the only homes getting built are large apartment complexes or detached suburban houses. What’s missing is the middle: smaller apartment buildings that fit into neighborhoods, support walkability, and create more family-sized homes. Across the country, cities and states are beginning to revisit outdated building rules that make this kind of housing difficult or downright illegal to construct. North Carolina now has a chance to be part of that movement. The basic idea behind single-stair buildings is simple: they’re apartment buildings, up to six stories tall, built around one main staircase instead of the (legally mandated) two. They still use modern life-safety features and, yes, they have an elevator.

What Single-Stair Housing Actually Is

For many people, the phrase “single-stair” is unfamiliar, and sounds more unusual than it really is. In cities around the world, these small to mid-sized apartment buildings are built around one protected stair. Most apartments and condominiums today are legally required to have two staircases, which leads to long hallways, minimal light, and tall towers. Single-stair apartments are modern apartment buildings: they include elevators, sprinklers, fire-rated hallways and doors, and other code-required safety features. The point of legalizing them isn’t to reduce safety. The point is to make it possible to build apartment buildings that are smaller, simpler, and better suited to neighborhoods across North Carolina’s cities and towns.

Just as important, single-stair structures allow for better homes than traditional two-stair apartment blocks. Single-stair buildings make it easier to design more family-sized apartments with two or three bedrooms, instead of forcing everyone into smaller one-sided units. Because the building is typically thinner, apartments can have windows on more than one side, which means more daylight, better airflow, and layouts that feel more livable. These quality of life advantages are one reason why single-stair reform has become such an attractive answer for housing advocates.

A Citizen-Led Effort to Raise Awareness

In late 2025, a group of North Carolina citizens, architects, builders, and policy makers got together to create singlestairnc.com. The website is designed to bring more awareness to this housing format and its benefits in North Carolina. Building code reform is not the kind of issue that gets much public attention, even though it has a major impact on what gets built and what housing options we have. The goal of the site is to make the issue easier to understand, show why it matters for affordability and neighborhood design, and give North Carolinians a way to take action.

North Carolina Is Part of a Bigger Movement

Single Stair is a nationwide movement and it’s time for North Carolina to step up. Pew Research reported that since 2022, 19 states and Washington, D.C. have introduced bills to study or allow single-stair buildings, and that seven states passed bipartisan single-stair legislation in 2025 alone. Our neighbors in Virginia already enacted a law in 2024 to study and recommend code changes for single-stair buildings. Maryland enacted a law in 2025 requiring its Department of Labor to study single-stair building code reform and report back by December 2026.

Tennessee shows just how quickly things can move once a state opens the door. Lawmakers there passed a 2024 reform allowing single-stair buildings under set safety conditions, letting cities opt in locally. By late 2025, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Jackson had all moved forward. This makes Tennessee one of the clearest examples of single-stair reform going from idea to law to on-the-ground adoption.

That momentum has continued into 2026. Rhode Island introduced a bill to allow certain residential buildings up to four stories and 16 units with a single staircase, and California lawmakers introduced a new single-stair reform bill after the state’s fire marshal study process. For North Carolina, a bi-partisan bill, SB 492, has been proposed, but it’s stuck in the Senate pending a formal review and vote.

Why This Matters Right Now

North Carolina already has a live bill on the table, but it needs public support to see it through. Senate Bill 492 was filed in March 2025 and remains referred to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee. With the General Assembly’s short session underway, lawmakers are again looking for practical ways to address the state’s housing shortage. This is exactly the kind of reform they should take seriously. It is easy to understand, limited in scope, and aimed at one clear barrier that makes small apartment buildings harder to build. Politicians often say they want housing solutions. This is one.

What You Can Do

If you want more housing options and more walkable communities in North Carolina, then check out singlestairnc.com, and come to our Single Stair Lunch & Panel at 12pm on Friday, May 1st. At this event, we’ll discuss the pathway to legalizing and constructing single-stair buildings in NC. After lunch, stick around for presentations from current NC State architecture students, who will explore how real sites in Raleigh could be transformed by single-stair developments. Students will present from 1:30-5:30pm, so stop in to look at their brilliant projects.

RSVP here

When I was a kid, the places I lived were more rural than urban, more countryside than cosmopolitan. My family moved constantly; we never stayed in the same home for more than a year or two. But each location shared common denominators: large yards, detached single-family homes, neighbors who I never spoke to, and an abundance of “green space”. My parents always emphasized the importance of living outside the city in more “natural” settings. It wasn’t until recently that I realized my parents used this idea to mask a harder truth: living closer to the city was simply unaffordable for a family like ours.

Thus, despite our distance from grocery stores, friends, and other amenities, my family always found comfort in the belief that we were living a more sustainable lifestyle in our modest, detached single-family home. This line of thinking helped us ignore our economic misfortune, so you can imagine how unsettling it was to find out that we, in our single-family home, were using far more energy than people in dense multifamily buildings.

It’s been that way for a while: between 2009 and 2015, energy usage per square foot dropped by 29% in multifamily residences, while single-family homes saw a reduction of only 13%. While residential energy consumption has become more efficient overall, single-family homes are lagging behind denser housing options on all fronts.

The chart above seems to show that single-family homes actually use less energy than multifamily units, but that’s only true on a “per square foot” basis. Single-family homes in the US are on average 2.5 times bigger than multifamily residences, so in the context of energy per square foot, single-family homes have a deceptive advantage. If we account for the vast size difference between single-family and multifamily homes, we find that multifamily homes having a lower rate of energy consumption overall.

Multifamily housing also uses significantly less energy per person than a detached home. In fact, a new high-rise multifamily development is 82% more energy efficient than a new single-family home in the US.

Initially, this news upset me. I lived most of my childhood believing that, despite being poor, at least I was doing some good by living out in the middle of nowhere. Evidently, this was not the case.

Okay, so maybe my childhood home wasn’t as “energy efficient” as it could have been, but surely mother nature was pleased with how carefully my family treated the trees and plants scattered around our tiny plot of land. I mean, you don’t see many apartments with yards! Well, it turns out that compact multifamily developments also have less pollutant and sediment runoff than the average detached home in the suburbs. Oh, and all of that beautiful green space in the countryside only exists because dense housing in urban areas slows down the sprawling nature of American development patterns. In a sense, those dense developments are saving the green space that my family thought we were preserving.

So denser housing options use less energy, help preserve natural green space by decreasing the number of single-family homes being developed, and produce less harmful stormwater runoff when compared to the suburbs.

But there’s no way that all of those urban traffic jams and idling cars can be good for the environment. Clearly the quiet streets of the suburbs translate to lower vehicular emissions, right?

Well it’s true that idling cars are the number one source of air pollution in many areas throughout the US. Each gallon of gasoline that’s burned while idling releases 20 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. For every hour spent idling, a light duty truck burns up to one gallon of diesel fuel and conventional vehicles burn up to 1/5 gallon of gasoline.

But believing that these increased carbon emissions are a result of increased density is misplaced. The traffic that produces these emissions is largely made up of individuals commuting into the city from their homes in the suburbs. Census Data from 2019 showed that over 44% of people living in metro counties commuted to a location outside of their home county for work. Simply put, commuting has become a way of life in America. The average American spends 27 minutes driving to work and another 27 minutes driving home. In contrast, those who live in urban areas spend far less time commuting; that means fewer emissions.

Critics of multifamily, mixed-income developments decry tall buildings and denser forms, but then demand unlimited parking and the ability to drive from their suburban homes to the urban core without encountering traffic. This sense of entitlement has long dictated the layout of cities throughout the US, resulting in ever-higher vehicle emissions, and a significant amount of wasted time for everyone involved (see the aforementioned 54 minute daily commute).

The facts don’t lie: dense housing and walkable communities reduce stormwater pollution, generate fewer carbon emissions, and take up less land compared to single-family homes. Environmentalists can rest easy, even the Sierra Club recognizes that density is environmentalism. So enjoy nature, and support denser housing options in your community, on Earth Day, and everyday.

