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Kotkin and Florida, Part II
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 11:03amRichard Florida has responded to Joel Kotkin's attack on "creative class" centered policies. Kotkin doesn't really deny Florida's point that places with high-skilled workers have higher wages, but says that wage gains in high-skill cities are outweighed by high housing costs. Florida agrees.&n... read more »
Mr. Kotkin and Mr. Florida
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 03/20/2013 - 5:23pmJoel Kotkin tried to take down Richard Florida today, arguing that trusting the "creative class of the skilled, educated and hip...to remake American cities" is "pernicious." Mr. Florida can speak for himself, but I do have a few thoughts about the article.
1. Can Both Ideas Be True?
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Getting serious about affordable housing
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 3:27pmWhen I was at the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Kansas City, I saw a speaker argue that walkability increases property values (a proposition I'm not taking a position on, at least not in this blog post). When someone asked about affordability, he suggested inclusionary zoni... read more »
Another example of the fragility of sprawl (maybe)
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 02/11/2013 - 9:07amAfter last week's snowstorm, New York City rebounded smartly: the streets are plowed, the subways are running. By contrast, the school where I teach (40 miles out in Suffollk County) is closed. Why? Because the students mostly live in suburbs near the school, and many of them are s... read more »
If They Build it They Will Come
Submitted by Javi2929 on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 11:16amGive us our daily discount outlet merchandise...
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Urbanism and TV Theme Songs
Submitted by MLewyn on Sat, 01/12/2013 - 11:30pmIn Walkable City, Jeff Speck points out that 1990s sitcoms tend to be more urban and more pro-urban than those of the 1950s and 1960s (which tended to be set in small towns or rural areas) or even the 1970s (often set in depressing or depressed urban locations, with the exception of "Mary Tyler Moor... read more »
walkable regions and real estate values
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 01/09/2013 - 12:43pmPundit Matt Yglesias has dug up some interesting Federal Reserve-compiled data on regional housing prices. He compares today's housing prices not to those of the mid-2000s real estate boom, but to 1998 pre-boom housing prices. The Fed's data shows that some regions have experienced ... read more »
New and Worth Reading: a Friendly Critique of Form-Based Codes
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 01/07/2013 - 4:19pmNicole Garnett of Notre Dame Law School is publishing a sympathetic critique of form-based codes (available here, soon to be published in Brooklyn Law Review). She supports the aims of form-based codes, but wonders whether they would be more appropriate as voluntary codes than as citywide zoni... read more »
Charlotte's Eastland Mall Property Back in the Game!
Submitted by aferretti on Fri, 01/04/2013 - 4:00pmThroughout the country, abandoned retail properties become eyesores for both residential and commercial neighbors. Charlotte's strong economy does not shield it from the problems of sprawl and leapfrog development. The once thriving Eastland Mall in close proximity to uptown Ch... read more »
Two Middle-Class(?) Neighborhoods
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 12/31/2012 - 12:52pmA few days ago, I partially responded to Joel Kotkin's defense of Sun Belt sprawl and attack on more "urban" cities like New York and Washington, arguing that the latter group of cities seem to be more attractive to the wealthy and more able to generate wealth. But of course, I didn't really a... read more »