Market Urbanism MUsings September 30, 2016

 

1. This week at Market Urbanism:

Joel Kotkin’s New Book Lays Out His Sprawling Vision For America by Michael Lewyn

So 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 cities but allows it in undeveloped exurbs where it belongs.

NIMBYism As An Argument Against Urbanism by Michael Lewyn

[Kotkin] 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’.” This argument is nonsense for two reasons.

The Demand Curve For Sprawl Slopes Downward by Sandy Ikeda

There has been a lot of Internet chatter lately about what libertarians ought to think about urban sprawl and its causes, including pieces by Kevin Carson, Austin Bramwell, Randal O’Toole, and Matthew Yglesias. The title of Ben Adler’s post basically sums it up: “If You Love the Free Market, You Should Hate Mandated Suburban Sprawl.”

Econ 101 And The Missing Middle by Chris Bradford

Some cities build more single-family than multi-family. Some build more multi-family than single-family. But the fourplex is dead. We build very little small-scale multi-family these days, which is why the “missing middle” is a focus of zoning code rewrites and a meme among the New Urbanist crowd.

You’re an Urbanist? Excellent. Why Aren’t You a Developer Yet? by R John Anderson

This question becomes a bit more pointed when you recognize that many conventional developers are doing work in urban settings under duress or without much of a clue about how to make their efforts fit an urban context. I think the typical generalist/urbanist will do a better job than whatever big development outfits are working in their city.

2. Where’s Scott?

Scott Beyer is about to begin his drive between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Stops will include Yuma, El Centro, San Diego, and the Mexican border cities of Mexicali and Tijuana. His two Forbes articles this week were Obama Administration Report Attacks NIMBYism And Zoning and The Verdict Is In: Land Use Regulations Increase Housing Costs

What inspired Obama’s unusual position? It might be that the academic literature has by now grown so overwhelming that certain conclusions can’t be ignored. There have been dozens of studies in recent decades, from liberal, conservative and non-partisan organizations, arriving at the same verdict: land-use regulations increase housing prices.

Scott was also quoted in a lengthy Sunday print article in the Omaha World-Herald about American NIMBYism.

3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group:

Robert Stark interviewed James Howard Kunstler on his podcast

Garrett Malcolm Petersen uncovered some of Vancouver‘s zoning loopholes for Laneway Housing

Sandy Ikeda comments on his conversation with the Washington Post about the White House “Housing Development Toolkit,” which cites his and Emily Hamilton‘s Mercatus paper. One of Sandy’s sentences made it into the final cut of the WaPO article.

Roger Valdez wrote: Obama’s Housing Tool Kit Only Comes With The Hammer and You’ve Come a Long Way on Housing Supply, Seattle; Sort Of

Avery Hufford created a poll to see who Market Urbanists plan to vote for. The results may surprise you.

via  Matt Robare: When neighborhood associations hold outsize influence

via Rocco Fama: Blame the Banks for All Those Boring Chain Stores Ruining Your City

via Tim Mello, “no need to ask Mesa taxpayers for a 23% hike in sales taxes to pay for another ASU“

via Nick Zaiac, “Head of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers had an op-ed on the SF Chronicle yesterday.“

via Malia Kristina: A Big, Sad Hole In The Cold Vermont Ground

via Tom W. Bell: French Polynesia Open to Seasteading Collaboration

via Nick Zaiac, “Sometimes, O’Toole outdoes himself and attacks a positive, generally free-market policy proposal from the government.”

via Adam Lang: “Changing Skyline: City Council’s Clarke and Blackwell push outdated proposal to turn Philadelphia into suburbia“

via Norman Kontarovich: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

4. Elsewhere

Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns on the Economics Detective podcast to talk about the “growth ponzi scheme”

Curbed Seattle cites Chris Bradford‘s article on the “missing middle”

Fee.org on Vancouver’s housing bubble crash

5. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:

Meanwhile, outside of Toronto, more than a mile from the nearest commuter rail station… https://t.co/wiVcbBYTKk pic.twitter.com/1YvuGByEz8

— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) September 27, 2016