#YIMBY
More on the Menlo Park residents trying to cancel new housing to preserve surface parking lots in their downtown. This is exactly why California has a housing affordability and homeless problem
This rich California city is losing its mind over a housing project — and it shows why new rules are needed
#urbanism #transit #yimby #NIMBYism #housing #california
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/emilyhoeven/article/menlo-park-affordable-housing-20390001.php
"That’s why this election must be a housing election.
Not just a housing subsidy election. Not just a crime-and-cleanup election. But a serious reckoning with how we regulate, restrict, and delay housing in this city and what it would mean to truly unlock our land for people, not just cars and asphalt."
Nothing is built until it's built but forward movement on three different 700-800 unit housing developments in Montreal in three days, all overdue transformations of their sites, is encouraging. #YIMBY
New US Census Bureau tool shows where new housing was added from 2020 to 2024, down to the census block!
My walkable neighborhood; where neighborhood shops are allowed to exist.
#Africa #Madagascar #Antananarivo #Malagasy #Ambatobe #Urbanism #15MinuteCity #CarsRuinCities #Walkability #WalkableCities #PeopleOverCars #YIMBY #Photography #OriginalPhoto #HalfHeartedFanatic
https://www.slowboring.com/p/where-should-new-cities-go
@mattyglesias.bsky.social
Check out my #solarpunk #novel "A New Faith" < https://tinjar.ghost.io > for at least one location for a viable new #city.
#climatefiction #sciencefiction #climatechange #adaptation #migration #bookstodon #yimby
www.slowboring.com/p/where-shou...
@mattyglesias.bsky.social
Check out my #solarpunk #novel "A New Faith" < tinjar.ghost.io > for at least one location for a viable new #city.
#climatefiction #sciencefiction #climatechange #adaptation #migration #booksky #yimby
Where should new cities go?
And it looks like more transit-oriented developments are moving forward in southwest Sydney with the opening of the southwest metro line. The local Council has opened consultation on higher density in Punchbowl and Wiley Park:
https://haveyoursay.cbcity.nsw.gov.au/planning-punchbowl-and-wiley-park-village-centres?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social #nswpol #urbanism #sydney #yimby
Vilket lyft det har skett i stadsbyggandet i Göteborg! Jämför dagens planer med hur det såg ut för 15 år sedan. Då dominerade funktionsseparerade modernismpastischer, nu
byggs det för varierad, levande och vacker blandstad.
Vad ville man bygga 2024?
https://gbg.yimby.se/2025/04/vad-ville-man-bygga-2024_4223.html
This aligns pretty well with how I view #yimby and why I use the term to describe myself.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/yimby-abundance-power-housing/
"...he said he’s been rattled watching councilmembers defer to 'councilmanic courtesy,' the practice that encourages members to support land-use decisions made by fellow councilmembers....'What it says is, unless you know somebody,' Stewart said, 'you can’t really do business here.'” #YIMBY
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hthuff5urhxqibwlmqedlrlk/post/3lnuk4zjpz32l
The NIMBYs are out in force in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. They want to stop denser transit-oriented developments near the future Suburban Rail Loop metro station in Burwood:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gardiners-creek-is-a-rare-slice-of-urban-bush-the-government-wants-to-build-20-storey-towers-on-its-bank-20250424-p5lty9.html
"Friends of Gardiners Creek Reserve Burwood committee member Tammie Zarro said she was worried about the impacts of lost sunlight on trees and the effects of lighting, wind and noise on wildlife.
"Zarro also feared the creek would struggle to cope with a large rise in stormwater flow, compounded by plans to build a concrete cycling path along the creek."
For those who aren't familiar with this section of Gardiners' Creek, it is bisected by the six-lane Burwood Highway.
It also passes through the Burwood Campus of Deakin University, which has large open air car parks.
You know what else contributes to fast storm water flow?
Six-lane highways and open air car parks!
And just a reminder that cities without cars are quiet. Because cities aren't noisy, cars are noisy.
I will guarantee you that Burwood Hwy is responsible for far more noise pollution than these apartments will.
And likewise, you know what creates a lot if light pollution that disturbes wildlife? Street lights on highways anf flood lights in car parks.
Now, if you want to get rid of the negative environmental impacts of major roads, the best thing you can do is to get more people living in apartments near train stations. Which means fewer people living in suburban housing estates that funnel cars on to Burwood Hwy.
