2023 Research Prize
Block by Block: Advancing New American Dreams and Housing Justice by Aligning Design with Zoning Reform

Can we reimagine the urban block as a new kind of collective architecture? “Block by Block” seeks to design more just and desirable housing models by engaging the scale of the block. Vast swaths of North American cities are blocks of single-family zoned lots. Making up 90 percent of all buildings in the US, single-family homes are critical sites to address climate change, housing justice, and evolving demographics, yet few of these spaces are designed by architects and planners. Rather, they are defined by zoning, which has historically created barriers to attainable, quality housing for all. Municipalities across North America are implementing zoning reform, rewriting the housing system. To date, however, these changes are largely considered on a lot-by-lot basis.

A greater potential is to cultivate collectives at the scale of the block to fulfill common goals and generate new, dense, welcoming, and lively housing options. Toward this goal, “Block by Block” studied and imagined possible futures for existing single-family zoned blocks, focusing on the urban sprawl of Cincinnati, Ann Arbor, and Los Angeles as starting points. Spanning a year and half of teaching and design-research at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Michigan, “Block by Block” surveyed both top-down policies and ground-up efforts reshaping single-family zoned urban blocks across the country. Building on these findings, the research team and students in the associated studio and seminar courses created proposals for block-oriented design approaches, interweaving social and environmental justice with reimagined ideas of collective housing. The work concluded with the development of tools, workshops, and exhibitions engaging the public in these new block-scale design approaches. Through synthesizing the design of building types, property, and land, “Block by Block” advocates for aligning building design with zoning reform toward a more collective and transformative project of housing.

Outcomes

The work completed at the University of Cincinnati encompassed teaching (a studio course and a seminar course), research into policies and precedents for block-scaled zoning, and the development of “Courtyard Block,” a proposal and engagement tool for coordinated upzoning of single-family zoned residential blocks. This work was presented in Block by Block: Decoding New American Dreams of Housing, a public exhibition at GBBN in downtown Cincinnati on view from December 9, 2025 to January 30, 2026. Two organized events were held in conjunction with the exhibition: a public opening reception and a closing reception and panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities of affordable infill housing in light of recent citywide zoning reforms. In addition, the team organized several public engagement workshops playtesting “Courtyard Block” in Cincinnati, and wrote an op-ed on the imaginative potential of zoning reform for Next City.

This ongoing work has supported significant conversations with the City of Cincinnati, including the Department of Community and Economic Development, and Cincinnati Port, the city’s public development agency. Specifically, the work is aligned with the city’s initiative to create preapproved plans for infill gentle density housing types that can transform Cincinnati’s existing block fabrics, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) initiative. The team is also seeking further opportunities to offer “Courtyard Block” as a tool for municipalities and local communities exploring upzoning reform implementation, including California’s SB9 lot-split reform and SB684 small lot subdivision reform.

The University of Michigan team developed a program of design research, teaching, co-design, and public engagement to advance housing and urban transformation at the scale of the block. Its main contribution is a design toolbox outlining incremental densification strategies to transform single-family blocks into animated, cooperative neighborhoods. The project details a range of legal, spatial, and social processes to transition the prevailing single-family suburban structure of US cities to more equitable, livable, and neighborly places.

The team applied its research by working with the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust on upcoming cooperative housing sites in the city. The work culminated in an expanded engagement event at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, using urban and architectural models to facilitate challenging conversations about urban infill, cooperative ownership, and the future of the city with the broader public. Taking the research to a national level, the team’s proposal for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Reimagining Land Use and Zoning” initiative was one of 25 shortlisted applications from over 600 submissions.

The University of Michigan team positions block-scale cooperative development as a practical complement to ongoing zoning reform and gentle-density initiatives. The team is expanding partnerships with trusts and municipalities to test the toolbox in diverse contexts, refine zoning and engagement policies, and strengthen shared-equity housing models. Future efforts will continue to expand the capacity of neighborhood design projects and support citymaking grounded in neighborly coordination at the scale of the everyday block.

