from Patrick McKenzie | by Patrick McKenzie

Two views from the street this morning. t.co/yguc5rfrPC

I suppose the laws of Twitter memes require me to say “This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in most American cities.”

This is unfortunately literally accurate. If you look at the buildings on the left, try to estimate their setback from the street, which starts as soon as blacktop does. My estimate is measured in centimeters. Requirement for Chicago in similar character zone would be 15 ft AFAIK

Anyhow, urban planning minutiae aside: a necessary precondition to having nice things is the will to have nice things. Note an explicit rejection of the notion that you enjoy a property right in nice things outside your actual property and can therefore exclude others.

There is a constituency for “Well sure the sakura and river are beautiful but if we make that area walkable it will attract undesirables and foreign tourists. Think of the impact on neighborhood character!” They just… lose the argument here.

(This is a subject much discussed in the neighborhood and while I do not have the franchise in broader Tokyo, to the limited extent that being on the register of deeds gives me a voice for a few centimeters of frontage, I say “Let there be nice things.”)