In its 8 December 2001 issue, National Journal selected The Public Purpose as one of the top
four transportation web sites. Also honored were two US Department of Transportation sites and the site of the Surface Transportation
Policy Project. Demographia is the demographic Internet affiliate of The Public Purpose. The Public Purpose was again named one of the
internet's best transport sites by National Journal in 2003.
WENDELL COX IN PARIS ASSIGNMENT
Visiting Professor in Transport &
Demographics in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009
Wendell Cox (principal of The Public Purpose and Demographia) served as a
visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM) in Paris in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. This French national
university has approximately 80,000 students and grants degrees to the doctoral level. It is in the core of Paris
(3rd Arrondissement) at the Arts and Metiers Metro station and was established in the former Abbaye de St. Martin-des-Champs during the
French Revolution. Mr. Cox has presented seminars and classes on U.S. and international
public transport,
intercity rail (including Amtrak), freight transport and world urban areas in Paris and Le Havre and conducted
research on French and European demographics and transport. He also lectured at the University of Paris Institute of Urbanism and Politecnico di Milano.
8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
PRESERVING THE IDEAL OF A PROPERTY OWNING DEMOCRACY
325 Markets: Australia . Canada . China (Hong Kong) . Ireland . New Zealand .
United Kingdom . United States
Least Affordable: Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, UK,
Hong Kong, Vancouver, Sydney
Prof. Robert Bruegmann notes that Residential real estate plays a huge and increasingly important role in the economy of
every nation. He continues that a growing number of people who have looked at the figures have tended to agree that a
good many well-meaning policies involving housing may be pushing up prices to such an extent that the negative side-effects are
are more harmful than the problems the policies were intended to correct. This 8th edition shows improvements in many markets, but
some, like Hong Kong, Vancouver and Sydney continue to be exhorbitantly expensive. The association between higher house prices and more
restrictive land use regulation is clear, as is the conclusion that urban consolidation or smart growth is incompatible with affordable housing.
7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
HOW OVERLY RESTRICTIVE LAND-USE POLICIES DENY HOME OWNERSHIP
325 Markets: Australia . Canada . Ireland . New Zealand .
United Kingdom . United States . China (Hong Kong)
Renown author Joel Kotkin notes that even after the bursting of the housing bubble implosion, house prices have
risen well above incomes, in his introduction to the 7th edition. Kotkin cites markets such as Los Angeles, San Francisco,
and New York, adding that: perhaps most remarkable has been the shift in Australia, once the exemplar of
modestly priced, high quality middle class housing, to now the most unaffordable housing market...
He disputes "progressives" who wrongly claim that dense urbanism is the preference of the next generation... He says this promotes
a form of neo-feudalism which reverses the great social achievement of dispersing property ownership.
Kotkin concludes that:
The ideal ... should not ... be affordability alone but affordability coupled with economic growth and that broad based
middle class prosperity depends in large part on housing affordability, and may do even more so in the future.
Media Release .
Research Summary: Smart Growth & Housing Costs
6th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
PLAN-DRIVEN LAND USE REGULATION: MAKING HOUSING UNAFFORDABILITY PUBLIC POLICY
272 Markets in Australia . Canada . Ireland . New Zealand .
United Kingdom . United States
Dr. Tony Recsei, President of Save Our Suburbs (SOS) in Sydney writes home ownership has been a source of boundless
opportunity in his introduction to the 6th Edition. He says that urban planning policies are poised to reduce
home ownership to nothing more "but a dream as vast numbers of young people and the underprivileged will never be able to raise
a family within the security of their own home. Dr. Recsei systematically rebuts the notion that sustainability requires densification
and concludes Unless we are vigilant, high-density zealots will do their best to reverse centuries of gains and drive us back towards
a Dickensian gloom. This year's edition highlights the continuing deterioration of housing affordability in Australia and improvements in the United States, where values driven up in the
housing bubble in some markets have returned to near the historic norms. Further, the Survey describes the process by which plan-driven
land use regulation (growth management, urban consolidation, compact city policy or smart growth) makes land for housing development unaffordable and
as a result places housing affordability beyond reach.
Media Release .
