Welcome inside
Build one. Bring one to your city. Make one your home. Invest in a project. Help supply one. Explore the idea.
An idea for your neighborhood
A concept site plan and massing, building program and area information, with one revision.
Crowdfunding is being prepared. Requests begin with Alicia’s private review; campaigns and pledges are not open.
For developers & landowners
Site planning, development consulting and building-plan licensing.
Let’s build
For cities & public partners
Site planning, development audits and plans for your local pattern book.
Shape your city
For future residents
Explore future courtyard homes and the idea of co-building with neighbors.
Explore the possibilities
For suppliers & prefabrication partners
Materials, components and prefabricated systems for courtyard housing.
Introduce your company
For readers & the curious
Essays, project studies and ideas for the life of the city.
Explore the journal
For investors & future partners
Follow the projects taking shape, or start a conversation about investing.
Explore investingConcept illustrations, not completed developments or available homes.
For investors & future partners
Help bring courtyard neighborhoods to life. Tell Alicia about the cities, projects or partnerships you’d like to explore.
Email AliciaA conversation about future possibilities.
No investment is offered through this website.
For developers & landowners
From the first site idea to the next development decision, explore what a courtyard approach could make possible.
Explore our servicesMission Bay · San Francisco
A possibility grounded in place. Explore the courtyard proposal in its GIS-informed neighborhood context, then see an inhabited vision of the same study.
Drag sideways to orbit. Use the view buttons to explore. Keyboard: arrows rotate, +/− zoom, Home resets.
This interactive view uses the same 24-building proposal as the Google Earth file, with schematic neighborhood context from OpenStreetMap and San Francisco GIS. It is a local model viewer; satellite imagery is not included. Geographic alignment is conceptual (approximately ±10–15 feet); contextual heights and street details are approximate. The rendering is an illustrative interpretation, not a surveyed reconstruction.
Context assembled September 23, 2026. © OpenStreetMap contributors · City and County of San Francisco / DataSF. Download the KMZ to explore the original file in Google Earth Pro.
Company services
Start with your site.
Choose the support you need.
01 · Basic project page
Explore what your site could become with a basic project page covering a concept site plan and massing, building program and area information.
Interactive block and building models, roof plans, ground-floor plans and street views.
Building footprints, floor areas, stories, estimated home counts and parking schedules.
Pro forma, lender materials and financial analysis are outside the basic package.
$1,000minimum · through 1 acre
One revision per project included
Beyond 1 acre, add $250 for each quarter acre, rounding additional acreage up to the next quarter acre. Available for sites through 5 acres.
For uncertain acreage or any site above 5 acres, request an exact quote. Larger sites are welcome.
Order a project page Ask about your site02 · A separate rendering package
Help people picture your courtyard concept with five photorealistic views of the project.
For site conversations, presentations and sharing the possibilities with others. Arrange this separate package by email; it is not included in site-planning checkout.
$1,000for five renders
Discuss rendersConcept-stage site plan, massing, program and area studies to help you explore a site’s potential.
Further project support
Keep developing the idea.
Work through the choices behind the design: housing mix, parking, phasing, development approach and the next questions for your professional team.
A clearer basis for deciding what to pursue next.
Explore using Courtyard Urbanist building designs as the starting point for your project, with a defined license and site-specific adaptation.
Ask about plan availability, package scope and permitted uses.
Plan licensing starts with a conversation. No plan is presented as ready to purchase, permitted or approved for a particular site. Professional design, engineering and local review remain separate project needs.
For cities & public partners
Four ways to work with Courtyard Urbanist—from a first site to locally adapted building types.
Start with one. Combine them as your work develops.
Identify a site for a courtyard block: city-owned land or land available to be assembled. Work with Courtyard Urbanist to explore the site’s potential and develop a concept for your neighborhood.
Your project pageConcept site plan · Massing · Building program · Area information
Site planning · $1,000 minimum through 1 acreBeyond 1 acre, add $250 for each quarter acre, rounding additional acreage up to the next quarter acre. Available through 5 acres, with one revision per project included. For uncertain acreage or sites above 5 acres, request an exact quote. Larger sites welcome.
Separate rendering package: five photorealistic renders for $1,000, arranged by email and not included in checkout.
Work with Courtyard Urbanist and your planning team to develop a zoning overlay for appropriate areas—near transit, schools, churches, or business districts. Model how different options could transform a neighborhood over years and decades.
