New Zealand has proven what stateside housing advocates have been theorizing for years: Loosening restrictive zoning rules can increase housing supply and stabilize rents.
Yeah, you need coordinated planning, e.g. careful zoning so that there are enough shops, public transport links, etc. in each neighbourhood.
That said, this article is mostly about slightly increasing density to allow townhouses etc., which is still generally low density (not even medium density). Plenty of these places still have yards, gardens, even lawns. We’ve just traditionally built way way too low density. There’s no good argument not too increase our density to those minimal levels, given the problems we face in pretty much every city in NZ. Any opposition is basically pure nimby-ism.
Yeah, you need coordinated planning, e.g. careful zoning so that there are enough shops, public transport links, etc. in each neighbourhood.
That said, this article is mostly about slightly increasing density to allow townhouses etc., which is still generally low density (not even medium density). Plenty of these places still have yards, gardens, even lawns. We’ve just traditionally built way way too low density. There’s no good argument not too increase our density to those minimal levels, given the problems we face in pretty much every city in NZ. Any opposition is basically pure nimby-ism.