(An analysis by Strong Towns shows how the interior properties of Lafayette, LA, have better revenue-to-expense ratios than the outlying properties. Here’s the link to the report. / StrongTowns.org)
1. Announcements
John Morris has started an alternative Facebook group called Flyover Urbanism: A Market Urbanist Group for Flyover Country
2. This Week at Market Urbanism
Emily Hamilton Market Urbanism is Still underrated
New data keeps coming in that shows that increases in housing supply tend to be followed by declining rental rates, even in the cities facing the highest demand.
Nolan Gray Towards A Liberal Approach To Urban Form
A liberal approach to urban form accepts that reasonable people can disagree over the ideal urban arrangement. Wrapped into every grand vision and design regulation are particular normative preferences that many may not share. Should retail and residential be separate? Should every apartment receive at least one hour of direct sunlight? Should everyone live on a one acre lot?
Jeff Fong Building A Better BART
BART owns acres of surface parking spread out across the system. If it were to redevelop these parking lots into high density, mixed use developments, it could copy the MTRC model and create a high yield stream of revenue.
Sandy Ikeda The Other Broken Window
Whether you quickly mend a broken window, bend over to pick up a piece of trash, or intervene when someone disturbs the peace depends in part on your personal ethics, of course. But it also depends very much on whether your neighbors will applaud or laugh at you for doing it.
3. Where’s Scott?
Scott Beyer remains in Portland, and this weekend will visit Eugene and Corvallis. His Forbes article this week was Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary: A Driver of Suburban Sprawl
If bustling cities prevent what can be vaguely defined as “sprawl” on their nearest virgin land, it’s not like the people will go away and the sprawl will stop. It may resurface in even more remote places. This is counterproductive both for [density] advocates, and for the people who must suffer long commutes each day.
4. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group
Asher Meyers posts a clunker of a piece by Ross Douthat on why America should break up its cities
Elizabeth Lasky shares a tidbit on the future of cities
David Iach wants to know how Market Urbanists think driverless cars will change cities
David Welton notes how much smaller the blocks are in Italy than the U.S.
Nicholas Rodgers wants a Market Urbanist to apply for the Ted Talks in London
Darnell Grisby was on the Streetsblog podcast to discuss autonomous cars
Bjorn Swenson on Denver area’s crazy housing price inflation
John Morris asks is Philadelphia nation’s most corrupt city?
via Mark Frazier Inside The Most Audacious Real Estate Project In The World
via Jon Coppage America Needs Small Apartment Buildings. Nobody Builds Them
5. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:
I suspect this is how Cuomo decides which public works projects to support https://t.co/55WbCYrI2m
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) March 27, 2017
