Complementary tools with different strengths Across the country, cities and counties work hard to maintain accurate geographic information systems. GIS platforms are essential to local government. They store parcel boundaries, zoning maps, overlays, utilities, environmental constraints, floodplains, easements, and countless other layers that help communities function. They are powerful systems that support infrastructure planning, public safety, transportation, and long-range

How clarity empowers communities of every size. Affordability, growth, and development challenges are not unique to big cities. Across the country, smaller jurisdictions, rural communities, small towns, and mid-sized counties are facing many of the same pressures as their larger counterparts: rising housing demand, aging infrastructure, and the need to support local employers. But they face these challenges with fewer staff, fewer resources, and often a wider geographic area

Cities come into being through a long sequence of conversations, decisions, and acts of imagination. They are the result of planners thinking about the distant horizon, architects shaping ideas into form, developers balancing possibility and risk, and public staff working to uphold the values and intentions that have guided a community over time. These people do not share the same training or the same day to day responsibilities, yet they all rely on zoning to understand what

California’s SB 79 is one of many recent bills that shows how quickly the land-use landscape can shift. The legislation expands what is possible near qualifying transit stops by allowing more height and density in areas that have historically been limited by local zoning. Regardless of whether one supports every detail of the bill, its movement through the Legislature highlights something planners and local governments are experiencing across the country: the rules now change

People outside the land-use world often assume that a parcel is a simple thing. It looks like a clean shape on a map, one zone, one jurisdiction, one set of rules. But anyone whose role  involves interpreting zoning, reviewing applications, or helping the public understand land-use requirements knows this couldn’t be further from the truth. A parcel that seems ordinary at first glance often becomes far more complicated when a planner, permit technician, GIS analyst, assessor,

This year’s AOC Annual Conference in Eugene brought together county leaders from every corner of Oregon. It was a chance for planners, administrators, commissioners, public works teams, assessors, surveyors, and partner agencies to pause, compare notes, and talk openly about what’s working, and what isn’t, in the day-to-day reality of county governance. As we spoke with teams throughout the week, a clear picture emerged. Counties are carrying more responsibility than ever, an

This week, county leaders from across Oregon will gather in Lane County/Eugene for the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) Annual Conference, a three-day event dedicated to strengthening the systems that support Oregon’s communities. From land use and housing to public health, emergency services, and critical infrastructure, counties carry a tremendous responsibility for shaping the future of the state. UrbanForm is proud to participate this year as a conference sponsor. For

Real estate has always been cyclical, but what we’re experiencing now feels different. Markets are fluctuating, zoning codes are rapidly evolving, public expectations are rising, and the old playbook no longer seems valid. In 2026, the most valuable resource in real estate isn’t capital or land. It’s certainty and clarity. It’s the ability to make confident decisions and project in the future when the ground beneath us keeps shifting. At UrbanForm, we believe three forces d

In cities across the country, zoning codes shape what can and can’t be built. But understanding those rules has long been one of the biggest barriers to getting projects off the ground and one of the biggest constraints on municipal capacity. The City of Boardman, Oregon, is changing that narrative. This fall, Boardman became the latest community to launch a digital zoning platform powered by UrbanForm, giving developers, designers, and city staff instant access to accurate,

“Because the scariest part of development isn’t the code, it’s not knowing what’s true.” Every developer, planner, or architect has faced it. The project looks promising. A good site, a solid vision, financing lined up…until the zoning review begins. That’s when the ghosts start to appear. Weeks disappear into research. Spreadsheets multiply. The code seems to shift each time you read it. And out of nowhere, the budget begins to stretch. It isn’t supernatural. It’s what happe

Affordability is at the heart of every community. It shapes who can live where, who can build what, and how our cities grow. Yet across the country, the cost of housing continues to climb,  driven by a mix of demand, scarcity, and complexity that affects everyone from renters to regional planners. At UrbanForm, we think about this every day, not just as a policy question, but as a systems problem.  And one of the most overlooked pieces of that system is zoning. Why Housing Co

Every housing project begins with one simple question: What can be built here? That question just became a lot easier to answer across Oregon. From the southern coast  to the Willamette Valley , six cities have joined a growing statewide movement to make zoning information accurate, verifiable, and instantly accessible. In Coos County  (Bandon, Coos Bay, and North Bend) and Polk County  (Monmouth, Independence, and Falls City), UrbanForm has launched two new digital zoning pl

“What’s my setback?”  It’s 8:07 a.m. at the permit counter. Dana, a permit tech, has three voicemails blinking, a builder waiting with a folder, and an inbox full of screenshots. One caller copied a height table from a two-year-old PDF. Another is sure an overlay applies because a neighbor said so. A third has a site plan that almost works—until someone notices the frontage standard in a different chapter. By lunch, Dana has answered the same questions five times and hasn’t t

For leaders building the future of cities. In real estate, risk is the name of the game. Risk is both time and money. But before a single...

Oregon cities are being asked to deliver more housing, faster, in order to meet state production targets and community demand. With the...

At yesterday’s ColPac 2025 Northwest Oregon Housing Summit —an event focused on tackling housing affordability challenges and building...

Every building project starts with zoning. Yet in most communities, zoning information is complex and difficult to access. For...

We've been talking about this one in bits and pieces for months, but we've never put it all together before. At least in a nice, concise,...

We've got a full Fall Conference season coming up! We'll be attending a handful of events and conferences, including some confirmed and...

Allow us to share an email we received from a city planner as part of  UrbanForm 's continuing partnership with jurisdictions: "It was a...