Urban density enhances productivity and vitality! One of the most detrimental political restrictions that still hamper urban productivity are arbitrary restrictions on the density of land use. Economic vitality and productivity gains concentrate in the major high-productivity communication hubs that are the word’s mega-cities and conurbations of today. In Western Europe and North America political planning impediments unduly constrain this tendency and thus restrict potential synergies and productivity gains. The major cities and high productivity conurbations like London, New York, and Silicon Valley would grow much denser were it not for the political impediments. Massive land and real estate price differentials between the central world cities and other cities and regions reveal both the productivity and desirability differentials on the one hand and political restrictions of supply in the centres on the other hand. Internal price differentials between land use categories within cities - like the gaping price difference between residential and office properties in London reveal how what is left of municipal planning is at odds with real requirements as expressed in market demand. Nimbyism is allowed to capture and instrumentalize political power for its special interests to the detriment of all. Even the beneficiaries of a nimbyism would benefit if nimbyism could be ruled out in general, as each little parochial nimby gain is undone by similar ‘gains’ elsewhere, leading to everybody’s loss. What does this loss consist in? Too many people remain stuckin the semi-productive conditions of the sub-urbs and provincial towns. This hurts everybody, not only those lingering in the provincial limbo.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 16:43:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015