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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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How Houston Regulates Land Use

September 19, 2016 By Nolan Gray

Uptown Houston

If you regularly read about cities, you might notice that Texas cities rarely seem to come up. We make cases for why Detroit is definitely coming back—just you wait! We come up with elaborate theories of how cities can become the next Silicon Valley. We spend hours coming up with a solution to New … [Read more...]

Filed Under: planning Tagged With: Houston, land-use regulation, planning, Texas, zoning

Houston’s Beautiful (Yet Partial) Embrace of Market Urbanism

June 2, 2016 By Nolan Gray

Houston skyline

A metropolitan economy, if it is working well, is constantly transforming many poor people into middle-class people, many illiterates into skilled people, many greenhorns into competent citizens. … Cities don’t lure the middle class. They create it. – Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, planning, Transportation, Zoning Tagged With: Dallas, Houston

How Houston Can Grow Gracefully: Snow White And The Nine Dwarves

May 16, 2016 By Tory Gattis

A lot of people shudder when they see growth projections of the Houston metro area from the current 6.5 million to 9 or even 10 million people over the next couple of decades.  If traffic is this bad now, how can we possibly handle it?  Is there any way this can be handled gracefully, or at least … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Logistics & Transportation, planning Tagged With: Houston

Why Does Houston Have Such A Great Restaurant Scene?

April 1, 2016 By Tory Gattis

  Browsing through peoples' posts of their favorite things to do in Houston, there's a recurring theme of eating out. USA Today called Houston "the dining-out capital of the nation": on average, we eat out more often than any other city in the country, at the second-lowest average price … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, infrastructure, Logistics & Transportation, Zoning Tagged With: cost of living, Houston

Market Urbanism MUsings March 18, 2016

March 18, 2016 By Adam Hengels

1. This week at Market Urbanism: Nolan Gray's latest post, Liberate the Garage!: Autonomous Cars and the American Dream At present, zoning laws effectively prohibit entrepreneurs from using their garages for business. In many Americans cities, hiring employees, hosting visitors, putting up … [Read more...]

Filed Under: MUsings Tagged With: Aaron Renn, airbnb, driverless cars, Houston, Miami, rent control, San Francisco, uber

From the comments: Parking minimums in Houston

April 8, 2011 By Stephen Smith

In a comment to yesterday's post on land use in Texas, baklazkhan notes that in spite of the libertarian myth of Houston as a completely (or even relatively) laissez-faire city with regards to land use, it actually has pretty strict parking minimums: Additionally, it's interesting to compare the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Houston, parking

A far-too-long rebuttal of Randal O’Toole on parking

April 7, 2011 By Stephen Smith

Donald Shoup and Randal O'Toole – they just can't get enough of each other! Donald Shoup, you may recall, is the granddaddy of free market parking policy, and Randal O'Toole is the self-styled Antiplanner. Though they both claim to be libertarians, they seem to have some pretty fundamental … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Donald Shoup, Houston, parking, Randal O'Toole, zoning

Even Jane Jacobs thought Houston doesn’t have zoning

January 22, 2011 By Stephen Smith

"Houston has no zoning" is a very popular urban planning meme. It has its roots in Houston's lacks one very specific kind of zoning: Euclidean separation of residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Euclidean zoning happens to be the one kind of planning that people easily understand (the whole … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Jane Jacobs, Zoning Tagged With: Houston, Jane Jacobs

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