Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Todays Housing Crisis

Urban designer and architect Daniel Parolek presents a new approach to housing, representing a middle path between low-density, single-family neighborhoods and high-density apartment buildings. His solution involves multiunit or clustered housing types, such as plexes, townhouses, and courtyard-based housing, designed for both renters and buyers in walkable neighborhoods that feature public transportation and neighborhood main streets. He offers ideas for overcoming problems such as zoning and parking requirements, and gives examples from around the country and around the world. The book includes one chapter on data analysis, by Arthur C. Nelson. Color photos, plans, and illustrations are included throughout. Annotation ©2020 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Daniel Parolek, an architect and urban designer, illustrates the power of Missing Middle housing types&;such as duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts&; to meet today&;s diverse housing needs. With the benefit of beautiful full-color graphics, Parolek goes into depth about the benefits and qualities of Missing Middle Housing, explains why more developers should be building them, and defines the barriers cities need to remove to enable them to be built. Parolek proves that density is too blunt of an instrument to effectively regulate for twenty-first-century housing needs. Whether you are a planner, architect, builder, or city leader, Missing Middle Housing will help you think differently about how to address housing needs for today&;s communities.
Today, there is a tremendous mismatch between the available housing stock in the US and the housing options that people want and need. The post-WWII, auto-centric, single-family-development model no longer meets the needs of residents. Urban areas in the US are experiencing dramatically shifting household and cultural demographics and a growing demand for walkable urban living. Missing Middle Housing, a term coined by Daniel Parolek, describes the walkable, desirable, yet attainable housing that many people across the country are struggling to find. Missing Middle Housing types&;such as duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts&;can provide options along a spectrum of affordability. In Missing Middle Housing, Parolek, an architect and urban designer, illustrates the power of these housing types to meet today&;s diverse housing needs. With the benefit of beautiful full-color graphics, Parolek goes into depth about the benefits and qualities of Missing Middle Housing. The book demonstrates why more developers should be building Missing Middle Housing and defines the barriers cities need to remove to enable it to be built. Case studies of built projects show what is possible, from the Prairie Queen Neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska to the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages, in California. A chapter from urban scholar Arthur C. Nelson uses data analysis to highlight the urgency to deliver Missing Middle Housing. Parolek proves that density is too blunt of an instrument to effectively regulate for twenty-first-century housing needs. Complete industries and systems will have to be rethought to help deliver the broad range of Missing Middle Housing needed to meet the demand, as this book shows. Whether you are a planner, architect, builder, or city leader, Missing Middle Housing will help you think differently about how to address housing needs for today&;s communities.