What a Conference for YIMBYs Looks Like

Josh Stephens reports from the scene of the first YIMBY conference, held earlier this month in Boulder, Colorado. Stephens begins the article by giving a brief history of the rise of NIMBYs and YIMBYs—the latter has been attracting more media attention lately as the political movement grows in response to the growing housing crunch in communities around the country.

And, Stephens notes, Boulder provided "a fitting venue" for the first convening of YIMBYs, "given that the Boulder/Denver metro area has experienced one of the nation’s highest rates of in-migration over the past decade."

As for the event itself: YIMBY 2016 was hosted by Better Boulder, and featured "a pep rally, brainstorming session and call to arms" for the event's 150 activist-attendees, "all with the goal of making cities more affordable, equitable and even greener."

Stephens describes the YIMBY political ethos in more detail, especially as it manifested during the event, and addresses some of the tricky intellectual turf at play in the event's proceedings. For instance, white liberals populated the event, "though many attendees acknowledged a need to connect with minority and disadvantaged communities." Furthermore, "the uses and contradictions of capitalism hovered ominously in the background all weekend long."

Blogger Erica C. Barnett was also on hand at the event—providing a dispatch in the form of a storified stream of tweets.