Aaron Lubeck
@aaron_lubeck
Builder. 🏘️🏚️🏨🏫 Restored 40+ historic buildings. Designed many more. Editor @southernurb. Faculty at @incdevalliance. "OnHousing" Blog | Subscribe ↘️
I remained shocked that California’s property tax system is constitutional.
You’ll never guess the assessed price of this home in San Francisco. Hint: it’s gonna make you puke.
This wishlist of changes could make it easier to build more beautiful and walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of importance by @chrisbarber, (with STATUS IN DURHAM✅|❌): _________________ 1. Remove parking minimums ✅ 2. Allow mixed‑use zoning city‑wide (ground‑floor…
With help from @Chris_Smeder, @JonathanHillis, @levin_phil, @devonzuegel, @damonhemmerding, @Cobylefko, @jansramek, @AustinTunnell and @davegordon14, I made this wishlist of changes that could make it easier to build more beautiful & walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of…
I love how, for years, suburbanist planners have used sleights of hand to exclude people without saying so out loud (parking, SFZ, density, etc). And now urbanists are using the same tactics, in reverse, to do the exact opposite.
Last week, Chicago passed an ordinance on a 50-0 vote that will transform housing development in the city. You can now build housing without parking on a majority of residential property in the city! Here's the interactive map misterclean.github.io/chicago-parkin…
In 1991, the 10 largest builders in America captured 9% of all closings. Today, it is 43%, and it is rising. The way we entitle projects is destroying localism.
Derek is correct. “Brain Atrophy” is a thing. Nowhere is the problem more acute than at our elite universities. I know a Duke professor who says that 20 years ago, they could assign 200 pages of reading per week, and now they’d be lucky if the kids read 25.
Yes. Writing is not a second thing that happens after thinking. The act of writing is an act of thinking. Writing *is* thinking. Students, academics, and anyone else who outsources their writing to LLMs will find their screens full of words and their minds emptied of thought.
Density drives tax value per acre. - @urbanthree The densest areas of #Raleigh/#Durham are tax revenue POSITIVE. The most sprawling areas of Raleigh/Durham are tax revenue NEGATIVE. If you are complaining about your property tax bill, you should be supporting density.
Imagine what Downtown Durham would look like today if all the buildings constructed in the last 20 years had continued the traditions of the city's industrial architecture. (It's nothing but modular brick)
I don’t see a single special-shape brick; everything is regular brick, just turned in different directions. Corbeling can be a powerful tool for creating low-maintenance exterior detailing.
Houses on smaller lots are less expensive. Houses on smaller lots make better use of infrastructure Houses on smaller lots permit density And smaller lots don’t prevent those who want bigger lots - or rural lots on govt land - from living there. They just create more…
No idea why anyone would want / desire SMALLER dwellings or lot sizes. (points 3,5,6,7).. Priority one.. free up government locked land for the citizens to live on.
Smaller houses on smaller lots
Houses on smaller lots are less expensive. Houses on smaller lots make better use of infrastructure Houses on smaller lots permit density And smaller lots don’t prevent those who want bigger lots - or rural lots on govt land - from living there. They just create more…
More journalists need to hold their profession accountable. Journalism is part of what Jane Jacobs called “Guardian culture.” Like the police, it is supposed to serve a regulatory function by acting neutrally and fairly. When it does not, it can be ruinous, especially when it…
"I watched as the goal of mainstream journalism shifted from describing reality to ushering readers to the correct political conclusion."
If you proposed Newberry in Durham, it would face a rabid opposition that would label it unsustainable, unaffordable, and ugly.
Dense, walkable, and mixed use, Downtown Newburyport began to take shape in the 1700s. It’s now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Imagine proposing Newburyport to Newburyport today…
Guess the country whose name starts with a V, ends with and M, and has no Appendix D.
Vietnam is the most exciting place in the world for high density, narrow plot architecture, and it's not even close.
Don't just sing it. Bring it.
The Raleigh area could one day have its own version of a whitewater center. bizjournals.com/triangle/news/…
This tweet shows how American land use regulation works. It consistently delivers the OPPOSITE of its intended effect. -Affordable housing policy encourages affordable housing builders to exit the market -Open space requirements encourage sprawl, which destroys open space…
It's funny how often Fair Housing Act accessibility requirements end up forcing developers to build non-accessible townhomes instead of condo buildings with some accessible units
