Category MUsings

1. This week at Market Urbanism: Michael Lewyn published his second MU article, Vouchers, Sprawl and Trade-Offs discussing the challenges to mitigating the “sprawl-generating machine” of the US public education system A more market-oriented solution to the problem of sprawl-generating school systems is to break the link between residence and schooling, so that city residents would not be limited to urban neighborhood public schools. Emily Washington‘s follow-up post about the need for low-quality housing. I can’t emphasize enough, the importance of Emily’s argument! But government housing has a long, broad, and universal history of decrepit living conditions, poor safety, and negative economic mobility. Indeed, a welfare state large enough to provide housing support to millions of immigrants would have drastically increased voter-opposition to the United States’ relatively open doors. 2. Where’s Scott? Scott Beyer spent his first week in Dallas, locating in the rapidly-growing northern suburb of Richardson. His two Forbes articles were about Oklahoma City—A Tale Of Two Alcohol Laws: New Orleans And Oklahoma City and How Tinder Is Changing The Urban Bar Scene: One competing Oklahoma City bar had, according to Cole and Koinzan, put a sign out front saying “come have your awkward Tinder date here.” If other bars nationwide are noticing such cultural shifts, perhaps they should hang these signs too. 3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group: Adam Milsap shared his article Help Distressed People, Not Distressed Cities Tobias Cassandra Holbrook shared People Prefer Neo-Traditional Buildings Bjorn Swenson is interested in development pattern in Houston John Morris looked at all the land use micro-management, and isn’t buying the gobblygook that Houston isn’t zoned David N Welton wants to see thorough rebuttals of the “the character of the neighborhood” NIMBY argument Three people shared an MIT Technology Review article on how data mining is backing up Jane Jacobs on the four conditions that make vibrant urban neighborhoods 4. Elsewhere: R.I.P. Zaha Hadid. A look back […]

1. This week at Market Urbanism: Matt Robare contributed his first Market Urbanism article, Protectionism Is Already Harming American Workers And Cities The delays and high costs associated with Buy America have helped to make American transit costs the world’s highest. The Congressional Research Service found that new bus prices were double in the United States versus Japan and South Korea. According to Alon Levy, locomotives purchased by Amtrak cost 30 percent more than the European equivalent, increasing costs by $100 million. Stephen Smith also touched on Buy America’s unintended consequences in 2010 2. Where’s Scott? On a related note, Scott Beyer, who finished his third week in Oklahoma City, wrote a Forbes piece titled Does Bernie Sanders Actually Think NAFTA Is What Killed Detroit? Detroit has long stood near the top in all the big-government indicators, with some of the nation’s highest taxes, strictest business regulations, lowest economic freedom rates, largest per capita public workforces, high rates of public and private sector unionization, and an Occupy-Wall-Street-style civic and governing culture. This model has produced exactly the dystopia that conservative critics fear, marked by human and capital flight. Scott’s previous MU photo essay on Cuba was translated into Spanish by the Latin American news site PanAm Post. 3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group: Anthony Ling warns about when “When city development goes wrong. Very wrong.” in California Bjorn Swenson tells us “Greyhound is rebranding itself as a relevant twenty-first century company” Tom W. Bell published a paper on Special Economic Zones in the United States and asks “Would USSEZs encourage innovation in urban design?” If you are in Toronto, come see Sanford Ikeda, who will be speaking about “Why a city can’t be a work of art” at the Ryerson University Planning Expo Krishan Madan reminds us that Seattle raised it’s minimum wage to help people get by, but neighbors still […]