4 ms·

Sounds like the biggest factor is the lack of onerous American-style zoning regulations, which permits interesting uses of real estate to emerge intermingled wi

Sounds like the biggest factor is the lack of onerous American-style zoning regulations, which permits interesting uses of real estate to emerge intermingled with each other; as opposed to the suburban American standard of "everyone must live here in this zone, drive to this other zone to work, then drive to this other zone to grocery shop".

chazeon 4y ago
I think Jane Jacobs’s the Life and Death of Great American Cities is a major piece against these zoning laws. Tokyo seems to serve as a great example although it is not an American city.
- davidw 4y ago
  "Arbitrary Lines" is a succinct modern take on why we should eliminate zoning in the US and what we should replace it with https://islandpress.org/books/arbitrary-lines https://islandpress.org/books/arbitrary-lines
lazyant 4y ago
Texas has less zoning regulations and it resulted in more roads, parking lots and dependency of the car.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  Texas is almost twice the size of Japan and mostly flat. It’s also not full of medieval cities with their own vernacular architecture.
  - tjr225 4y ago
    [dead]
- natrius 4y ago
  Houston is the only major Texas city without zoning, and Houston still has plenty of parking requirements. As a result, both housing for people and housing for cars is really cheap. At this rate, Houston is going to figure out how to fix its planning mistakes of the past much faster than more regulated cities are going to decide to build enough housing for the people who want to live there. I'd never bet against Houston, or Texas in general. How about we ease up on both zoning restrictions and parking requirements?
  - s5300 4y ago
    I’d bet against Texas in the idea that their working class/average citizen population is going to be quite oppressed until women have meaningful rights there. Hard to have a functioning society when a near literal half of your population is seen at best as second class citizens.
    - Cyberdog 4y ago
      This is a discussion about zoning and property values.
      - s5300 4y ago
        The parent I’m replying to is partially discussing betting against Texas, especially regarding property values - if you think half the populace within a state being viewed as second class citizens doesn’t affect property values, I think you should reconsider. How many rich tech people from SV/Cali who paid top dollar for Texas property are now quickly fleeing after the recent political happenings that stripped the rights of half the voting population? I’ve seen quite a few personal anecdotes on HN & also a general trendline across publicly accessible real estate data that point to them ditching their Texas properties quite quickly. This most definitely affects property values, & at least touches on zoning issues in the grand scheme of things.
        prottog 4y ago
        > How many rich tech people from SV/Cali who paid top dollar for Texas property are now quickly fleeing after the recent political happenings that stripped the rights of half the voting population? Not very many at all, in my estimation. Those "rich tech people from SV/Cali" moved to Texas in the first place for their bottom lines, not because they thought Texas was the vanguard of progressive politics. I doubt a socially conservative state becoming more socially conservative is going to trigger many reverse moves. If I had to guess, the extremely restrictive abortion laws (prohibited after six weeks of gestation with very few exceptions) that you're obliquely referring to are not going to stand for very long, either.
- Schiendelman 4y ago
  Keep in mind that zoning has almost nothing to do with road placement - those decisions are made by different levels of government, especially for major roads and highways. And as another commenter mentioned, only Houston has "no zoning", and they have most of the regulations that are normally in zoning code in other cities anyway.
- criddell 4y ago
  I think part of that is due to climate. Houston in the summer is not a place where I’m going to bike or walk much in the summer. Cars make that city work.
  - prottog 4y ago
    I certainly take your point, living in a city that has a similar climate. But in a truly walkable neighborhood, where your place of residence, place of work, and other supporting places in life (grocery store, gym, bars and restaurants, etc.) are all within walking distance, and where said distance is actually walkable -- that is, you're not walking next to eight lanes of traffic, and you're walking past shops and restaurants and all the vibrancy of a neighborhood -- the weather won't play nearly as big a role.
bmitc 4y ago
There’s a very quirky and quietly hilarious book called Made in Tokyo that covers a sort of dual use or spliced architecture one readily finds in Tokyo. Places like a shopping mall under a highway or tennis courts on top of a warehouse. (The book is both in Japanese and English.) https://www.amazon.com/Made-Tokyo-Guide-Junzo-Kuroda/dp/4306044211 https://www.amazon.com/Made-Tokyo-Guide-Junzo-Kuroda/dp/4306... From the introduction: > The buildings we were attracted to were ones giving a priority to stubborn honesty in response to their surroundings and programmatic requirements, without insisting on architectural aesthetic and form. We decided to call them “Da-me Architecture” (no-good architecture), with all our love and disdain.

