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Kurt Malley edited this page Feb 16, 2023 · 5 revisions

Welcome to Hawaii Zoning Atlas!

The Hawaii Zoning Atlas (HZA) is a community-led data advocacy project revealing the invisible rules that determine who gets to live where. Our goal is to end the housing affordability crisis in Hawaii by producing reliable data that motivates and informs proactive changes to housing and land use policy.

How to Contribute

HZA volunteers gather virtually at Code for Hawaii meetings on the first 3 Mondays of each month, 6-7:30pm Hawaii time. We recommend attending the next meeting as a first step. RSVP here for the meeting link.

These meetings are working sessions: we spend a few minutes at the beginning orienting new members, discussing needs and assigning tasks. Then we collaborate on these tasks during the meeting and update the project board at the end. If you would like to contribute but are unable to attend meetings, get in touch with us at hawaiizoningatlas@gmail.com.

We welcome volunteers with and without technical skills. Below are our 4 areas of activity, with descriptions of opportunities in each.

1. Research

  • Searchers: track down the maps and laws that define special land use/zoning areas and define the rules for developing them
  • Readers: read sections of the laws and answer comprehension questions about each area (e.g. does this area allow multi-family housing?)
  • Data analysts: crunch the numbers to answer questions like "what percentage of land in the county allows 4+ units by right?"

2. Development

  • Mapmakers/GIS: Build an interactive online map of the data collected and created by the Research team (the Atlas).
  • Web developers: Build a website to host the map and serve as a hub for land use education and advocacy in the state.
    • Contributors see here and submit pull requests here
  • We are currently at capacity for UX designers and researchers

3. Education (coming soon)

  • Writers
  • Social media
  • Graphic designers

4. Advocacy (coming soon)

  • Speakers
  • Liaisons

Acknowledgements

The Hawaii Zoning Atlas is developed in partnership with Faith Action and its HousingNow! task force, with support from Code for Hawaii. HZA is an official member of the National Zoning Atlas.