I’m installing a little free upzoning library below, covering details and studies of upzonings (major and minor) and their effects. I plan to add to it sporadically, as I’m able. Please drop me any suggestions in comments. UPZONE THIS LIBRARY!
While I’m based in and focused on BC, I’m looking to draw in cases from around the world, though likely with a bias toward the Anglosphere, for pragmatic reasons concerning both language and the overlap of planning histories and housing issues. I’ll begin by setting up a somewhat qualitative distinction between major and minor upzonings. For major upzonings, I’m looking for examples of large-scale outright upzones with wide geographic coverage, with New Zealand offering up my biggest examples so far, so I begin there. I expect the effects of these to be distinct from the minor and more targeted upzonings that follow. I’ll also be looking to include studies and details of upzoning-adjacent moves, including conditional zoning, major planning, and approval process shifts, that might offer developers assurances of likely success, but don’t directly provide for outright development.
New Zealand
General overview:
- Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan. 2022. New Zealand’s bipartisan housing reforms offer a model to other countries. Brookings Summary.
- Nunn, Peter & New Zealand Infrastructure Commission. 2022. The decline of housing supply in New Zealand: Why it happened and how to reverse it. Wellington: New Zealand Infrastructure Commission / Te Waihanga. Te Waihanga Research Insights series.
Auckland, New Zealand (Auckland Unitary Plan, in effect 2016)
- Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan, Gail Pacheco, & Kade Sorenson. 2021. The effect of upzoning on house prices and redevelopment premiums in Auckland, New Zealand. Urban Studies 58(5): 959-976. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020940602
- Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan & Peter C.B. Phillips. 2022. The Impact of Upzoning on Housing Construction in Auckland. Yale University: Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 5-2022. (See also 2021 version: Auckland: Centre for Applied Research in Economics. Working Paper No. 009).
- Cooper, Geoff, Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy, & James Jones. 2022. Measuring the Cost of Land inputs to Housing Construction. Economic Policy Centre, Urban and Spatial Economics Hub, POLICY PAPER NO. 001
- Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan & James Allan Jones. 2023. Can zoning reform change urban development patterns? Evidence from Auckland. University of Auckland: Economic Policy Centre. WORKING PAPER NO. 012.
- Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan. 2023. Evaluating the Long-Run Effects of Zoning Reform on Urban Development. University of Auckland: Economic Policy Centre. WORKING PAPER NO. 013.
- UCLA Housing Voice Podcast (Shane Phillips). 2023. Ep. 45: What Happened When Auckland Upzoned Everywhere with Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy
- See also University of Auckland Economic Research Centre Working Paper Series
New Zealand (nation-wide) (National Policy Statement on Urban Development, in effect 2020-implementation ongoing)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2020. Cost – benefit analysis for a National Policy Statement on Urban Development. Final Report for the Ministry for the Environment. July 2020.
- PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2021. Cost – benefit analysis of proposed Medium Density Residential Standards (in five Tier-1 cities following 2021 policy update. December 2021.
- How many homes could be built? A development feasibility tool for the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity. Note: Tool in Excel Spreadsheet form.
USA General Studies
- Stacy, C., Davis, C., Freemark, Y. S., Lo, L., MacDonald, G., Zheng, V., & Pendall, R. 2023. Land-use reforms and housing costs: Does allowing for increased density lead to greater affordability? Urban Studies forthcoming.
- Freemark, Yonah. 2020. Upzoning Chicago: Impacts of a Zoning Reform on Property Values and Housing Construction. Urban Affairs Review 56(3):758-89.
- Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). 2023. Study of Development & Redevelopment Impacts of Washington State Bill ESSBHB1110
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