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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.

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What Should YIMBYs Learn From 2018?

February 4, 2019 By Nolan Gray

Believe it or not, the YIMBY movement won a lot in 2018. It kicked off with January’s high of California State Senator Scott Wiener’s introduction of SB 827, which would have permitted multifamily development near transit across the state, but fell to a low after its eventual defeat in committee, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, NIMBYism, Uncategorized, Zoning Tagged With: California, elizabeth warren, minneapolis, New Jersey, republicans, San Diego, San Francisco, yimby

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: Jane Jacobs, minimim lot sizes, robert moses, San Francisco, segregation, St. Louis, Urban Planning, zoning

California Legislation Threatens to Become Law and Build More Housing

September 5, 2018 By Martha Ekdahl

BART train at the platform

On August 23rd, a California assembly bill aimed at increasing transit-oriented development, like housing, was passed by the state senate, confirmed by the assembly, and headed to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk for signing. The bill, AB 2923, specifically targets the San Francisco Bay Area—making it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, infrastructure, Transportation, Zoning Tagged With: BART, Bay Area, San Francisco

(Not So) Infinite Demand

July 18, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

In a recent blog post, Julia Galef has generated a fairly comprehensive list of pro-housing arguments and counterarguments to those arguments. She gives the most detailed consideration to the "infinite demand" argument- in her words, “So even if SF adds a lot of additional housing, prices will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, NIMBYism, planning Tagged With: housing, new york, San Francisco, tokyo, yimby

More on “Empty Houses”

July 18, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

I recently saw a Facebook post asserting that San Francisco has 30,000 vacant units, so therefore no market-rate housing should be built.   So I looked up Census data on these allegedly empty units. It is true, according to the Census Factfinder website, that there are 30,000 or so unoccupied … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Urban[ism] Legends Tagged With: San Francisco

An Attack on Market Urbanism

May 15, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

The far-left "TruthOut" web page recently published an attack on YIMBYs,* describing them as an "Alt-Right" group (despite the fact that the Obama Administration is pro-YIMBY).  I was surprised how little substance there was to the article; most of it was various ad-hominem attacks on YIMBY … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gentrification, housing, NIMBYism, Policy Tagged With: San Francisco, yimby

ReasonTV on SF’s YIMBY Movement

June 28, 2016 By Adam Hengels

Last week, Reason.tv (the multimedia outlet of Reason Magazine) published a video about San Francisco's YIMBY movement.  The video describes the decades of underdevelopment in San Francisco as the result of community activism intended to limit the supply of new construction.  As a result, San … [Read more...]

Filed Under: NIMBYism, Policy, video, Zoning Tagged With: Bay Area, gentrification, NIMBY, San Francisco, yimby, zoning

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

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