Harvard Professor Edward Glaeser argues for the loosening of regulations that create barriers to entry for small businesses and immigrant entrepreneurship in Boston.
Edward Glaeser writes a polemic inside a paean on the liberties and potential of urban living, starting with a quote offromGermanic law: "city air makes you free." The original phrase applied to a serf living in the city, but Glaeser finds evidence of the phrase's meaning today as well:
The migrant who comes from rural India to Bangalore enters a world in which the strictures of rural life, such as the caste system, essentially vanish. In many poorer countries, rural life still binds with traditional rules enforced by elders who wield the threat of social ostracism. In a city, such threats become toothless because no elder can effectively banish those who misbehave.
Glaeser applies the trope of urban liberty to the subject of Boston, which, he writes, "was born with repression deep in its D.N.A." Thus the article identifies laws and regulations that still enforce the religious rules of early Massachusetts Puritans, and argues for an expansion of the freedoms that could empower a larger cross section of the city's residents.
FULL STORY: City air makes you free
Airbnb Suing Boston Over New Regulations
The front lines of the short-term rental wars shift to the city of Boston.
Boston Mayor Wants to Limit Short-Term Rentals
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh thinks short-term rental companies like Airbnb are having a negative effect on the city's housing market, and he'll walk a fine line to regulate the industry.
Op-Ed: End the Excuses for Lack of Housing Construction
An op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that the endless negotiations over new residential developments—including over the inclusion of affordable housing units—hurts the city's housing market.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
