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RT @devonzuegel: Great urbanism is about proportions, not specific architectural styles. There is a correlation between walkability & tradi….

Join millions who have switched to Grok.

RT @DanielKayHertz: A lot of discourse problems would be ameliorated by everyone working as some sort of practitioner, preferably at least….

RT @AustinTunnell: Debate time! New episode out with Chuck Marohn from @StrongTowns and Nolan Gray with @cayimby. I found them disagreeing….

If the only thing you can build profitably is a building whose rents are only affordable to the top 20%, then you will market that building to the lifestyle and expectations of the top 20%. But that's downstream of the basic development cost problem.

If we had lower land, construction, and financing costs, it would become more viable to build new apartments targeting modest-income tenants. And the marketing and amenities would also target those tenants.

Many large apt buildings *do* have extra amenities (party room, pool, concierge, etc.) that price-sensitive renters aren't looking for. But the reason is that the economics is such that new buildings must have a high price point to be viable. So that's the customer you target.

It's a common belief that high-end amenities are driving up the price of new apartments. The reality is high rents are driven much more by fundamentals: a low number or available rental units and high construction costs. There's an interesting nuance, though.

The psychological distance from South FL to Atlanta is way more aligned with the actual distance if you make the drive in the winter, because there's a pronounced temperature drop. In the summer the same trip just feels interminable for no reason.

When I've lived in suburbia and driven for all my errands, I could go a week where every interaction I had was either with someone I knew, or a retail / business transaction. Much harder to fall into that when you ride the bus and walk your neighborhood habitually.

And the reason it does that is because it generates spontaneous, pleasant, low-stakes interaction with *strangers*. Not with people you've made an effort to befriend and who have made an effort to befriend you, which can happen among neighbors anywhere.

But that tight-knit community in a car-oriented place is much more likely to be impenetrable to an outsider or newcomer. Maybe better to say urbanism is pro-civic. It induces a certain sense of civic attachment to a community in a place, beyond your in-group.

The retort I hear from suburban / rural types against the claim that urbanism is pro-social is, "We have a very tight-knit community! I know all my neighbors, we have cookouts, our kids play together, etc." And they're right. You don't need urban design to encourage that.

Turns out public transit is pro-social in the same way. So are walkable neighborhoods in general. Neighborhood parks. Etc. You get a sense of shared citizenship / common cause with people you don't know by interacting with them unmediated by a screen or a windshield.

Front porches are pro-social but it's important to recognize how. It's not that they encourage you to befriend your neighbors—lots of suburbanites with big front-loading garages will do that anyway. It's that they induce serendipitous, friendly interaction with *strangers*.

Thread:.

RT @ZugIslander: This is exactly right, from @clmarohn. For a long time, Detroit homes were "too cheap to buy" (unless you had cash, or ha….

New research on the behavior of large, institutional landlords in the rental housing market (and more evidence that they're associated with markedly higher eviction rates):.

This is an excellent thread, and a lot more sober-minded than some of the panicked reactions from Dems in the past week. Particularly appreciate the call to resist shallow economic populism. Bad ideas in the hands of a demagogue can win votes; they are still bad ideas.

RT @streetsblogkea: If we're going to have a "department of government efficiency", we should probably start with a conversation about how….