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“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?

What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?

April 16, 2019 By Nolan Gray

A stack of books

We are blessed and cursed to live in times in which most smart people are expected to have an opinion on zoning. Blessed, in that zoning is arguably the single most important institution shaping where we live, how we move around, and who we meet. Cursed, in that zoning is notoriously obtuse, with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review, zoning Tagged With: alain bertaud, bernard siegan, books, david owen, death and life of great american cities, edward glaeser, green metropolis, Jane Jacobs, reading list, richard babcock, richard rothstein, seymour toll, sonia hirt, the color of law, the zoning game, triumph of the city, William Fischel, zoned american, zoned in the usa, zoning

New Video: How Zoning Laws Are Holding Back America’s Cities

September 13, 2018 By Nolan Gray

It's an understatement to say that zoning is a dry subject. But in a new video for the Institute for Humane Studies, Josh Oldham and Professor Sanford Ikeda (a regular contributor to this blog) manage to breath new life into this subject, accessibly explaining how zoning has transformed America's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, housing, Jane Jacobs, parking, planning, zoning Tagged With: institute for humane studies, Jane Jacobs, josh oldham, minimim lot sizes, modernist planning, robert moses, San Francisco, sandy ikdea, segregation, single-family zonign, St. Louis, Urban Planning, zoning

How Should We Interpret Jane Jacobs?

July 30, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Jane Jacobs

At first blush, the enterprise of interpreting the Jane Jacobs' work might seem like one best left to the proud and peculiar few, or to put it less charitably, those of us with nothing better to do. Yet the forces of history militate against this apathy: Jane Jacobs has emerged as quite possibly the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, history, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: adam smith, death and life of great american cities, form-based code, Hayek, Jane Jacobs, michael polanyi, New Urbanism, NIMBY, nimbyism, performance zoning, public process, systems of survival, zoning

Ch. 1 What is a City?: Up close and personal

April 19, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

One of the popular sports broadcasts I used to watch as a kid promised interviews with athletes that would bring them to you “up close and personal.” As I was once waiting in line to order coffee at one of my favorite local coffeehouses there were several people ahead of me. I followed the “barista” … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture of Congestion, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: Jane Jacobs, Ken-ichi Sasaki, Kevin Lynch, tactility, tokyo, Urbanism

Cities are not man-made things

April 10, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

[In this space I’ll be posting quotes, ideas, and excerpts relating to a book I’m writing (thus far untitled), which I might describe as “What I have learned from the economic and social theory of Jane Jacobs.”  My hope is to get thoughtful, informed feedback that will be useful in shaping the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture of Congestion, Economics, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: austrian economics, City, Jane Jacobs, Market, urban process

Why another book about cities?

April 6, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

city books

The starting point for Jacobs’s analysis and the focus of much of her thought is the city, its nature and significance. There are plenty of books out there that in some way celebrate cities.  Many describe cities as engines of economic development, wellsprings of art and culture, and incubators of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture, Culture of Congestion, Economics, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: cities, emergence, Jane Jacobs, market process, spontaneous order

Intro to Culture of Congestion

April 4, 2018 By Sandy Ikeda

Jane Jacobs

Welcome to the first post in Culture of Congestion! I’ll be posting quotes, ideas, and short essays relating to a book I’m writing, which I might describe as “What I have learned from the economic and social theory of Jane Jacobs.”  My hope is to get thoughtful, informed feedback that will be useful … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Author: Sandy Ikeda, Culture of Congestion, Economics, Jane Jacobs Tagged With: Jane Jacobs

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

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