Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

by Jeff Speck

They are ideal in those older single-family neighborhoods that can often be found on the edges of downtown, where bungalows and larger homes line walkable streets. Indeed, that’s where they can still be found in places like Charleston and West Hollywood. Granny flats are also big in Canada, where NIMBYs generally hold less influence over local planning matters. Vancouver decriminalized them in 2008 as part of the city’s EcoDensity initiative, and hundreds have already been built and rented.● Despite all this, even some of America’s most progressive city councils have found it a struggle to make granny flats legal again. Seattle finally succeeded after a lengthy fight, with critics claiming that the cottages would double the city’s density. Others suggested that neighbors would lose the privacy they required to “barbecue, entertain guests, or walk around naked if they’re kinky.”4 Now about a hundred granny flats are receiving building permits in Seattle each year.5 As of this writing, the cottages have just been legalized in Portland, Miami, Berkeley, Denver, and Burlington, Vermont.6 If you make one of these cities home, you can build one for maybe seventy-five thousand dollars. If you live elsewhere, take heart: there are at least six working ADU ordinances that you can show to your city council.