1. This week at Market Urbansim:
Is There a “Libertarian Architecture”? by Sandy Ikeda
By “libertarian architecture” I don’t mean a particular style. In the absence of government intervention, however, I do think certain kinds of projects would be unlikely to emerge, and so it may be possible to rule out styles associated with such projects.
2. MU Elsewhere
Stephen Smith wrote a guest post for the blog 2nd Ave Sagas: Enough Is Enough. Tell your elected officials the MTA’s costs are too high
Stephen was also interviewed by Architizer.com about Why 40 Percent of Manhattan’s Buildings Couldn’t Be Built Today
3. Where’s Scott?
Scott Beyer is flying tomorrow from Los Angeles to his hometown of Charlottesville, VA for the holidays. He wrote this week for Forbes about his interview with Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett, and for Governing Magazine about When Local Control Backfires
Local governance can backfire, especially when parochial interests trump larger regional concerns. Nowhere is this more evident than in housing, where prices are skyrocketing in many U.S. cities.
4. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group:
Caleb Brown Interviewed Randal O’Toole on the Cato Daily Podcast about Trump‘s Plans for American Infrastructure
Anthony Ling shared SF real estate listings from 1990
Garrett Malcolm Petersen asks about how property values would be affected if homelessness were treated differently
Ethan Kent asks, “Thoughts on how the market urbanism conversation can help shape and support the placemaking movement?”
Sonja Trauss announces a kickstarter for a new YIMBY comic book
Todd Litman has been working with the Middle Tennessee “Moving Forward” program to help develop high quality public transit services in the Nashville region.
Jaap Weel discusses plans to upzone the Central SOMA area around the new Central Subway in San Francisco.
Franco Martín López wonders if someone wants to co-write an article about demolitions of entire blocks in downtown Buenos Aires during the 1930´s for the construction of the 9 de Julio Avenue
via Chuck D’Aprix: How Social Isolation Is Killing Us
via Flavio Fiumerodo: San Fran Billionaire Launches Plan To House Homeless In Shipping Containers
via Mark Frazier: America’s One and Only City Council Run by Libertarians
via David N. Welton: An Old Slow-Growther Reshapes Himself As Trumpian
via Todd Litman: How Americans Spent Their Money in the Last 75 Years
via Krishan Madan, “After real estate developer Russell Gray was denied an application to build housing by a local government board, he applied to place a tank on his property. They approved, but instead of a storage tank, it was a soviet t-34-a symbol of dissent because it was used to crush the Prague uprising. Its turret is pointed at the zoning board“
via Asher Meyers: Mercedes-Benz’s Croove is like Airbnb but for cars
via John Morris: ‘Progressive’ San Franciscans Strongly Support Immigration Rights (Just Not In Their Neighborhood)
via John Morris, “Marking a critical turning point in NYC history, on this day in 1973, an important section of Manhattan’s West Side Highway collapsed. In retrospect one can see the amount of value this road had subtracted from the urban economy.”
Tyler Cowen and Matthew Yglesias debate land use liberalization
5. Stephen Smith‘s tweet of the week:
Purpose of zoning has always been gentrification. On zoning & the Village, 1917: https://t.co/Wy84bcbBeP @ericgoldwyn @mattyglesias @SFyimby pic.twitter.com/GOQ9Rs3fuv
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) December 18, 2016