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Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

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  • What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?

LATEST POSTS

Book Review: HIAHP

March 20, 2023 By Salim Furth Leave a Comment

I’m pre-disposed to find reasons to love Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern’s book *Homelessness is a Housing Problem*. But the book moved my priors in the opposite direction than the authors intended.

Resources for Reformers: Houston’s minimum lot sizes

March 14, 2023 By Salim Furth Leave a Comment

A concerted research effort has brought minimum lot sizes into focus as a key element in city zoning reform. Boise is looking at significant reforms. Auburn, Maine, … [Read More...]

Xiaodi Li, Misunderstood

March 2, 2023 By Salim Furth Leave a Comment

Max Holleran's book, Richard Schragger's law review article, and randos on Twitter all find pessimistic views on housing supply from a paper by Xiaodi Li. But the … [Read More...]

The Homeownership Society Can Be Fixed

February 26, 2023 By Michael D. Nahas Leave a Comment

Jerusalem Demsas is an eloquent and forceful voice on housing policy. In a recent article, she asked this question: "How do we ensure that housing is both appreciating in value for homeowners but cheap enough for all would-be homeowners to buy in?" She … [Read More...]

Do The Cities Need The Suburbs?

February 26, 2023 By Michael Lewyn Leave a Comment

Aaron Renn has an interesting article in Governing. He suggests that even though urban cores are responsible for a significant chunk of the regional tax base, "[t]he city is dependent on the suburbs, too." In particular, he notes that downtowns are dependent … [Read More...]

Welcome Michael Nahas

February 23, 2023 By Emily Hamilton Leave a Comment

Market Urbanism is proud to welcome Michael Nahas as a new writer who will bring an Austin perspective to the blog. Michael's Twitter handle is @MichaelDNahas, and he also blogs at City Econ.Here's a short interview we did over email.Emily: How … [Read More...]

The fallacy of total rent regulation

February 23, 2023 By Szymon Pifczyk

One of the most-common beliefs many leftists in America hold is that the staggering increase in apartment rents is not a result of not building enough supply but rather a combination of greedy landlords, corporations buying out rental properties, and landlords … [Read More...]

Should governments nudge land assembly?

February 17, 2023 By Salim Furth

For a reading group, I recently read two papers about the costs and (in)efficiencies around land assembly. One advocated nudging small landowners into land assembly; the other is an implicit caution against doing so.Graduated Density ZoningAlthough … [Read More...]

The conspiracy theory of rent increases

January 30, 2023 By Michael Lewyn

An article in Curbed by Lane Brown has gotten much publicity in Twitter.  The article makes two factual claims: 1) New York City is still losing households, and thus there was no reason for rents to go back up in 2021-22; and 2) landlords are conspiring … [Read More...]

Herbert Hoover reconsidered

January 23, 2023 By Michael Lewyn

In recent years, I have thought of Herbert Hoover as sort of an urban policy villian, thanks to his promotion of zoning. But I recently ran across one of his memoirs in our school's library. (Hoover's memoirs were a multivolume set, and this particular … [Read More...]

YIMBYs and liberals

January 16, 2023 By Michael Lewyn

The pro-housing movement (more colloquially known as "YIMBYs" as an acronym for "Yes In My Back Yard" can't catch a break from either the Left or the Right. On the Left, pundits like to "expose" them as supporters of big business. But conservatives don't … [Read More...]

Archives

Top Posts

  • Only 2 Ways to Fight Gentrification (you're not going to like one of them)
  • Resources for Reformers: Houston's minimum lot sizes
  • Book Review: HIAHP
  • Ranking State Land Use Regulations
  • The Limits of the Singapore Housing Model
  • Are Houston’s Deed Restrictions “Basically Zoning”?
  • Why Is Japanese Zoning More Liberal Than US Zoning?
  • Subsidizing Suburbia: A forgotten history of how the government created suburbia
  • The conspiracy theory of rent increases
  • No, 'New Urbanism' And 'Smart Growth' Are Not The Same

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Recent Posts

  • Book Review: HIAHP
  • Resources for Reformers: Houston’s minimum lot sizes
  • Xiaodi Li, Misunderstood
  • The Homeownership Society Can Be Fixed
  • Do The Cities Need The Suburbs?
  • Welcome Michael Nahas
  • The fallacy of total rent regulation
  • Should governments nudge land assembly?
  • The conspiracy theory of rent increases
  • Herbert Hoover reconsidered
  • YIMBYs and liberals
  • Introducing Szymon Pifczyk
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Market Sites Urbanists should check out

  • Cafe Hayek
  • Culture of Congestion
  • Environmental and Urban Economics
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • Let A Thousand Nations Bloom
  • Marginal Revolution
  • Mike Munger | Kids Prefer Cheese
  • Neighborhood Effects
  • New Urbs
  • NYU Stern Urbanization Project
  • Parafin
  • Peter Gordon's Blog
  • Propmodo
  • The Beacon
  • ThinkMarkets

Urbanism Sites capitalists should check out

  • Austin Contrarian
  • City Comforts
  • City Notes | Daniel Kay Hertz
  • Discovering Urbanism
  • Emergent Urbanism
  • Granola Shotgun
  • Old Urbanist
  • Pedestrian Observations
  • Planetizen Radar
  • Reinventing Parking
  • streetsblog
  • Strong Towns
  • Systemic Failure
  • The Micro Maker
  • The Urbanophile

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