Market Urbanism MUsings February 10, 2017

1. Announcement

Michael Lewyn, a UPenn legal scholar and MU contributor, just wrote a book about our concept:  “Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism.” More info at Amazon.

2. This week at Market Urbanism:

Only In California: Twisting an Anti-Exclusionary Law To Rationalize Exclusion by California Palms

Exclusionary zoning is the use of zoning to price people out of a community. The classic example is minimum lot sizes or minimum unit sizes: cities only zone parcels big enough to ensure low-income families cannot afford the housing.

3. Where’s Scott?

Scott Beyer completed another week in the San Francisco Bay Area, and this weekend will take a detour to Sacramento and other parts of California’s agricultural central area.

4. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group

Borna Khoshand is “curious to hear your thoughts on the “mansionization” of city neighborhoods.” (citing Chicago‘s Lincoln Park)

Christopher Ard asks,”So, what are your real thoughts on Market Urbanism in a place like New Orleans where historic preservation is a large part of our economy?”

Adam Millsap wrote: Economic policies and institutions matter

John Morris discusses Japan‘s housing prices

Jeff Andrade-Fong has news from the Bay Area Front: “TL;DR: We routed a bunch of NIMBYs at PlannComm. A major project moved closer to full approval. And we should remember that good things can happen if we work for them.”

John Morris posits a general question/theory, “my guess is that given the dramatic increase in living space per person, many neighborhoods have to increase building heights, just to sustain current density levels.”

via Krishan Madan, ‘Meandering, navel gazing piece that boils down to “I don’t understand filtering”‘: How to Be a Housing Ally (Or, Why I’m Not a YIMBY)

via Matt Robare: When Do Renters Behave Like Homeowners? High Rent, Price Anxiety, and NIMBYism

via Jaap Weel: Housing for a Growing California: Details on My Housing Reform Bill (CA State Senator, Scott Weiner)

via Adam Hengels: Chicago Should Have Rent Control, State Lawmaker Says

via Gregory Rehmke: This is what an average house in Japan looks like

via Nick Zaiac, “Here’s the UK government’s housing white paper. They also propose streamlined planning and infill, as well as some added density in smaller towns.”

via Marcos Paulo Schlickmann: Cameras catch BART janitor who made $270,000 in a year spending hours in Powell St. closet

via Matt Robare, “NIMBYs would even dictate what color car you can buy“

via Bob Gibbs, “Mall Developer Simon: Malls are not dead and have a future“

via Robert Mariani, “For anyone who isn’t familiar with this site, [Walkscore is] a pretty great resource“

via Meghan Heintz, “Not strictly about market urbanism but an interesting report on designing for aging populations and how that relates to urbanism and changes in housing stock.”

via Anthony Ling, ‘”Chicago has lowest cost of living in big cities in the US, you can actually buy an apartment with a view and still afford a meal” – Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago‘

via Mike Field, “Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments“

via Asher Meyer, “The most likely victor of the upcoming presidential elections in France is Emanuel Macron, who has shown shades of market urbanism“

5. Elsewhere

Andreessen Horowitz podcast discusses cars, cities, and autonomy with Frank Chen, Taggart Matthiesen, Carl Pope, and Sonal Chokshi

Bill Fulton, who shares the monthly ‘Urban Notebook’ column with Scott at Governing Magazine, wrote A Low-Cost Solution to Traffic

6. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:

I could do without the symbolic gestures from groups that tirelessly fight for exclusionary zoning that keeps the same groups out https://t.co/YyV49SNetL

— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) February 9, 2017