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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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A Case for Urban Renewal

October 28, 2024 By Salim Furth

Is it even possible today to write a vigorous argument in favor of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s? I doubt it. So I was glad to stumble upon a copy of Jeanne Lowe's 1967 book, Cities in a Race with Time. Lowe is a sympathetic - but not sycophantic - observer of the urban renewal era, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review, Culture & Books, history, planning Tagged With: book review, New York City, Philadelphia, planning, robert moses, Urban Planning, urban renewal

The Master Plan: An Obsolete Urban Management Tool

July 29, 2024 By Alain Bertaud

Most master plans are a costly effort by a team of temporary consultants, spread over two to three years, to prepare a blueprint that is usually obsolete as soon as it is completed.This article appeared originally in Caos Planejadoand is reprinted here with the publisher's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, planning, World Tagged With: Brazil, Urban Planning

Book Review: Arbitrary Lines – How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

June 20, 2022 By Jeff Fong

Arbitrary Lines is the newest must read book on zoning by land use scholar and Market Urbanism contributor, Nolan Gray. The book is split into three sections, starting with what zoning is and where it comes from followed by chapters on its varied negative effects, and ending with recommendations for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: activism, book review, Urban Planning, YIMBYism, zoning

Reading Hayek in Holland

August 19, 2021 By Salim Furth

Reading Hayek in HollandPhoto by Peter FurthDuring a working vacation in the Netherlands, I had the dissonant experience of reading Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom in one of the most comprehensively planned environments on earth. Hayek’s thesis is that central economic planning displaces … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bikes, corruption, Culture & Books, planning, Travel, World Tagged With: New Urbanism, Urban Planning

The Low-Key Housing Politics of Spider-Man

July 17, 2019 By Nolan Gray

With Spider-Man: Far From Home hitting theaters earlier this month, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken one of the series’ biggest risks yet: pulling Spider-Man out of New York City. The gravity of this decision is baked into the film’s title — with good reason. More than any other Marvel … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, housing Tagged With: affordability, housing, New York City, spider-man, Urban Planning

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

Some Inspiration from Guatemala

November 8, 2010 By Adam Hengels

Turn the lights down, and the volume up. It's time for some Market Urbanist media, courtesy of some future urbanist leaders who's ideas may one day liberate our cities from yesterday's unenlightened technocrats.Architecture students at Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala participated … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, planning, video, Zoning Tagged With: planning, Urban Planning, video

Midnight parking round-up

October 20, 2010 By Stephen Smith

1. Donald Shoup makes up for last week with an interesting piece on how America's tax structure biases employers towards providing parking for their employees, similar to how untaxed employer-provided healthcare shapes that industry.2. Back in August Randal O'Toole asked for proof that minimum … [Read more...]

Filed Under: parking Tagged With: Donald Shoup, parking, Randal O'Toole, Stephen Smith, Urban Planning

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