Market Urbanism

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.

Market Urbanism MUsings October 28, 2016

By

zoning-kills

 

1. This week at Market Urbansim:

‘Who better to determine local needs than property owners and concerned citizens themselves?’ by Michael Hamilton

Instead, land-use regulations can, and often are, used as cudgels against disfavored groups or individuals. Issues of personal taste—yard size, material choices, building design, amount of parking—can be weaponized when turned into regulatory requirements and greatly decrease a plot of land’s value.

Donald Shoup Takes San Francisco by Sandy ikeda

As I said before, to do market pricing correctly, well, you need markets. What the San Francisco approach does is to try to mimic what it is thought a private market would do. But the standard of “at least one empty parking spot” is arbitrary – like mandating that every ice-cream cone have two and only two scoops of ice cream. The Shoup-inspired San Francisco solution is I think a step in the right direction, but only a step.

Episode 05 of the Market Urbanism Podcast with Nolan Gray: Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring on Vital Little Plans

This week on the Market Urbanism Podcast, I chat with Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring on the wonderful new volume Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs. From Jacobs’ McCarthy-era defense of unorthodox thinking to snippets of her unpublished history of humanity, the book is a must-read for fans of Jane Jacobs. In this podcast, we discuss some of the broader themes of Jacobs’ thinking

America’s Progressive Developers–Silver Ventures by Scott Beyer

Foremost among these is the Pearl Brewery, a 22-acre former industrial site that is north of downtown. “The Pearl” is now viewed by locals as San Antonio’s leading urbanist destination—as opposed to the touristy downtown—but it wasn’t always this way.

2. Where’s Scott?

Scott Beyer spent week 4 in San Diego. His Forbes article was about how Uber Has Revolutionized Transit More In 7 Years Than The Government Has In 7 Decades

There will likely always be a need for public transit, since there will be people who, for financial or health reasons, can’t access the private market. But to think that a government agency should be the default provider—while private options are discouraged—is utterly backwards.

3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group:

David Welton ask how to reverse the “greedy developer” stigma

Mark Frazier on how developers are considering desert cities that would provide freedom to refugees

Bjorn Swenson on San Francisco developer Patrick Kennedy’s micro-unit projects

Malia Kristina on a new Transportation for America initiative

via Mark Frazier Stimulating Community Enterprise: A Response to Fiscal Strains in the Public Sector

via Asher Meyers Closing Cali’s Housing Gap

Robert Stark shares his latest podcast on the Bay Area

Roland Stephen invites us to a Nov. 15 Bay Area event: The Future of Transportation: Freeways or Flyways?

Anthony Ling has an idea on how to increase FAR

4. Elsewhere:

Y Combinator’s New Cities Project Gets Curiouser and Curiouser after hiring Ben Huh (meme website founder) to lead the Y-C project to “Build Cities” (via Planetizen)

The Houston Chronicle on The Reeducation of Richard Florida. His take on urban libertarians: “they drive me fucking nuts!”

5. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:

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