ArchBoston Book Club (Book #1 - Abundance)

[ritchiew]

I was just lurking, but enjoying this conversation. It seems to have petered out. What chapter are people theoretically up to now?

My suggestion is this is a pretty slow timeline for reading the book. (And at least some of the discussion feels like guessing what arguments they might later make). Want to just start discussing the whole book?

 

[KCasiglio]

Yeah I'm sorry, I got caught up with some big work/family stuff all at the same time and keep telling myself I'm going to come back to post discussion questions, then keep putting it off.

I finished the book last week and am happy to discuss it whole cloth if people feel similarly.

 

[stefal]

After sitting on it for some time and seeing it at several book stores as a reminder of this thread, I'm not entirely sold on the arguments in the book as a comprehensive thesis - it's rather weak in arguing that it's all about useless policy and removing paperwork, or maybe it's that they lay it on too heavy for the sake of arguing it, without really acknowledging there's a wide range of other factors, solutions, approaches, etc. to reach an "abundant" future. I also wished there were some more clear action items/precedent solutions.

I came across an interesting response recently, though I'm not sure I agree with this either, in that their response/alternative isn't as simple/easy to implement and lead to impactful results as they suggest: https://lloydalter.substack.com/p/abundance-or-sufficiency

It's a good book and makes some good arguments, but I feel like they just wrote a few essays and rushed publishing it, without much critical thinking on its overall message, and we're supposed to walk away understanding why we don't have housing in Democratic states or new scientific discoveries in general (quite a leap). It's strange to discuss the two together as was done - is Abundance focused on housing and... scientific research? I understand it's the two author's strengths, but the combination further weakens their thesis. If I was in their shoes, I'd take this version as a humble draft and come back with a more refined and focused argument, or take a new direction and open the book up to a wider range of voices.

I might be coming across overly critical, and it was a pretty eye-opening, unique read. Unfortunately, it's the weaknesses that are sticking out more than its strengths for me.

 

[Justbuildit]

Fair criticisms, and similar to many I've seen before both in the formal critic space and online. For me this is meant to be a shock to knock left-orthodoxy thinkers off their stance of "well we just need to vote blue and things will be better". The very clear message to me is that those who claim to believe in progress or change need to radically update their thinking from process oriented to results oriented. The endless committees, the fireside chats from elite academics and socialist-flirting leftists, the symbolic stances that get conflated with policy. These are not just neutral banal byproducts of current left-of-center thinking, but indeed obstacles to the claimed progress that is supposed to be at the end of this all.

I've obviously been on this board since before the book came out, but I chose this screen name because I was getting sick of the artists and activists and yard-sign liberals who claim they want oh-so-much change, only to become the most rabid obstructionist capitalists who block any ACTUAL change because it conflicts with their aesthetics and might dent their artificially inflated home prices (neighborhood character, industrial neighborhood water views, cheap free parking).

Given the state of the left in this country and the general failure to make cities affordable AND high demand, I welcome the tip toe back towards market-oriented solutions to material problems that Abundance talks about. Zoning and energy infrastructure are the two biggest things I talk about when I discuss urbanism, and so I hope the book is able to influence the conversations policymakers are having around the country.

Final anecdote, but Gavin Newsom shouted out Abundance when he signed the CEQA walk-back the other week and also had Ezra Klein on his podcast recently. There has been a ton of work from California YIMBYs as well, but when the governor of the largest state name-checks you at the biggest YIMBY bill signing in a generation, something is making it through.

 

[stefal]

Fair points all around. I do appreciate the stance and approach in this regard, and I am similarly growing tired of the do-nothing-and-feel-good-about-it approach. It's a good start for getting some eyes on the concept of actually doing something and feeling better about it (...but it could've been better).