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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.

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Nolan Gray

Nolan Gray
I am a writer living in the Washington, D.C. area. I studied philosophy, political science, and history at the University of Kentucky and will pursue a Master of City and Regional Planning degree at Rutgers University this fall. My research interests include urban economics, land-use regulation, and urban planning theory.

Send your questions, comments, and frustrations to me on Twitter at @mnolangray. You can find my personal blog here.

Turn New York’s Speed Cameras Back On

August 15, 2018 By Nolan Gray

On June 24 in Brooklyn, a driver in an SUV struck and killed four-year-old Luz Gonzalez, with many onlookers claiming the incident was a hit-and-run. The New York Police Department disagrees, and has refused to prosecute the driver, sparking multiple street protests. Beyond seeking justice for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, infrastructure, Logistics & Transportation, Transportation, Travel Tagged With: brooklyn, New York City, pedestrian safety, school zone, schools, speed cameras

How Should We Interpret Jane Jacobs?

July 30, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Jane Jacobs

At first blush, the enterprise of interpreting the Jane Jacobs' work might seem like one best left to the proud and peculiar few, or to put it less charitably, those of us with nothing better to do. Yet the forces of history militate against this apathy: Jane Jacobs has emerged as quite possibly the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, history, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: adam smith, death and life of great american cities, form-based code, Hayek, Jane Jacobs, michael polanyi, New Urbanism, NIMBY, nimbyism, performance zoning, public process, systems of survival, zoning

How Much Should We Blame Planners for Sprawl?

June 26, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Broadacre City, Frank Lloyd Wright's sprawling vision

How much should we blame planning for the degree to which cities sprawl? As much time as we (justifiably) spend here on this blog explaining how conventional U.S. planning drives excessive sprawl, it's worth periodically remembering that, at the end of the day, the actual extent of the horizontal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: sprawl, zoning Tagged With: Houston, jan brueckner, sprawl, standard urban model, Urban Economics

The Case for Subsidizing Deed Restrictions

May 9, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston skyline

In most of my discussions of Houston here on the blog, I have always been quick to hedge that the city still subsidizes a system of quasi-private deed restrictions that control land use and that this is a bad thing. After reading Bernard Siegan’s sleeper market urbanist classic, “Land Use Without … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, covenants, deed restrictions, hoas, homeowners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, zoning

Are Houston’s Deed Restrictions “Basically Zoning”?

April 11, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston Neighborhood

Houston doesn’t have zoning. As I have written about previously here on the blog, this doesn’t mean nearly as much as you would think. Sure, Houston’s municipal government doesn’t segregate uses or expressly regulate densities. But as my Market Urbanism colleague Michael Lewyn has documented, city … [Read more...]

Filed Under: planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, deed restrictions, hoas, home-owners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, private covenants, private governance, zoning

The Disillusionment of the American Planner, or How We Became Mark Brendanawicz

February 12, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Mark Brendanawicz of NBC's Parks and Recreation

Spoiler Warning: This post contains minor spoilers about Season Two of Parks and Recreation, which aired nearly 10 years ago. Why have you still not watched it?Lately I have been rewatching Parks and Recreation, motivated in part by the shocking discovery that my girlfriend never made it past … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, history, Jane Jacobs, planning Tagged With: city planning, high modernism, Jane Jacobs, leslie knope, liberal planning, Mark Brendanawicz, parks and rec, parks and recreation, peter hall, planning, ron swanson

Density Is How the Working Poor Outbid the Rich for Urban Land

February 5, 2018 By Nolan Gray

multifamily housing

The great failing of modern land-use regulation is the failure to allow densities to naturally change over time. Let me explain.Imagine you are trying to sell a property you own in a desirable inner suburban neighborhood in your town. The lot is 4,000 square feet and hosts an old 4,000 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, zoning Tagged With: alain bertaud, density, louisville, real estate, Urban Economics, zoning

Is Zoning Popular? Reevaluating the Evidence

January 25, 2018 By Nolan Gray

New Brunswick, NJ Zoning Map

In my regular discussions of U.S. zoning, I often hear a defense that goes something like this: “You may have concerns about zoning, but it sure is popular with the American people. After all, every state has approved of zoning and virtually every city in the country has implemented zoning.”One … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, planning, Urban[ism] Legends, zoning Tagged With: Chicago, euclidian zoning, history of planning, Houston, new york, planning, racial segregation, scpea, St. Louis, szea, zoning

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