SOS Media Release
5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
THE UNACCEPTABLY HIGH HUMAN COSTS OF SMART GROWTH & URBAN CONSOLIDATION
265 Markets in Australia . Canada . Ireland . New Zealand .
United Kingdom . United States
Dr. Shlomo Angel, of Princeton University and New York University, one of the world's leading experts in urban planning writes in the preface to this 5th Annual
Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey< that
...the current efforts to contain the pace of the outward expansion of cities for one reason or another are, at the very least, open to serious question. Referring to
land use regulation, he continues: The more stringent
the restrictions, the less is the housing market able to respond to increased demand, and the more likely house prices are to increase. And when residential land is very difficult to
come by, housing becomes unaffordable.,
This report describes the economic connection between that "smart growth"/"urban consoldiation" policies (prescriptive land use policies) and the unprecedented house price escalation that has
occured in recent years in some markets. Moreover, the consequences have expanded well beyond housing. Without prescriptive land use regulation, the housing bubble in the United States
would have been less severe;
without a severe housing bubble, the US mortgage meltdown would not have occurred and without the US mortgage meltdown, the international financial crisis might not have occurred.
It will be important to reform land use policies to prevent similar damage from occuring in the future. - -
SMART GROWTH ASSOCIATED WITH RADICALLY HIGHER HOUSING COSTS IN THE UNITED STATES
Costs of Sprawl Forecast Misses by a Mile
It has been claimed that smart growth would reduce housing costs. A $13,000 (2007$) decline in new residential unit costs was predicted for 2000 to 2025 in Costs of Sprawl --- 2000, for markets with smart growth (prescriptive planning) compared to responsive planning systems. At this rate, a reduction of nearly $4,000 would have occurred between 2000 and 2007. The reality was starkly different. In just seven years, median house prices rose more than $160,000 in prescriptive planning areas relative to prices in markets with responsive planning.
PENNSYLVANIA'S EFFICIENT TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT
Study Shows Smaller Governments Have Far Lower Costs per Capita
In this report commissioned by the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, Demographia shows that the Commonwealth's smaller local governments have by far the lowest costs per capita, even when attributable spending is added and spending financed by state and federal sources is subtracted. This conclusion is in opposition to the "conventional wisdom," which is that larger governments are more efficient. In fact, the only "economies of scale" in larger governments are for special interest, which are able to exert control over larger government organizations with less effort and expenditure than would be necessary to control a myriad of smaller local governments. At the same time, smaller local governments are more effective because they are "closer to the people."
NEW YORK'S EFFICIENT TOWN GOVERNMENT
Study Shows Smaller Governments Have Far Lower Costs per Capita
In this report commissioned by the Association of Towns Of New York, Demographia shows that the Commonwealth's smaller local governments have by far the lowest costs per capita, even when attributable spending is added and spending financed by state and federal sources is subtracted. This conclusion is in opposition to the "conventional wisdom," which is that larger governments are more efficient. In fact, the only "economies of scale" in larger governments are for special interest, which are able to exert control over larger government organizations with less effort and expenditure than would be necessary to control a myriad of smaller local governments. At the same time, smaller local governments are more effective because they are "closer to the people."
THE HEAVY PRICE OF SMART GROWTH AND URBAN CONSOLIDATION
4th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
Former Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Donald Brash writes in the introduction to this 4th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey that
"the affordability of housing is overwhelmingly a function of just one thing, the extent to which governments place
artificial restrictions on the supply of residential land." This report describes the economic consensus that "smart growth"/"urban consoldiation" have destoyed
housing affordability in many urban areas. The scarcity produced by smart growth and urban consolidation markets has serious
social and economic consequences. The resulting asset bubble has interfered with economic policies of central banks, as in the US and New Zealand. Yet, in responsive
markets, housing affordabilty remains robust, including the three fastest growing large markets in the high income world, Atlanta, Houston and
Dallas-Fort Worth and in other Canadian (such as Ottawa) & US markets.
SMART GROWTH & URBAN CONSOLIDATION: INCOMPATIBLE WITH HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
3rd Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
The unprecedented housing affordability crisis is worst in Australia, where years more income are now required to
buy a home than just 10 years ago. Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have also become seriously unaffordable.
