4 ms·

Remove zoning restrictions, reduce barriers to development, and let density rise dramatically to meet demand. Dozens of cities around the world are suffering f

by zanny 11y ago

Remove zoning restrictions, reduce barriers to development, and let density rise dramatically to meet demand. Dozens of cities around the world are suffering from rejecting capitalism of property and the consequences will be the long run slow bleeding out to locations more accepting of economic reality. Even in the most expensive places to live - Bay Area, central Tokyo, Venice, etc - if builders could build to their hearts content and see rapid high-rise housing development (first to meet the wealthy demand, and gradually to meet all other demand that turns a profit) you end up with affordable low income housing and extreme growth for the whole metro area, which means prosperity. IE, rather than holding back development and costing yourself tremendous fiscal gains, you let those happen and tax the fuck out of them to make life better for all those displaced. Use tax money from more unfettered capitalism to improve the situation of the poor, rather than holding back markets for the sake of the poor, who are then also worse off.

Pxtl 11y ago
Tokyo is a city that is generally agreed to get zoning right, because the matter is not left to municipal levels. There is no NIMBY exceptions, no fixers, no hellscape of red tape, just simple nationally run zoning laws.
- orasis 11y ago
  You have the Yakuza to thank for a lot of that.
  - nindalf 11y ago
    > simple, nationally run zoning laws > Yakuza to thank for that Your pithy one-liner isn't very enlightening. Could you elaborate?
    - superuser2 11y ago
      I've heard similar remarks in passing. The idea is something like this: Democracy tends towards chaos and deadlock. There are too many cooks, and they all want different things, and they all have roughly the same amount of power. Usually nothing happens, and when something does happen it's a half-assed designed-by-committee nightmare. When you see government acting swiftly, purposefully, effectively and succeeding at something difficult and expensive, it's because an autocratic force (like a political machine, or organized crime) has bent the democratic process to its will. For example, only Mayor Daley could have pulled off Millenium Park in Chicago. To get something like that done in Chicago's dysfunctional government, you need to own people at every level and in every department. Only the Daleys have built empires on that scale, and other mayors in other cities don't wield nearly as much power (even if their legal entitlements are the same).
    - orasis 11y ago
      Sorry. The Yakuza traditionally strong armed real estate hold outs and NIMBYs at the behest of the construction industry. Without the Yakuza, Tokyo wouldn't be what it is today.
- nandemo 11y ago
  Here's a good overview of Japanese zoning regulations: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.jp/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.jp/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
abetusk 11y ago
You make it sound so easy. From [1]: Let’s look at one of those deals in detail. In 2004, Frank McCourt sold 23 acres of open parking lots on the South Boston waterfront to News Corp. for $145 million ... Two years later, News Corp. sold the same land ... to Morgan Stanley for $204 million. ... When the BRA [Boston Redevelopment Authority] approved the Seaport Square Master Plan, paving the way for major development of midsize towers in 2010, the land finally had real value. ... To limit speculating, the BRA could have made Morgan Stanley’s Seaport approvals non-transferrable. But it didn’t. Instead, over the next five years, Morgan Stanley parceled out its 23 ... acres ... for a total of $654 million. ... After changing so many hands, ... housing, like at Waterside Place, where a 598-square-foot one-bedroom can be all yours for $2,685 per month. Where the ellipses ("...") have been added for brevity. When the people who are engaging in housing development are shaping policy to maximize short term profit, this is the result. I don't have a clear understanding of how to prevent this from happening but my strong suspicion is that better government regulation needs to be in place that holds the public interest at heart. Disclaimer: I live in the Boston area. [1] http://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/article/2016/02/21/boston-expensive/ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/article/2016/02/21/bo...

by zanny 11y ago

Pxtl 11y ago

Tokyo is a city that is generally agreed to get zoning right, because the matter is not left to municipal levels. There is no NIMBY exceptions, no fixers, no hellscape of red tape, just simple nationally run zoning laws.

orasis 11y ago
You have the Yakuza to thank for a lot of that.
- nindalf 11y ago
  > simple, nationally run zoning laws > Yakuza to thank for that Your pithy one-liner isn't very enlightening. Could you elaborate?
  - superuser2 11y ago
    I've heard similar remarks in passing. The idea is something like this: Democracy tends towards chaos and deadlock. There are too many cooks, and they all want different things, and they all have roughly the same amount of power. Usually nothing happens, and when something does happen it's a half-assed designed-by-committee nightmare. When you see government acting swiftly, purposefully, effectively and succeeding at something difficult and expensive, it's because an autocratic force (like a political machine, or organized crime) has bent the democratic process to its will. For example, only Mayor Daley could have pulled off Millenium Park in Chicago. To get something like that done in Chicago's dysfunctional government, you need to own people at every level and in every department. Only the Daleys have built empires on that scale, and other mayors in other cities don't wield nearly as much power (even if their legal entitlements are the same).
  - orasis 11y ago
    Sorry. The Yakuza traditionally strong armed real estate hold outs and NIMBYs at the behest of the construction industry. Without the Yakuza, Tokyo wouldn't be what it is today.
nandemo 11y ago
Here's a good overview of Japanese zoning regulations: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.jp/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.jp/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html

abetusk 11y ago

You make it sound so easy. From [1]: Let’s look at one of those deals in detail. In 2004, Frank McCourt sold 23 acres of open parking lots on the South Boston waterfront to News Corp. for $145 million ... Two years later, News Corp. sold the same land ... to Morgan Stanley for $204 million. ... When the BRA [Boston Redevelopment Authority] approved the Seaport Square Master Plan, paving the way for major development of midsize towers in 2010, the land finally had real value. ... To limit speculating, the BRA could have made Morgan Stanley’s Seaport approvals non-transferrable. But it didn’t. Instead, over the next five years, Morgan Stanley parceled out its 23 ... acres ... for a total of $654 million. ... After changing so many hands, ... housing, like at Waterside Place, where a 598-square-foot one-bedroom can be all yours for $2,685 per month. Where the ellipses ("...") have been added for brevity. When the people who are engaging in housing development are shaping policy to maximize short term profit, this is the result. I don't have a clear understanding of how to prevent this from happening but my strong suspicion is that better government regulation needs to be in place that holds the public interest at heart. Disclaimer: I live in the Boston area. [1] http://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/article/2016/02/21/boston-expensive/ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/article/2016/02/21/bo...