1. This week at Market Urbanism: Joel Kotkin’s New Book Lays Out His Sprawling Vision For America by Michael LewynSo if I interpret his book correctly, it seems that there is nothing libertarian about Kotkin’s views: he wants strong local governments that keep new housing out of … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2016
You’re an Urbanist? Excellent. Why Aren’t You a Developer Yet?
I continue to ask urbanists “why aren’t you a developer yet?” That’s a sincere and serious question. I want to recruit architects, planners, engineers and activists who consider themselves urbanists (new or otherwise) into the ranks of the small developer cohort, because I think it is the … [Read more...]
Joel Kotkin’s New Book Lays Out His Sprawling Vision For America
Traditionally, defenders of suburban sprawl have been skittish about proclaiming that government should promote sprawl and halt infill development. Instead, they have taken a libertarian tack, arguing that government should allow any kind of development while asserting that a level playing field … [Read more...]
Econ 101 And The Missing Middle
HUD has released 2015 building permit tallies. Austin’s tallies for 2015:Single Family Units: 2,846 Duplex units: 326 Units in 3-4 unit buildings: 30 Units in 5+ unit buildings: 6,890This bipolar split is typical of American cities. Some cities build more single-family than … [Read more...]
The Demand Curve For Sprawl Slopes Downward
Suburbs have been around for as long as there have been urbs – cities, that is – a fact Robert Bruegmann reminds us of in his excellent book Sprawl. And as sociologist Max Weber in The City and historian Henri Pirenne in Medieval Cities remind us, it’s often in the younger, freer suburbs rather … [Read more...]
NIMBYism As An Argument Against Urbanism
In his new book The Human City, Joel Kotkin tries to use NIMBYism as an argument against urbanism. He cites numerous examples of NIMBYism in wealthy city neighborhoods, and suggests that these examples rebut "the largely unsupported notion that ever more people want to move 'back to the city'." … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings September 23, 2016
1. This week at Market Urbanism: How Houston Regulates Land Use by Nolan GraySince there seems to be a lot of confusion about land-use regulation and planning in Houston, here’s a quick explainer on what Houston does regulate, doesn’t regulate, and how private covenants shape the … [Read more...]
Parking In A DC Bike Lane Is Extremely Cost-effective, For Drivers
This month, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) published an analysis citing traffic ticket data to illustrate the following point:Of the 723,237 parking tickets issued in this 5 month period, only 2,420 were for parking in bike lanes. That’s about 3 out of every 1,000 tickets. That … [Read more...]