Possible scopeStudy area · Overlay framework · Long-term scenarios
Explore an overlay
Invite Courtyard Urbanist to present the courtyard urbanism approach to city staff, developers, community stakeholders, and the fire department. Use presentations and workshops to explore examples, discuss local questions, and hear feedback.
Possible scopePresentations · Stakeholder workshops · Technical discussions
Request a presentationAn exterior stair connects the rear landings. Windows and a ground-floor door face the courtyard.
2 × 3BD + office · 6 × 2BD
One full-floor simplex on each of levels 1 and 2.
50′ × 40′ × 6 floor plates · Exterior stair and open landings excluded.
| Level | Program | Home target* | GSF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total gross floor area | 12,000 | ||
*Approximate home areas, not gross floor areas. Each 1,645-sf simplex carries forward half of the former duplex target; the 780-sf and 710-sf targets are unchanged. Total home area: about 7,830 sf.
GSF includes walls, elevator, shared circulation and support within the main building. Ground-floor GSF includes residential access as well as the shops. The mansard assumes the full floor plate; its home target allows for the roof slope. These are planning assumptions, not measured room layouts.
Explore Courtyard Urbanist building types such as Fifty Forty and the point-access ELL, then co-develop them with a local architect so façades and building form respond to local conditions. Develop a locally adapted collection for your city’s pattern book or demonstration project.
Possible scopePrototype selection · Local architectural collaboration · Licensing
Discuss prototype licensingConcept project gallery
These concept projects imagine what real sites could become—from a neighborhood corner to a city riverfront. They are explorations of possibility, created to spark the imagination about courtyard life.
CONCEPT PROJECTS · Ideas to inspire what sites could become.
Concept project
A concept for a four-acre block: apartment houses, two shared gardens and a square open to Penn Avenue.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept for two courtyard gardens and a public piazza, explored through a geographic model and an illustrative architectural vision.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept for turning an underused bank property into homes, neighborhood shops, a civic plaza and a large shared garden.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept study comparing a townhouse plan with a neighborhood of apartment houses, gardens and a public waterfront.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A speculative vision for city life around the Arch: courtyard blocks, walkable streets and an inhabited riverfront.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A four-site concept for family housing, protected shared gardens and walkable neighborhood life, with an interactive model and project film.
Explore the concept
Concept studies
Three sites on Indiana and Evans: individual entrances, shared gardens and current interactive architectural models.
Explore the three sites
Concept project
A neighborhood around shared gardens, with a district model, an optional landmark tower study and project downloads.
Explore the concept
Concept study
Seventeen street-front buildings, shared gardens and a working yield of 194 homes. Explore the model, parcel plan and New England architecture.
Explore the concept
Concept study
A study for 52 homes in individual apartment houses and townhouses around a shared garden. Explore the model, building details and site plan.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A family-oriented neighborhood for the former school site, with planted courtyards, a public piazza and walkable shared streets. Explore the 3D model and Google Earth film.
Explore the conceptYour site. Its potential.
East Liberty · Pittsburgh
Many small buildings.
A generous civic heart.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Block B massing exploration
The idea
The Block B study assembles Fifty Forty and Sixty Forty building types around two protected gardens. A public square opens north to Penn Avenue, bringing markets, dining and neighborhood life into the block.
Distinct entrances, façades and rooflines allow a large site to read as many apartment houses.
Homes overlook planted courts, while the public square remains open to the surrounding neighborhood.
The early massing estimates about 455,000 gross square feet, including roughly 33,000 net square feet of commercial space.
Concept study; quantities are preliminary and subject to design and feasibility testing.
San Francisco · California
A possibility grounded in place.
CONCEPT PROJECT · GIS-informed massing exploration
The idea
The study brings individual buildings together around planted residential courts and a central public space. Street-facing shops, dining and roof terraces give the proposal places for both neighborhood activity and quieter life at home.
A fountain piazza links the blocks, with active ground floors facing the street and square.
Two sheltered courts gather the green space where residents can see and use it.
Rotate the original proposal in its geographic context, switch to the rendering, or download the Google Earth file.
Concept massing and illustrative rendering; geographic alignment and surrounding building heights are approximate.
Explore the study
Lincoln Square · Chicago
A familiar corner.
