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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 I Read to Understand Zoning?

Should governments nudge land assembly?

February 17, 2023 By Salim Furth

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 ZoningAlthough he's mostly known for parking research and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Development, Economics, World City Profiles Tagged With: Donald Shoup, Land assembly, tokyo

Is Tokyo comparable to U.S. cities?

July 31, 2022 By Michael Lewyn

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...]

Filed Under: Michael Lewyn, World City Profiles, zoning Tagged With: Los Angeles, New York City, tokyo

Unpacking Emergent Tokyo with author Jorge Almazán

May 25, 2022 By Salim Furth

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...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, Book Review, Culture & Books, Uncategorized, World City Profiles Tagged With: emergent urbanism, japan, tokyo

Houston Impressions

March 14, 2022 By Salim Furth

Given that I've written a few papers about Harris County, Texas, and even helped republish a book about the city of Houston, it's a little embarrassing to admit I had never been there. So when a Canadian buddy suggested meeting up in the Bayou City for barbeque ahead of his conference there, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, Places & Spaces, sprawl, Travel, World City Profiles Tagged With: architecture, Houston

What’s Wrong With Hong Kong?

January 4, 2021 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against new housing is that the laws of supply and demand simply don’t apply to dense cities like New York, San Francisco ands Hong Kong, because new housing or upzoning might raise land prices.*  After all (some  people argue) Hong Kong is really dense and really … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Michael Lewyn, Uncategorized, World City Profiles Tagged With: Hong Kong

For once I agree with the NIMBYs: please don’t turn my neighborhood into Dubai- because Dubai isn’t dense enough!

December 12, 2019 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against new housing is that it will turn "[neighborhood at issue] into Dubai." Evidently, some people think Dubai is a hellscape of super-dense skyscapers.In fact, Many Dubai neighborhoods aren't very dense at all.There is one Dubai neighborhood that is more dense than … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Michael Lewyn, NIMBYism, Places & Spaces, World City Profiles Tagged With: Dubai

World City Profiles: European Villages Are Showcases Of Old Urbanism

March 1, 2017 By Asher Meyers

There is always the lurking suspicion that great urbanism is a museum piece, something we cannot recreate. We have to console ourselves with guarding what’s left. Even then, some feel it unfit for ‘modern life,’ that humans cannot live as their recent ancestors had. Urbanists tend to celebrate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, preservation, Travel, World City Profiles

World City Profiles: Ancient Rome Really Knew How To City

February 17, 2017 By Matt Gangemi

I've been enjoying the series Meet the Romans, and episode 2 really revealed what I love about many ancient Roman cities.  I’ve been to quite a few, though often without knowing beforehand that they were ancient Roman cities.  These include cities like Dubrovnik, Split, La Spezia, Florence, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture and Design, history, Places & Spaces, World City Profiles

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