Urban Renewal

A proposed new city in rural Solano County has generated significant interest and intrigue. Watch as the Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut explores the controversial new city effort with reporter Nick McConnell of the Vacaville Reporter and Free Cities Center contributor Edward Ring.    

Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.

Cities can improve day-to-day life by freeing street vendors By Sal Rodriguez | January 19, 2024 As long as there have been street vendors, city bureaucrats have tried to stop them. Whether for protectionist reasons protecting brick-and-mortar businesses from competition or in response to exaggerated health concerns, such rules are ...

Watch as Steven Greenhut of the Free Cities Center tours Sacramento’s K Street – a poster child for the negative consequences of government planning dictates – with longtime former Capitol staffer and proponent for ending eminent domain abuse Richard Mersereau. They discuss how eminent domain and the lasting legacy of ...

An ode to the suburb By Andrew Smith | January 4, 2024 Suburbs are considered the ugly stepchild of American urban design. They’re generally despised, considered bastions of conformity, derided as “cookie-cutter vinyl villages,” considered eyesores and blamed for virtually every malady that has affected urban America. But if they’re ...

Our guest this week is Scott Beyer, founder of the Market Urbanist, a website that reports and researches innovative free-market policy solutions to the myriad of problems many cities are facing.  Scott is the author of PRI’s new mini book: Latin America’s Urban Experience: How Markets Help Developing Countries Cope ...

Latin America Should Upgrade Rather Than Demolish ‘Favelas’ By Scott Beyer | November 16, 2023 Some developing countries are making the same urban-renewal mistakes made by the United States in the post-war era. Sensible market-oriented policies can transform slums into safe and decent neighborhoods rather than simply displacing poor people. ...

SACRAMENTO – Despite its socialist political traditions, Latin America offers some free market lessons for the West Coast’s urban centers on housing, transportation, government services and startup cities, finds a new book released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute. Click ...

Greening the ‘food desert’ by farming vacant urban land Edward Ring | October 20, 2023 When it comes to food, America’s cities enjoy precarious abundance. We take for granted the remarkable system that allows us close proximity to chilled and gleaming shelves, loaded with apricots from Spain, avocados from Mexico, ...

Recently, Zócalo Public Square, a media enterprise affiliated with Arizona State University, published an essay asking the question, “How public is your favorite public park?” The essay, written by Kevin Loughran, an assistant professor of sociology at Temple University, walks through the rise of private ownership or management of public ...