An Appeal to Elected Officials

There are numerous benefits to copying smarter practices from Japan and parts of Europe to make our lives better and more healthy.

Summary

• Sadly, in the USA, we have some of the most restrictive zoning regulations in the world.
• This leads to incredibly high housing costs for the vast majority of Americans by artificially limiting housing.
• Most of the new housing we do allow grows outward through urban sprawl, furthering car-dependence and contributing to being sedentary which leads to obesity, and isolation which leads to depression.
• Numerous other countries do it much better than the US.
• For the common man: do what you can, tell your town officials, and then pray and rest in the Lord knowing this world will never be perfect until He returns.

Japan

Recently we traveled to Japan. I was struck by a few things right away. 

Firstly, for as massive of a city that Tokyo is, in the parts where I was, it was incredibly quiet, calm, and not overloaded with traffic. It was, in short, nothing like the big cities in the US that I was familiar with including New York, LA, and the others in between. 

The second thing that shocked me was how the builders were free to use all usable space very efficiently to maximize housing availability. All the while, the spaces were very comfortable and not claustrophobic -- nothing like the Kowloon Walled City. Similarly, the spaces inside the buildings were laid out incredibly smartly and effectively. 

Here are some lessons from Tokyo and Japan:

1. Nationalized zoning has helped the free market truly emerge in the housing market in Japan. Tokyo is probably the most affordable world-class city, most notably in housing costs. In real-world experience in the US, the zoning regulations and ordinances by local governing bodies have produced the incredibly unhealthy and inefficient urban sprawl of the US that serves best the few people on the zoning boards and older home-owners.
2. Preserve mature trees, shade, and closely spaced serene garden or natural park spaces in urban spaces.
3. Keep roads small and frequent cross-walks -- this keeps speeds down, streets quiet, and people able to walk efficiently and cross streets frequently (unlike the big roads in suburban America with very long wait times at the crosswalks that can be spaced out by half a mile or more!).
4. Set actual boundaries to cities -- this forces cities to in-fill and develop more efficiently. By avoiding sprawl, we can have actual natural space in between cities. These natural preserves give the environment a chance to "recover" from the effects of human development before the next city starts. But also having space for people to get away from concrete easily on weekends or evenings is so good for physical and mental health. Studies show that time in nature (not manicured parks) lowers depression rates. Something about untouched nature (Florida State Parks do a good job of balancing trails, roads, and untouched nature).
5. By keeping cities more dense and focused use of space, this allows efficient and pleasant public transit, bicycle, and walking options and inter-city rail use to keep car numbers down.

Old Europe & New Urbanism

The Netherlands and parts of Europe inspired the development of New Urbanism (see Strong Towns and a host of other online resources such as Not Just Bikes). This is the realization that modern American city design is poor for the majority of the population relating (housing affordability, commuting time and expenses, physical health and car dependency, mental health and access to nature, and loneliness and access to community). Changing our zoning and making our land-use less restrictive could help improve all of these issues while preserving the ability of the wealthy to live in secluded enclaves if they so wish. Here are the goals:

1. Make cars unnecessary for those who live in town. Achieve this by:
1. Designing so people can safely walk (e.g. within 15 minutes) to businesses and the core parts of a town (like people have done for thousands of years until only recently).
1. Allowing mixed-use zoning so businesses can be within walking distance.
2. Don't run huge roads through the middle of a town. Rather, let them connect towns.
3. Have sidewalks and shade.
2. Allow more housing options ("the missing middle") including high-rises. These more affordable housing options can be closer to town establishments thus making minimal parking requirements irrelevant as residents can walk, cycle, or use public transit.
3. Offer higher frequency public transit which only makes financial sense when a town is reasonably dense and compact (as opposed to sprawled).
2. Quality architecture and place-making. This accomplishes:
1. The wise use of limited space.
2. An aesthetically-pleasing environment which helps with mental health and spaces for being active and not sedentary indoors (physical health).

Resources

• newurbanism.org
• Congress for the New Urbanism