NIMBY | Market Urbanism

Even Midtown Manhattan not immune to anti-density NIMBYism

by Stephen Smith

In general, I think of Manhattan below Central Park as perhaps the freest place in America in terms of land use restrictions. There are no minimum parking regulations, zoning variances are relatively easy to get, and FAR restrictions are relatively generous. Historical preservation designations sometimes limit redevelopment, but other than that, developers [...]

Taxing Land Speculation

Bill Hudnut at the Urban Land Institute wrote a post that attracted some attention at Austin Contrarian and Overhead Wire. Hudnut discusses a different approach to taxing land:

How about restructuring the property tax across America to install a two-tiered system? More tax on those horizontal pieces of empty land and asphalt, less on the buildings. That [...]

The Story of I’On: Struggles of a New Urbanist Project

43 John Galt Way

27 Mises Street

I recently googled upon a post at a blog called “Rub-a-Dub” that mentioned a land development project in Mount Pleasant, SC called I’On.

I imagine the developers of the I’On “Traditional Neighborhood Development” (TND) community are sympathetic with Market Urbanism, as they named streets after John Galt (of Ayn Rand’s [...]

Euclid’s Legacy

While well intentioned, like many progressive interventions of the eary 1900s, zoning has contributed to sprawl (which has begun to be demonized by progressives over the recent decades) and served to inhibit the vitality and diversity of urban neighborhoods. The triumph of the core philosophy behind Euclid vs. Ambler later enabled destructive urban renewal projects using [...]

Dealing With NIMBYs

NIMBYism is the biggest obstacle to the evolution of vibrant urban communities, but the incentives for some to use public forums to impose restrictions on neighboring properties are great. Local politicians often bow to the most vocal residents, often with minority opinions, to avoid making waves, but their impositions are at the expense of the [...]

Urban[ism] Legend: Greedy Developers

This post is part of an ongoing series featured on Market Urbanism called Urbanism Legends. The Urbanism Legends series is intended to expose many of the myths about development and Urban Economics. (it’s a play on the term: “Urban Legends” in case you didn’t catch that)

We’ve all heard it said by some NIMBY activist: [...]

Carroll Gardens, Choose Only One: Setback or Height Restriction?

NY Times – Carroll Gardens: The Big Front Yards That Rob the Streets

Although the yards serve as leafy margins to the streets, creating ample open space between the rows of brownstones arrayed on either side, they also put those streets into the “wide” category for zoning purposes. This means developers can build structures on those streets [...]

Bribery for Property Rights: Federal Charges in Chicago

NBC5 has an update listing the people involved and video here: New Corruption Charges Hit Building, Zoning Departments

Chicago Tribune: U.S. to announce charges against 15 in city bribe-taking probe
(thanks to Dan M. for the tip)

Federal authorities are set to announce charges Thursday against 15 people, including seven City of Chicago employees, after an investigation into bribe-taking [...]

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Even Midtown Manhattan not immune to anti-density NIMBYism

Taxing Land Speculation

The Story of I’On: Struggles of a New Urbanist Project

Euclid’s Legacy

Dealing With NIMBYs

Urban[ism] Legend: Greedy Developers

Carroll Gardens, Choose Only One: Setback or Height Restriction?

Bribery for Property Rights: Federal Charges in Chicago

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