This piece was written by Elijah Geist, a CITYBUILDER student fellow and current graduate student at the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning.

I recently visited NC State University to ask students what off-campus housing looks like for them. Most said they pay between $800 and $1,200 per month for an apartment with roommates. Even then, one student described Raleigh’s housing market as “exorbitant”.

According to Axios Raleigh, rents for student housing near NC State have increased by 30.5% since 2020. At UNC Chapel Hill, rents have risen 23.3%, compared to a 22.9% increase in market-rate apartments. Student rents around NC Central and Duke have experienced similar trends. Across the Triangle, student housing costs are rising rapidly.

This piece was written by Ka’Mya Cooper, a CITYBUILDER student fellow. Each semester, CITYBUILDER provides fellowship opportunities for aspiring student urbanists in the Triangle.

As a student at North Carolina Central University, I’ve felt the impact of this firsthand. I wasn’t able to get on-campus housing, so I had to find the next most affordable option. Off-campus housing works, but it comes with its challenges. Transportation becomes a daily concern, and being farther from campus makes it harder to be fully present as a student.

That’s why the conversation around student housing needs to shift.

Students don’t just need more housing. We need accessible housing near campus. When universities fall short on space, students are pushed into already competitive rental markets, driving prices higher for everyone and limiting options. Building more housing specifically for students can help relieve this pressure, while giving students places designed for their basic needs. Local residents can rent decent homes at more affordable prices if they aren’t competing with students for space.

Proximity also matters. Living closer to campus isn’t just about convenience; it plays a role in how students engage with their education. Shorter commutes mean fewer barriers to attending class, participating in campus activities, and accessing resources.

The takeaway is simple: Student housing is not a luxury. It’s part of the infrastructure that supports student success. As prices continue to rise across the Triangle, expanding near-campus housing will only become more urgent.

This piece was written by Ka’Mya Cooper, a CITYBUILDER student fellow and current undergraduate at North Carolina Central University.

This sketch by Abigail Gillin, titled Alleys of Greece, shows an alley in Fiskardo, Greece that provides a space for pause and casual conversation.

Abigail’s sketches capture people’s favorite places, most of which are inherently urban and vibrant: lively street corners with chairs and people spilling onto the sidewalk, Parisian rooftops showcasing the city’s ability to tuck housing into every corner, and sports venues that unite people, even if just for a couple of hours at a time.

Discover more of Abigail’s work at her website, hereandtherepaintings.com, and on her Instagram @HereandTherePaintings.

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Steven’s project is foremost an experiment shaped by lessons from Europe and Asia, where single-stair buildings and compact condo living are far more common, and provide much-needed density in growing urban areas. What emerged from Loft 3 is a set of grounded, practical insights about how to make middle housing work in Raleigh today.

Here are five of the most important takeaways:

1. Create a Great, Versatile Floorplan

At the heart of Loft3 is a simple idea: the floor plan must be versatile.

Because units are smaller and more efficient, they must accommodate a wide range of lifestyles. The layouts were intentionally designed to be flexible, appealing to young professionals, roommates, students, and even small families. A second bedroom might double as a home office or a nursery, or a resident could rent out the room to offset costs.

In many ways, the success of these units comes down to restraint. There’s very little wasted space. Mechanical and electrical systems are consolidated among the units on each floor. Even the building’s form, tight to the property lines with small courtyard separations, ensures that every unit receives light while maximizing efficiency.

The result is a layout that’s designed with resident experience in mind, rather than just financially optimized.

2. Elevators and Parking Are Major Cost Drivers

If there’s one lesson that came through clearly, it’s this: cost is everything. Elements like elevators and parking can be the biggest roadblocks in the affordability equation.

At Loft3’s scale, adding an elevator would increase costs by roughly $20,000 per unit for ownership models, plus ongoing maintenance. ADA requirements add even more cost, in the case of specialized elevator car dimensions or turn radii in the hallway spaces. The Loft3 development makes use of one elevator shared by all units, maximizing its spatial and economic efficiency.

“The project was not without a lot of headache for just everything being so unknown.” - Steven Wilk

Parking can be even more dramatic, often exceeding $30,000 per space. These numbers fundamentally shape what’s possible for affordable housing developments. The team initially explored townhomes with surface parking, but quickly realized the costs didn’t make sense. That pushed them toward a higher-density condo model, and eventually to a more efficient parking strategy with a podium located on one side of the building. Even then, trade-offs were unavoidable. Including a required second stair for fire egress on the east side of the building added another $10,000–$15,000 per unit, despite rarely being used in practice.

The broader takeaway is that affordability is about eliminating unnecessary building components, in addition to reducing material and labor expenses. Every added feature raises construction costs, and if we rethink what’s truly essential in a building, we can unlock more attainable pathways to affordable housing.

3. Safety Starts with Design Choices

One of the most misunderstood aspects of single-stair and small-scale buildings is safety. But as the Loft3 team emphasized, safety isn’t just about adding more systems, it’s about designing smarter buildings from the start.

For example, Loft3 uses cold-formed steel rather than wood framing. This dramatically reduces the risk of structural fire. While a unit fire is always possible, the building itself is far less likely to ignite compared to typical wood-frame construction. Modern building systems such as fire-rated assemblies, sprinklers, and compartmentalization are already highly effective at containing fires. The data shows that newer mid-rise buildings rarely experience catastrophic fire spread, but public perception hasn’t yet caught up.

There’s still a lingering distrust of building systems, often driven by the prevalence of wood construction and a desire for redundancy in fire response. This has led to requirements that may not always align with actual risk, like additional stairs and oversized fire apparatus.

The Loft3 experience suggests a different path forward: trust the systems, invest in better materials, and design buildings that are inherently safe rather than overly complex.

4. Affordability Takes a Village

Delivering affordable middle housing can be a struggle to coordinate, along with design and construction challenges.

This piece was written by student fellows in collaboration with Single Stair NC.

Each semester, CITYBUILDER provides fellowship opportunities for aspiring student urbanists in the Triangle. This semester we’re focused on single-stair apartments. Single Stair NC is a new publication committed to advancing the pursuit of single-stair buildings in North Carolina.

At Loft3, the team navigated Raleigh’s affordable housing density bonus, which requires a percentage of units to be priced below market rate. While the process itself was relatively straightforward, largely handled through legal agreements and tied to Area Median Income (AMI), there was a lack of precedent of the same development composition (particularly for for-sale condos rather than rentals).

City staff were willing to collaborate, and financing mechanisms like community reinvestment programs provided additional support. The bank did not view affordability as a risk factor… in fact, it opened doors to favorable investment options. The key is understanding how to “solve backwards”, starting with the target price point and structuring the deal accordingly.

Most importantly, the project demonstrated that developers shouldn’t be intimidated by affordability requirements. With the right team (attorneys, lenders, and city partners) it’s entirely achievable.

5. Living Affordably Downtown Requires a Lifestyle Shift

Ultimately, the biggest obstacle in the success of a middle-density project isn’t in the technical details… it’s in residents shifting their lifestyles to be more walkable and social. Loft 3 is built around a different way of living where units are smaller, amenities are minimal, and many residents don’t own cars. Instead of private space, the intrinsic value comes from location, walkability, and community; these commodities are impossible to manufacture within single-family lot lines.

This is a sharp contrast to the suburban model that has dominated American housing for decades. As Wilk put it, “less is more.” When you live in a walkable area, you don’t need as much… fewer bedrooms, less storage, and fewer material possessions results in a streamlined life, where your time and money can be spent on hobbies or with loved ones. Your community becomes your most valuable asset: local shops, parks, and shared spaces help foster the connections that surpass material value.