A new neighborhood possibility.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Mixed-use courtyard vision
The idea
The concept replaces drive-through infrastructure and surface parking with mixed-use buildings. A compact bank branch stays at the corner, alongside shops, family-sized homes and a courtyard held in common.
A bank and neighborhood storefronts address Western, Lawrence and the civic plaza.
The interior becomes a planted shared yard, overlooked by apartments and protected from traffic.
Coordinated development pads could allow several builders to contribute within one landscape and entitlement plan.
Illustrative capacity study. Construction costs, financing, land arrangements and approvals remain to be tested.
RiverWard site · North Center, Chicago
More homes.
A riverfront shared by more people.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Comparative courtyard study
The idea
This alternative for the RiverWard site tests a courtyard neighborhood against the approved 49-townhouse plan. Individual party-wall buildings enclose gardens and open to a riverwalk, restaurants, public steps and a piazza on the North Branch.
The study includes 52 four-bedroom homes with offices, 91 two-bedrooms, 78 one-bedrooms and 39 studios.
Active ground floors and broad public spaces bring everyday neighborhood life to the water.
About half the site remains unbuilt, accommodating courtyards, passages and shared outdoor space.
Courtyard Urbanist alternative concept; the 260-home scheme is not the approved RiverWard development.
St. Louis · Missouri
A great monument.
A place for everyday city life.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Speculative neighborhood vision
The idea
The concept imagines the lands around the Gateway Arch as a walkable mixed-use district. Courtyard buildings and public riverfront spaces bring homes and everyday activity into the setting of the monument.
The Arch remains the landmark within a more continuous neighborhood fabric.
The illustrations explore building fronts, gathering places and pedestrian routes beside the water.
This is an independent design provocation about what the area could become.
Independent speculative concept; not a National Park Service proposal or an approved development.
For future residents
Find people and groups in your area looking to buy, rent or build courtyard neighborhoods.
Bring local demand together and help shape opportunities for new courtyard homes.
Suppliers & prefabrication partners
Seeking partners for digital integration.
We’re looking for manufacturers and suppliers with APIs, structured product, specification and pricing data, or agent-ready workflows who would like to explore connecting with the Courtyard Urbanist design system.
Introduce your companyOpens your email app. Include your website, the regions you serve and the digital connections your team can support.
For readers & the curious
Essays, project studies and dispatches on courtyard housing, shared gardens, and the places we call home.
Read the publicationPull up a chair
A place to start.
A place to keep exploring.
Meet Alicia and discover the idea behind Courtyard Urbanist.
Explore essays, design studies and dispatches from the work.
Follow Alicia on Twitter/X for daily ideas, works in progress and conversations about better city living.
Reading and social links open the publication or Twitter/X in a new tab.
A clear plan for what your site could become.
Site planning · One-time service
Through 1 acre. Then $250 per additional quarter acre, rounded up, through 5 acres.
Conceptual planning. Excludes pro forma, lender materials and financial analysis. Renders are separate.
Above 5 acres or unsure of the area? Ask Alicia for a quote.
Enter your exact site acreage to see the billed band and total.
Continue to checkoutChoose your acreage above before checkout.
Secure Stripe checkout. Confirm the same total and exact acreage before paying.
After payment, email your site brief and outlined aerial. Alicia will match the acreage, brief and successful payment before starting work.
Your page brings together interactive block and building models, roof plans, ground-floor plans and street views, plus building footprints, floor areas, stories, estimated home counts and parking schedules. These are concept studies, with one revision included.
The site does not upload or store your aerial. The brief link opens your email app; attach the image and receipt there. Send only an image you have permission to share privately with Alicia.
The $1,000 minimum covers sites through 1 acre. Each additional quarter acre is $250, rounded up, through 5 acres. Larger sites and uncertain acreage need a quote before payment.
See an example
Explore a site plan, massing, program and areas together in one project page.
View the example projectFive photorealistic views are a separate optional $1,000 package for site conversations and presentations. They are not included in the planning total.
Email Alicia to arrange rendersCommunity funding is being prepared. Pledges are not open.
Email Alicia your site location, approximate acreage, idea and an outlined aerial for private review. An approved campaign would need provider confirmation and an agreed scope and goal before opening.
The planned process is pledge first, with charges only when the approved goal is reached and work starting after sufficient funds are collected. Public use of your name, images and site details needs separate approval.
Request a private reviewOpens your email app. Attach only an outlined aerial you have permission to share privately with Alicia.