Some markets in the United States and Canada are also severely unaffordable,
especially on the Pacific Coast and in Northeast. Strong affordability continues in many markets, such as Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth,
Houston, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec, Indianapolis Cincinnati and Kansas City. This edition includes a comparison of Perth,, Australia and Austin, Texas,
similarly fast growing
markets, but where the differences in housing affordability are like "night and day." The distinguishing feature is regulation --- smart growth and
urban consolidation are associated with severe housing affordability losses.
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY CRISIS: CAUSE NOT MICROECONOMICS
2nd Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
Some economic analysts have attempted to blame the housing affordability crisis on demand or low interest rates. The reality, however, is that some of the most affordable
housing markets (examples are Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston) also have the highest demand. The same low interest rates have been available both in the unaffordable and
the affordable markets and cannot therefore be the cause of the housing affordability crisis. This Second Annual Demographia Housing Affordability Survey provdes a detailed
examination of the issues behind the present structural and spotty housing affordability crisis.
BLUEPRINT 2030: MOBILITY AND ACCESS FOR ATLANTA
Traffic Congestion Can be Reduced: The First Step is to Try
In this report, Wendell Cox and Alan Pisarski show that Atlanta's intense traffic congestion, unusual for a low density
urban area, is principally the cause of underinvestment in suburban roadways. Rejecting, the "maternity wards increase the birthrate" logic of "
d demand," they show
how the Atlanta area can improve its traffic flow, saving people time and improving economic efficiency.
While the casual visitor to Atlanta may think the urban area well served by wide freeways,
coverage of the urban area is sparse. In fact, Atlanta has the greatest extent of suburbanization in
the world unserved by cross-town (lateral) freeways. Further, the area has a substandard arterial (non-freeway) road system. Nonetheless, significant improvements can be made with expenditures that are well within the capability of the local economy. Atlanta's continued growth could well depend upon it.
AMERICAN DREAM THREATENED: BLACKS, HISPANICS AT GREATEST RISK
Growing Smart: Planners Would Confiscate Homes Not Consistent with Their Plans
The American Plannning Association has developed a legislative guidebook containing model legislation which, if enacted
would increase the price of housing, with the impact falling most heavily on lower income households, which are disproportionately African-American or
Hispanic. Other provisions could force confiscation of houses where subsequent zoning changes render a use non-conforming.
The model legislation is based upon the planning doctrine of smart growth, which like a previous planning doctrine, urban renewal, will make
urban areas less attractive places to live.
SMART GROWTH: DELUSION, NOT VISION
Wendell Cox Closing Statement at Railvolution Conference
On December 1, Wendell Cox and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) debated smart growth and transit at the
annual Railvolution conference in San Francisco. Wendell Cox's closing statement is reproduced here.
BADGE OF HONOR
Wendell Cox Placed on Sprawlwatch List
Wendell Cox and others are highlighted as opponents of the anti-sprawl movement. Cox stated that
placement on the list was a "badge of honor." but that Sprawlwatch would have more correctly
characterized those on the list as "pro-choice" with respect to urban development --- that people
should have the freedom to live and work where they like.
WENDELL COX OPED IN THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION
Portland Not Sprawl Free: Atlanta Needs Other Policies
Despite Atlanta's reputation for severe traffic congestion and low densities, Wendell Cox shows that the
Atlanta area scores generally better on measures of transit use than Portland, which has gained an
international reputation for policies intended to increase transit ridership and urban density. His conclusion
is that Portland's policies would not solve Atlanta's traffic problems any more than they have Portland's.
WENDELL COX OPED IN THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A Straitjacket on Growth
New urbanist and so-called "smart growth" policies promise to slow economic growth where implemented and could
limit job creation and business expansion. Limitations on new "big-box" retailers
is likely to limit job growth in construction trades and related industries. The telecommunications revolution and
the expansion of regional jet service could erode the competitiveness of larger metropolitan areas, in
combination with new urbanist and so-called "smart growth" initiatives. Smaller metropolitan areas are likely
to benefit, as they welcome the growth turned away by metropolitan areas like Portland, Oregon.
RESPONSE TO REPORT BY DAVID RUSK
Keeping Kalamazoo Competitive: The Husock Report
This report by Howard Husock of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Wendell Cox
challenges the findings of the Kalamazoo County Compact by David Rusk and recommends competition based
measures to
improve the competitiveness of Kalamazoo.
E-MAIL LIST
Urban Policy Discussion Group
Demographia sponsors an urban policy e-mail discussion list.
