How Ideology is getting in the way of good city building — Progressive cities have been telling themselves a myth for (at least) the last 20 years. Conjuring an identity based on virtue, and strengthened by a sort of moral superiority that looks down its nose at every other part of the country, large, prosperous, and blue cities have come to believe…

How America got to be so unaffordable, and what we can do to make it more affordable; An analysis of good-in-theory v. outcome based policies — America has been struggling through a crippling housing crisis for much of the last decade. Many may intuitively feel this, but the data is even starker than emotions suggest. Nearly half of all renters, amounting to 20 million households, are burdened by housing costs. 10 million renters are severely burdened…

And How Well Intentioned Policy Is Making It Worse — New York City is an expensive place to live. This much is obvious. But in the last 6 months as the city has emerged from the doldrums of Covid-19, this feels especially true. While there was a brief period between May of 2020 through the fall of 2021 where rents…

How Municipal Policy & Financial Incentives turned Main Street Into Chain Street — Walk down the Main Street of any city or town today and you might notice something off. It’s not that the roads are too wide (though they are), or that the sidewalks are too narrow (though they are, too), or even that there’s not much to walk towards (though this…

Debunking the myth that good design is too expensive — In popular discourse surrounding real estate development (outside of the narrow realms of Twitter), there seems to be a general acceptance that wherever possible, we should try to create more quality, beautiful places. From local observers, visitors passing through, and casual conversations among friends and family, this sentiment is consistent…

The need for hope in the future of our built environment — Most new places in America aren’t very good. This is both a common refrain, and an observable, subjective, reality. While I’d go so far as to call it an objective fact, for those who won’t, there’s little doubt that most of our new places leave much to be desired. Acres…

How restoring The Missing Middle can fix our polarized society — America is a land of polarity. We’re starkly divided by politics, religion, foreign affairs, public figures, art, and cultural touchstones. If there’s something that can be disputed, chances are two otherwise reasonable people will take either side of that argument. Depending on who one’s speaking with, things can come across…

A manifesto for developers of the built environment — When thinking about real estate, many might assume that it’s primarily a tangible financial instrument; a tool of speculation. That wealth building comes before the physical structure that underlies the investment. After all, this is what the loudest voices in the field today seem to say. People are drawn into…

In defense of the humble, but mighty, accessory dwelling unit — America is in the midst of a desperate housing crisis. While this, alarmingly, isn’t yet a reality broadly accepted by society, this reality is unyielding. Much like the state of climate change discourse a decade or two ago, the facts are incorruptible, and will continue to threaten our neighbors around…