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0 pointsjseliger12y ago0 comments

Berlin is rapidly gentrifying, there's a R.E. bubble going on, poorer people are being pushed out of the city

This is true in lots of fun cities, primarily because it's so hard to build new housing stock—which is a Bad Thing, as Matthew Yglesias describes in The Rent is Too Damn High. Britain is suffering from a variant of the "no building" problem too: http://www.buzzfeed.com/dlknowles/britains-dysfunctional-pro... : "Construction started on just 107,000 new homes in England last year. Excluding World War II, that’s the lowest figure since the 1920s."

The solution to "gentrification" and what not is "building new dwellings," which we know how to do very effectively (elevators and steel are century-old technologies). The problem is regulatory / political.

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drob12y ago

It's not quite that simple. Building up can ruin the character of the neighborhood, which is often a big part of the allure.

I do think we're chronically underbuilding in a lot of places (SF being an extreme example), but the existence of steel and elevators is not a panacea for the "gentrification problem".

anoncowherd12y ago

> Building up can ruin the character of the neighborhood, which is often a big part of the allure.

Well then, less allure would lead to lower prices, right? What's not to like?

marvin12y ago

That's all well and good. But all the wealthy people who already live there will probably use their political clout to prevent new construction.

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jseligerOP12y ago

It's not quite that simple. Building up can ruin the character of the neighborhood, which is often a big part of the allure.

I don't think I've ever seen an example of this reflected in prices. Do you know of any, or of any studies of this phenomenon?

jcrites12y ago

I don't know if this is a great example, but: http://www.leavenworth.org/

It's sort of a Bavarian themed down-town and city in Washington state. Its allure and attraction to tourists depends on its theme.

I say I don't know if it's a great example because I have no direct evidence about prices, but I assume the reasonable volume of tourists and business must raise prices compared to other cities.

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