Durham’s New UDO: Small Rules, Big Problems
From grading limits to parking rules, these details could make building smarter, denser neighborhoods nearly impossible.
Durham is in the process of rewriting its entire Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), the rules that govern housing, zoning, and development in our city. This post is part of a series examining specific aspects of the proposed code, and how we can make small changes that have meaningful impacts in the real world.
Other posts in our Durham’s New UDO series:
The next UDO may have the best intentions, but the details matter. We can envision better, more inclusive communities. We can strive for more walkable and resilient neighborhoods. But if a small detail trips up the type of development that Durham wants to see, we may keep getting more of the same: sprawling, exclusive, single-family housing. Crucially, the effects of those small but prohibitive policy details will never be uncovered, because we don’t have …
