Michael Storper and Patrick Condon opine on what California's population demographics really reveal about housing, density, economic development, jobs, and affordability.
In light of two recent columns published by the New York Times dragging California as the poster child for nearly every governance malady imaginable, but particularly housing, TPR invited economic geographer Michael Storper and Patrick Condon to respond to the NYT commentary and opine on what California's population demographics really reveal about housing, density, economic development, jobs, and affordability.
Both rebut the assumption that market-rate housing supply is the answer to correcting housing prices and wealth inequality. Condon concisely iterates the need for affordability requirements to check land price inflation while ensuring social benefit, and Storper emphasizes the role that shifting geography of jobs and wages plays in migration—not housing supply.
"Most of this has to do with the geography of jobs and wages, and is not caused by housing prices. Housing prices reflect and follow this reality, they have not caused this new geography." —Michael Storper
For the full excerpts, visit The Planning Report.
Density, Affordability, and the 'Hungry Dogs' of Land Price Speculation
Patrick Condon argues that increasing density without affordability inflates urban land values, resulting in nearly all of the value of labor and creative enterprise of entrepreneurs in regional economies being absorbed as land wealth.
Wellesley sues state over proposed housing on state-owned parking lot
The college town opposes a 180-unit development that it says creates too much density for the area.
A Land Use and Development Playbook For Value-Capture and Creating Currency For Local Community Development
Larry Kosmont shares what cities need to do to meet escalating state requirements; add housing density; fix shopping centers; replace sales tax; pay for constituent services; plan for the future; and capture value created by economic restructuring.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association