The success of this lifestyle model depends on finding the right audience: people who have already rejected sprawl and are looking for something more intentional. These buyers aren’t being convinced; they’re being served. However, scaling this approach will require a broader mindset shift. Are people willing to give up elevators to save money? To live with one parking space… or none? To trade private amenities for public ones?

In cities like Charleston or New Orleans, this lifestyle is already normalized. Raleigh is on its way to catch up to its Southern neighbors.

Loft3 was, by the developer’s own admission, not without its challenges. “The project was not without a lot of headache,” one team member noted, reflecting on the many unknowns of constructing this building type at a small scale in the Southeast. However, these headaches are lessons for project teams to learn from, creating a practiced process to streamline future developments.

Loft3 is a prototype, a proof of concept that middle housing can work in Raleigh as long as it’s approached thoughtfully. With better floorplans, fewer cost burdens, smarter safety strategies, collaborative affordability efforts, and a willingness to rethink how we live, projects like this could become the foundation for a more connected, attainable city.

If you’d like to hear more from Steven Wilk on how he constructed this spectacular development, make sure to join our livestream tour and Q&A on Thursday, April 23rd at 12pm. We’ll see you there!

RSVP here

Julie Powers is a Bachelor of Architecture Student at NC State University, with an LAEP minor.

Additional graphic and illustration support was provided by NC State Undergraduate College of Design in Architecture major Brenna Belcher.

Rhode Island Considers Landmark Single-Room Occupancy Legalization

Committee action: On March 31st, the Rhode Island General Assembly’s Housing Committee heard the ROOM Act, which would legalize single-room occupancy (SRO) housing in all residential and commercial areas statewide. The committee recommended the bill be held for further study.

What’s an SRO: Single-room occupancies are just as they sound: single rooms with access to shared kitchens and bathrooms, often available for rent on a daily or weekly basis. They constitute the cheapest form of housing available on the market, and are critical for preventing homelessness.

Read more

Twelve years ago today, Kim-Mai Cutler published “How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained).”

Part flag-planting and part manifesto, it became a seminal work for the YIMBY movement and, in many ways, the first shot in the long war to reclaim American cities for the people.

Today, the piece is especially relevant to North Carolina.
Three points stand out in particular:

1. The article explains San Francisco’s severe housing shortage as the result of decades of restrictive policies and highly organized NIMBY opposition. North Carolina is earlier in that same cycle, but the political dynamics are already visible in local land use debates across the Triangle.

2. San Francisco’s crisis was driven by a shrinking supply of market-rate housing as rules limited where and how homes could be built. North Carolina is seeing similar constraints emerge through the expansion of HOA-restricted suburbia and zoning protected single-family only neighborhoods, even as demand for housing continues to grow.

3. Over time, these systems reward homeowners who benefit from limited supply and rising home values. That creates consistent pressure to oppose new housing, especially in established neighborhoods. California took this dynamic to the extreme, but the same pressures are present here, and without clear policy direction North Carolina risks following the same path.

The proper housing policy response in the Triangle today is the same as it was in San Francisco then: pragmatic, frustrated, and relentlessly focused on supply and accountability.

Many of the early wins by YIMBYs were accomplished by simply publishing the exclusionary — and often factually inaccurate — arguments made by NIMBY groups like Livable California during their policy calls. This kind of citizen journalism is only just beginning in the South, and it is long overdue. Sunlight remains the best disinfectant.

For too many North Carolinians under 40, housing is an existential issue.

In North Carolina, the YIMBY movement is growing for the same reasons it did in California: young people face intense housing pressure.

Housing determines whether people can stay in the communities they care about, build stability, and plan what comes next. When housing doesn’t work, nothing else really works either.

When housing is unstable or out of reach, everything else becomes harder to hold onto. People take longer to settle, stay in shared or temporary situations longer than they planned, or leave places they would have otherwise invested in. Starting a business, changing careers, or putting down roots all begin to feel riskier when the foundation is uncertain.

This is not an abstract policy debate. It is a response to lived experience. More people are recognizing that the rules shaping housing are not neutral, and that changing them is the only way to create choice and real stability.

NIMBYism is backed by trillions of dollars in U.S. home equity and by non-representative groups of homeowners who are deeply invested in protecting scarcity. But that advantage is no match for younger North Carolinians who are trying to build stable lives in the places they care about. They are living with the consequences of this system every day, and they are not going to accept it indefinitely. I choose to bet on those young people.

Kim-Mai Cutler fired the first shot in this war twelve years ago today.

Her piece starts in the middle of the chaos, but stay with it. Cutler connects the protests, the politics, and the underlying housing shortage into a clear explanation of how a crisis like this gets built over time.

Read it with North Carolina in mind.

How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained)

The Santa Clara Valley was some of the most valuable agricultural land in the entire world, but it was paved over to create today’s Silicon Valley. This was simply the result of bad planning and layers of leadership failure — nobody thinks farms literally needed to be destroyed to create the technology industry’s success.

Today, the tech industry is apparently on track to destroy one of the world’s most valuable cultural treasures, San Francisco, by pushing out the diverse people who have helped create it. At least that’s the story you’ve read in hundreds of articles lately.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But everyone who lives in the Bay Area today needs to accept responsibility for making changes where they live so that everyone who wants to be here, can.

The alternative — inaction and self-absorption — very well could create the cynical elite paradise and middle-class dystopia that many fear. I’ve spent time looking into the city’s historical housing and development policies. With the protests escalating again, I am pretty tired of seeing the city’s young and disenfranchised fight each other amid an extreme housing shortage created by 30 to 40 years of NIMBYism (or “Not-In-My-Backyard-ism”) from the old wealth of the city and down from the peninsula suburbs.

Here is a very long explainer. Sorry, this isn’t a shorter post or that I didn’t break it into 20 pieces. If you’re wondering why people are protesting you, how we got to this housing crisis, why rent control exists or why tech is even shifting to San Francisco in the first place, this is meant to provide some common points of understanding.

This is a complex problem, and I’m not going to distill it into young, rich tech douchebags-versus-helpless old ladies facing eviction. There are many other places where you can read that story.

It does us all no justice.

1) First off, understand the math of the region. San Francisco has a roughly thirty-five percent homeownership rate. Then 172,000 units of the city’s 376,940 housing units are under rent control. (That’s about 75 percent of the city’s rental stock.)

Homeowners have a strong economic incentive to restrict supply because it supports price appreciation of their own homes. It’s understandable. Many of them have put the bulk of their net worth into their homes and they don’t want to lose that. So they engage in NIMBYism under the name of preservationism or environmentalism, even though denying in-fill development here creates pressures for sprawl elsewhere. They do this through hundreds of politically powerful neighborhood groups throughout San Francisco like the Telegraph Hill Dwellers.

Then the rent-controlled tenants care far more about eviction protections than increasing supply. That’s because their most vulnerable constituents are paying rents that are so far below market-rate, that only an ungodly amount of construction could possibly help them. Plus, that construction wouldn’t happen fast enough — especially for elderly tenants.

So we’re looking at as much as 80 percent of the city that isn’t naturally oriented to add to the housing stock.

Oh, and tech? The industry is about 8 percent of San Francisco’s workforce.

Then if you look at the cities down on the peninsula and in the traditional heart of Silicon Valley, where home-ownership rates are higher, it’s even worse.

The Google Bus protesters have said that the company should build housing on its campus, but the Mountain View city council has explicitly forbidden Google from doing just that. They’ve argued that it’s to protect the city’s burrowing owl population. (The city council even created a feral cat taskforce last week to protect the owls.)

Even more mind-bogglingly, Mountain View is discussing new office development that would bring as many as 42,550 office workers to the city. But the city’s zoning plan only allows for a maximum of 7,000 new homes by 2030.

Then, if you look at the job-to-housing ratios in some of the other peninsula cities like Palo Alto, it’s pretty terrible. Palo Alto voters just killed an affordable housing development for seniors by ballot measure last November.

