I don't think it's a secret that we here at Market Urbanism are skeptical of mandatory historical preservation of private property, but until recently I hadn't realized how utterly counterproductive some of these efforts really are. I'm talking specifically about cases where historical preservation … [Read more...]
Illinois Court Rules Against Chicago’s “Vague” Landmark Ordinance
Chicago Real Estate Daily: An Illinois appellate court has struck down the city of Chicago’s landmarks ordinance, saying it is unconstitutionally vague, putting in jeopardy the city’s protection of more than 250 buildings and 50 historic districts. Judge James Fitzgerald Smith of the three person … [Read more...]
Landmark Incentives
by Sandy Ikeda The other day I was lecturing to my students about externalities and the Coase Theorem. One of the examples I used came directly from the our textbook – Heyne, Boettke, & Prychitko’s The Economic Way of Thinking. It asks what would happen if you tried to declare a large tree … [Read more...]
Gramercy Park: Private Open Space
photo by flickr user wallyg Back in the days in the Wild Wild East of private land ownership and limited land-use restrictions, parks were actually created by market forces. The same forces that created and preserved Gramercy Park could easily be used to preserve Historic Landmarks and low … [Read more...]
Historic Preservation Can Work in the Marketplace
Houston Strategies - Historic preservation should be a neighborhood choice "In Houston's Old Sixth Ward, the city's first fully protected district, property values have shot up 27 percent in the last year. When given the chance, historic preservation works." This is great news! It means there … [Read more...]