Project Team

University of Cincinnati

Student Research Assistants
Heather Cheng, Leila Geary, Zakaria Essakalli, Sammi Klassen, James Gibbs, and Stephen Wubbolding

Students in ARCH4001 Block by Block Studio (Fall 2025: August–December, 2025)
Jack Allison, Anna Burger, Alfred Carducci, Zakaria Essakalli, Kiryce Fitzgerald, Sammi Klassen, Ryan May, Paul Minnick, Pace Perry, Austin Shenk, Kate Stump, Caroline Theetge, Gabriel Willard, Ella Youtsey, and Kenny Lam

Students in ARCH7036 Block by Block Seminar (Summer 2024: May–August, 2024)
Elizabeth Ackerman, Rodney Adkins, Marianne Cadio, Liv Gulla, Ian Tenwolde, Ella Youtsey, Stephanie Ahmed, Heather Cheng, Catherine D’Amico, Christopher Fultz, Robin Jarrell, Emily Jaster, Analise Kandra, Chris Schalk, Lizzy Sturgeon, and Clayton Virzi

Course Collaborators
Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority

Guest Lecturers and Final Reviewers
Ian Miley (Director of Design, Type Five Construction), Gabriel Cuéllar (Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Co-director, Cadaster), Rob Busch (Founding Partner, Drawing Department), and Beth Johnson (Executive Director, Cincinnati Preservation Association).

Block by Block Exhibition Collaborators
GBBN Architects (exhibition venue); Normal/Renata Graw (exhibition poster/window decal design)

Block by Block Exhibition Panelists
Roy Hackworth, Housing Development Division Manager, City of Cincinnati Department of Community & Economic Development; Philip Denning, Executive Vice President, The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority; John Stoughton, Owner, Team B Architecture & Design; Chad Burke, Principal and Director of Mixed-Use, GBBN Architects; Graham Kalbli, Principal, New Republic Architecture; Ed Mitchell, Director, School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati DAAP (Discussion Moderator)

Additional Acknowledgements
Cincinnati Public Library Clifton Branch and Northside Branch; Civic Cincinnati; Yard & Co; Ed Mitchell, Director, University of Cincinnati DAAP School of Architecture and Interior Design; Claudia Rebola, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, University of Cincinnati DAAP.

University of Michigan

Student Research Assistants
Malak Atwi, Nick Grosh, Danah Owaida, Lauren Pettinga, and Mujie Sui

Students in ARCH562 Block Co-op Studio (Winter 2025: January–April, 2025)
Mira Abdalla, Sayyoung Chang, Shijie Chen, Angelica Nuelle Facey, Philippe Kame, Sujeong Koo, Brianna Manzor, Gabbriella McKinley, Riley Montgomery, and Edward Rapa

Students in ARCH509 Land as Spatial Practice Seminar (Winter 2025, January–April, 2025)
Abraham Alzoubi, Julia Bohlen, Stephanie Dutan, Ayesha Jeddy, Kamaiya Johnson, Alex Landgrave, Jordan Parnell, Olivia Rodriguez, John Spraberry, and Irene Wei

Guest Final Reviewers
De Peter Yi (Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, Founder, Rebuild Collective), Stefan Gruber (Associate Professor, Carnegie-Mellon University, Director, Atlas of Commoning), and Sarah Lorenz (Executive Director, Ann Arbor Community Land Trust)

Collaborators
Ann Arbor Community Land Trust and Ann Arbor Farmers Market

Additional Acknowledgements
Ann Arbor District Library, Kit McCullough, Craig Borum, Antje Steinmuller, and Jonathan Massey

More on this Project

Javari Burnett, “New UC exhibit examines zoning changes and neighborhood-friendly housing,” Spectrum 1 News, February 2, 2026.

Angela Koenig, “Design, planning and development leaders discuss how ‘missing middle’ housing could shape Cincinnati,” UC News, January 26, 2026.

De Peter Yi, “Zoning Reform Can Be a Project of Collective Imagination. This Board Game Shows How,” Next City, September 19, 2025.

“The Future of Ann Arbor Neighborhoods: Taubman College Student Work at the Farmers Market,” December 13, 2025.