So the wealthy voting classes of the peninsula are also strangling themselves of housing too. The median rent in Mountain View is $2,700 compared to $3,400 in San Francisco, according to Zillow. Once you factor in the cost of owning a car — estimated at slightly more than $9,000 a year by the AAA — it’s not that much cheaper.

If you look even closer to the Caltrain stations, rents go way up. The newly-opened Madera complex in downtown Mountain View rents out 1-bedroom units starting at $3,299 all the way up to 2-bedroom apartments at $8,000 per month.

Certain cities like Menlo Park seem more collaborative. Facebook partnered with developer St. Anton Partners to build a 394-unit complex within walking distance of its Menlo Park headquarters. But that’s 394 units for a company with more than 6,000 employees.

So one contributor to the tech industry’s spread into San Francisco is that the peninsula cities are more than happy to vote for jobs, just not homes.

2) Why is the tech industry migrating to cities anyway?

This is a demographic shift that is much larger than the technology industry itself — although there are some tech-specific reasons that have fueled a migration north from the historic heart of Silicon Valley over the last 10 years.

This is what urbanist Alan Ehrenhalt calls “The Great Inversion,” a major shift where cities and suburbs have traded places over the last 30 to 40 years. As people marry later and employment becomes more temporal, young adults and affluent retirees are moving into the urban core, while immigrants and the less affluent are moving out.

San Francisco’s population hit a trough around 1980, after steadily declining since the 1950s as the city’s socially conservative white and Irish-Catholic population left for the suburbs. Into the vacuum of relatively cheaper rents they left behind, came the misfits, hippies and immigrants that fomented so many of San Francisco’s beautifully weird cultural and sexual revolutions.

But that out-migration reversed around 1980, and the city’s population has been steadily rising for the last 30 years.

This is a phenomenon that’s happening to cities all over the United States.

It’s happening in Seattle, Atlanta, New York City, Boston and Washington. D.C.:

The full article continues here.

Virginia Legalizes Manufactured Homes Everywhere

On March 31st, Governor Spanberger signed HB 655 (aka SB 346), legalizing manufactured homes in all residential areas zoned for single-family housing.

The effect: Any zone that permits single-family housing must now allow manufactured homes, with no additional restrictions. While existing zoning conditions (setbacks, buffers, lot sizes) still apply to manufactured homes, they cannot be different than conditions that apply to single-family homes.

Closer to Home:

Raleigh Housing Votes Are Fragmenting

Tuesday night’s City Council meeting made one thing clear. Housing approvals are happening, but they are not guaranteed. All of the housing cases passed, but several were close votes and came down to the specifics of each case.

Read more

Defining “eco-districts”

The students in Professor Erdim’s class have chosen to explore single-stair developments in the context of eco-districts. According to urbanist Michael Eliason, eco-districts are compact, walkable, mixed-use urban neighborhoods that integrate environmental performance, social equity, and everyday livability at the neighborhood scale, not just the city-wide scale.

This piece was written by student fellows in collaboration with Single Stair NC.

Each semester, CITYBUILDER provides fellowship opportunities for aspiring student urbanists in the Triangle. This semester we’re focused on single-stair apartments. Single Stair NC is a new publication committed to advancing the pursuit of single-stair buildings in North Carolina.

In Eliason’s writing and advocacy, eco-districts are not isolated sustainable developments or luxury green enclaves. Instead, they are “dense, human-scaled neighborhoods designed to reduce car dependency while fostering strong social infrastructure.”

Eco-districts rely on mid-rise, small-footprint buildings, often 4-8 stories, with diverse unit types. This is where single-stair housing becomes central to the story. Instead of pointing to glitzy megaprojects, Eliason identifies European single-stair apartment buildings as the backbone of eco-districts, providing family-sized apartments, enabling small developer participation, and serving as incremental infill.

Density is essential to this vision… but not high-rise density. Instead, eco-districts call for “Goldilocks density”: enough people to support daily amenities within walking distance, but not so much scale that buildings become alienating. Parking is often consolidated or minimized so land can be used for housing, green space, or community services instead of flat asphalt.

“The goal is not to “ban cars” but to design neighborhoods where daily life does not require one.” - Eliason

Eco-districts prioritize walking and cycling infrastructure, access to high-quality transit, and shared mobility options. Rather than separating residential, commercial, and civic uses into zoning silos, eco-districts mix them at a small scale.

Each student team focused on one of two goals: identifying and enhancing existing eco-districts in Raleigh through the addition of single-stair housing, or creating all-new eco-districts through the construction of single-stair housing. The following analysis of sites for single-stair construction is the first step of that design process.

The Single-Stair Studio’s Research

The teams of students conducted an urban analysis study of several neighborhoods in and around downtown Raleigh. Through their research, three consistent topics of interest became prevalent for what makes a strong single-stair site: urban mobility, cultural integration, and connection with green space. Let’s dive deeper into what those terms mean…

Urban Mobility - Cars, Parking, Cycling, Walking, and Public Transportation

Transportation and mobility is one of the most important aspects of a successful and thriving city. Effective transportation systems enable people to access jobs, schools, healthcare, grocery stores, and other essential destinations. It’s critical that a city’s infrastructure allows people to live without sole reliance on automotive transit. Shelley Anderson outlined this concept well in her team’s project, titled Fragments to Nodes: “We can’t get rid of the highways and the railroads that have created the breakage, but we can bring pedestrian connections back into new developments”

The smaller scale of single-stair housing is a goldmine for urban mobility. Infill lots between destinations could become viable housing for people who work nearby, and the mixed-use nature of single-stair would reduce travel distances for residents who work close by to where they live.

In another aspect of mobility, parking lots could become a key factor in the siting of single-stair housing. Following current parking requirements for residential buildings, a 24-unit single-stair building could require up to 48 parking spots onsite — far less than the 400 parking spots needed for a 200-unit double-loaded apartment structure. By nature, the small lots that are appealing for single-stair housing may not have room to accommodate all of the required parking spots. As a solution, students explored other sources of parking that could be utilized by single-stair residents.

Many parking lots at popular shopping centers are packed during the stores’ business hours of 10am to 6pm, yet are empty outside of these hours. If single-stair housing was built adjacent to these parking lots, residents would likely be home from work after 6pm, and thus could utilize empty parking spaces. Phased daily parking, shared commercial/residential spaces, and even rooftop parking on aging strip malls could transition us away from car-dependent infrastructure toward walkable neighborhoods. Parking doesn’t need to be removed completely, we just need to be creative with how it can be utilized for the highest degree of efficiency — optimization, not eradication.

Cultural Integration: Preferences of Privacy vs Community

North Carolina’s architectural vernacular reflects climate and social patterns: porches, stoops, operable windows, and more. Yet many modern apartment buildings ignore this. The “first-floor problem” emerged as a recurring concern: ground-level units with windows directly facing sidewalks feel exposed. Privacy matters in Southern culture, where front yards traditionally buffer homes from public life.

Jasmine Mann and Divinity Hilton studied Clark Avenue and Chamberlain Street, asking critical “why” questions about the transitions between private and public space. Why are public sidewalks only ever adjacent to a road? Could certain pedestrian paths be fully separated from cars? Could alleyways become small plazas for adjacent neighbors to host gatherings?

More importantly, how should the first floor function in a single-stair building? Perhaps it should not always be residential. Many Americans value a sense of privacy that’s not often seen in single-stair buildings abroad. However, rather than striking down single-stair as a useful building typology, the students began to rethink what that first floor space could be used for. Retail spaces, mail rooms, laundry facilities, lounges, or coworking rooms could activate the street level while protecting privacy of private residences. A raised stoop or elevated entry, borrowing from brownstone traditions, could lift residential units above sidewalk level as well.

