Zoning reform poses difficult questions for policymakers and designers. Affordable housing and anti-gentrification activists have documented cases in high-cost cities where the relaxation of zoning restrictions has contributed to the displacement of precarious owners and renters, often in historically disinvested BIPOC communities. What roles might design play in the context of these complex issues of urban spatial politics? How can design-research inform policymaking? Panelists will discuss these questions against the backdrop of Charlottesville’s ongoing zoning rewrite, which aims to expand affordable housing and address racial inequities. 
The roundtable and accompanying exhibition, Densifying in Place, serve as a capstone to the Charlottesville Zoning Design Workshop, led by Jonah Coe-Scharff and funded by the Jefferson Trust, a donor-led initiative of the UVA Alumni Association.
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