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.

Before YIMBY

By

In an encouraging post this morning, Matt Yglesias - one of the O.G. YIMBYs - summed up 10 years of success since his book, The Rent Is Too Damn High, was published. If you'd asked me, I'd have guessed that Too Damn High was published in 2015 or 2016, when YIMBY was in its infancy and researchers … [Read more...]

Rent Control is How the Rich Outbid Less-Affluent People for Valuable Land

By

Several homes in my neighborhood have sold recently, each more expensive than the last. The priciest was a lovely home that drew $1.65 million at the peak of this spring's market.Takoma Park is a great place to live. It's also the only jurisdiction in the region that has rent control.As a … [Read more...]

Unpacking Emergent Tokyo with author Jorge Almazán

By

In my previous post, I reviewed an old book on Japan while teasing a new one:If you read one book about Japan this year, it should be the beautiful, new Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazan and his Studiolab colleagues, including Joe McReynolds. But if you read … [Read more...]

Book Review: The Making of Urban Japan

By

If you read one book about Japan this year, it should be the beautiful, new Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazan and his Studiolab colleagues, including Joe McReynolds. But if you read two books about Japan, as you should, the second one should be André Sorensen's … [Read more...]

Are there places in America with diversity *and* equality?

By

The relationship between blacks and whites in the residential subdivisions out beyond the suburban ring suggests that middle-class people of both races recognize each other as equals. Among middleclass Americans, at least in the special circumstances of these Pennsylvania communities and others like … [Read more...]

California should indeed build new cities – but don’t let Nathan J. Robinson anywhere near them

By

Urbanist and YIMBY Twitter had a field day dunking on Nathan J. Robinson, whose essay in his publication Current Affairs (yesterday's tagline: "the one thing left that isn't disappointing") called for building new cities in California.The essay was a typical of the "anti-anti-NIMBY" genre: he … [Read more...]

Meta