Particularly in the existing West Morgan eco-district analyzed by Nico Castilla Lopez and Ian Shore, a number of existing small businesses could be enhanced by integrating mixed-use single-stair buildings into the neighborhood. The existing condition includes a number of apartment buildings, a few single family homes, and several low-density, free-standing restaurants. By bringing single-stair here, walkable residential areas can be densified while adding additional amenities like small grocery stores, healthcare, or childcare. A mixed-use environment would increase the customer base of the existing local establishments, and in turn provide residents with vibrant streetlife and commercial activities.

Many of the aforementioned restaurants and businesses feature a historic, vernacular architecture style, which could be borrowed by new construction to continue the character of the eco-district. As mentioned in our previous article, the vernacular traditions of North Carolina’s architecture are evident through the use of porches, pitched roofs, and operable windows, among other design moves. To build single-stair residences that look like they belong in North Carolina, developers can draw design elements from neighboring properties. Many infill lots are already present in Raleigh along corridors of historic homes, which is the perfect space for single-stair buildings to be added at a scale that complements the current architectural character.

Single-stair homes provide a unique opportunity to incrementally increase density in these older, character-rich neighborhoods, without being overbearing in building height or lot size. The units themselves can feel comfortable and welcoming, with better daylighting and more chances to create usable outdoor spaces. The exterior designs of the buildings can emulate the architectural language of their neighbors, preserving the neighborhood’s beauty and charm. Historic neighborhoods are appealing to people of all ages, and creating opportunities for younger generations to live there generates greater resilience within the neighborhood, increasing its ability to preserve its character as time goes on.

Green Spaces, Sustainability, and Resilience

Shelley Anderson, Trey Cook, and Aidan Staub examined Raleigh’s downtown and warehouse districts, discovering that resilience in communities is created with smart zoning that promotes social cohesion, physical activity, and connection with nature. In these eco-districts especially, green spaces act as communal backyards for households without private yards. Proximity to grocery stores, cafes, and corner markets reduces reliance on cars, one of the key components of a successful eco-district. RX zoning and mixed-use strategies can help eliminate food deserts by embedding small-scale food retail within residential areas.

Areas with a high concentration of food options along with nearby green spaces provide optimal opportunity for residential densification via single-stair housing. The presence of amenities within walking distance of these residences would help alleviate the traffic congestion sometimes associated with density increases.

Chloe Craig and Rafael Salas-Garzon’s project, “Extroverted Urbanism,” emphasized enhancing popular destinations rather than overwhelming their existing scale. Neighborhood parks are an appealing amenity for many residents; adorning their boundaries with mid-rise single-stair buildings that contain ground-floor retail would provide space for small businesses, without intruding to the extent of a full shopping center. Family-owned coffee shops and bistro cafes would enhance the experience of the existing green space. By giving residents of the single-stair building easy access to a shared outdoor location, quality of life would improve without requiring expansive backyards for each individual housing unit.

Single-stair housing grows differently than master planned neighborhoods or large-scale apartment complexes. It can emerge incrementally, lot by lot, block by block. It can “grow out of” existing city parcels rather than requiring wide scale demolition and land assembly. As Rafael Salas-Garzon and Chloe Craig observed in their study of Historic Oberlin Village and Forest Park, large buildings and roadway projects can feel like walls: introverted and overwhelming. Single-stair buildings, by contrast, are small enough to integrate into existing contexts, unlocking infill opportunities near parks, corner stores, and neighborhood destinations.

What’s next?

NC State’s single-stair studio has laid out a useful framework for assessing the viability of a site for single-stair development. The foundation for vibrant eco-districts already exists in Raleigh, and single-stair housing provides the missing piece to really make these neighborhoods come to life.

The concept of an “eco-district” provides a useful framework for assessing the vibrancy of a neighborhood. This approach of urban integration respects what is already present, and identifies three key components of success in densification: urban mobility, cultural integration, and connection to green spaces. It asks: what urban features exist here? How can we amplify them? How do we add housing without adding walls? What could match the architectural character of the surrounding neighborhood?

In coming articles, we will explore the student teams’ proposals for single-stair housing within their chosen eco-districts. As the students continue to work on their housing proposals, stay tuned to see what the future of housing looks like in Raleigh, North Carolina!

Julie Powers is a Bachelor of Architecture Student at NC State University, with an LAEP minor.

Additional graphic and illustration support was provided by NC State Undergraduate College of Design in Architecture major Brenna Belcher.

Most architects focus mainly on the big picture of their designs.

A project’s footprint, floor plans, main volumes, and facade are what make a building a building anyway, a structure that can make space for human inhabitants, deny entry to the wind and rain, and stand stable above the groundwater beneath.

In his 1986 book Home: A Short History of an Idea, Witold Rybczynski (VEE-told rib-CHIN-ski) gives us his architectural perspective on the cultural and technological innovations that have shaped the idea of “home” from the medieval period to the modern day. In the course of ten chapters that feel like a comfortable stroll through the rooms of history, Rybczynski illuminates an idea that we take for granted in modernity: that home is the place where one is comfortable. In an organization of advocates for better cities, such an idea provokes another one that we are seeking to realize; an idea that we hope our children and grandchildren will take for granted themselves: that a city, too, should be built to feel like home.

Rybczynski begins Home with a reference his American readers in 2026 are likely just as familiar with as those in 1986: Ralph Lauren’s interior decorations, which had recently debuted in four different collections. The interesting thing about these collections is that they weren’t on the cutting edge of sleek and edgy forms; instead they hearkened back to a nostalgia for prior eras of wicker, curve, carpet, and comfort. When the reader inevitably asks why this is the case, a door is opened to understanding the several centuries of innovation that led up to our own times.

Our first step through that door transports us back to the medieval period, when a home was something that would appear completely uncomfortable and strange to us today. While the feudal peasantry lived in cold, wet, and animal-ridden structures, the nobility “didn’t so much as live in their houses as camp in them,” rolling up their tapestries and packing their moveable furnishings whenever they wanted to travel and stay in one of their other estates. This wasn’t the most unusual thing about them, however. What would have surprised a modern homeowner about these places wasn’t their transience, but the presence of every kind of human activity all taking place in one great room, from business to dining to cleaning and housework, to the effect of a total absence of privacy. It wasn’t until the economic conditions of feudal Europe shifted to produce a class of wealthy mercantile homeowners in the form of the bourgeois, the Bürger, and the borghese that greater privacy and stability eventuated in the first form of what we now think of as the family home.

Rybczynski walks us through the rooms of the Dutch, the French, and the English as each national culture innovated on the possibilities for the ever more private domain of the home.

The Dutch predisposition against the French use of servants and house staff and toward greater social equality meant that the homeowners themselves spent enormous amounts of time and energy on the cleanliness of their abode. The humidity and frequent flooding in the Netherlands made the necessity of such an attitude toward scrupulous hygiene even more significant.

The French courtly emphasis on pleasure considered the Dutch styles too drab and austere, instead creating one of the first true interior styles of rococo awash in ornamental decoration pleasing to the eye.

And in the typically English way of synthesizing the Teutonic and Frankish sensibilities, the stately homes of England adopted a pragmatic aesthetic that stopped short of the French excesses but went past the Dutch austerities. These estates embraced the pleasurable experience of sitting on upholstered furniture instead of bare wood. This synthesis developed into the uniquely English taste for comfort, evidenced in Jane Austen’s use of the term in her 1815 novel Emma.

“Ah! there is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” — Jane Austen, Emma

Out of this English innovation in taste came the engineering innovations of Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite, who created timeless pieces of furniture like the Windsor chair that survive in popularity today, including in the Ralph Lauren interior collections mentioned above.

The innovation of domestic privacy and comfort may seem obvious to us today, but it unlocked economic interest in technological innovations that increased the feasibility and magnitude of both. Much of the second half of Home details the progression of residential lighting (from candles to gas lamps to light bulbs), heating (from hearths to stoves to radiators), and clean air (from open windows to filtered and forced air vents). Industrial America led these advancements in domestic innovation. Usually, only the richest American households employed servants, leaving ample opportunity to invent and market products of comfort to middle and lower class households. Women especially led advances in making homes places where one was not only comfortable sitting and reading, but also comfortable getting things done in the industrious way Americans love to do (see Christine Frederick and Mary Patterson’s works).

