Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

2018 July-December Market Urbanism Blog Posts, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The False Hope Of Comprehensive Planning, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some commentators on sprawl and smart growth speak of municipal comprehensive plans and sprawl as polar opposites: but in fact, a comprehensive plan can be used to further auto-oriented sprawl just as easily as it can be used to encourage more pedestrian-friendly development. This speech uses parts of Jacksonville, Florida's plan as examples of pro-sprawl planning.

Judaism And Urbanism: Jewish Communities React To Suburbanization, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

This speech addresses both how Jews should react to suburbanization and how they in fact have reacted in a variety of metropolitan areas.

Why Leave It To The Liberals? Conservative Views On Smart Growth, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Part of panel discussion on "Why Leave It To The Liberals? Conservative Views on Smart Growth"

Sprawl In Canada And The United States, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The purpose of this Article is to ascertain whether (1) suburban sprawl is as widespread in Canadian metropolitan areas as in their American counterparts, and (2) Canadian government policies, and in particular Canadian zoning law and transportation policies, encourage sprawl. The article concludes that Canadian metropolitan areas are in fact somewhat less sprawling than most of their American counterparts, but that in Canada, as in the United States, government land use regulation and government transportation policy do favor sprawl to some extent. For example, in both nations municipal zoning regulations, by limiting density and forcing landowners to build parking lots, …

Two Cheers For Instant Runoff Voting, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

In multicandidate elections, an unpopular candidate can often win with a minority of the vote if his or her opponents split their votes among several candidates. To solve this problem, some commentators have endorsed instant runoff voting (IRV). Under IRV, voters rank their choices, and the choices of the weaker candidates would be distributed among the leaders. As a result, a candidate who has a plurality of votes but is opposed by the majority of the electorate would be less likely to prevail. Most law-related scholarship on IRV has either strongly endorsed or strongly opposed IRV. This article, by contrast, …

Judaism And Sprawl, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A speech explaining the relationship between suburban sprawl, Jewish values and Jewish observance.

Regulated Into Automobile Dependence: How City Hall Mandates Sprawl And What Planners Can Do About It, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A brief (about 20-minute) speech explaining why government regulation promotes automobile-dependent development.

Alternative Learning Formats In A Land Use Seminar, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A symposium piece on my use of field trips and guest speakers in my seminar on sprawl and the law.

Sprawl In Canada And The United States (Powerpoint), Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

PowerPoints for a speech explaining that sprawl in Canada is (1) less extensive than in the USA and (2) caused partially by government regulation.

Alternative Learning Formats In A Land Use Seminar, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A discussion of my use of field trips and guest speakers in my seminar on sprawl and the law.

What Would Coase Do? (About Parking Regulation), Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

American municipalities typically require landowners to provide visitors and guests with ample amounts of parking, in order to prevent externalities such as cruising (drivers wasting gasoline and polluting the air while searching for scarce parking). However, minimum parking requirements may create social harms that outweigh this benefit. By artificially increasing the supply of parking, minimum parking requirements effectively subsidize driving, thus increasing rather than decreasing pollution and congestion.

Sprawl In Canada And The United States, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain (1) whether suburban sprawl is as widespread in Canadian metropolitan areas as in their American counterparts, and (2) whether Canadian government policies, and in particular Canadian municipal land use and transportation policies, encourage sprawl. The thesis concludes that sprawl is less widespread in two respects. First, Canadian central cities have not declined to the same extent as American central cities. Second, urban and suburban Canadians are less dependent on automobiles than are Americans. The thesis goes on to point out that in Canada, as in the United States, government land use and …

Public Transit: Myth And Reality, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Rebuts myth that public transit is inherently unpopular by pointing out that where development is compact and streets are walkable, transit ridership tends to be higher.

Keep It Local, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Criticizes state-imposed limits on local taxation on the ground that state governments have no legitimate interest in setting local tax rates.

