Years ago Aaron Renn coined an urban paradigm that he labeled “the new donut.” The old donut, of course, is one that many of you will know well: poor downtown (hole in the donut) and wealthy suburbs (ring around the hole in the donut). This is… Read More
Whenever I’m not sure what to write about, I just read. That’s one of the big benefits of daily blogging – it forces me to do that. This morning I stumbled upon the blog of Jed Kolko. Jed is an economist and, up until 2015,… Read More
In 1933, the United States Congress created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). With foreclosures rising as a result of The Great Depression, the task of the agency was to provide new low-interest mortgages to both homeowners and private mortgage lenders. Between 1993 and 1936,… Read More
The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has just published a free book called, The Next Urban Renaissance: How Public-Policy Innovation and Evaluation Can Improve Life in America’s Cities. Here’s an excerpt from the foreword: This collection of essays brings together the best ideas from scholars… Read More
Yesterday the Washington Post published a great chart showing the housing types of the 40 largest cities, by population, in the US. The list is ordered from lowest to highest according to the percentage of single-family houses in the city (green bar). Here’s the chart:… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 