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 :) 🤖