The Bible says again and again and again to “love the stranger”. Although this phrase has been interpreted in a variety of different ways, one highly plausible interpretation of this maxim is that we should be at least somewhat hospitable to newcomers and temporary sojourners in our … [Read more...]
The Attack on Airbnb
New York politicians' attacks on Airbnb are now getting national press; they argue that because Airbnb units could be used for long-term rentals, Airbnb reduces the housing supply and thus raises rents.But just as a matter of principle, this claim leads to absurd results. The logic underlying … [Read more...]
new speech on market urbanism vs. new urbanism
I just spoke at a conference at Fordham on market urbanism and how it is similar to (and different from) new urbanism. The speech can be found here. … [Read more...]
What About Vancouver?
Market urbanists such as myself tend to believe that if a place suffers from absurdly high housing prices, there is probably not enough new housing being built to accommodate rising demand.A recent paper argues that inadequate supply is not a significant part of the problem in high-cost … [Read more...]
what about singles?
Both smart growth supporters and sprawl apologists focus on the needs of families with children: sprawl defenders argue that only suburbia can accommodate the desires of parents, while some smart growth types argue that cities should require lots of two- and three-bedroom units downtown because … [Read more...]
new report on SROs
Once upon a time, New York City's poor single people were usually not homeless because they lived in little apartments with shared bathrooms and kitchens. These units are called "single room occupancy" (SRO) units in plannerese. (When I was young, people used less flattering terms such as "fleabag" … [Read more...]
The absence of gentrification causes displacement
Some progressives believe that gentrification causes displacement of poor people, that new market-rate housing causes such gentrification, and thus that new housing must be kept out of low-income neighborhoods.The first of these claims is based on the assumption that absent gentrification, … [Read more...]
Mini review: Suburb, by Royce Hanson
Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest is a scholarly book about planning politics in Montgomery County, a (mostly) affluent suburb of Washington, D.C. The book contains chapters on redevelopment of inner ring, transit-friendly areas such as Friendship Heights and Silver Spring, but also … [Read more...]