Courtyard Urbanist · Principles, barriers & local readiness
Explore the building principles, the rules that get in the way, and practical reforms. Then check what is known about your city.
01 · The design principles
Street-facing buildings, a shared green interior and enough homes to make a neighborhood. Dimensions are study targets, adjusted to each site.
Buildings face the street, with individual entrances and connected street walls. Party walls let neighboring buildings work together.
Ordinary buildings target 50–60 ft of frontage and roughly 2,000–4,000 sq ft footprints, with coherent larger corners where needed.
Buildings frame a useful garden inside the block. Preserve daylight and accessible passages; keep parking and servicing from consuming the court.
Study five to six stories, with alternatives where appropriate. Height, floor area, dwelling count and open space must work together.
Make modest buildings practical with appropriately sized stairs, elevators and entrances, while retaining life safety and accessibility.
Allow small parcels, multiple builders, shared-courtyard ownership and neighborhood-serving shops, with workable servicing and phased construction.
The study covers building form, housing capacity and requirements that add construction cost, operating cost or delay.
For the Seattle height comparison, the taller study is tested at 60 feet. A measured site plan is needed to establish site-specific capacity.
02 · Barriers & fixes
See what gets in the way and how to change it. Open a card for specific fixes, model language and examples.
Green highlights the part of the block each reform affects. These are common issues to investigate locally. Model language is our draft for adaptation; examples retain their own conditions and limits.
No matching reforms. Try another keyword or clear your search.
Explore the evidence on costs, housing capacity and efforts to change the rules.
These documented reform efforts identify questions to investigate here. An adopted example applies in its stated jurisdiction; a proposal or advocacy campaign does not establish current local law. Cost effects are qualitative unless a cited local estimate is available.
Follow the original work and explore the reforms it informs. Each citation identifies research, policy recommendations, official guidance or law. Inclusion is not an endorsement of this tool by an author or organization.
03 · Your city’s readiness
Explore verified rules and remaining questions. Provisional ratings describe the places and building types reviewed.
Start with an initial city review
Source checks · October 10–11, 2026
Search 32,363 U.S. Census places using the same 43 checks. These three cities have some initial research; other cities begin with an unrated checklist.
Courtyard urbanism readiness
Findings cover the rules and scenarios stated. A topic may still need further research; this is not a measure of citywide feasibility.
A barrier is a restriction established for the stated scenario. A pathway is an existing permission with conditions. Mixed evidence shows both. “Needs research” is neither a pass nor a failure. An address search provides city context until the parcel’s rules are verified.
Equal checklist coverage is not equal economic impact. This first version does not assign weights, estimate savings or rank cities from incomplete examples.
The starting point
Check the rules here
Separate verified requirements and existing permissions from the questions that still need local evidence.
From a finding to a first project
A development audit or zoning-overlay study can turn these questions into a focused next step.
Research and planning aid. Confirm current rules and site-specific conclusions with the relevant authority and professional team. A city overview does not establish permission for a particular parcel.
Each local finding compares a stated courtyard scenario with cited primary sources. “Already enabled” always retains the listed conditions. A missing rule is marked “Needs verification.” The separately versioned reform agenda records movements and official studies using their own primary sources. Advocacy, proposals, studies and adopted examples have distinct labels; none automatically changes a local finding. Source checks are initial research, with editorial review pending.
City names come from the 2026 U.S. Census Gazetteer. Address matching uses Census address-range interpolation and its returned geography. A mailing city or Census statistical place is not proof of a permitting jurisdiction. In San Francisco, approximate point matches can also retrieve parcel candidates, zoning, height and special-use districts from Planning GIS; they need confirmation in the official property map.
City searches run against our place directory. Address queries are sent to the Census Geocoder; San Francisco coordinates are sent to Planning GIS. This application does not save raw searches, exact-address reports, or property-owner information. Providers and hosting infrastructure may have their own access records. Address results remain in memory in this tab until you clear or leave it. Downloading or printing intentionally creates your own copy.
Shared links contain a city ID and an immutable local-research version, never your address. The current reform agenda and model-clause library are shown alongside that local snapshot; downloads record their versions. Draft reforms and other jurisdictions’ examples do not change local findings or readiness ratings. Sources older than 45 days are marked for rechecking. No model invents findings when research is missing. No paid research API is used in this initial release.
Census Gazetteer ↗ · Census Geocoder ↗ · SF Property Information Map ↗
