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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?

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

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: ab 2923, BART, Bay Area, San Francisco

Two cheers for subsidized housing

August 22, 2018 By Michael Lewyn

A pure libertarian might argue that in an ideal world, there'd be no need for government-subsidized housing for low- and moderate-income households.  Nevertheless, it seems to me that in the world we actually live in, even people generally opposed to the welfare state should favor more such … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Michael Lewyn, zoning Tagged With: affordable housing, public housing

How Much Should We Blame Planners for Sprawl?

June 26, 2018 By Nolan Gray

Broadacre City, Frank Lloyd Wright's sprawling vision

How much should we blame planning for the degree to which cities sprawl? As much time as we (justifiably) spend here on this blog explaining how conventional U.S. planning drives excessive sprawl, it's worth periodically remembering that, at the end of the day, the actual extent of the horizontal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: sprawl, zoning Tagged With: Houston, jan brueckner, sprawl, standard urban model, Urban Economics

Morton’s Fork and land use issues

June 25, 2018 By Michael Lewyn

I recently discovered a new logical fallacy: the "Morton's Fork" fallacy.  This argument is one in which contradictory observations lead to the same conclusion.  For example, if I argue that new housing near public transit is bad because it (1) spurs gentrification by bringing rich people into the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Michael Lewyn, Uncategorized, zoning Tagged With: logic

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

Density Is How the Working Poor Outbid the Rich for Urban Land

February 5, 2018 By Nolan Gray

multifamily housing

The great failing of modern land-use regulation is the failure to allow densities to naturally change over time. Let me explain.Imagine you are trying to sell a property you own in a desirable inner suburban neighborhood in your town. The lot is 4,000 square feet and hosts an old 4,000 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, zoning Tagged With: alain bertaud, density, louisville, real estate, Urban Economics, zoning

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