Several cities have jumped on the bandwagon of building Micro-apartments, a hot trend in apartment development. San Francisco and Seattle already have them. New York outlawed them, but is testing them on one project, and may legalize them again. Even developers in smaller cities like … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings March 25, 2016
1. This week at Market Urbanism: Emily Washington described The Need For Low-Quality Housing in America's most desirable cities.People of very little means could afford to live in cities with the highest housing demand because they lived in boarding houses, residential hotels, and low-quality … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings March 4, 2016
1. Where's Scott?Scott Beyer spent his second week in the Oklahoma City area, finding a place in the relatively wealthy northern college suburb of Edmond, OK. This week he wrote for Governing about New Orleans' music noise issue, and profiled a man in Forbes who escaped Cuba by raft for … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings: February 26, 2016
1. This week at Market Urbanism:Nolan Gray contributed a post Who Plans?: Jane Jacobs’ Hayekian critique of urban planning discussing Jacobs' three arguments against central planning: Hayek and Jacobs defended the importance of local knowledge, illustrated the power of decentralized planning, … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings Feb 12, 2016
1. Where's Scott?: Scott Beyer returned to New Orleans for the end of Mardi Gras. This week at Forbes, he wrote a 4-part series on the "Quirks of New Orleans Culture," covering things like Second Line Parades, King Cake, Mardi Gras Balls, and other idiosyncrasies.There are certain … [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-solutionthe belief that these projects could address the growing affordability crisis hints at a profound misunderstanding of the nature of … [Read more...]
Only 2 Ways to Fight Gentrification (you’re not going to like one of them)
Gentrification is the result of powerful economic forces. Those who misunderstand the nature of the economic forces at play, risk misdirecting those forces. Misdirection can exasperate city-wide displacement. Before discussing solutions to fighting gentrification, it is important to accept that … [Read more...]
On the Mixing of Incompatible Uses and Incumbency
I noticed an interestingly ironic thing today.The usual argument for the necessity of use-based zoning is that it protects homeowners in residential area from uses that would potentially create negative externalities - ie: smelting factory, garbage dump, or Sriracha factory.Urban Economics … [Read more...]