For a reading group, I recently read two papers about the costs and (in)efficiencies around land assembly. One advocated nudging small landowners into land assembly; the other is an implicit caution against doing so. Graduated Density Zoning Although he's mostly known for parking research and … [Read more...]
Is Tokyo comparable to U.S. cities?
In his new book Arbitrary Lines, Nolan Gray points out that Tokyo is more affordable than many U.S. cities because its zoning policies are less restrictive. One common counterargument is that because Tokyo is a population-losing city in a population-losing city, it simply lacks the demand to have … [Read more...]
Unpacking Emergent Tokyo with author Jorge Almazán
In my previous post, I reviewed an old book on Japan while teasing a new one: If you read one book about Japan this year, it should be the beautiful, new Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazan and his Studiolab colleagues, including Joe McReynolds. But if you read … [Read more...]
Book Review: The Making of Urban Japan
If you read one book about Japan this year, it should be the beautiful, new Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazan and his Studiolab colleagues, including Joe McReynolds. But if you read two books about Japan, as you should, the second one should be André Sorensen's … [Read more...]
Why Is Japanese Zoning More Liberal Than US Zoning?
Over the past few years, Japanese zoning has become popular among YIMBYs thanks to a classic blog post by Urban kchoze. It’s easy to see why: Japanese zoning is relatively liberal, with few bulk and density controls, limited use segregation, and no regulatory distinction between apartments and … [Read more...]
Ch. 1 What is a City?: Up close and personal
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...]
(Not So) Infinite Demand
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...]
Market Urbanism MUsings: Feb 5, 2016
1. This week at Market Urbanism: Nolan Gray's second article at Market Urbanism: Return to Sender: Housing affordability and the shipping container non-solution the belief that these projects could address the growing affordability crisis hints at a profound misunderstanding of the nature of … [Read more...]