In a new essay for Harvard Design Magazine, Utile principal Tim Love reflects on the implementation of Massachusetts’s MBTA Communities Law, the state mandate requiring municipalities served by transit to zone for additional multifamily housing. Drawing on Utile’s work with eleven communities — three through direct engagements (Newton, Belmont, and Watertown) and eight through an on-call consulting role for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities — Tim argues that the law has succeeded precisely because its framework is flexible enough to accommodate municipalities with vastly different physical conditions, real estate markets, and political temperaments. The essay uses Marblehead, Newton, and Belmont as case studies and reflects on how the law has elevated zoning into mainstream civic discourse across the Commonwealth.
For more on Utile’s work at the intersection of zoning and design, see our Equitable Zoning by Design report.