In the early years of the twentieth century, the home was beginning to reach a stage of near peak privacy, comfort, cleanliness, and efficiency, but a great rupture loomed on the horizon. The First World War brought about a sea change in aesthetic ideals that rejected comfort in favor of austerity once again, and relinquished privacy in favor of glass walls and panoptic viewpoints. Adolf Loos wrote ‘Ornament and Crime’ associating all domestic beautification with moral degeneracy, and Mies van der Rohe had iron cafe chairs in the interior of his venue at the Paris Expo for the Decorative Arts in 1925.

A conspicuous austerity and masculinity took hold among the modernists, and much of the Arts and Crafts movement in England and the Art Deco styles in France and America were rejected as indulgent, feminine, and associated with the old bourgeois world that had erupted into the most lethal and traumatic war of their lifetimes. The international styles yielded eventually to a softer minimalism, but the rupture was complete, and the idea of comfort would take decades to reestablish.

While discussing Rybczynski’s book with him, I learned that originally, he set out to write about the technological innovations of the home as a follow up to a prior work of his. To his surprise, he learned that comfort and privacy were not eternal features of the home but rather cultural innovations borne out of the material conditions of Europe. Residents of those cold and muggy regions sought out concepts of comfort and coziness that had little purchase in warmer climates. Witold remarked that trends in homes and the furnishings inside them operate on much longer cycles than fashions in clothing or music. What lasts even longer than these is the cycle of human evolutionary adaptations on the scale of many tens of thousands of years; this means that a chair or a couch designed to be comfortable four hundred years ago will likely still be so today, and will retain its comfort in four hundred years more. We live in essentially the same bodies as our distant ancestors, but thank goodness we don’t have to live in their homes.

With the perspective of such longevity in mind, Home carries deep significance for cities, not just private residences. Today as in ages past, people thrive in environments of privacy balanced with community and ergonomic ways to live and move in the world around them. City planning, public policy, legislation, zoning reform, and better transit are all means to the end of greater comfort in living, whether financial (housing affordability), physical (walkability and density), communal (third spaces), or economic (jobs) so that our cities, and not just our houses, feel like home.

We’ll end with the flourish with which every chapter in Home begins, i.e. a great quote from a great writer. In 1746, just as the innovation of comfort in the home was taking force, Samuel Johnson wrote aptly in The Rambler:

“To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.”

Join CITYBUILDER Book Club

📘 Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski
📅 Mon Apr 13th 12:00pm - 1:00pm
📍 PRESS Coffee Crêpes Cocktails
400 Hillsborough St suite 108, Raleigh, NC 27603, USA
👉 RSVP here

Come for the ideas. Stay for the people who want to build a Triangle where everyone has a place to live. We’ll see you there.

Nicholas Chrapliwy (SHRAP-liv-ee) is a longtime member of CITYBUILDER who lives in Durham. He is the Executive Director at The Rhizome Institute, an organization cultivating sustainable relationships between the built, natural, social, and temporal environments through programs like the Great Green Exposition and The Rhizome Reports. After graduating from Duke in 2022, he led the creation of the Quad Arches, the new visual identities for the QuadEx undergraduate residential model, which were installed on the historic West Campus in 2025.

Colorado Lets Nonprofits, Universities, and More Bypass Zoning

Last week, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the HOME Act into law, requiring most municipalities to allow housing development nonprofits, transit agencies, school districts, public housing authorities, and universities to build housing on their land.

What’s allowed: Starting in 2028, the aforementioned organizations can build housing on their property regardless of municipal zoning restrictions. Residential structures can be up to three stories or 45 feet in height by right, and municipalities cannot limit the number of units in a given development.

Room for improvement: Notably, religious institutions were not included in the list of qualifying organizations. Legalizing faith-based housing by right would give places of worship the ability to provide living spaces for vulnerable community members, unlocking a massive amount of affordable housing across …

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East Durham residents John and Jane Holmes said they were thrilled to hear the city had placed a temporary moratorium on new construction in the Goose Creek overlay district, affecting parts of East Durham.

Durham city leaders recently halted new development permits in the Goose Creek area after discovering that the sewer servicing the area is already at capacity, after decades of under-investment and lack of maintenance by the City. John and Jane Holmes say the news felt like a relief.

“Things around here have already been changing pretty quickly,” John shared from the front porch of the East Durham bungalow they purchased two years ago. “Since we arrived, there’s been a lot of building. People say that these developers in Durham, they just want to cram in as many houses as possible to make the highest profits possible.”

Jane went on, “We need the city to halt all building by any means necessary, and force builders to build affordable housing before we do anything else. We need a radical solution to these developers’ unfettered capitalistic rampage.”

Previously living in New Jersey, the couple moved south during the pandemic in search of a larger home in a smaller city with, as John put it, “culture, restaurants, and a sense of place.” Like many newcomers, they initially hoped to buy in an older neighborhood close to downtown.

“We really loved the idea of being near downtown in one of those beautiful historic Southern neighborhoods, like Trinity Park or Forest Hills” John said. “Walkability, big trees, that sort of thing.” But after months of searching, the Holmeses discovered that their budget did not go as far as they had expected.

Eventually they expanded their search and discovered East Durham, where their budget stretched further. “We got a bigger house on a bigger lot, and it felt like such a cool neighborhood that was really on the upswing,” Jane said.

With the savings on their home purchase, they decided to construct an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) in their backyard. “It’s a beautiful space,” Jane said. “One bedroom, lots of natural light, really well designed. And it’s a great location especially with the new brewery down the block.”

“And it’s a good thing we got our C.O. before they issued the moratorium,” John added.

The Holmes recently listed the unit for rent but couldn’t get a renter at their asking price. They plan to lower the rent, and are considering offering a month free or other discount. “That seems to be what other rentals are doing,” John lamented.

“It’s kind of a weird market right now,” Jane said. “Hard to explain why.”

Still, they remain optimistic the unit will attract a tenant soon.

Disclaimer: The above article is a parody. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental. Or tragically believable.

Spring is here, and so are CITYBUILDER events! Don’t mind the wild temperature swings and a coating of yellow covering everything; join us to connect with community and remember why long-time residents and newcomers alike delight in calling the Triangle home.

As always, events produced by CITYBUILDER, as well as events by our friends, allies, and other fun activities are listed on our CITYBUILDER Events Page.

CITYBUILDER is continuing our events with another Policy Talk and Book Club for April. Join us on April 13th for our in-person monthly Book Club at Press Cafe in Downtown Raleigh, where we’ll have an informal conversation about this month’s book, Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski led by Nicholas Chrapliwy, Executive Director of The Rhizome Institute in Durham.

For our April Policy Talk we’re charting new territory, leading a virtual walk-through of the new Loft3 21-unit condo project in Downtown Raleigh on April 23rd. We’ll be broadcasting live from the construction site. As always, our Book Club and Policy Talk are free and open (with RSVP).

On April 7th, be sure to join the Urban Land Institute for their Lunch Event, Addressing our Housing Crisis featuring CITYBUILDER’s own Jenn Truman. And in Late April, watch out for NC Housing Day, hosted by our friends at Habitat for Humanity NC, the NC Housing Coalition, the NC Community Land Trust Coalition, and the NC Coalition to End Homelessness. Housing Day is April 28th and 29th; registration ends on April 3rd.

We’re excited to explore some local Earth Day Celebrations across the Triangle. From Raleigh’s Family and Eco-friendly Festival in Dix Park, to Durham’s Earth Day Festival in Durham Central Park, to Carrboro Day and Cary’s Spring Daze, we can’t wait to get out and enjoy our urban environment together. More information on all of these below.

