housing « City Block

Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism

San Francisco skyline w/ crane. CC image from Omar Omar

Tales from two cities:

San Francisco: From Ilan Greenberg in The New Republic – San Francisco’s Gentrification Problem isn’t Gentrification. Greenberg compares the public debate (often writen, and discussed previously here) in San Francisco compared to more the more familiar narrative in other cities.

Here, the debate is

Continue reading Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism – the tension between demand for more housing and the desire to curate great cities

Density - the limitations of zoning

San Francisco. CC image from C1ssou

A few days ago, Charles Marohn posted “It’s so much more than density” on his Strong Towns blog. In it, Charles pushes back against the idea that density is good, arguing that the reality of great places is more complex. Marohn’s conclusion is spot on, but throughout his post

Continue reading Density – the limitations of zoning

The gated Washington region

The Gated City in action: Today’s Washington Post on the inadequacy of the region’s housing supply in meeting demand. In short, Ryan Avent called it. The region is producing jobs, people want to move here, yet it hasn’t been able to produce enough housing to meet that demand. From the Post article:

“If businesses find they

Continue reading The gated Washington region

Density, productivity, and housing prices

Ryan Avent recently spoke at the Kauffman Foundation‘s conference for economic bloggers. His short presentation touches on a number of economic issues as they relate to urban economies and their role in our national economy.

The presentation tackles Tyler Cowen’s Great Stagnation thesis. Avent specifically looks at the benefits of density on productivity and

Continue reading Density, productivity, and housing prices

Adaptation in housing, organically

A few housing-related tidbits that I’ve accumulated over the past week.

Richard Layman laments the lack of quality development, noting the difficulties involved with larger scale infill projects, especially when compared against smaller scale renovation projects of single rowhouses or small apartment buildings. The smaller scale renovations take on a more organic character, while the scale

Continue reading Adaptation in housing, organically

Unhappy hipsters

Taking photos from Dwell and other such modern housing magazines and subverting their meaning with snarky captions can be quite entertaining.

It was comforting to know that the neighbors had stopped speaking.

You can come out when you can properly explain the differences between Modernist architecture and postmodern ornamentation.

graphing parking « accessible parking wonkery 16 hours ago
Some rather frightening infographics on how much space we require for parking through our zoning codes.
The business of bike sharing - The Washington Post 2013/05/20
I'm not sure why people focus on commuting via Bikeshare. The major benefit to bikeshare is one-way trips, adding another layer to the other transit modes.
San Francisco upzone: Vulcan logic. 2013/05/20
Star Trek and NIMBYism.
PATH/Fail: The Story of the World’s Most Expensive Train Station | Observer 2013/05/16
Infrastructure investment goes off the rails.
Check Out the View From the Top of the Washington Monument: DCist 2013/05/15
helmet cams for ironworkers...
Development above the new Fairfax Metro stations: Should preparation begin now? 2013/05/14
Air rights - not a bad idea. However, the depiction here just seems like another suburban pod, isolated from the rest of the land next to the toll road ROW.
Chupacabra Becomes Latest Taco Trucks to Open Restaurant - Young & Hungry 2013/05/13
A nice list of DC-area food trucks that have translated the concept into a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The truck allows for proof of concept, and lower barriers to entry than otherwise required to start a storefront business from scratch.
Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable | Streetsblog San Francisco 2013/05/13
Lessons for any city planning a streetcar line...
Cluck Zoning Board Meeting Monday | Providence Daily Dose¬es 2013/05/11
Zoning - yikes. Parking - yikes. This is not the kind of outcome we want for cities.
2035 Predictions for Washington Avenue Offer Precision Without Accuracy | streets.mn 2013/05/10
The perils of projections.

By Web Design Company

Development costs and housing affordability (2)
- charlie: Must be an impressive fee if the market costs is 600K and the...
- Tony Daniels: Good argument. Some things stand out though. First –...
What’s wrong with ‘Metro Brown?’ (1)
- City Block: puts Metro’s recent discussions about moving away from...
Norman Foster’s aerotropolis (5)
- Alex Block: For more on those photos from Boston dealing with their...
Capacity on the Northeast Corridor (2)
- Alex Block: So, FRA is trying to reassure everyone that this is OK:...
- Alon Levy: The FRA rule changes are mostly about cant deficiency and are...
Towards a DC S-Bahn, part 2 (3)
- City Block: are needed to allow for a combination of increased intercity...
Metro’s ‘station of the future’ – why mess with what works? (1)
- Michael: “Metro Brown” works well with the red tiles and...
Disasters: the more things change, the more they stay the same (1)
- Kenny: When I was in New Orleans for a conference a few weeks ago, I...
Managing on-street parking: zoning is not the way (6)
- RTA: Just because a developer provides parking doesn’t mean all...

RT @sharrowsDC: Build more city - 3 hours ago
@GeorgetownMet Better than Chivas USA 2.0... - 14 hours ago
Development costs and housing affordability wp.me/pHcGQ-JU - 15 hours ago
@GeorgetownMet @amorrissey No, they knew they would never get in, hence why they joined another, lower-level league. Burned too many bridges - 1 day ago
@JGluckman great point - we can go (and grow) taller while still feeling horizontal. - 4 days ago
RT @JGluckman: Barcelona and Paris have densities 4 times DC's while still feeling horizontal. - 4 days ago
RT @JGluckman: @HTinWDC suggests Paris and London as models for national capitals that are as much/more known for business and culture. #He… - 4 days ago
RT @JacksonCarnes: Pierre L'Enfant, father of DC urban planning, provided no limit or suggested limit on height. L'Enfant Plan created in 1… - 4 days ago
RT @enf: Graphic illustrations of how much space required parking eats up graphingparking.wordpress.com via @tranlib @urbandata @svrdesign - 4 days ago
Wow. Score one for the common loon. #Birds slate.com/articles/healt… - 4 days ago

City Block

Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism

Density - the limitations of zoning

The gated Washington region

Density, productivity, and housing prices

Adaptation in housing, organically

Unhappy hipsters

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