America's fastest-growing suburbs are about to get expensive

The article is mostly about a lack dense housing in the sunbelt. Two chunks:

By rigidly defining what a community is allowed to look like, suburban zoning has done more than simply shape the physical form of our cities. It has also made it all but impossible for many communities to adapt and grow, as human societies always have, which has created severe distortions in housing markets.

and

There’s no shortage of wonky policy ideas about how to fix housing in the US — and they go far beyond just zoning codes (you don’t want to hear me get started on building codes or impact fees). We will also need a society-wide paradigm shift beyond policy: The financial and real estate industries will need to relearn models for supporting incremental densification, which, experts consistently told me, have fallen by the wayside since the entrenchment of sprawl and restrictive zoning.

Personally, I'd like to see more towns where there's dense housing within walking distance of the mega strip mall... though some of those strips are too big for realistic pedestrian commuting.

2 comments

Wait….. You guys are telling me there was cheap suburbs to buy after 2020 hit and only now they are gonna get expensive?
The article is mostly about a lack dense housing in the sunbelt. Two chunks:
By rigidly defining what a community is allowed to look like, suburban zoning has done more than simply shape the physical form of our cities. It has also made it all but impossible for many communities to adapt and grow, as human societies always have, which has created severe distortions in housing markets.
and
There’s no shortage of wonky policy ideas about how to fix housing in the US — and they go far beyond just zoning codes (you don’t want to hear me get started on building codes or impact fees). We will also need a society-wide paradigm shift beyond policy: The financial and real estate industries will need to relearn models for supporting incremental densification, which, experts consistently told me, have fallen by the wayside since the entrenchment of sprawl and restrictive zoning.
Personally, I'd like to see more towns where there's dense housing within walking distance of the mega strip mall... though some of those strips are too big for realistic pedestrian commuting.