We’re so glad you’re building this pro-housing movement with us. Thanks for helping us grow together as we work toward more connected, welcoming communities for all. Can’t wait to see you out there!

Best,
Charlotte Chapman | Executive Administrator | CITYBUILDER

CALLS TO ACTION

Re-zonings & Legislation will Need Your Support in April!

There are several housing projects throughout the Triangle that may (or may not) end up before Planning Commissions and City Councils in April, plus pro-housing legislation that could come before the legislature. Continue to subscribe to CITYBUILDER updates, including our weekly CITYBUILDER Brief (paid subscribers only) for alerts about when to show up and where.

Sign up for YIMBYtown Raleigh Updates!

In case you missed it, YIMBYtown 2026 is coming to Raleigh in November! Be the first to find out about early-bird registration, speaker topics, and hotel blocks by signing up for updates at yimby.town

MARCH EVENTS WITH CITYBUILDER

BOOK CLUB

Home: A Short History of an Idea, by Witold Rybczynski with Nicholas Chrapliwy

Monday April 13th • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
PRESS Coffee, Crêpes & Cocktails • 400 Hillsborough St, Suite 108, Raleigh

Join us for our monthly book club. This month, we’ll be exploring Wiltold Rybczynki’s Home: A Short History of an Idea with discussion lead by Nicholas Chrapliwy of the Rhizome Institute.

This book is a highly readable cultural and architectural history that traces how the concept of “home” has evolved throughout time. From medieval, work-centered dwellings to the private, comfort-oriented spaces we recognize today, housing has been shaped by changes in technology, social norms, and the rise of the middle class. What makes this book especially relevant to today’s pro-housing movement is its core argument that housing is not just about shelter or efficiency, but about dignity and the lived experience of residents.

Reading the book is never required, but always encouraged. Come discuss the themes and enjoy lunch from Press. CITYBUILDER will buy you a (non-alcoholic) beverage of your choice.

POLICY TALK

Inclusionary Zoning at Loft3 - a Virtual Walk-Through with Steven Wilke

Thursday April 23rd • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Please RSVP for this virtual talk

Join us for our first live virtual walkthrough! Loft3 in Raleigh is delivering attainable housing in a desirable location. We’ll hear from Steven Wilke about how they accomplished this feat. As always, you’re welcome to be camera-off and come for the information, but your questions and comments are welcome!

MARCH EVENTS WITH FRIENDS - EARTH DAY EDITION!

DURHAM EARTH DAY FESTIVAL

Sunday, April 19 • 12:00PM - 5:00PM
Durham Central Park • 501 Foster Street, Durham

Join Durham in celebrating Earth Day 2026 as we unite to honor and protect the planet. This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” highlights the incredible potential everyone has to drive positive change for the environment. From individuals to communities, and businesses to governments, we all hold the power to create a sustainable future.

More information here.

CARRBORO DAY 2026

Sunday April 19 • 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Carrboro Town Commons & Weaver Street Market • 301 West Main Street & 101 East Weaver St, Carrboro

Celebrate sustainability and Carrboro with an event that brings people together for an afternoon of eco-friendly activities and outdoor fun. Enjoy car-free streets transformed into vibrant spaces for cycling, walking, and exploring green initiatives, all while learning how we can protect our planet. Moving forward, Carrboro Day and Earth Day will be celebrated together as one event.

More information here.

RALEIGH EARTH DAY

Friday April 24 • 5:00PM - 10:00PM
Harvey Hill at Dix Park • Cranmer Dr, Raleigh

Join the City of Raleigh for the 5th annual Raleigh Earth Day. This milestone event brings together community members, local organizations, and city departments for an evening dedicated to environmental stewardship, sustainability, and connection — all in one of Raleigh’s most beautiful public spaces.

More information here.

CARY SPRING DAZE ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL

Saturday April 25 • 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Bond Park • 801 High House Rd, Cary

There’s no better way to celebrate Spring than at Cary’s Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival! Come spend the day at beautiful Bond Park exploring one-of-a-kind art from 170+ local NC artists. Enjoy live music and performances, grab tasty bites, and get hands-on with fun activities for all ages.

More information here.

ALLIED EVENTS

ULI TRIANGLE: Addressing our Housing Crisis Lunch Event

Tuesday April 7th • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Smoky Hollow • 421 N Harrington Street, Raleigh

Join ULI Triangle for a focused conversation on the urgent need for more attainable and equitable housing. This event will explore zoning reform, innovative financing tools, and effective housing advocacy strategies. Come ready to learn, engage, and collaborate on real solutions for our region’s housing future.

Featuring our founder, Jenn Truman. More information and registration here.

2026 NC HOUSING DAY

April 28th - 29th • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
REGISTER NOW! • Registration closes April 3

Register now for NC Housing Day 2026 on April 28-29 in Raleigh! On April 29, we’ll meet with our state legislators in Raleigh and tell them that affordable housing is important for North Carolina, and the state has a vital role to play in its provision. There are also opportunities for training and networking on April 28. NC Housing Day is hosted by Habitat for Humanity NC, the NC Housing Coalition, the NC Community Land Trust Coalition, and the NC Coalition to End Homelessness.

RALEIGH STRONG TOWNS MONTHLY MEETUP & YES! IN MY TRIANGLE RALEIGH MEET-UP COMBINED MEETING

Tuesday March 17th • 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Weaver Street Market • 404 W Hargett St, Raleigh

Join local neighbors, advocates, and citybuilders for the monthly Raleigh Strong Towns meetup AND monthly Yes! In My Triangle meetup. This will be a combined-group meeting. All are welcome to come listen, share ideas, and connect with others working toward a stronger Raleigh.

Hosted by Strong Town Raleigh & Yes! In My Triangle

YES! IN MY TRIANGLE MEETUP IN DURHAM

Thursday April 9th • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Parts & Labor • 723 Rigsbee Ave, Durham

This local YIMBY Action chapter gives voice to residents who believe the Triangle should grow inclusively, sustainably, and affordably. In a region facing skyrocketing housing costs and rapid growth, YES! In My Triangle pushes for zoning reform, abundant housing, and walkable communities.

YES! In My Triangle’s advocacy counters NIMBY resistance and brings much-needed urgency to local housing debates. Simply put, they’re fighting for a Triangle where more people can afford to live, work, and flourish.

This event is hosted by Yes! In My Triangle, a Raleigh-Durham Chapter of the National YIMBY Action Network.

More info for the Durham Meetup and RSVP through YIMBY Action.

SEE YOU AROUND TOWN!

Michigan Blows Past Housing Goal

In June 2022, Governor Whitmer announced a plan to build or rehabilitate 75,000 housing units statewide by 2027. As of October 2025, Michigan has issued over 86,000 building permits, surpassing that goal two years early.

Picking up steam: Recent years have racked up the highest permit totals, with 22,427 units approved in 2025. The raw numbers are even bigger: Michigan has applied a downward adjuster of 5% to its unit approval count, to reflect that on average, 5% of permits do not result in finished units. Whitmer has now increased the state’s housing goal to 115,000 units by 2027.

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Look at any new mixed-use development in the Triangle and you’ll see the same thing: beautiful storefronts, polished plazas, thoughtfully branded apartment buildings… and a sea of parking separating it all from the neighborhoods next door. Mixed-use districts promise walkability, vibrancy, and density. Single-family neighborhoods promise stability, privacy, and calm. But between them? Four-lane roads, surface parking, retention ponds, and zoning walls. The result is a landscape of fragmented, isolated destinations.

If we are serious about building connected communities, single-stair housing must be legalized in the building code. It would be the most effective bridge we have between mixed-use districts and existing suburban neighborhoods.

Our Existing Urban Fabric: a Tapestry Torn Apart

Drive through North Raleigh and you’ll see townhomes backing up to strip malls. A wooden fence separates patios from parking lots. While technically adjacent, the built environment creates barriers that disconnect these destinations and prompt the use of cars for short trips.

