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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.

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  • What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?

Ch. 1 What is a City?: Concluding thoughts & works cited

May 31, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

Viewing cities as spontaneous orders and not as works of art helps to explain the tradeoff between scale and order, as well as the role of time in softening the severity of that tradeoff. Complexity and creativity are at odds with scale and the comprehensiveness of design because increasing scale … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture of Congestion, Jane Jacobs, planning Tagged With: spontaneous order, urban tactility

The Case for Subsidizing Deed Restrictions

May 9, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston skyline

In most of my discussions of Houston here on the blog, I have always been quick to hedge that the city still subsidizes a system of quasi-private deed restrictions that control land use and that this is a bad thing. After reading Bernard Siegan’s sleeper market urbanist classic, “Land Use Without … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, covenants, deed restrictions, hoas, homeowners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, zoning

Ch. 1 What is a City?: Complexity and radical ignorance

May 7, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

First of all, Jacobs observed that the artist abstracts from life, with all its “inclusiveness” and “literally endless intricacy.” Many architects, especially those with great ambition, seem to treat urban environments as merely a canvas for their works of genius, which if not already blank needs to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture of Congestion, Jane Jacobs, planning Tagged With: abstraction, complexity, local knowledge, radical ignorance, scale, tradeoff

New Report by CMU and AHLA: The Case for Ending Parking Requirements in Downtown Los Angeles

May 3, 2018 By Adam Hengels

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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Announcements, Los Angeles, parking, planning, Policy Tagged With: Abundant Housing LA, AHLA, Los Angeles, minimum parking requirements, parking

Are Houston’s Deed Restrictions “Basically Zoning”?

April 11, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston Neighborhood

Houston doesn’t have zoning. As I have written about previously here on the blog, this doesn’t mean nearly as much as you would think. Sure, Houston’s municipal government doesn’t segregate uses or expressly regulate densities. But as my Market Urbanism colleague Michael Lewyn has documented, city … [Read more...]

Filed Under: planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, deed restrictions, hoas, home-owners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, private covenants, private governance, zoning

The Disillusionment of the American Planner, or How We Became Mark Brendanawicz

February 12, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Mark Brendanawicz of NBC's Parks and Recreation

Spoiler Warning: This post contains minor spoilers about Season Two of Parks and Recreation, which aired nearly 10 years ago. Why have you still not watched it?Lately I have been rewatching Parks and Recreation, motivated in part by the shocking discovery that my girlfriend never made it past … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, history, Jane Jacobs, planning Tagged With: city planning, high modernism, Jane Jacobs, leslie knope, liberal planning, Mark Brendanawicz, parks and rec, parks and recreation, peter hall, planning, ron swanson

Is Zoning Popular? Reevaluating the Evidence

January 25, 2018 By Nolan Gray

New Brunswick, NJ Zoning Map

In my regular discussions of U.S. zoning, I often hear a defense that goes something like this: “You may have concerns about zoning, but it sure is popular with the American people. After all, every state has approved of zoning and virtually every city in the country has implemented zoning.”One … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, planning, Urban[ism] Legends, zoning Tagged With: Chicago, euclidian zoning, history of planning, Houston, new york, planning, racial segregation, scpea, St. Louis, szea, zoning

Mini review: Suburb, by Royce Hanson

January 17, 2018 By Michael Lewyn

Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest is a scholarly book about planning politics in Montgomery County, a (mostly) affluent suburb of Washington, D.C.  The book contains chapters on redevelopment of inner ring, transit-friendly areas such as Friendship Heights and Silver Spring, but also … [Read more...]

Filed Under: infrastructure, Logistics & Transportation, Michael Lewyn, NIMBYism, planning, Transportation, zoning Tagged With: downzoning, level of service, Washington

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