I spend entirely too much time listening to experts in business, government, and academia explain the economy in general and the property market in particular. Looking back, very few people who are purported to know how the economy works, based on empirical evidence, have successfully predicted the wild spikes and crashes over the years. read more »
Housing
No Shortage of Housing Problems But Who Decides?
The housing and care accommodations older persons occupy often have problems making it difficult for them to age successfully—that is, to enjoy healthy, independent, active, and happy lives.
At least, that is the conclusion of professionals and family members who profess concern for their wellbeing.
They identify the following groups of old whose quality of life is at risk because of where they live: read more »
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Building on Jacobs: The City Emergent; Beyond Streets and Buildings
“Almost all theories of the city are largely qualitative, developed primarily from focused studies on specific cities or groups of cities supplemented by narratives, anecdotes, and intuition.” Geoffrey West, Scale, 2017
This recent quote recalls Jane Jacobs’s seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) read more »
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Higher Urban Densities Associated with the Worst Housing Affordability
There is an expectation in some quarters that densification of existing urban areas will lead to improved housing affordability. This argument is used to justify densification policies around the world. read more »
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Can the South Escape its Demons?
Out on the dusty prairie west of Houston, the construction crews have been busy. Gone are the rice fields, cattle ranches and pine forests that once dominated this part of the South. In their place sit new homes and communities. But they are not an eyesore; the homes are affordable and close to attractive town centres, large parks and lakes. These are communities rooted in the individual, the family and a belief in self-governance. read more »
This Might Be a Good Time for Creative Zoning
No matter what else it may have already caused and/or will continue to cause in the coming future, one thing that we know for sure is that the COVID pandemic has done is alter how people will approach land use planning and development issues in the coming years, possibly even decades. read more »
Reply to Elizabeth Farrelly: Suburbia Not Kulturstadt
Recently on Twitter I came across a post about the NSW Panning Minister's announcement banning dark roofing for detached houses in fringe housing estates to minimise the heat island effect. Scrolling down the comments, I noticed one by the Sydney Morning Herald’s anti-suburban architecture critic, Elizabeth Farrelly. read more »
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Survival of the City: The Need to Reopen the Metropolitan Frontier (Review)
Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation, by Harvard University economists Edward Glaeser and David Cutler characterizes the pandemic as a serious “existential threat to the urban world, because the human proximity that enables contagion is the defining characteristic of the city” read more »
What Exactly Is Urban?
About a month ago I asked a simple question on Twitter, hoping to get Urbanist Twitter’s consensus opinion. I posted an aerial picture of a residential neighborhood (see above) and asked, “is this urban?” I was quite surprised by the responses. read more »
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The Hidden Truth of Bluelining Versus Redlining a Neighborhood
Redlining and Bluelining Are Detrimental to a Neighborhood, But Bluelining Is Devastating to Low-Income Blacks and Other Groups read more »
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