1. This week at Market Urbanism
Do The Rich Cause High Rents? by Michael Lewyn
One common argument against building new housing is that new construction will never reduce housing costs, because the influx of ultra-rich people into high-cost cities creates an insatiable level of demand.
ReasonTV on SF’s YIMBY Movement (a video by ReasonTV)
Have you ever had the experience of trying to stuff a lot of stuff in the suitcase? Have you ever gone to a party and seen that the pizza is gone, but you still wanted some? It’s just running out. And they know that we have run out [of housing in San Francisco].
How Realistic Are The Cities Of Fallout? by Nolan Gray
Sacred sites—whether in the form of a shrine or a megaton bomb—play an essential role in early human urbanization, both in Fallout 3 and the real world. As the historian Lewis Mumford points out in The City in History, the dead are the first humans to take up stationary residence.
Y-Combinator, Tech, and “New Cities” by Adam Hengels
A society where housing and the components of vibrant cities are abundant and affordable is a vision worth striving towards. As is a society where disputes are resolved speedily in a bottom-up fashion. In many ways, the technology sector is already on a path to make that happen – they just may not yet realize it yet.
2. Where’s Scott?
Scott Beyer is in Dallas, and will spend this weekend visiting small west Texas cities like Wichita Falls, Lubbock and Abilene. This week he wrote 5 articles–one for Governing Magazine making the Case for Cities to Outsource Economic Development; and 4 for Forbes–The Explosive Northern Growth Of Metro Dallas…Boulder, CO: Another Desirable But Over-Regulated U.S. City…On Urban Housing Issue, Liberals And Conservatives Talk Past Each Other…and What Is A Yimby?
The Nimbyism vs. Yimbyism debate taps into an age-old battle between established property owners, and the renters who have to pay them, with the latter group fighting against the protectionism that harms them. If that Yimby group forms into a legitimate urban voting bloc, it could topple the anti-development climate in key cities.
One of Scott’s previous speeches–How To Quantify A Successful City–was posted on Youtube
3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group, now over 1,000 members:
Mark Lutter of FreeCitiesIniative.com wrote a piece responding to one of Adam Hengels’ previous MU articles
Nolan Gray wants to know your favorite urbanist podcasts and podcast episodes
Andrew Frey is building Townhomes in Miami without parking
Roger Valdez wrote, City Of Seattle Should Cooperate With Residents Of The Jungle at Forbes
Stephen Smith is quoted extensively about a classic book on New York zoning, Learning from ‘Zoned American’
Laura Foote Clark invites us all to a GrowSF fundraiser in San Francisco, July 13
Shanu Athiparambath wrote, Is Commercialism Making Cities Less Livable?
via John Morris: The problem with reinforced concrete
Asher Meyers asks, “Should landlords and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) be allowed to collude to restrict tenant choices for internet service?“
via Michael Farren, a new blog on Free Cities: Introduction to Free Cities
via Brad DeVos: Alphabet proposes scrapping buses in favor of Ubers
via Adam Hengels: a suburban urbanist critiques Joel Kotkin‘s book
via Rocco Fama: How NYC Landlord Raise Rents by Making Repairs
Jesse Kanson-Benanav shares a profile on his YIMBY efforts in Cambridge, MA
4. Elsewhere, a roundup of YIMBY 2016 articles:
Alex Baca of the American Conservative
5. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:
West Village resident calls a bldg that tops out at 7 stories “out-of-scale”…on a block with three 17-story bldgs https://t.co/eaSIqU4HV8
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) June 24, 2016
