• About
    • What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?
  • Market Urbanism Podcast
  • Adam Hengels
  • Stephen Smith
  • Emily Hamilton
  • Jeff Fong
  • Nolan Gray
  • Contact

Market Urbanism

Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Podcast
  • Economics
  • housing
  • planning
  • Transportation
  • zoning
  • Urban[ism] Legends
  • How to Fight Gentrification
  • Culture of Congestion by Sandy Ikeda
  • What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?

Book Review: Arbitrary Lines – How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

June 20, 2022 By Jeff Fong

Arbitrary Lines is the newest must read book on zoning by land use scholar and Market Urbanism contributor, Nolan Gray. The book is split into three sections, starting with what zoning is and where it comes from followed by chapters on its varied negative effects, and ending with recommendations for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: activism, book review, Urban Planning, YIMBYism, zoning

Local iniquity

May 21, 2021 By Michael Lewyn

There was an interesting article in the New York Times magazine this week on the rise of extended stay hotels, which specialize in renting to a group within the working poor- people who have the cash for weekly rent, but cannot easily rent traditional apartments due to their poor credit … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Michael Lewyn, zoning Tagged With: hotels, zoning

Why Houston Isn’t An Argument for Zoning

January 6, 2021 By Michael Lewyn

Someone just posted a video on Youtube using Houston, Texas as an argument in favor of zoning. The logic of the video is: Houston is horrible; Houston has no zoning; therefore every city should have conventional zoning.This video and its logic are impressively wrong, for several reasons. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Michael Lewyn, Uncategorized, zoning Tagged With: Houston, zoning

Are increased levels of homeownership good for affordability? No… and yes.

December 20, 2020 By Michael Lewyn

For over a century, policymakers have argued that homeowners take better care of their neighborhood and are just generally more desirable in other ways.  As early as 1917, the federal Labor Department created a propaganda campaign to encourage home ownership.  And in 1925, Commerce … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: affordability, home ownership, zoning

Review: The Urban Mystique, by Josh Stephens

June 22, 2020 By Michael Lewyn

This book, available from solimarbooks.com, is a set of very short essays (averaging about three to five pages) on topics related to urban planning. Like me, Stephens generally values walkable cities and favors more new housing in cities. So naturally I am predisposed to like this book.But there … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: housing, josh stephens, Los Angeles, zoning

The Storper paper: not exactly a bombshell

May 9, 2019 By Michael Lewyn

Some commentators are slightly agog over an academic paper by Andres Rodrieguz-Pose and Michael Storper; Richard Florida writes that they shows that " the effect of [housing] supply has been blown far out of proportion. "Most of this paper isn't really about the effect of housing supply on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, Gentrification, housing Tagged With: gentrification, housing, zoning

The Human Cost of Zoning in Indian Cities

April 26, 2019 By Shanu Athiparambath

by Shanu AthiparambathYears ago, I worked for a magazine in Delhi. I wanted to live near the magazine office, but the rent was too damn high. In a low-rent area nearby, I rented a dingy room my girlfriend named “The Black Hole.” In buildings sitting across the street from mine, rents were many … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Policy, World, zoning Tagged With: Delhi, India, Mumbai, zoning

What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?

April 16, 2019 By Nolan Gray

A stack of books

We are blessed and cursed to live in times in which most smart people are expected to have an opinion on zoning. Blessed, in that zoning is arguably the single most important institution shaping where we live, how we move around, and who we meet. Cursed, in that zoning is notoriously obtuse, with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review, zoning Tagged With: alain bertaud, bernard siegan, books, david owen, death and life of great american cities, edward glaeser, green metropolis, Jane Jacobs, reading list, richard babcock, richard rothstein, seymour toll, sonia hirt, the color of law, the zoning game, triumph of the city, William Fischel, zoned american, zoned in the usa, zoning

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 14
  • Next Page »

Market Urbanism Podcast

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Book Review: HIAHP
  • Resources for Reformers: Houston’s minimum lot sizes
  • Xiaodi Li, Misunderstood
  • The Homeownership Society Can Be Fixed
  • Do The Cities Need The Suburbs?
  • Welcome Michael Nahas
  • The fallacy of total rent regulation
  • Should governments nudge land assembly?
  • The conspiracy theory of rent increases
  • Herbert Hoover reconsidered
  • YIMBYs and liberals
  • Introducing Szymon Pifczyk
My Tweets

Market Sites Urbanists should check out

  • Cafe Hayek
  • Culture of Congestion
  • Environmental and Urban Economics
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • Let A Thousand Nations Bloom
  • Marginal Revolution
  • Mike Munger | Kids Prefer Cheese
  • Neighborhood Effects
  • New Urbs
  • NYU Stern Urbanization Project
  • Parafin
  • Peter Gordon's Blog
  • Propmodo
  • The Beacon
  • ThinkMarkets

Urbanism Sites capitalists should check out

  • Austin Contrarian
  • City Comforts
  • City Notes | Daniel Kay Hertz
  • Discovering Urbanism
  • Emergent Urbanism
  • Granola Shotgun
  • Old Urbanist
  • Pedestrian Observations
  • Planetizen Radar
  • Reinventing Parking
  • streetsblog
  • Strong Towns
  • Systemic Failure
  • The Micro Maker
  • The Urbanophile

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2023 Market Urbanism