A Tale Of Two School Systems, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Explains that suburban schools are more popular than urban schools primarily due to their more socially homogenous student bodies, and suggests that urban school systems seek to retain students through expanded magnet school programs.

Sprawl In Europe And America, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Rebuts the "Inevitability Theory of Sprawl"- the common argument that anti-sprawl policies would be futile in the United States because sprawl has grown even in Europe. Although Europeans are far more likely to travel on foot, bike or public transit than Americans, some commentators argue that these realities are irrelevant because European cities are trending towards sprawl- that is, that Europeans are far more likely to live in suburbs and drive to work than they once did.

This article argues that the European "trend to sprawl" is in the process of reversing itself. Over the past decade, some European cities …

The Road Not Taken, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Defends Jacksonville's annexation of its Duval County suburbs, and compares Jacksonville's post-annexation fate with that of less elastic southern cities.

Circular Logic, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Criticizes cul-de-sacs on the ground that they detract from neighborhood walkability, and proposes a variety of alternatives.

Lots Of It, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Criticizes municipal minimum parking requirements.

Pedestrian Safety Is Not A Tort, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

In recent decades, American state and local highway officials have built wide streets and roads designed primarily to accommodate high-speed automobile traffic. However, such high-speed streets are more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists than streets with slower traffic, and thus fail to adequately accommodate nondrivers. Government officials design streets for high-speed traffic partially because of their fear of tort liability. An influential street engineering manual, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ “Green Book”, has generally favored the construction of such high-speed streets, and transportation planners fear that if they fail to follow the Green Book’s recommendations, they …

Why Pedestrian-Friendly Street Design Is Not Negligent, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

American streets are typically designed for fast automobile traffic. As a result, those streets are often dangerous for pedestrians.

In part, the anti-pedestrian design of American streets is a result of transportation planners' perceptions of American tort law. In negligent street design cases, courts and juries sometimes rely upon guidelines set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), a national association of government transportation officials. Because AASHTO's street-design rules have historically favored wide streets built to accommodate high-speed traffic, planners sometimes assume that in order to avoid liability, they must do the same.

The purpose of …

How Government Regulation Forces Americans Into Their Cars: A Case Study, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Shows how zoning law in Jacksonville contributes to automobile dependence.

Planners Gone Wild: The Overregulation Of Parking, Michael E Lewyn, Shane Cralle

Michael E Lewyn

A review of Donald Shoup's book, The High Cost of Free Parking (to be published in William Mitchell Law Review).

How City Hall Causes Sprawl - A Case Study, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A book review addressing the city of Atlanta's pro-sprawl transportation, zoning and urban renewal policies.

Sprawl, Growth Boundaries And The Rehnquist Court , Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

This article addresses the constitutionality and wisdom of Oregon's urban growth boundary (UGB) program. The article concludes that the program is constitutional under current precedent, and that (contrary to claims made by UGB critics) there is little evidence that the UGB has caused Oregon's runup in housing prices. On the other hand, UGB supporters may have exaggerated the UGB's positive environmental results.

"Thou Shalt Not Put A Stumbling Block Before The Blind": The Americans With Disabilities Act And Public Transit For The Disabled, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ordered local governments to make bus and train systems more accessible to the disabled. The ADA imposed costly requirements upon local public transit systems but did not give local governments funds with which to satisfy this mandate. By reducing the funds available to transit systems, the ADA has sometimes forced cutbacks in transit service for everyone (including, ironically, the disabled to the extent that disabled people were able to use public transit before the ADA's enactment). Thus, the ADA has occasionally been counterproductive.

The root cause of the ADA's inadequacy is that the ADA …

Parents' Attempts At 'Protection' Do Children No Favors In Long Run, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some parents keep their children locked up inside Mommy's car and house until they learn to drive, fearing that their children will not be safe outside. But car accidents have killed far more children than pedophiles - a fact which suggest that the dangers of too little freedom may exceed the dangers of too much freedom.