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SB50: the More Real Estate Speculation and Free Air Rights Bill
SB50, the controversial Sacramento bill that would take zoning rights away from local communities, has been dubbed by its author, San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener, as the “more homes” bill, but...
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The Vital Midwest
John Austin at the Michigan Economic Center is a long time commentator on Midwest economic issues, going back to at least his 2006 Brookings Institute report “The Vital Center.”Austin is back with a...
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Home Ownership: Cornerstone of Singapore’s Housing Policy
The following is the Introduction to the 16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, which rates housing affordability in more than 300 metropolitan markets in eight nations in...
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Aging in Place—or Trapped in Place?
As older adults age into later life, they often face disruptive changes that make their dwellings, neighborhoods and communities seem less appealing. When they retire and seek new leisure, volunteer...
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The Democratic Civil War
The Democratic Party may be united in their righteous detestation of Donald Trump, but the spirit of comity ends with that.Rather than a party united to depose a presidential tyrant, it is increasingly...
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Be Careful When Citing Jane Jacobs: Her Conclusions Don’t Always Hold
As a professor who teaches about cities and the urban form, I very much appreciate the sidewalk ballets and street-corner societies that have historically existed in our nation’s urban centers. These...
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Make America Affordable Again
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked for comments on eliminating regulatory barriers to affordable housing. This is my response.Fifty years ago, housing was affordable everywhere...
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Against the Current on LA River—When Will ‘Progressives’ Learn to Listen?
Frank Gehry doesn’t have any particular penchant for the concrete that lines the LA River. The world-class architect and designer does, however, bring a practical appreciation for the purpose of that...
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To The Economist: Planning, Not Home Ownership Caused the Housing Crisis
The January 16, 2020 cover story in The Economist magazine trumpeted “The West’s biggest economic policy mistake: It’s obsession with homeownership undermines growth, fairness and public faith in...
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Red v. Blue
The political and cultural war between red and blue America may not be settled in our lifetimes, but it’s clear which side is gaining ground in economic and demographic terms. In everything from new...
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Brexit and the Future of the Anglosphere
The triumph of Brexit opens a new page not just in British history, but in the emerging configuration of the global society. It represents not just a rejection of universal globalism embraced by our...
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2019 Ridership Numbers Reveal Transit's Dim Future
Thanks to a late-year surge in New York subway ridership, nationwide transit ridership in December 2019 was 3.0 percent greater than December 2018, and ridership for 2019 as a whole was 0.1 percent...
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The Next Economy: Following the Trail of U.S. Job Growth
A decade ago, in the wake of the Great Recession, Lee County, Florida was dubbed “the foreclosure capital of the country” by the national media, the poster child for all that had gone wrong with the...
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The City as a Self-Organizing, Adaptive System - Part 2
In a preceding article, I argued that a "city-as-an-artifact" approach to planning misses the organic nature of cities, and, when used in action, this approach could result in disappointing, if...
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The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side
Chicago is known as one of America’s great cities for architecture. But other than the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, designed by Mies van der Rohe, very little of the architecture of the...
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How Different Generations are Influencing Our Politics
Race, gender and class may be shaping our society, but increasingly generational change drives our politics.Over time this suggests a major realignment of America’s party system that could create...
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The Limits of Being “Near Transit”
In a recent paper, David King of Arizona State University, Michael Smart of Rutgers University and Michael Manville of UCLA cited the legendary urbanist Mel Weber on the importance of facilitating...
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The Luxury City is Going Bust
Mike Bloomberg’s vision proved to be a cul de sac. The future gentry liberals want is grim. A new urban paradigm is needed that focuses on core services for regular people.In a year when two boosters...
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2020 Election: Democrats Heading Toward a Brokered Convention
Today, President’s Day, is as good as any to draw some lessons from the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.Crowded FieldFIRST, the Democrats do not yet have a candidate with proven national...
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How Cities Lost Control of the Urban Revolution (or, Three Generations of...
I was a columnist in the print edition of Governing magazine for about five years. Sadly, the publication closed last year. But the company who owned it has relaunched Governing as an online only...
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