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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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Selling the Rights to Greater Density

August 15, 2012 By Emily Hamilton

At Next American City, Mark Bergen has an interesting long-form piece on municipal infrastructure financing. He argues that the property owners who benefit from public policies, such as infrastructure investment, should be required to fund these policies. He suggests infrastructure improvements … [Read more...]

Filed Under: zoning Tagged With: affordable housing, smart growth, zoning

Matt Yglesias attacks parking maximums, outs himself as a market urbanist

October 26, 2010 By Stephen Smith

Matt Yglesias has been on a roll lately with the urbanism posts, all of which have a heavy "market urbanist" slant, but it's this post about parking reform in/around Boston (riffing off of this Boston Globe article) that seals the deal for me: Regulators pushing developers to build less parking … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: New Urbanism, parking, Randal O'Toole, smart growth, taxes

Video: Sandy Ikeda on The Unintended Consequences of “Smart Growth”

December 13, 2009 By Adam Hengels

I came across this video interview of economist Sandy Ikeda by the Mackinac Center. Sandy currently blogs at thinkmarkets and has contributed guest posts to Market Urbanism. I thought Sandy did a great job discussing many of the topics we cover in this site. Sandy is particularly insightful when … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, planning, video, zoning Tagged With: Author: Sandy Ikeda, automobile, highways, Intervention, planning, smart growth

The Nation’s mass transit hypocrisy

February 6, 2009 By Stephen Smith

by Stephen SmithI was heartened to see an article about the need for mass transit in the pages of The Nation, though I was severely disappointed by the magazine's own hypocrisy and historical blindness. The article is in all ways a standard left-liberal screed against the car and for mass … [Read more...]

Filed Under: history, planning, sprawl, Transportation Tagged With: automobile, density, planning, progressivism, roads, San Francisco, smart growth, Stephen Smith, transit, Transportation, zoning

The Story of I’On: Struggles of a New Urbanist Project

January 21, 2009 By Adam Hengels

I recently googled upon a post at a blog called "Rub-a-Dub" that mentioned a land development project in Mount Pleasant, SC called I'On. I imagine the developers of the I'On "Traditional Neighborhood Development" (TND) community are sympathetic with Market Urbanism, as they named streets after … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, housing, Jane Jacobs, zoning Tagged With: development, Free-market, I'On, Jane Jacobs, Ludwig Von Mises, Mount Pleasant, New Urbanism, NIMBY, smart growth, Sout Carolina, TND, walkability, zoning

Urban[ism] Legend: Zoning Creates Density

June 28, 2008 By Adam Hengels

Urban[ism] Legend: Zoning Creates Density

This post will be the first of many of an ongoing feature at Market Urbanism entitled Urbanism Legends. (a play on the term: "Urban Legends" in case you didn't catch that) In many public forums and in the blogosphere, I consistently encounter myths about land development and Urban Economics. These … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, Urban[ism] Legends, zoning Tagged With: Beverly Hills, construction, demand, density, Economics, Free-market, infrastructure, smart growth, urban growth boundaries, Urban Legends, Urbanism, Urban[ism] Legends, William Graham Sumner, zoning

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Recent Posts

  • Mini review: Vanishing New York, by Jeremiah Moss
  • The Distorting Effects of Transportation Subsidies
  • The Rent is Too High and the Commute is Too Long: We Need Market Urbanism
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Urbanism Sites capitalists should check out

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