#auspol #vicpol #urbanism #trains #rail #yimby
Insightful long-read about the urban renewal program that's transformed Parramatta into the main central business district for Western Sydney: https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/it-was-once-sydney-s-neglected-outpost-then-came-the-developers-20250411-p5lr3g.html #auspol #planning #urbanism #yimby
From an urban planning perspective, Parra is an interesting case study about retrofitting a new downtown area and high-rise business district in what was previously a suburban area.
"Until 2009, Parramatta had one tall office tower, housing the council. Today, there are dozens of office and residential high rises, the tallest of which stretches to 225 metres. The development has cemented its promise as Sydney’s second CBD: it follows only the Sydney CBD for office floor space.
…
"Sydney’s original CBD was too far east to be reached each day by workers in the west, he argued. Presentations to government claimed that half a million people were passing Parramatta each day on the train as they travelled to Sydney for work. Soon more people are expected to live west of Parramatta than east of it.
…
"Parramatta’s boom is far from finished. The council has approved developments for 30,000 new dwellings in the financial year to date, according to ABS data, making it by far the top approver of housing in the country.
"The second stage of the Parramatta Light Rail is yet to begin construction, and the Metro West project, connecting Sydney’s CBD to Westmead, is slated to open by 2032.
"Construction on the Powerhouse Parramatta, located on the former site of the historic Willow Grove, is expected to be completed this year, followed by the redeveloped Riverside Theatres in 2028. The Civic Link, a pedestrianised “green spine” connecting Parramatta Square to the Powerhouse, is also on the cards for Parramatta’s future."
There's a housing crisis. So redeveloping an old factory on Parramatta Rd, near the future Five Dock metro station, into apartments should be a no-brainer.
Unless you're Inner West Council: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developers-want-to-build-1100-apartments-two-sydney-councils-are-alarmed-20250415-p5lryv.html #auspol #nswpol #planning #yimby #urbanism
"An inner Sydney council is fighting a mammoth $880 million proposal to build more than 1000 apartments beside Parramatta Road, arguing the towers would overshadow houses on the opposite side of the busy thoroughfare, despite the development sitting outside the council’s boundaries.
"The Inner West Council has objected to property giant Deicorp’s plan to build 1185 homes, including 219 affordable housing units, in six towers up to 31 storeys between Parramatta Road and Queens Road in Five Dock.
…
"the Inner West Council is complaining that the suburb of Croydon, south of Parramatta Road, would be “significantly impacted” by the Kings Bay Village project, which includes units, offices, shops, a recreational facility and a public park between the future Five Dock and Burwood metro stations.
…
"The council also said the estimated 2175 residents who would eventually live in the apartment complex would “significantly increase demand for public transportation services, potentially compromising the current service levels enjoyed by the existing population”."
The whole point of the Sydney Metro West, which is currently under construction, is to encourage more apartments within walking distance of the new train stations.
And if having a nearby Metro station is not enough, then the answer is to push for light rail along Parramatta Rd.
If more people have homes and catch public transport, that's a *good thing*.
And amenity to Croydon residents?! Parramatta Rd is a six lane stroad with many light industrial buildings, many abandoned, along its length.
I guarantee you that local amenity will improve.
Seriously.
The Northern Beaches and Ku-ring-gai Councils might be notorious for their NIMBYism, but Inner West is definitely up there too.
“But CEQA reform is necessary in order to solve the housing crisis.”
I'm glad that there are CA Democrats finally willing to take the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) head on. CEQA has been so weaponized and badly abused by numerous special interest groups that it needs to be massively reformed. Nipping around the edges isn't going to cut it. I'd even go so far that CEQA should be gutted.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/04/20/environmental-law-california-unions-housing/
Via https://cityobservatory.org/week-obs_2025_apr11/
#CityObservatory #HousingCrisis #Urbanism #Vanderbilt #Yimby
The problems with building more housing and making more of everything to improve the economy.
YIMBY & WIMBY vs NIMBY
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/02/the-problem-with-abundance/
Meanwhile, in Cambridge, MA, a housing crisis has prompted a significant change: a new zoning reform allows for buildings up to six stories! Will Doig reports it’s the most comprehensive citywide rezoning in the U.S.