Alex Pemberton
@yellowbrickurban.com
Real estate bro on a planner/researcher detour. Focus on how real estate markets build cities, how regulation shapes real estate markets, and how urban battlefields entrench segregation.
yellowbrickurban.com/ideas
yellowbrickurban.com/ideas
The "health and safety" pretext for zoning is nonsensical today because it was never more than a Jim Crow assertion of Black neighbors as unsafe and unhealthful.
It's how zoning was legitimated as a police power after antecedants—segregation ordinances, racial covenants—proved legally ineffectual.
It's how zoning was legitimated as a police power after antecedants—segregation ordinances, racial covenants—proved legally ineffectual.
November 24, 2025 at 4:29 PM
The "health and safety" pretext for zoning is nonsensical today because it was never more than a Jim Crow assertion of Black neighbors as unsafe and unhealthful.
It's how zoning was legitimated as a police power after antecedants—segregation ordinances, racial covenants—proved legally ineffectual.
It's how zoning was legitimated as a police power after antecedants—segregation ordinances, racial covenants—proved legally ineffectual.
Diagramming this fucking sentence.
November 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Diagramming this fucking sentence.
Sorry, Neil. I'm still going to be Restoring Western Culture by learning how to write the worst prose anyone has ever read at that time. Please in the future try to schedule around events which change the course of human history.
November 15, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Sorry, Neil. I'm still going to be Restoring Western Culture by learning how to write the worst prose anyone has ever read at that time. Please in the future try to schedule around events which change the course of human history.
Sorry, I'm going to be rebuilding Western Culture through art, community, and curated live experiences at that time.
November 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Sorry, I'm going to be rebuilding Western Culture through art, community, and curated live experiences at that time.
The making of a UNESCO World Heritage site, Kontorhausviertel.
Little remains of Hamburg's Gängeviertel. Now they're the most beloved districts in the city: Speicherstadt, Portugiesenviertel, Mönckebergstraße.
The exception: Neustadt, which the Nazis cleared to run out the Communists, sucks bad.
Little remains of Hamburg's Gängeviertel. Now they're the most beloved districts in the city: Speicherstadt, Portugiesenviertel, Mönckebergstraße.
The exception: Neustadt, which the Nazis cleared to run out the Communists, sucks bad.
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 AM
The making of a UNESCO World Heritage site, Kontorhausviertel.
Little remains of Hamburg's Gängeviertel. Now they're the most beloved districts in the city: Speicherstadt, Portugiesenviertel, Mönckebergstraße.
The exception: Neustadt, which the Nazis cleared to run out the Communists, sucks bad.
Little remains of Hamburg's Gängeviertel. Now they're the most beloved districts in the city: Speicherstadt, Portugiesenviertel, Mönckebergstraße.
The exception: Neustadt, which the Nazis cleared to run out the Communists, sucks bad.
Be forewarned:
You may also encounter maps of major downzonings.
Such is life. Beauty and sorrow coexist. They must.
You may also encounter maps of major downzonings.
Such is life. Beauty and sorrow coexist. They must.
November 10, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Be forewarned:
You may also encounter maps of major downzonings.
Such is life. Beauty and sorrow coexist. They must.
You may also encounter maps of major downzonings.
Such is life. Beauty and sorrow coexist. They must.
Single-Stair Sickos might like to learn that a lot of European cities used to produce detailed books on their built environment, including complete floor plans.
Here's a snippet from Hamburg und Seine Bauten (1914)
Here's a snippet from Hamburg und Seine Bauten (1914)
November 10, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Single-Stair Sickos might like to learn that a lot of European cities used to produce detailed books on their built environment, including complete floor plans.
Here's a snippet from Hamburg und Seine Bauten (1914)
Here's a snippet from Hamburg und Seine Bauten (1914)
I thought he did better when he characterized zoning reform as an example of the continued post-Civil Rights Acts efforts toward the dissolution of segregation.
November 5, 2025 at 2:26 AM
I thought he did better when he characterized zoning reform as an example of the continued post-Civil Rights Acts efforts toward the dissolution of segregation.
I mean, imagine being afraid of this absolute dork. @rollinhorton.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I mean, imagine being afraid of this absolute dork. @rollinhorton.bsky.social
Right-wingers are afraid of everything except looking stupid in public.
November 4, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Right-wingers are afraid of everything except looking stupid in public.
Peak Gustavo Petro
October 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Peak Gustavo Petro
2. Furthermore, to extend the example of the SE Nashville apartments, many are themselves zoned 1-/2-unit. Here's Gazebo Apartment Homes next to Glencliff Elementary/High—R8 zoned. This is a legacy of a zoning system which historically allowed apartments in SFZs explicitly to promote integration.
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
2. Furthermore, to extend the example of the SE Nashville apartments, many are themselves zoned 1-/2-unit. Here's Gazebo Apartment Homes next to Glencliff Elementary/High—R8 zoned. This is a legacy of a zoning system which historically allowed apartments in SFZs explicitly to promote integration.
When planners promote DADUs while preserving provisions that make them unfinanceable—owner-occupancy requirements, separate-sale prohibitions, etc.—they are planning for a wider privilege gap.
Only rich households can benefit from DADU income, giving their kids a leg up, saving on elder care, etc.
Only rich households can benefit from DADU income, giving their kids a leg up, saving on elder care, etc.
October 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
When planners promote DADUs while preserving provisions that make them unfinanceable—owner-occupancy requirements, separate-sale prohibitions, etc.—they are planning for a wider privilege gap.
Only rich households can benefit from DADU income, giving their kids a leg up, saving on elder care, etc.
Only rich households can benefit from DADU income, giving their kids a leg up, saving on elder care, etc.
The historical record is very clear on this.
October 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The historical record is very clear on this.
You're way behind. This is how this position is being advertised on the USCIS website.
October 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
You're way behind. This is how this position is being advertised on the USCIS website.
Broker Math never fails 👌
September 24, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Broker Math never fails 👌
Pack it up, y'all. Nobody will do it better.
September 13, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Pack it up, y'all. Nobody will do it better.
TV news should be illegal.
August 21, 2025 at 1:19 AM
TV news should be illegal.
If a tweet falls in the Fashion House and no one understands the reference, it's irrelevant.
August 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
If a tweet falls in the Fashion House and no one understands the reference, it's irrelevant.
Wow, I can't believe @seanforfive.bsky.social threatened to email the zoning administrator to find out if eating ass is a permitted use in the RM40 zoning district
August 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Wow, I can't believe @seanforfive.bsky.social threatened to email the zoning administrator to find out if eating ass is a permitted use in the RM40 zoning district
Residence B allowed residential buildings up to 45 feet high—ten feet taller than the baseline height limit in this proposal. Public buildings were allowed 75+ feet in six stories—more than the maximum under this modern proposal.
Also allowed boarding houses and dorms.
Also allowed boarding houses and dorms.
August 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Residence B allowed residential buildings up to 45 feet high—ten feet taller than the baseline height limit in this proposal. Public buildings were allowed 75+ feet in six stories—more than the maximum under this modern proposal.
Also allowed boarding houses and dorms.
Also allowed boarding houses and dorms.
Grilled sandwiches
August 4, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Grilled sandwiches
This is good art-crit
August 3, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This is good art-crit