The short version: connect the streets, shrink the blocks, and make it easier to get around on foot, bike, or transit. The Capitol Heights–Addison Road Metro (“CHARM”) regional activity center has two Metro stations, sits inside the Beltway, and lies just minutes from the District of Columbia. So what will it take for this area to transform into the walkable urban center that regional plans have long envisioned?  More retail? More housing? More places to work and play? Yes,

Prince George’s County spent years updating its zoning to encourage walkable, transit-oriented, and equitable growth , especially in long-disinvested inner-Beltway neighborhoods. Now, a new proposal—the Flagship Project Overlay Zone (FPOZ) —threatens to undermine those reforms. The County Council will soon consider legislation (CB-105-2025 and CB-92-2025) that would create an overlay zone allowing certain mega-developments to bypass essential zoning safeguards and public inpu

As America grapples with a deepening housing crisis, New York Times  columnist Conor Dougherty recently argued  that more suburban and exurban sprawl—endless subdivisions, expanding highways, and cheaply built infrastructure on greenfield land—is the answer to our housing shortage. According to Dougherty, only by building farther away from existing cities can we construct the millions of new homes we need. This narrative, however, ignores the long-term environmental, economic