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.

Digging deeper on natalism and urbanism

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In a recent blog post at Planetizen, I criticized the idea that higher birth rates can only be achieved in car-dominated suburbia. In this post, I pointed out that a) not all walkable places have as little floor space as my Manhattan apartment, b) that some (admittedly unusual) urban places have … [Read more...]

Snowy Sidewalks

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Alan Cole has a blog-length tweet about city sidewalks several days after DC's snowstorm: I suspect something similar happens in conservative towns, but Cole points out the dissonance of the local reaction: Most curiously of all, the residents all seem fine with this. If you asked them, … [Read more...]

Urban Planners Overregulate Private Lots but Neglect the Design and Regulation of Public Spaces

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Because there are no market signals that could identify the best and highest use of street space, it is the role of urban planners to allocate the use of street space between different users and to design boundaries between them where needed. This article appeared originally in Caos … [Read more...]

Resources for Reformers: Houston’s minimum lot sizes

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Updated 1/11/24 to add 3 new papers, Wegmann, Baqai, and Conrad (2023), Dobbels & Tavakalov (2023), and Hamilton (2024). The original post was published 3/14/23. A concerted research effort has brought minimum lot sizes into focus as a key element in city zoning reform. Boise is looking at … [Read more...]

Rubbing Shoulders: Maybe

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A study by Maxim Massenkoff and Nathan Wilmers argues that “low-price full-service restaurants,” like Olive Garden or the Cheesecake Factory, are the third places in which rich and poor are most likely to rub shoulders. Using location data, they found that these low-price chain restaurants had more … [Read more...]

Pedestrianized streets usually fail – and that’s OK

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Urbanists love to celebrate, and replicate great urban spaces - and sometimes can't understand why governments don't: But what's important to recall - especially for those of us under, uh, 41 - is that pedestrianized streets aren't a new concept coming into style, they're an old one that's been … [Read more...]

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