But! It didn’t last. The new policy became a key focus for anti-development campaigners in a fiercely fought mayoral election, and the newly elected mayor repealed it just four years after it was announced. With that, the small densification projects came to an abrupt halt.
So what lessons do we take from this? I think it’s useful to compare the Croydon experience with the approaches used in places like Houston and Auckland NZ, or even Tel Aviv (see below) x.com/s8mb/status/17…
So what lessons do we take from this? I think it’s useful to compare the Croydon experience with the approaches used in places like Houston and Auckland NZ, or even Tel Aviv (see below) x.com/s8mb/status/17…
The key to the lasting success of urban densification schemes seems to be their flexibility. Houston allowed individual neighbourhoods to opt-out of densification (most didn’t), Auckland focused its upzoning around transit, leaving some historic neighbourhoods exempt.
The way I think about it, the ideal policy here should: • Allow homeowners to choose modest densification (high quality, attractive rebuilds up to 3-4 storeys) by-right, as the default • Incorporate flexibility so locals feel they have a say short of resorting to wholesale veto
Here’s my column again in full, where I delve more onto what has worked well in other cities: ft.com/content/de34df…
And here’s some further reading on the topic, starting with @AnyaM8_’s article on how Houston has grown not just by sprawling outwards, but by allowing people to add more units to city-centre plots worksinprogress.co/issue/houston-…
Here’s @_westerlywinds and Marko Garlick on how Auckland made its upzoning policies work, and crucially how it made them resilient to political change worksinprogress.co/issue/upzoning…
Here’s another fascinating example from Tal Alster x.com/s8mb/status/17…
Here’s another fascinating example from Tal Alster x.com/s8mb/status/17…
And finally, for those who insist London doesn’t have the space for these sorts of developments, here’s a great new report from @Ben_A_Hopkinson & @Sam_Dumitriu, featuring @russellcurtis, identifying the low-hanging fruit for densifying Britain’s capital britainremade.co.uk/getlondonbuild…
@Ben_A_Hopkinson @Sam_Dumitriu @russellcurtis Addendum: The always interesting @ianmulheirn has responded with a fresh analysis of CA vs TX using different data, and he reaches a different conclusion: CA’s higher house prices are due to its much higher incomes (and faster income growth), not to tighter supply. Discuss!
@Ben_A_Hopkinson @Sam_Dumitriu @russellcurtis Addendum: The always interesting @ianmulheirn has responded with a fresh analysis of CA vs TX using different data, and he reaches a different conclusion: CA’s higher house prices are due to its much higher incomes (and faster income growth), not to tighter supply. Discuss!
@EcoLogicalNet @jburnmurdoch @Ben_A_Hopkinson @Sam_Dumitriu @russellcurtis @ianmulheirn @EcoLogicalNet Namaste, please find the unroll here: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1760995… Enjoy :) 🤖