My recent post about minimum project sizes triggered some great follow-up discussions over email. Today, I learned about a Master Plan that was recently completed for Little Havana, Miami by the urban design and planning firm Plusurbia.
In it, they try to address some of the problems that I described in my post through something they call "Inverse Density." Given the tendencies toward larger projects, they are proposing to incentivize the development of smaller and underused lots with more density.
The idea being that if you can encourage more smaller scale development, you can actually help to protect the character of a place. In 2017, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared the neighborhood a national treasure.
Here's a screenshot from the plan:
What you are seeing here is existing vs. proposed policies. The proposed scenarios both result in higher densities, even though the lots are smaller. Alongside this, they are proposing to get rid of parking minimums for lots less than 7,500 sf.
It's an intriguing idea and I'm glad they shared it with me. If you'd like to download a copy of the full Little Havana Master Plan, click here.
