I think that maybe in cities where you have the house itself is not the only way of saving have a better chance of being Yimby. I remember in Washington, some years ago, there was a letter to the Washington Post about how many houses had increased in value by 5%. So they thought that was a legitimate case. You know, if your house increased only by 5%, then you should stop every other house so that your house would go. We have a system which decreased your property rights within the boundary of your lot or apartment.
Markets, Alain Bertaud likes to say, are like gravity: they exist everywhere. But while urban planners are quite good at taking gravity into account, they tend to ignore market forces entirely in their designs, resulting in city development that too often fails to address the needs of their residents.
Following the release of his recent book, Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities, Alain joined Tyler in New York City for a discussion of the politics affecting urban centers, his advice to Robert Moses, whether the YIMBY movement can win, why he loves messy cities, what he got wrong about Shenzhen, why the Moscow subway is so wonderful, whether cities can move, favorite movies about cities, the region of the world most likely to start a charter city, how to reform the World Bank, his top three NYC planning reforms, why Central Park is the perfect size, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded September 9th, 2019 Other ways to connect