Resources & Research

Please check out the reading, listening, and visual materials below to find out about housing, transit, and safe streets and how better policies for each of those are necessary for meeting affordability, livability, and climate goals.

These resources have helped me learn about these issues and build my platform.

Updates will be added as new sources are discovered or recommended.

Use the library!

  • Check out books from JMRL

  • Check out FREE audio or e-reader books via the Libby app. Just sync your library card info.

READ

  • The Color of Law

    by Richard Rothstein

    A must-read top resource on the history of redlining and zoning as it pertains to race. Also available from JMRL as an audiobook!

    Click HERE and HERE for more.

  • Cville Housing Reader

    A collaborative list of articles and resources about housing in Cville, the history of housing in the USA, and economic and environmental impact studies of sub/urbanism.

    Access HERE (GoogleDoc format).

  • Inclusive Transportation

    buy Veronica O. Davis

    In Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, transportation expert Veronica O. Davis shines a light on the inequitable and often destructive practice of transportation planning and engineering. She calls for new thinking and more diverse leadership to create transportation networks that connect people to jobs, education, opportunities, and to each other.

    Click HERE for more.

  • book cover overlaid on image of parking lot full of cars

    Paved Paradise

    by Henry Grabar

    Released in spring 2023, this book discusses how car-centric culture, but especially parking, have stunted the ability of cities to grow and remain/become affordable.

    Click HERE for more.

  • The Affordable City

    by Shane Phillips

    “Shane Phillips believes that effectively tackling the housing crisis requires that cities support both tenant protections and housing abundance… The recommendations are organized by what he calls the Three S’s of Supply, Stability, and Subsidy. Phillips makes a moral and economic case for why each is essential and recommendations for making them work together.”

    Click HERE for more.

  • Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

    by Isabel Wilkerson

    This book is not about design as much, but important read on the stratification of US and the inequity we have to overcome. Also available from JMRL as an audiobook!

    Click HERE for more.

  • Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Centry

    by Alice Wong (editor)

    Again, not as focused on design, but includes stories about the lived experiences of those with physical restrictions, so good to keep in mind when designing public spaces. Also available from JMRL as an e-book and audiobook!

    Click HERE for more.

  • Missing Middle, Floor Plans, and Middle-Class Housing

    A discussion of building techniques for dedicated family housing

    by Rory Stolzenberg, Charlottesville Planning Commission

    Click HERE to read.

LISTEN

  • 99% Invisible

    A brilliant (and family-friendly) podcast about all types of design, from flags and soccer uniforms, to streets and houses. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Some walking/biking/building highlights below:

    Curb Cuts, Dutch Biking, Stroads, Housing Vernacular, What AC did to buildings, Missing Middle Housing, Sears Houses

  • The War On Cars

    A podcast about de-centralizing the importance and necessity of cars in American culture and urban design. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Click HERE for the website.

    Paved Paradise, High Cost of Free Parking, John Bauters, American’s Bike Mayor, America’s Car Culture

  • Plot of Land

    A “podcast mini-series from Monument Lab that explores how land ownership and housing in the United States have been shaped by the entrenched interplay of power, public memory, and privatization.”

    Episodes 6 and 7 provide an especially relevant history of how government intervention successfully helped create a walkable and mixed-income public housing community on Roosevelt Island in NYC and then how the national disinvestment from housing and social services in the 1970s hollowed out the project.

    Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Click HERE for the website.

  • Radiolab - Ranked Choice Voting

    A close look at a local election that used Ranked Choice Voting, and an easy explanation of the math behind the method.

    Click HERE for the website.

WATCH

  • Raised/Razed

    “Raised/Razed dives deep into Charlottesville, VA’s oldest African American neighborhood, charting the lives of residents as they faced racially discriminatory policies and a city government that saw them as the only thing between it and progress. Learn the hard truths of the federal Urban Renewal program, and the broader history of its effect in Durham, NC and other communities across America.”

    Click HERE to watch free online at PBS (58 min).

  • Missing Middle Housing: Racial Equity and Opportunity

    If you have about an hour, this is a great presentation from Livable Cville about Missing Middle housing that will help illustrate that we need more housing at all income levels, and how gentle infill will quietly change neighborhoods, not drastically and suddenly build skyscrapers on your corner. I really hope you take a moment to check this out before making a final decision about Charlottesville's future.

    Click HERE to watch.

  • Basics of Exclusionary Zoning

    Learn the very basics of exclusionary zoning in this 90-second video.

    Click HERE to watch from the Sightline Institute.

  • Inclusive Transportation with Veronica Davis

    Livable Cville brings you an insightful discussion on inclusive transportation, featuring the renowned Veronica Davis. As an expert in urban planning and transportation equity, Veronica will share her knowledge and experiences, shedding light on the importance of accessible and equitable transportation systems for all. For a local perspective, we are joined by Ben Chambers, Transportation Planning Manager for the City of Charlottesville.

    Click HERE to watch.

Search

Do some homework of your own! Look up some articles about the following topics:

  • Anne Hidalgo, Paris, Biking

  • John Bauters, Emeryville

  • Dutch-style roundabouts

  • Protected bike lanes and usage

  • Single-stair housing