The Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association has awarded Cascadia Partners and Oregon DLCD's Transportation and Growth Management Program the 2026 Innovation in Planning award for the CFEC Walkable Design Model Code and Guidebook.
Portland's Residential Infill Project Monitoring Reports Win 2026 OAPA Building Tomorrow Today Award
The Residential Infill Project Monitoring Reports have received the 2026 OAPA Building Tomorrow Today award for a large city from the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Portland's Residential Infill Project is one of the most consequential zoning reforms in the city's recent history. RIP expanded housing choices across Portland's single-dwelling zones while simultaneously capping the size of new single-unit homes — a dual-lever design meant to legalize more housing types while reshaping the economics of residential redevelopment so middle housing could compete.
Cascadia Partners partnered with Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability on two independent monitoring assessments, completed in 2023 and 2025, tracking production, affordability, sustainability, and code compliance as the reform matured.
The results are clear. Over 1,400 middle housing units were permitted between August 2021 and June 2024. The median closing price for a new fourplex in 2023 was $355,000, compared to $700,000 for a new single-unit home. Middle housing now accounts for roughly 30% of Portland's total citywide housing production. Demolitions have not increased, and more than 75% of new middle housing is within a quarter mile of a transit corridor.
Portland was the first city to implement this framework. The 2025 report alone has drawn nearly 10,000 readers from across the country. As HB 2001 and HB 2138 bring middle housing requirements to cities and counties statewide, these reports offer the most detailed implementation roadmap in Oregon.
Congratulations to the team: Alex Steinberger, Paul Runge, and Lydia Ness at Cascadia Partners, and to Morgan Tracy and the team at Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
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We Love Walkable Cities!
Writing a Walkable Design Guidebook and Model Code for Oregon was a real labor of love. As a company, we care deeply about how our work shapes the spaces and places where we live – not just today but far into the future. We love walkable cities and know you do too. Walkable cities are more accessible, equitable, climate resilient, and just plain fun. We are now helping multiple cities around the state implement these required code changes to improve walkability.
You can check out the guidebook here.
Making ADUs More Accessible in Sacramento
How can we make housing development for small scale housing projects like Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) more accessible and easy to understand for everyday people? We led a team to develop an ADU program and a Housing Development Toolkit for the City of Sacramento that serves as a comprehensive one-stop-shop resource website where the public can navigate the myriad of regulations and permitting processes in developing an ADU, in addition to a Housing Development Toolkit that identifies developable sites and outlines resources for development.
Planning for What's Next in Juneau
Cascadia Partners is honored to lead a multidisciplinary team —including Corvus Design, SALT, and DOWL —to guide the City & Borough of Juneau’s Comprehensive Plan Update. Framed around scenario planning, our work will help CBJ navigate future uncertainties such as climate change, economic transitions, and demographic shifts by identifying resilient, adaptive policies.
At the heart of our approach is inclusive public engagement—ensuring that residents and business owners have meaningful opportunities to shape a shared vision for Juneau. As Alaska’s capital, Juneau is a place of extraordinary natural beauty, deep cultural roots, and unique geographic challenges. Our goal is to deliver a comprehensive plan that reflects the city's distinct character and stands the test of time. We kicked things off recently with our first round of listening sessions - read more about those here!
Using TestFit to Demystify Zoning
TestFit is one of our most valuable tools for land use analysis - it allows us to consider all the options, identify the most viable scenarios, and make informed decisions about how to maximize the potential of our project sites. So we were thrilled that TestFit featured us as a use case on their website - check out this article featuring Cascadia partner Jamin Kimmell and how we use this software.
Cascadia Partners Sponsors Building a Better Bend
What if Bend’s aging strip malls and big box stores became vibrant, walkable “mini-downtowns”?
Cascadia Partners is proud to be a supporting sponsor for the Building a Better Bend lecture series! Last week urban designer and author Ellen Dunham-Jones shared bold, inspiring ideas on how communities can retrofit car-centric suburbs into livable, people-friendly neighborhoods. You can watch her lecture on YouTube!
Cascadia Partners' Allison Platt and Alex Joyce are both residents of Bend, and as board members of Building a Better Bend, they are helping to bring these transformative conversations to the region.
Our involvement with events like these reflects our commitment to designing livable places and spaces. We're also grateful to be in good company—thank you to the many like-minded colleagues and organizations who helped sponsor this event!