>>1009160> I really hate how quick and cheap new "mixed use" development is popping up in cities that we will regret 20 years down the road.You can hate it, but relaxing the regulations for housing materials can be instrumental in adding to housing stock quickly and keeping rents affordable. Seattle decided in the 80's and 90's to allow mid-rise developments with rebar foundations/first stories and wood-framed upper stories. The result was a plethora of bland, unoriginal buildings, but the housing stock was able to be increased rapidly, and the new buildings are offered across the income spectrum. The end effect is that the housing stock is keeping up rather well with explosive growth in the city, and the rent isn't exploding like in SF.
New York's taxes and housing restrictions, by contrast, have made it only feasible for developers to build luxury housing, which forces the city to raise taxes to fund rent control, which continues the death spiral.
Often urban planning is a lesson on what not to control.
