Urban Studies and Planning | Open Access Articles

Powerpoint- Setback Speech, Michael Lewyn Jun 2017

Powerpoint- Setback Speech, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Setback regulations often require that all buildings be a certain amount of feet (usually about 25-50 feet from the street). As a result of these zoning rules, all destinations outside the most urban areas have to place either parking or useless green spaces between the street and a store, office building or residence.

I argue that these regulations make walking more difficult, for four reasons. First, pedestrians have to waste time walking through these empty spaces. Second, walking through a sea of parking is simply no fun. Pedestrians tend to enjoy shade and a sense of enclosure, so they …

Go to article

2015 Cnu Blog Posts, Michael Lewyn Dec 2016

2015 Cnu Blog Posts, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

My blog posts at the Congress for New Urbanism (cnu.org) website, obtained at archive.org. Unfortunately, a few posts (mostly from May) still have not been found.

Go to article

Does The Threat Of Gentrification Justify Restrictive Zoning?, Michael Lewyn Dec 2016

Does The Threat Of Gentrification Justify Restrictive Zoning?, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Historically, progressives have opposed restrictive zoning, arguing that by restricting the housing supply to high-end housing, zoning reduces the supply of housing available to lower-income Americans. But recently, some progressives have suggested that new market-rate housing facilitates gentrification and displacement of lower-income renters. This article critically examines that theory.

Go to article

Planetizen Blog Posts September-December 2017, Michael Lewyn Dec 2016