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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?

Against Spot Text Amendments

April 8, 2019 By Nolan Gray

As zoning has become more restrictive over time, the need for “safety valve” mechanisms—which give developers flexibility within standard zoning rules—has grown exponentially.U.S. zoning officially has two such regulatory relief mechanisms: variances and special permits. Variances generally … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: special permit, spot text amendment, spot zoning, variance, zoning

Why Is Japanese Zoning More Liberal Than US Zoning?

March 19, 2019 By Nolan Gray

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...]

Filed Under: planning, World, zoning Tagged With: japan, land-use regulation, preemption, tokyo, united states, zoning

Any Green New Deal Must Tackle Zoning Reform

January 24, 2019 By Nolan Gray

With the Democrats scrambling to come up with a legislative agenda after their November takeover of the House of Representatives, an old idea is making a comeback: a “Green New Deal.” Once the flagship issue of the Green Party, an environmental stimulus package is now a cause de celebre among the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: infrastructure, Policy, sprawl, Transportation, zoning Tagged With: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, green metropolis, green new deal, minneapolis, solar panels, wind turbines, 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

Light and Air, Sound and Fury; or, Was the Equitable Life Building Panic Only About Shadows?

September 6, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Equitable Life Building from the street. It's imposing!

When I first became interested in urban planning, I believed a piece of professional mythology that went like this: “For all its faults, Euclidean zoning was a well-meaning effort to expand nuisance regulation in the face of the urban industrialization. It was later practitioners who used zoning for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, NIMBYism, planning, zoning Tagged With: equitable life building, landlords, New York City, nuisance, shadows, 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

The Case for Subsidizing Deed Restrictions

May 9, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston skyline

In most of my discussions of Houston here on the blog, I have always been quick to hedge that the city still subsidizes a system of quasi-private deed restrictions that control land use and that this is a bad thing. After reading Bernard Siegan’s sleeper market urbanist classic, “Land Use Without … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, covenants, deed restrictions, hoas, homeowners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, zoning

Are Houston’s Deed Restrictions “Basically Zoning”?

April 11, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Houston Neighborhood

Houston doesn’t have zoning. As I have written about previously here on the blog, this doesn’t mean nearly as much as you would think. Sure, Houston’s municipal government doesn’t segregate uses or expressly regulate densities. But as my Market Urbanism colleague Michael Lewyn has documented, city … [Read more...]

Filed Under: planning, zoning Tagged With: bernard siegan, deed restrictions, hoas, home-owners associations, Houston, land-use regulation, private covenants, private governance, zoning

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