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Publication Date

2025-12

Document Type

Capstone

Study Type

ENV 312

Department

Environmental Science and Policy

Advisors

Alexander Barron

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to examine current Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) development trends in Northampton, Massachusetts, to understand if they could be a sustainable solution to the region’s housing crisis. Northampton has a high demand for housing and low affordability, with new builds insufficiently addressing the holistic social, environmental, and economic factors of sustainability. The city aims to increase ADU growth to address the housing crisis while achieving its sustainability goals. To assess whether the city was successfully achieving this with ADUs, we identified ADUs constructed in Northampton, researched potential barriers to ADU development, and analyzed how these barriers might affect Northampton. We then developed strategic recommendations for the city. We took a mixed methods approach. This included reviewing Northampton building permits to create a dataset about the quantity and style of constructed ADUs, mapping using ArcGIS to visualize physical and socioeconomic patterns of ADU placement, a literature review to understand successful ADU implementation strategies from other cities, an analysis of Northampton zoning and energy codes as they relate to ADUs, and interviews with our stakeholders and a local ADU construction firm, Backyard ADUs. Our primary findings were that current ADUs in Northampton—especially attached ADUs built as infill—provide a number of sustainability advantages, but that limited financing options, complexities in the zoning and energy codes, and socioeconomic factors are barriers to further development. We created a set of five recommendations that target specific barriers to building ADUs in Northampton. These recommendations are to detail the process of building an ADU in a holistic how-to-guide for homeowners, update Northampton zoning code to remove the parking minimums for units under 900 square feet, create public pre-approved ADU designs that comply with Northampton’s city goals, consolidate data into a singular system to monitor and manage ADU construction, and for future projects to focus on financing or parking minimums.

Rights

© 2025 The Authors

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