Like @danielkayhertz.bsky.social has said: there's no way Ald. Quezada's zoning review process is intended to create less affordable housing. But when you favor the loudest voices against new housing, you risk getting 9 less affordable units (and 47 less total) blockclubchicago.org/2026/05/06/a...

Last week, @urbanistcomic.bsky.social and I wrote about why it's important — and safe — to allow taller single-staircase apartments in Chicago, making it more viable to add density on the city's many old, narrow lots. citythatworks.substack.com/p/small-lots...

Zoning minimums do exist, and I wrote about them — inspired by discourse about teardowns and deconversions in Chicago! I think that they *can* work if super well-calibrated, but that’s easy to do wrong and we should be cautious with such policies. pencillingout.substack.com/p/can-we-boo...

today I went on a little walk in the part of Chicago that's seen the biggest change in neighborhood character, where in 2013 the dominant land use was multifamily housing to 2023 when single-family housing was the dominant land use

CHICAGO BLUESKY: who can name where this sandwich is from?

As a quick note: the study the IML is quoting is not of Chicago, but a national review. It’s this one: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

As IL cities fight statewide upzoning for more housing, they've cited 1 study of a Chicago upzoning that found weak supply and affordability effects. But @rsday.bsky.social asked @yonahfreemark.com himself: He says their interpretation is wrong, and large-scale upzonings can indeed be beneficial!

“Six Luxurious New Construction Single Family Homes” in Avondale, near the Belmont Blue Line As always, there's a zoning angle...

Chicago wears the fog quite well

They don’t make real estate and insurance signs like this anymore

many are saying

New from me: www.governing.com/urban/parkin... We’ve seen more progress on parking reform than I ever imagined. And yet, some of the places that could benefit from it the most (eh hem, NYC) are still hanging on to parking mandates.

Rolling out the green carpet

I'm excited to say that I'll be moving to Madison this fall to start a PhD in Real Estate & Urban Economics at University of Wisconsin! I'll be sad to leave Chicago after this summer, but can't wait to work on research with some great people at UW.

Wow, according to Anthony Quezada’s newsletter, the 35th Ward (mostly Logan Square) has already received 8 ADU applications since the new ordinance on Wednesday

I want to start out by saying that at its core this is a very human and relatable story about losing a place that held a lot of memories, and everyone has experienced that feeling… BUT **BUT!** www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Come for the vintage cartoons, stay for the discussions of the origins of zoning and height limits, downtown externalities, the empirical evidence on urban renewal's impacts, and more pencillingout.substack.com/p/when-ameri...

I wrote a long review of Fogelson's "Downtown," exploring downtowns' glory days and the start of their decline in the early 20th century. I also discuss the economic justifications for subsidizing downtowns, and whether we could have saved them at all. pencillingout.substack.com/p/when-ameri...

Something strange in the Feb. Georgetown Law "Abundance for Who" report: they barely mention that in 4 of the 6 high-growth metros they study, the number of housing units serving low income renters was *flat or growing* They focus so much on a declining share, but sometimes growth is positive-sum!

Alright, for all you sickos… the review is coming out tomorrow morning

Does it violate urbanist principles to say that I like the brickwork on the parking lot next to Second City

Absolutely lovely morning in the neighborhood. Many birds tweeting

This is a great example of how new luxury development disrupts the cycle of displacement via gentrification. To go w/ the overwhelming scientific evidence that new multifamily allows for filtering to occur in the housing market that reduces upward pressure on rents in existing buildings. 1/2

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Chicagoans sought to build a subway system to supplement or replace the El. Outer-district business interests (Logan Square, Englewood and elsewhere) saw it as a plot to boost downtown above other areas, and successfully crushed all attempts at building a subway

We’ve heard of property value collapse and the urban doom loop, but it makes sense that local sales tax revenues are also hit hard by WFH. Another potential post-COVID challenge for core cities

“The Smiths homed in on North Side neighborhoods incl. Bowmanville, Ravenswood and Lincoln Square… in those areas, ‘single-family homes are limited and highly sought after’… Homes listed around $800,000 or $900,000 would move fast and sell for well over $1 million.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

See you space cowboy…

Just came across this great piece in The Pub! @zyudhishthu.bsky.social

2 months after reading this I can confidently call it one of my favorite Chicago books I’ve read. Bellow’s depictions of frenzied life, in the tenement neighborhoods of Chicago’s old west side, constantly fill my head. I think of it as a far smokier, grimier, and chaotic time in the city

“44 affordable units” in Humboldt Park. Great! But, uh… “Hernandez said the development process has been very community driven. Based on feedback, they lowered the unit count…”

this is a great piece. i live right by a freeway and spend a lot of time walking and biking around other downtown-adjacent neighborhoods that used to all be connected until freeways came in and ruined it, so i think about the harms of them and what we lost often

Writing this essay was a really enjoyable change of pace from my usual type of writing. I got to write about my personal experiences, quote Robert Caro, and still briefly feature a few empirical research findings about the barrier effects of highways

I wrote an essay about how freeways divide our urban fabric (largely inspired by my personal experiences living a couple blocks from the Kennedy) pencillingout.substack.com/p/life-next-...

Because 2 and 3-flats are so beloved and iconic in Chicago, I get why deconversions will always receive so much attention. And it really is a slap in the face to see them knocked down for a $1 million+ house. Still, I agree with Steven that they receive a disproportionate amount of attention

Brilliant read that manages to connect Sim City, C. Thi Nguyen's philosophy of games, Seeing Like a State, and the California Forever movement to build a new city. Highly recommended lareviewofbooks.org/article/seei...

Over on twitter you can find the Twin Cities’s conservative newspaper columnist posting AI-generated photos of the Minneapolis skyline. It’s an interesting world!

How do I feel today? Like a falling clock tower. Elgin National Watch Company, founded in 1864 and the producer of 60 million watches during its 100-year history, was torn down in 1966 and today the site is a strip mall called Clock Tower Plaza.

If you’re looking for something to do in Chicago this evening you should come by Dovetail for a release party celebrating The Pub, a print-only Chicago publication. Have a beer, chat, and listen to some music and readings!

Another 50 degree day and some sprouts are visible… I feel it coming…

Alright Chicago Bluesky which of you are here tonight

I used to be a constant music-listener while walking or taking transit, but nowadays I almost never do. It's fun to be a part of the public!

Explaining walkable cities to an American: okay so imagine a burger

Bucktown on this foggy evening

“He’s looking at me, and said: ‘What are you talking about? If there was another stair, there wouldn’t be any room for the homes.’” - @holz-bau.bsky.social

Do you feel the single stair-mentum? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...

Ah, well..

Final weekend of canvassing before the election on March 17th means we go the extra mile. Thank you to all volunteers who came out to canvass in Lakeview for both my campaign and Mac LeBuhn running for IL State Rep. @chicagogrowthproj.bsky.social #chicago #illinois #election #vote #urbanism

I’m trying to write a review of this book, but I’m running into the problem that there are too many interesting things in the book. So my post is running way too long

It kind of feels like the downtown/office building hit from COVID “already happened.” But I didn’t realize that things might still be getting worse — the delinquency rate on office loans is higher than ever before www.wsj.com/real-estate/...