General Flashcards

A city is experiencing rapid gentrification. Which planning strategy most directly addresses displacement of long-term low-income residents?

Answer: Community Land Trusts that permanently affordable housing outside the speculative market

Community Land Trusts remove land from the speculative market by holding it in trust, ensuring homes remain permanently affordable and preventing displacement.

The 'Tiebout model' in urban economics suggests that:

Answer: Households 'vote with their feet' by choosing jurisdictions offering their preferred bundle of public services and taxes

Charles Tiebout's 1956 model proposed that competition among local governments for mobile residents produces efficient provision of public goods, analogous to consumer choice.

Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord who refuses to rent to a family with children (except in qualifying senior housing) is engaging in discrimination based on:

Answer: Familial status

The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 added familial status as a protected class, prohibiting discrimination against families with children under 18.

Which planning tool allows a municipality to capture the increase in land value created by a public infrastructure investment and use it to finance that investment?

Answer: Tax increment financing (TIF)

TIF freezes the tax base at a baseline and dedicates incremental tax revenue from rising property values (spurred by public investment) to repay infrastructure bonds.

A 'pattern book' in urban design is used primarily to:

Answer: Provide illustrated design guidelines for building forms, materials, and streetscape standards

Pattern books provide illustrated guidance on architectural character, site design, and streetscape elements to ensure new construction fits the established or desired neighborhood context.

Which of the following best describes the 'job-housing balance' concept?

Answer: The ratio of employment opportunities to housing units in a given area, used to reduce commuting

Job-housing balance refers to the geographic alignment of employment and housing supply to reduce vehicle miles traveled, commute times, and regional congestion.

The 'pyramid' or Euclidean zoning hierarchy traditionally places which use at the top (most restricted zone) where all uses below are excluded?

Answer: Single-family residential

Traditional Euclidean zoning uses a cumulative hierarchy where single-family residential is the 'highest' use, and lower zones (commercial, industrial) are excluded from it but accumulate lower-ranking uses.