The
reasons preservation is great for cities are multiple
– aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, educational,
economic, and others. I

Historic preservation is a good idea that’s gone too far. What began as a counter movement to the redevelopment of iconic buildings such as New York City’s Penn Station has become a way for government-empowered preservationists to obstruct new development. Today, in cities around the country entire neighborhoods of marginal historical value are frozen in time, hindering the ability of cities and their residents to adjust their built environments in response to changing economic circumstances.

Landbanking (land hoarding), where land able to profitably developed for housing is withheld from development for future gains, undermines housing policies that aim to increase supply and reduce prices through rezoning. We shed light on the problems with the static economic models of housing supply that inform these policies by looking at the degree to which landbanking behaviour is consistent with the predictions of these models. A new dataset of home sales and landbanks from the annual reports of Australia’s publicly-listed residential developers, and complete state-level planning approvals and lot production data in Queensland, Australia, are used. In contrast to the static model prediction that landbanks function as inventories, and are hence minimised, we find that (1) over 200,000 housing lots, or 13 years of new supply, are held in landbanks owned by developers, that (2) nine years of landbanks are held in housing subdivisions that are approved and already for sale, meaning planning delays are not the reason landbanks are held, that (3) the total zoned supply in a region is unrelated to the rate of new housing supply, and (4) that housing developers routinely delay housing production to capitalise on market cycles. A dynamic model that accounts for capital gains of undeveloped land, including an option premium, is consistent with these empirical patterns. In this dynamic model there is an incentive to delay development when prices are rising to earn landbank value gains, which includes the value of the option to develop to higher densities.

Increasing supply is frequently proposed as a solution to rising housing costs. However, there is little evidence on how new market-rate construction—which istypically expensive—affects the market for lower quality housing in the short run. I begin by using address history data to identify 52,000 residents of new multifamily buildings in large cities, their previous address, the current residents of those addresses, and so on. This sequence quickly adds lower-income neighborhoods, suggesting that strong migratory connections link the low-income market to new construction. Next, I combine the address histories with a simulation model to estimate that building 100 new market-rate units leads 45-70 and 17-39 people to move out of below-median and bottom-quintile income tracts, respectively, with almost all of the effect occurring within five years. This suggests that new construction reduces demand and loosens the housing market in lowand middle-income areas, even in the short run

A new study of zoning changes in Chicago finds that they led to higher, not lower, local home prices, while having no discernible impact on local housing supply.

Eighty years ago, a federal agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), created “Residential Security” maps of major American cities. These maps document how loan officers, appraisers and real estate professionals evaluated mortgage lending risk during the era immediately before the surge of suburbanization in the 1950’s. Neighborhoods considered high risk or “Hazardous” were often “redlined” by lending institutions, denying them access to capital investment which could improve the housing and economic opportunity of residents.

Pursuant to the voter-approved Measure JJJ, Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) 12.22 A.31 was added to create the Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Affordable Housing Incentive Program (TOC Program). The Measure requires the Department of City Planning to create TOC Affordable Housing Incentive Program Guidelines (TOC Guidelines) for all Housing Developments located within a one-half mile radius of a Major Transit Stop.

Across the U.S., designated historic districts attract more business, jobs and tourists than nearby neighborhoods.

Small-lot ordinance gives young home buyers a key new option

Since its inception a few years ago, the Long Beach adaptive reuse incentive program and subsequent ordinance can be credited with many successes. And no doubt many more are on the way.

The city’s “small lot ordinance” was modeled after a similar change in Los Angeles. The idea, city planners and local developers say, is to remove hurdle in development regulations that made it effectively impossible to build a handful of separate homes on a single small property. It could be one piece of the puzzle to provide housing for an increasing population but less controversial than major density fights have caused.

Streets are our most fundamental shared public spaces, but they are also one of the most contested and overlooked. Today, and for most of the last century, we have taken for granted the idea that our streets are primarily zones for cars, parking, and the transporting of goods. This has not been the case, however, throughout most of history. Across many cultures and times – since the beginning of civilization, in fact – the street has held vast social, commercial, and political significance as a powerful symbol of the public realm.

The U.S. Census Bureau just released its first-ever report exclusively on walking and biking. Using data from the American Community Survey, the report shows how rates of active transportation vary by age, income, education, race, and the availability of a vehicle. It's a lot more detail than the usual Census data release on how people get to work, which only breaks active commuting down by gender.

September 1, 2012 is the 75th anniversary of the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act, a piece of late-New Deal legislation that reflected the government’s recognition of adequate housing as an important societal need. [This is the legislation that created housing projects.]

Describes methodology of census tract boundaries, with intent that the boundaries are durable and that each census tract be homogeneous.