Reading Hayek in HollandPhoto by Peter FurthDuring a working vacation in the Netherlands, I had the dissonant experience of reading Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom in one of the most comprehensively planned environments on earth. Hayek’s thesis is that central economic planning displaces … [Read more...]
The Future Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America’s Big Cities
There are many ways to tell the story of urban-policy failure. Economists have shown how rent control creates housing shortages, sociologists how welfare programs destroy poor communities, and urbanologists how urban planning can debilitate cities. In his book The Future Once Happened Here, … [Read more...]
My New Book On Market Urbanism
I am happy to announce that my new book "Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism" is now available at Amazon. There is a "look inside the book" feature at the book's Amazon webpage for those who would like to know more.I would like to thank not just the readers … [Read more...]
Joel Kotkin’s New Book Lays Out His Sprawling Vision For America
Also read my other post about Kotkin's book: NIMBYism as an Argument Against Urbanism Traditionally, defenders of suburban sprawl have been skittish about proclaiming that government should promote sprawl and halt infill development. Instead, they have taken a libertarian tack, arguing that … [Read more...]
The Bottom-Up Urbanism Of Patrik Schumacher
[editor's note: This article was originally posted at Medium.com, and republished with permission of the author, Zachary Caceres. Below are links to some of the Free Market Urbanism writings and speaking of Patrik Schumacher, Partner at Zaha Hadid Architects. Schumacher's writing is … [Read more...]
Taylor Swift Spurns Country Music’s Longtime Attitude Towards Cities
If you listen to a lot of bluegrass and country, you’d think cities were the worst thing that ever happened to humanity. J.D. Crowe and the New South ask why they ever left their plow behind to look for a job in the town:Hank Williams, Jr. thinks that you’ll only get mugged if you go downtown. … [Read more...]
Glamour in streetscapes
A while ago I attended an Urban Land Institute event on development trends in Fairfax's Mosaic District. A presenter from the retail developer EDENS described their strategy of adding "sidewalk jewelry," a design technique used to entice shoppers to travel down sidewalks between stores. Having never … [Read more...]
Book Review: Perverse Cities by Pamela Blais
In her new book Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy, and Urban Sprawl, Pamela Blais explores the impact of flat-rate fees for development charges and network services like sewer, water, and cable. She explains in detail how these little-discussed policies play an important role in … [Read more...]