This piece was written by CITYBUILDER student fellows in collaboration with Single Stair NC, a new publication committed to advancing the pursuit of single-stair buildings in North Carolina. Read more in our series:

A typical American strip mall faces towards arterial roads, with parking lots outside the storefront. This configuration neglects the people living in close proximity to the strip, where vegetation or fences block off walkable paths. In these buffer areas, mid-rise, single-stair apartments could provide a gradient between commercial and residential zones. By fronting the commercial street, stepping down in height toward the townhomes, and activating the sidewalk with small retail or residential stoops, single-stair buildings would make both residents and customers feel like they belong in the urban environment.

The above diagram illustrates how Cary Towne Center could be reimagined with mixed-use and residential multifamily housing to better integrate with its surroundings. By utilizing the vacant parking spaces, much needed medium-density housing could be created right next to mixed use zoning. If large-scale apartment buildings with first floor commercial developments were to be created in the MXD (Mixed Use District) zone, single-stair buildings in the RMF zone would serve as both a buffer and a connector between commercial establishments and the existing neighborhood.

Fenton and Southpoint Mall: Gorgeous in Plan, Failure in Practice

Fenton is one of the Triangle’s newest mixed-use districts. It has apartments, restaurants, offices, and curated public space. On paper, it’s a success, but think about the journey to get there… It requires a car ride and a walk from a parking lot or deck. Anyone in the adjacent neighborhoods is forced to walk along Maynard Road or Cary Towne Boulevard because there are no sidewalk connections directly from those neighborhoods. The result is Cary Towne Boulevard and Walnut Street functioning more like defensive perimeters than connective tissue, since those transportation arteries are built for cars.

The former Cary Towne Center site embodied the same pattern prior to redevelopment: a mall ringed by parking, accessible primarily by car, designed for peak occupancy rather than everyday integration.

The irony? Malls contain exactly what people say they want from urban living: restaurants within walking distance of shops, public gathering spaces, outdoor plazas, and social activity. As someone who grew up in the Triangle, “going to the mall” wasn’t an errand… it was an afternoon. My friends and I would walk around the plazas at The Streets at Southpoint for hours before grabbing lunch in the food court. And with Chris “Juggle Boy” Fowler performing in the open-air corridor, it felt like a town square.

The catch: Southpoint is a town square surrounded by a field of asphalt.

What if those edges were wrapped in mid-rise, single-stair buildings instead of parking spaces? What if the parking was structured and tucked behind? What if the development bled seamlessly into adjacent residential blocks?

North Hills: A Promising Local Precedent

North Hills along Six Forks Road works beautifully as a high-density node. With towers, retail, and offices, it’s decidedly urban in form and experience. These urban nodes serve a vital role, providing social centers for people and corporate hubs for businesses. We need increased density at all scales, and single-stair housing enables increased density on lots that are too small for large apartments or condos. With the integration of single-stair housing, North Hills would contain more versatile housing options, and would regain some of the neighborhood character that struggles to find expression in large apartments.

As is, the seam between North Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods can feel harsh. However, this isn’t a failure of density increases, it’s a failure of building typology and zoning allowances. When a developer’s only multifamily tool is a double-loaded corridor building requiring two stairs, elevators, and large floorplates, you end up with big block apartments or nothing at all. On top of this, infill lots become infeasible and undesirable.

The integration of single-stair buildings into an urban network like North Hills would allow for more comfortable transitions between existing neighborhoods and new developments. Infill within the mixed-use district would make the entire area feel more like a neighborhood. Shallow lots unfit for high rises could be used for single-stair housing, creating a well-utilized buffer between destinations.

Why Single-Stair Works

New York City, Chicago, and Boston are enjoyed by millions of tourists every year. Part of the charm of these cities is their walkability. Parks, local restaurants, and coffee shops tucked into small lots along the sidewalk provide moments of interest and exploration. These destinations alongside a walkable streetscape is a feature that many post-industrial cities lack. Most modern American municipalities were created with cars as the primary mode of transportation; as a result, the pedestrian experience was left in the dust.

Single-stair buildings enabled the formation of walkable avenues throughout Europe and North America, but this walkability was hampered when modern code changes in the United States mandated dual means of egress for most multifamily buildings over a certain size.

Legalizing single-stair buildings with modern fire safety standards would restore a number of positive dynamics to our urban networks, from unlocking small-scale developer opportunities to improving the lighting and ventilation in units. The first floor of these structures could be made into local coffee shops, restaurants, and stores, while gaps between buildings would supply niches for small parks and green space.

But What About Parking?

It’s no secret that shopping in America requires a significant amount of parking spaces. In the development of single-stair buildings on small infill lots, parking poses a significant challenge. The lack of space for a large-scale apartment means that there is also very limited onsite space for parking to exist. Commercial shopping malls offer a unique chance to solve this problem by creating a dynamic in which parking that goes underutilized in off-peak hours could serve as parking for single-stair residences.

Because residential parking and commercial parking tend to be used at opposite times of day, an opportunity exists for the same parking lot to serve a dual-purpose. The residents of medium-density housing could utilize a portion of these commercial parking spaces during businesses’ closed hours (mainly at night and in the morning). Conversely, customers who drive to businesses during the day would fill these same parking lots when residents need them the least (during work hours). This way, parking lots could transform from some of the most underutilized spaces (sitting empty at night and in the morning) to land that is always being used.

When medium-density housing is absent from the equation, you get Fenton. Fenton’s original masterplan makes use of well placed parking decks and green spaces to create a comfortable, mixed-use district. What ended up getting built faces many of the same problems as traditional shopping malls: vibrant, central shopping spaces, lined with a “moat” of parking that sits vacant outside of peak hours.

The diagram on the right takes the existing layout and consolidates its parking into a few large decks, while highlighting where single-stair buildings could fit on the regained land. This is where single-stair apartments would excel: filling in small, oddly shaped sites in ways that hulking double-stair apartment blocks never could.

In North Hills, an abundance of parking infrastructure already exists underground for commercial entities. Medical facilities, retail, and a nearby grocery store provide amenities for people within walking or biking distance, further reducing the need for a car. This combination of factors makes North Hills an ideal location for single stair integration, where additional onsite parking may be a challenge.

Visualize the Retrofit

Picture the scale of North Hills. Now overlay slender 18-unit single-stair buildings along its residential edge. Step them down toward adjacent neighborhoods. Add small corner cafés or live-work sites. Insert mid-block pedestrian paths.

Imagine Fenton. Replace peripheral parking lots with a series of 4-story single-stair buildings. Connect them to surrounding subdivisions through landscaped pedestrian corridors.

Take the aging strip centers across Wake County. Instead of redeveloping them as one massive mixed-use block, allow incremental infill throughout unused lots and parking lots… one small building at a time.

Our mixed-use districts and malls are headed in the right direction: walkable retail and restaurants, public plazas, and flexible spaces for social interaction. Yet, they fail in one massive way: connection outside of themselves. Our malls and neighborhoods shouldn’t be bubbles, and our parking lots shouldn’t act as castle moats. If we want truly walkable communities in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and beyond, we need typologies that transition, instead of dominate.

Single-stair buildings are small enough to fit, flexible enough to adapt, and powerful enough to stitch together what zoning and asphalt have pulled apart. The question isn’t whether we can build vibrant mixed-use hubs. We already do. The question is whether we’re ready to connect our neighborhood network.

This piece was written by student fellows in collaboration with Single Stair NC.

Each semester, CITYBUILDER provides fellowship opportunities for aspiring student urbanists in the Triangle. This semester we’re focused on single-stair apartments. Single Stair NC is a new publication committed to advancing the pursuit of single-stair buildings in North Carolina.

Julie Powers is a Bachelor of Architecture Student at NC State University, with an LAEP minor. Additional graphic and illustration support was provided by NC State Undergraduate College of Design in Architecture major Brenna Belcher.