Upzoned

After the collapse of a Florida condo made national news in 2021, new safety regulations were enacted, requiring nearly 90% of Florida units to be updated. This left condo owners and buyers blindsided by a large backlog of deferred maintenance costs with no money saved to pay for them.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn explain that this situation is an example of the Growth Ponzi Scheme, where maintenance costs are hidden by rapid growth until they eventually come due and bury people or communities in debt. They discuss the effect deferred maintenance has on individuals and communities and explore possible paths forward.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Why Owning (and Buying) a Florida Condo Has ‘Turned Into a Nightmare’” by Julia Echikson, The New York Times (October 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by John Anderson, a builder and developer in Georgia, to discuss the Strong Towns take on “urban homesteading,” where cities sell derelict houses to people for $1 in exchange for a promise to renovate the property and live there for a period of time.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Can Selling Off Homes for $1 Solve Urban Blight?” by Rowan Bridge, BBC (October 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss managed retreat, where the federal government buys land from people to encourage them to move away from areas at high risk for natural disaster. According to the article, to actually move the necessary amount of people, the government needs to increase its efforts by a factor of 200.

Chuck and Abby talk about the issues with this method of natural disaster management, as well as other common approaches like rebuilding disaster areas to be more fortified, and share their thoughts on alternative responses to natural disasters.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Ways to help Western North Carolina, suggested by Local Conversations in the area:

  • Manna Food Bank.

  • North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.

  • Heart of the Foothills Animal Rescue.

  • Cajun Navy.

  • Beloved Asheville.

• “Retreating From the Coasts Makes Sense, But Our Current Approach Isn’t Working,” by Tim Robustelli and Yuliya Panfil, Shelterforce Magazine (August 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a national deployment plan of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, a wireless communication tool that allows vehicles to transmit data on speed, location, road condition and other basic information. The DOT plans to implement this technology in 75% of the nation's intersections over the next decade or so.

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Strong Towns Director of Community Action Edward Erfurt. They discuss how V2X technology works, the challenges and risks of implementing it, and the alternatives that cities can use to increase safety more quickly and cheaply.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The Moonshot Plan to Eliminate Deaths on America’s Roads” by Maria Clara Cobo and Fola Akinnibi, Bloomberg (September 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the article “Toward a New Way of Educating City Builders” by Seth Zeren, a founding member of Strong Towns. They discuss the many different disciplines that are responsible for shaping the built environment, the professional silos that often develop between these disciplines, and how a shift in management or the way people think about urban development as a whole could break down these barriers.

If you’d like to hear more of Zeren’s thoughts on city building, check out his appearances on The Bottom-Up Revolution.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “Toward a New Way of Educating City Builders” by Seth Zeren, Build the Next Right Thing (September 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by small-scale developers Alli Quinlan and Bernice Radle. They discuss their experiences in the field of incremental development, how to make incremental development more feasible in your city, and the importance of encouraging women to become incremental developers.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• Alli Quinlan (LinkedIn).

• Bernice Radle (LinkedIn).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss a Wall Street Journal article titled “The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most.” They talk about how inflation and high housing costs can put the American Dream out of reach for many people, as well as the trade-offs that people may be forced to make between different life priorities, such as career fulfillment and homeownership. They also explore the importance of strong community relationships in finding happiness.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most” by Rachel Wolfe, The Wall Street Journal (August 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

This week, Upzoned host Abby Newsham and The Messy City Podcast host Kevin Klinkenberg are working together in a special collaborative episode. They are joined by Jim Heid, a Californian landscape architect turned small-scale developer, to discuss the real estate profession and why he thinks it can solve a lot of modern problems.

Heid runs the Small Scale Developer Forum and has a new book called “Building Small: A Toolkit for Real Estate Entrepreneurs, Civic Leaders, and Great Communities.”

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• The Messy City Podcast.

• Jim Heid (site).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about the rapid population decline of children under five years old in large urban areas. They discuss the factors that can drive would-be urban families out of cities, how the rapidly declining population will affect services like schools and the importance of cities being able to accommodate diverse lifestyles in a dynamic way.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• “The Urban Family Exodus Is a Warning for Progressives,” by Derek Thompson, The Atlantic (August 2024).

• Abby Newsham (X/Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter/X).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.