Can you trust AI?
Here's a story about AI and trust. When we first started UrbanForm, we talked a lot about how we use AI (artificial intelligence). The...
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Quang Truong
- May 12
- 2 min
Bisnow Events in Seattle and Austin
It's been a busy couple of weeks for UrbanForm, with founder and CEO Quang Truong traveling to Austin, Texas, and Seattle, Washington to...
Quang Truong
- Apr 20
- 1 min
Announcing UrbanForm Austin
UrbanForm is extremely pleased to announce the availability of UrbanForm Austin. Austin, Texas joins Portland (OR), Seattle (WA), and San...
Quang Truong
- Apr 17
- 4 min
How many units can be built?
People often want to know how many dwelling units can be built on a piece of land. This is an important element of building regulations,...
Quang Truong
- Apr 10
- 2 min
What are setbacks?
Setbacks are the minimum distance required between a specified object and another point, usually lot lines. They're typically specified...
Quang Truong
- Mar 30
- 4 min
What is a zoning overlay?
Zoning overlays modify or override the base zoning regulations. They are sometimes part of the zoning code, and sometimes separate, but...
Quang Truong
- Mar 26
- 20 min
Featured Customer: Coby Lefkowitz and Backyard Development
Many of you already know Coby Lefkowitz: I don't know of any other architecture and urban / housing / planning writers with more...
Quang Truong
- Mar 23
- 1 min
Wow is often the response we get
On the top left corner of the UrbanForm web app is a rather innocuous button, called "MaxBuild 3d Envelopes". But if you click on it,...
Quang Truong
- Mar 19
- 2 min
One of the most advanced things UrbanForm does
Is give you the MaxBuild for any site. This is NOT just the base zone FAR multiplied by the lot area. This is because we've found that...
Quang Truong
- Mar 13
- 3 min
When converting office to residential,
Zoning is not usually a constraint. But math and geometry are. The above is a screenshot of UrbanForm's Filter function, filtering for...
Quang Truong
- Feb 27
- 6 min
By any standard, Portland is not looking good.
Compared to its peer cities or its own past performance, Portland is building significantly less housing. Based on our recent analysis,...
Quang Truong
- Feb 21
- 2 min
"We're getting worse at construction"
From Ezra Klein's recent piece in the NYTimes: "Here's something odd: we're getting worse at construction." This rings true to me. Spend...
Quang Truong
- Feb 10
- 1 min
Contours? Topography? Check!
We often say that zoning is the single biggest non-natural factor in assessing development and land value. Natural factors, like...
Quang Truong
- Feb 7
- 1 min
Out now: Guide to Seattle Zoning
Two of our goals for this New Year included creating more in-depth pieces about zoning and being more transparent about UrbanForm's...
Quang Truong
- Feb 6
- 1 min
Zoning has been abolished?
An advisor once asked me, if zoning was abolished, would UrbanForm cease to exist? The answer was: Yes. Absolutely yes it would. Much...
Quang Truong
- Jan 24
- 2 min
The most common errors in zoning
Every once in a while, when we chat with an expert in zoning, we love asking the question: what do you think is the most common error...
Quang Truong
- Jan 17
- 2 min
5 kinds of posts for the New Year
From the start, we knew one of the biggest hurdles for UrbanForm would be building trust. How could software make the process of...
Quang Truong
- Jan 12
- 4 min
Determining Scenic Resource Setbacks in Portland
We'd like to share with you the process used for determining one specific setback in the zoning rules for the City of Portland. This...
Quang Truong
- Jan 9
- 2 min
How do I find my zoning?
Sometimes you finish writing something and you say to yourself, "Wow, I'm really glad this exists." Sadly, this is not one of those...
Quang Truong
- Jan 3
- 1 min
Happy 2023!
Happy New Year to everyone! We hope everyone has had a peaceful, restful, and reinvigorating holiday season. We're very excited for the...
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