Urban Development: Can YIMBYs Persuade NIMBYs to Become MIMBYs?

When many of us hear “no” we double down until we get a “yes” or at least a “maybe” response.  After years of discussions on development being drowned out by the often knee-jerk Not-in-My-Backyard NIMBYs, the YIMBYs are gathering their voice.

“Yes in My Backyard” is a movement that advocates for intelligent urban design that increases density, multi-income housing, public transit, and the resulting ubiquitous walking/biking urban “scene” of more mature cities like New York or Chicago.

In fact, YIMBY goals are really a throwback to how towns and cities used to operate before sprawl and economic xenophobia took root.  Even their term “urban village” harkens to the pre-automobile days when limited transportation required basic living needs to be centralized.  The natural outcome of centralization is proximity to housing that serves the myriad of people supporting those clustered services … from wealthy to worker. For example, the doctor purchased from the grocer who in turn was treated by the doctor.

Xenophobia is a fear of anyone viewed as different.  Economic Xenophobia is the fear of the economically different. Both conditions are often the result of being shielded within social bubbles containing a single viewpoint, type or class of people.

YIMBY’s are about gathering the building blocks of a vibrant core versus spreading everything out.  As we enter the dog days of summer in Texas, think of as believing a plunge into a deep pool is more refreshing than splashing your feet in a large reflecting pond of warm ankle-deep water.

Texas, with cheap land, lots of oil and no significant natural boundaries, is a poster child for “drive until you can afford it” sprawl.  Outside tight urban cores, Texas cities are a flatscape of one- to three-story buildings punctuated by the occasional zit of taller buildings.  Between I-35E, I-45/US 75, I-30 and Woodall Rodgers, the Dallas urban core has its head in a noose of highways that’s only recently leached into Uptown and the Cedars.

YIMBYs Gather

Recently Boulder, Colo., hosted the first YIMBY conference that brought together 150 neighborhood representatives from cities as diverse as Auckland to Austin.  There were some interesting takeaways that may interest Dallas.

One Seattle-based presenter summed up that city’s problems with a single sentence.  “Seattle is adding 40 new people a day, 35 jobs and … 12 homes.” I wonder what Dallas’ numbers would be?

Another presenter noted that, “No fast-building city is expensive, no expensive city builds.”  On this slide, the vertical axis is the average cost per square foot of residential housing in 2015 while the horizontal axis plots a city’s average annual residential building permits since 1990 (I can’t read the scale, but it’s not 80 as the maximum, perhaps a factor of 10 or 100?).  At any rate, we see Manhattan in the WAY upper left at $1,800 per square foot and very few building permits. At the other end, we see Austin, Houston and Dallas suburbs grouped with Phoenix and Las Vegas as having issued a ton of building permits (comparatively) while averaging under $200 per square foot (burbs, not urban core).

Demonstrating sprawl, we see Atlanta’s footprint on the left and Barcelona, Spain’s on the right.  Both have similar populations of 2.5 and 2.8 million respectively.  Yet, Barcelona occupies 162 square kilometers (58 square miles) while Atlanta sprawls over 4,280 square kilometers (1,652 square miles). Not surprisingly, Atlanta belches out 10 times the transit-related CO2 emissions as Barcelona.

Having traversed both cities during rush hour, I can comfortably say that I’m well into my third cocktail overlooking the Mediterranean while Atlanta commuters are still swearing at their steering wheel.

Another idea that’s often missed is the concept of scale.  Often single-family homeowners are faced with looming high-rises uncomfortably close by. This presenter spoke about the “Missing Middle” of gradually increasing height so that no building felt overshadowed by a hugely taller neighbor.

In some areas of Dallas there are residential setback requirements that help shape this discussion and limit severe height differentials.

The Stereotypes

I include these observations not to take away from the YIMBY discussion, but rather to inform it.  Certainly I was not the only person to make these observations.  For the movement to take root, it needs to minimize its blind spots.

As “incorrect” as it is to give life to stereotypes, they do have a basis in fact. Like many movements preaching inclusion and diversity, YIMBY membership heavily skews towards college-educated, higher-incomed, male Caucasians (hellooo, Fair Park).  While few, there were more women than at the average tech conference, but pretty much zero minorities (women are technically the majority).

Highlighting the testosterone imbalance, one session was even titled, “Men, Shut-up.”  Of course a session titled “Quiet, Caucasians” would seemingly have been a silent meditation.  If you want to advocate for inclusion and diversity you must be inclusive and diverse.

YIMBYs also tend to be young people who want something (although there were retirees present).  Specifically, housing appropriate and affordable to local workers (particularly in cities where population growth outpaces new housing), high-service neighborhoods with activity space and carless transit options. Not quite the tie-dyed hippie of yore, but idealistically not far off.  This should be unsurprising as youthful enthusiasm, unencumbered by the past and willing to explore new options, has long been the incubator of new ideas.  From an urban engineering perspective, that’s as it should be.  After all, they’re the ones who will have to live longest with the outcomes.

NIMBYs are assumed to be older, conservative people who want to protect what they built. Interestingly, the conference exposed this as a partial myth.  Sure, there is study after study elucidating how we all get more resistant to change (set in our ways) as we age.  However, it was also reported that some of the fiercest opposition to YIMBY-ism has come from free-thinking, liberal university towns like Berkeley, Calif., and Cambridge, Mass.  It seems that even in areas containing vast numbers of people who likely know what’s “right,” there’s still a strong current of “not right here.”

Summary

Dallas needs more housing. The most sustainable way to build  will be housing affordable to local workers in a variety of professions and income bands that is near transit to minimize commuting and near social activities that encourage less driving.  In other words, the average city of 100 years ago except with Wifi, Starbucks, and an “authentic” farm-to-table burger joint.

The only way that’s going to happen is if NIMBYs can listen to YIMBYs and reach a consensus of Maybe In My Backyard.

Remember:  High-rises, HOAs and renovation are my beat. But I also appreciate modern and historical architecture balanced against the YIMBY movement.  If you’re interested in hosting a Candysdirt.com Staff Meeting event, I’m your guy. In 2016, my writing was recognized with Bronze and Silver awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.  Have a story to tell or a marriage proposal to make?  Shoot me an email [email protected].