The Philadelphia Housing Authority will seize nearly 1,300 properties for a major urban renewal project in the city's Sharswood neighborhood. The plan includes the demolition of two of the neighborhood's three high-rise public housing buildings -- the Blumberg towers -- that will be replaced with a … [Read more...]
What is wrong with “How to Make an Attractive City”
“How to Make an Attractive City”, a video by The School of Life, recently gained attention in social media. Well presented and pretty much aligned with today’s mainstream urbanism, the video earned plenty of shares and few critiques. This is probably the first critique you may read.The video is … [Read more...]
Seamless Transit: Thoughts on the new report from SPUR
Seamless Transit is the new transportation policy report from SPUR. Main author Ratna Amin proposes integrating the Bay Area’s balkanized transit systems to improve lackluster ridership. Given that the region has 23 separate transit providers--more than any other metropolitan area in the … [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...]
Filtering: Gentrification in Reverse
Co-authored with Anthony Ling, editor at Caos PlanejadoGentrification Gentrification is the process through which real estate becomes more valuable and, therefore, more expensive. Rising prices displace older residents in favor of transplants with higher incomes. This shouldn't be confused with … [Read more...]
How to Fix San Francisco’s Housing Market
Want to live in San Francisco? No problem, that’ll be $3,000 (a month)--but only if you act fast.In the last two years, the the cost of housing in San Francisco has increased 47% and shows no signs of stopping. Longtime residents find themselves priced out of town, the most vulnerable of whom … [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...]
Planned Manufacturing Districts: Planning the Life Out of Districts
They are called different things in different cities, but they are similar in form and intent among the cities where they are found. For simplicity's sake, a Planned Manufacturing District (PMD), as they are called in Chicago, is an area of land, defined by zoning, that prohibits residential … [Read more...]