4 ms·

I'm not saying the current state of zoning is correct or even sane, but I think you also need to consider how that density accumulates over time. If you duplic

I'm not saying the current state of zoning is correct or even sane, but I think you also need to consider how that density accumulates over time. If you duplicated every high density building in Manhattan tomorrow, there would be problems, because the older buildings are naturally still there and in use.

bobthepanda 9y ago
Manhattan's population is way lower than it was at its peak. You could add another 300,000 residents to Manhattan and it would have only reached the 1950 peak of 1.9M, let alone the 1920s peak of 2.3M. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Manhattan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Manhattan A pertinent quote from an article about zoning in Politico, hardly an outpost of libertarian free-market thinking: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2014/02/the-quiet-massive-rezoning-of-new-york-078398 https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/201... > Rezonings push and prod what planners call the “building envelope,” an invisible outline that hovers over the built city and limits what developers can create. The legacy 1961 zoning created an invisible city with a loose shape, like a dress bought a few sizes too big, that the physical city had plenty of room to grow into. The Bloomberg administration has left behind a building envelope that’s more like a corset, pulled tight to the city’s body, cinching around places that were already small and boosting its curves. The Bloomberg administration’s 120 rezonings did as much to change the city’s shape in places where it limited growth as where it let developers build tall, and, as the city expands, those limits could become a problem. No one is calling for the immediate doubling of housing stock today. But the notion that we should restrict development in specific areas is ludicrous. Often the places that have development restrictions are wealthy and politically connected; Williamsburg gentrified because the East Village gentrifiers slammed the doors, then Bushwick gentrified because the Williamsburg gentrifiers slammed the doors, and so on and so forth. Development restrictions hurt poor people more by forcing gentrification into other neighborhoods.

bobthepanda 9y ago

Manhattan's population is way lower than it was at its peak. You could add another 300,000 residents to Manhattan and it would have only reached the 1950 peak of 1.9M, let alone the 1920s peak of 2.3M. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Manhattan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Manhattan A pertinent quote from an article about zoning in Politico, hardly an outpost of libertarian free-market thinking: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2014/02/the-quiet-massive-rezoning-of-new-york-078398 https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/201... > Rezonings push and prod what planners call the “building envelope,” an invisible outline that hovers over the built city and limits what developers can create. The legacy 1961 zoning created an invisible city with a loose shape, like a dress bought a few sizes too big, that the physical city had plenty of room to grow into. The Bloomberg administration has left behind a building envelope that’s more like a corset, pulled tight to the city’s body, cinching around places that were already small and boosting its curves. The Bloomberg administration’s 120 rezonings did as much to change the city’s shape in places where it limited growth as where it let developers build tall, and, as the city expands, those limits could become a problem. No one is calling for the immediate doubling of housing stock today. But the notion that we should restrict development in specific areas is ludicrous. Often the places that have development restrictions are wealthy and politically connected; Williamsburg gentrified because the East Village gentrifiers slammed the doors, then Bushwick gentrified because the Williamsburg gentrifiers slammed the doors, and so on and so forth. Development restrictions hurt poor people more by forcing gentrification into other neighborhoods.