chazeon 4y ago

I think Jane Jacobs’s the Life and Death of Great American Cities is a major piece against these zoning laws. Tokyo seems to serve as a great example although it is not an American city.

davidw 4y ago
"Arbitrary Lines" is a succinct modern take on why we should eliminate zoning in the US and what we should replace it with https://islandpress.org/books/arbitrary-lines https://islandpress.org/books/arbitrary-lines

lazyant 4y ago

Texas has less zoning regulations and it resulted in more roads, parking lots and dependency of the car.

ch4s3 4y ago
Texas is almost twice the size of Japan and mostly flat. It’s also not full of medieval cities with their own vernacular architecture.
- tjr225 4y ago
  [dead]
natrius 4y ago
Houston is the only major Texas city without zoning, and Houston still has plenty of parking requirements. As a result, both housing for people and housing for cars is really cheap. At this rate, Houston is going to figure out how to fix its planning mistakes of the past much faster than more regulated cities are going to decide to build enough housing for the people who want to live there. I'd never bet against Houston, or Texas in general. How about we ease up on both zoning restrictions and parking requirements?
- s5300 4y ago
  I’d bet against Texas in the idea that their working class/average citizen population is going to be quite oppressed until women have meaningful rights there. Hard to have a functioning society when a near literal half of your population is seen at best as second class citizens.
  - Cyberdog 4y ago
    This is a discussion about zoning and property values.
    - s5300 4y ago
      The parent I’m replying to is partially discussing betting against Texas, especially regarding property values - if you think half the populace within a state being viewed as second class citizens doesn’t affect property values, I think you should reconsider. How many rich tech people from SV/Cali who paid top dollar for Texas property are now quickly fleeing after the recent political happenings that stripped the rights of half the voting population? I’ve seen quite a few personal anecdotes on HN & also a general trendline across publicly accessible real estate data that point to them ditching their Texas properties quite quickly. This most definitely affects property values, & at least touches on zoning issues in the grand scheme of things.
      - prottog 4y ago
        > How many rich tech people from SV/Cali who paid top dollar for Texas property are now quickly fleeing after the recent political happenings that stripped the rights of half the voting population? Not very many at all, in my estimation. Those "rich tech people from SV/Cali" moved to Texas in the first place for their bottom lines, not because they thought Texas was the vanguard of progressive politics. I doubt a socially conservative state becoming more socially conservative is going to trigger many reverse moves. If I had to guess, the extremely restrictive abortion laws (prohibited after six weeks of gestation with very few exceptions) that you're obliquely referring to are not going to stand for very long, either.
Schiendelman 4y ago
Keep in mind that zoning has almost nothing to do with road placement - those decisions are made by different levels of government, especially for major roads and highways. And as another commenter mentioned, only Houston has "no zoning", and they have most of the regulations that are normally in zoning code in other cities anyway.
criddell 4y ago
I think part of that is due to climate. Houston in the summer is not a place where I’m going to bike or walk much in the summer. Cars make that city work.
- prottog 4y ago
  I certainly take your point, living in a city that has a similar climate. But in a truly walkable neighborhood, where your place of residence, place of work, and other supporting places in life (grocery store, gym, bars and restaurants, etc.) are all within walking distance, and where said distance is actually walkable -- that is, you're not walking next to eight lanes of traffic, and you're walking past shops and restaurants and all the vibrancy of a neighborhood -- the weather won't play nearly as big a role.

bmitc 4y ago

There’s a very quirky and quietly hilarious book called Made in Tokyo that covers a sort of dual use or spliced architecture one readily finds in Tokyo. Places like a shopping mall under a highway or tennis courts on top of a warehouse. (The book is both in Japanese and English.) https://www.amazon.com/Made-Tokyo-Guide-Junzo-Kuroda/dp/4306044211 https://www.amazon.com/Made-Tokyo-Guide-Junzo-Kuroda/dp/4306... From the introduction: > The buildings we were attracted to were ones giving a priority to stubborn honesty in response to their surroundings and programmatic requirements, without insisting on architectural aesthetic and form. We decided to call them “Da-me Architecture” (no-good architecture), with all our love and disdain.