Comments on: The Story of I’On: Struggles of a New Urbanist Project http://marketurbanism.com/2009/01/21/the-story-of-ion/ Urbanism for Capitalists / Capitalism for Urbanists Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:37:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Market Urbanism http://marketurbanism.com/2009/01/21/the-story-of-ion/#comment-3889 Market Urbanism Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:08:58 +0000 http://marketurbanism.com/?p=727#comment-3889 Interesting. I'd like to understand the roots of land ownership and planning better. A few thoughts: Land ownership may be quite constrained, but market forces and prices still play a roll in land use patterns despite the constraints. So, I wouldn't call it completely communistic, but it gets as close as you can get to communism in an otherwise relatively-free society. Could public bodies "ensure harmonious development" rationally? If so, what mechanisms need to be in place for this to be successful? And by what standards could we judge success? Interesting. I’d like to understand the roots of land ownership and planning better. A few thoughts:

Land ownership may be quite constrained, but market forces and prices still play a roll in land use patterns despite the constraints. So, I wouldn’t call it completely communistic, but it gets as close as you can get to communism in an otherwise relatively-free society.

Could public bodies “ensure harmonious development” rationally? If so, what mechanisms need to be in place for this to be successful? And by what standards could we judge success?

]]> By: mhelie http://marketurbanism.com/2009/01/21/the-story-of-ion/#comment-3886 mhelie Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:04:11 +0000 http://marketurbanism.com/?p=727#comment-3886 As hard as people want to deny it, land ownership in America is not a market. It is communistic, and it has roots going as far back as the early republic, as Alexis de Toqueville witnessed. The American confusion is demanding that the communistic landlords, county and municipal governments, planning boards, and so forth, be more market-like in their treatment of their tenants. However the map of communities is not a market but a plan imposed by legislatures, in the same commanding, inflexible pattern that the anti-planners of this world have condemned within their narrow range of personal interests. Any community needs to have rules to ensure harmonious development, but public bodies will tend to set these rules irrationally, hence why the anti-planners complain. This confusion has been, I believe, the root cause of America's perpetual urban chaos, starting with the industrial city and now the regional sprawl. Nobody ever questions the model of community ownership inherited from the early republic. The map of communities is itself infinitely complex, and cannot be controlled without being the outcome of a market. More on this at my blog: http://mathieuhelie.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/regional-complexity-and-local-community/ As hard as people want to deny it, land ownership in America is not a market. It is communistic, and it has roots going as far back as the early republic, as Alexis de Toqueville witnessed. The American confusion is demanding that the communistic landlords, county and municipal governments, planning boards, and so forth, be more market-like in their treatment of their tenants. However the map of communities is not a market but a plan imposed by legislatures, in the same commanding, inflexible pattern that the anti-planners of this world have condemned within their narrow range of personal interests. Any community needs to have rules to ensure harmonious development, but public bodies will tend to set these rules irrationally, hence why the anti-planners complain.

This confusion has been, I believe, the root cause of America’s perpetual urban chaos, starting with the industrial city and now the regional sprawl. Nobody ever questions the model of community ownership inherited from the early republic.

The map of communities is itself infinitely complex, and cannot be controlled without being the outcome of a market. More on this at my blog:

http://mathieuhelie.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/regional-complexity-and-local-community/

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