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Liberalizing Cities From The Ground Up
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.
The Center for Market Urbanism released its first policy report in partnership with Abundant Housing Los Angeles. The paper, written by The Center for Market Urbanism’s Nolan Gray and Emily Hamilton, recommends eliminating minimum parking requirements as part of DTLA 2040, a process which will update both the Central City and Central City North community plans. The draft concept for the DTLA 2040 plan calls for eliminating parking requirements for the Central City and Central City North neighborhoods. This would build upon the success of Los Angeles’ adaptive reuse, allowing new developments to facilitate affordable, dense, walkable neighborhoods. The paper discusses the history of parking requirements, burdens and damage caused by current parking requirements, and benefits of reforms: Combined with demand-based pricing for on-street parking, the elimination of parking requirements will allow for downtown neighborhoods that are more walkable while also reducing congestion for drivers. Read the Center for Market Urbanism/Abundant Housing LA Policy Paper here The Center for Market Urbanism is a 501c3 organization dedicated to expanding choice, affordability, and prosperity in cities through smart reforms to U.S. land-use regulation. Abundant Housing LA is 501c3 organization which is committed to advocating for more housing. We want lower rents and a more sustainable and prosperous region, where everyone has more choices of where to live and how to pursue their dreams. LA is one of the most diverse, vibrant cities in America, and we are fighting to keep it that way for current Angelenos, our children, and those who come here to pursue their dreams.
We've finalized the lineup for the Market Urbanism track at #FEEcon 2017 June 15-17 and it's loaded with great sessions from urbanists, economists, and activists. Don't forget, you can use the code MU40off for a 40% discount.
Sandy Ikeda has led a Brooklyn Heights Jane’s Walk every year since 2011 in celebration of Jane Jacobs’ 101st birthday. Meet at the steps of Borough Hall (facing the Plaza and fountain) Sunday May 7th at 12:15. When you think of a city you like, what comes to mind? Can a city be a work of art? How do parked cars serve pedestrians? Most of the interaction among people, bikes, and cars is unplanned. How does that happen? Why do people gather in some places and avoid others? Is it possible to create a neighborhood from the ground up? What is a “public space”? How can the design of public space promote or retard social interaction? The beautiful and historic neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights offers excellent examples of Jane Jacobs’s principles of urban diversity in action. Beginning at the steps of Brooklyn¹s Borough Hall, we will stroll through residential and commercial streets while observing and talking about how the physical environment influences social activity and even economic and cultural development, both for good and for ill. We will be stopping at several points of interest, including the famous Promenade, and end near the #2/3 subway and a nice coffeehouse. To Find a Jane’s Walk near you, visit http://janeswalk.org/
[This article, originally published on the site Tech for Housing, has been updated. Mai-Cutler’s kickstarter has a few days left. You can donate here.] How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained) is Kim Mai-Cutler’s 2014 TechCrunch masterpiece exploring the history of Bay Area land use policy. It was the first investigatory piece to thoroughly survey the political, economic, and historical precursors of today’s housing crisis. And in explaining the problems that plague San Francisco, it provided the intellectual spark for nearly two years of grass roots organizing and advocacy. And now there’s a kickstarter to turn it into a comic book. As it stands, the kickstarter has raised over 16K in pledges (I personally pledged $100 last week). This total means a professional artist can work on the project full time and produce a finished product come March. Turning KMC’s tome on Bay Area land use into a graphic novel might seem a frivolous use of resources to some, but let me tell you why this is actually important. Burrowing Owls is the seminal work on Bay Are Housing. It’s also over 10,000 words long. That means that as good as it is, there was only going to be a small audience of wonkish individuals that would ever be able to wade through the entire thing. Translating the article’s information, ideas and arguments into a visually consumable format, however, makes it accessible to a much larger group of people. For every person that read the original article, there are probably fifty who would thumb through the comic book if left out on your coffee table. So if you’ve got a few bucks, please consider making a pledge. And after that, pass the message along. Ideas matter, but so do the ways in which we choose […]
In addition to Sandy’s traditional walks in Brooklyn Heights, I will be hosting a walk through Downtown Brooklyn preceding Sandy’s Sunday walk. Here’s a link to my walk, although they mistakenly listed it for Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Hopefully, they can fix this, because I can’t do Saturday morning!! After my Sunday walk, and a lunch break, I’ll be joining Sandy Ikeda’s annual walk through Brooklyn Heights at noon. Market Urbanists often gather for a drink after Sandy’s walk. Sandy will also be giving a Saturday walk at 5pm. See you Sunday morning at 9am in the Metrotech Commons – please do not come Saturday. I’m a very tall guy, and I’ll wear a Brooklyn Basketball hat.
Market Urbanists will be gathering again in New York City for an informal meet up. Last year, we explored the fascinating ethnic neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This year, we’ll meet in Midtown Manhattan, where some ethnic enclaves are nestled amongst towers and bustling streets. Come join a wide cross-section of urbanists in attendance: architects, journalists, economists, real estate developers, planners, and students. Anthony Ling of Rendering Freedom set up a Facebook event for the meetup. We’ll meet at 3pm in Herald Square (right in front of the clock tower on W 35th St.) Please sign up on Facebook, and tell your friends. (Anthony also set up a Market Urbanism Facebook group to help us connect to fellow Market Urbanists) See you then! https://www.facebook.com/events/1455717651329006/
Anthony Ling of Rendering Freedom fame will be visiting New York from Brazil this weekend. We’ve planned a meetup in Williamsburg Brooklyn at 5:30 pm this Sunday, April 21. (venue to be determined) Come meet Anthony and some of the Market Urbanism crew. All are welcome. Hope to see you Sunday, Adam Update: Per Stephen, we’ll meet “outside of Crif Dogs at Driggs & North 7th…it’s a specialty hotdog place (very Williamsburg).:
In this blog I intend to introduce free market thought to urbanists, and introduce urbanism to market advocates. I also hope to incorporate some ideas relating to environmentalism in the built environment. Through my personal inquiry, I have concluded that free market advocates and urbanists actually share many objectives. Growing up in suburban Chicago, I felt there was something inefficient about the suburbs. Too often, it seemed that my capitalist friends thought that suburban sprawl was efficient. When I discovered urbanism in college, it made sense. But, I became conflicted between my urbanist instinct and my free market instinct. After studying economics, new urbanism, development, and urban economics I came to the realization that our problems with sprawl were the result of socialism and economic planning of our transportation system and land use, not market failures. I intend to present arguments and articles which help spread the results of my inquiry. I hope you find it interesting.
