If you’ve ever done a Google Scholar search for anything zoning related, you’ll probably recognize the name William Fischel. He’s an economic historian at Dartmouth who’s written a lot about local government, and especially land use regulations. He’s got a wide-ranging paper published in 2004 called … [Read more...]
As I Was Saying About Tech In Dumbo…
The sky's the limit for Dumbo! Last night I wrote a blog post about tech development in New York City, arguing that before the city pours money into a science campus for Cornell on Roosevelt Island, its planners should make more room for entrepreneurs in existing tech hubs like Union Square and … [Read more...]
Video: Was ist eigentlich Gentrifizierung?
What exactly is gentrification? … [Read more...]
The Lord Gave To NYC Tech Start-Ups And Universities, And The Lord Hath Taken Away
Stanford's (losing) vision for Roosevelt Island, with requisite acres of green Big news out of New York City: Stanford pulled out of Bloomberg’s applied sciences university “competition” after Cornell got an enormous donation, leaving the upstate university the front runner to … [Read more...]
Real Estate and Revolution in Moscow
From an interesting NYT analysis of Russia’s new protesting class – young, urban, and doing pretty well: It is a paradox, but one that has been documented by social scientists: the residents of Moscow and other large cities tend to express greater frustration with Prime Minister Putin as his … [Read more...]
DC Approved 4,000 New Housing Units This Year, But Is It Enough?
Twitter tells me that earlier tonight, “not-ruling-it-out” possible future mayoral contender (and local smart growth demigod) Tommy Wells held his inaugural book club meeting; the book discussed was Ed Glaeser’s Triumph of the City. DC’s chief planner Harriet Tregoning was … [Read more...]
NYC Officials Take Notice of Astronomical Subway Construction Costs
New York City’s subway lines – the engines that keep the city’s real estate market moving – are notoriously expensive to build. Tunneling projects in New York routinely clock in at five to ten times the cost of their Asian and European counterparts, putting the city’s measly 20-30% aboveground union … [Read more...]
The Progressive Reaction Against NYC’s First Subway
nycsubway.org has an amazing trove of transit history, and I just got done reading “The Impact of the IRT on New York City” by Clifton Hood, on the effects of New York‘s first subway rapid transit line, first opened in 1904. There’s so much in it to recommend, but one of the … [Read more...]