David Brooks had an extremely insightful column last week in the NY Times on what Americans are looking for in their ideal living environment. I liked the opening in particular: You may not know it to look at them, but urban planners are human and have dreams. One dream many share is that Americans ...

As I've explained before, the real point of Austin's Vertical Mixed Use ordinance is to open up more property to multi-family development.  There is precious little land set aside for that purpose in central Austin.  Neighborhood interiors are reserved for single family -- aside ...

Some miscellaneous smaller items this morning: Marginal Revolution has a post on zoning in NYC, with lots of comments on Houston (use your browser search to find them - Edit menu, 'Find in this page'). " Yes, I am opposed to many forms of zoning. Without zoning our cities would be denser, more eco-f...

A recent article in New York magazine by Clive Thompson called "Why New Yorkers Last Longer" pulls together some intriguing facts that anyone interested in walkable, mixed use, mixed income communities should consider. The article, as the title suggests, explores why the "average life expectancy" of...