# urban affairs (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover urban affairs. Page: Feed: --- ## [Life is messy. So is redevelopment.](https://westnorth.com/2026/07/31/life-is-messy-so-is-redevelopment/) _2026-07-31 · payton · west north_ In “a successful city district”, “Some of the old buildings, year by year, are replaced by new ones – or rehabilitated to a degree equivalent to replacement. Over the years there is, therefore, constantly a mixture of buildings of many ages and types. This is, of course, a dynamic process, with what was once new \[…\] ## [Building code primer for housing advocates](https://westnorth.com/2026/07/10/building-code-primer-for-housing-advocates/) _2026-07-10 · payton · west north_ Presentation given for Welcoming Neighbors Network, based on a forthcoming article submitted to Greater Greater Washington (will be updated in the future with a link). ## [Testimony: One Front Door Act of 2025](https://westnorth.com/2026/01/27/testimony-one-front-door-act-of-2025/) _2026-01-27 · payton · west north_ \[DC Council Committee of the Whole testimony\] Thank you for providing the opportunity to testify regarding Bill 26-227, the One Front Door Act of 2025. My name is Payton Chung; I am a Ward 6 resident, an infill residential developer, and a longtime contributor to, and now acting chair of, Greater Greater Washington Commons. I \[…\] ## [YIMBYtown 2025 presentations](https://westnorth.com/2025/09/15/yimbytown-2025-presentations/) _2025-09-15 · payton · west north_ Two presentations given at YIMBYtown 2025: 2. Who killed Missing Middle Housing – and how? ## [Presentations: Upper Missing Middle Housing](https://westnorth.com/2025/06/14/presentations-upper-missing-middle-housing/) _2025-06-14 · payton · west north_ Presentations given at CNU, 13 June 2025 Payton Chung Alex Dickson Joel van der Weele ## [Air pollution used to be bad. How bad?](https://westnorth.com/2025/05/27/air-pollution-used-to-be-bad-how-bad/) _2025-05-28 · payton · west north_ Seeing a photograph of streetlights on during the day in Pittsburgh prompted me to investigate how bad air pollution really was back then. Voila: a 1979 journal article by Cliff Davidson notes that typical Total Suspended Particulates (a now-deprecated measure) in Chicago in 1913 were 0.3-2.0 mg/m3, with a maximum of 9.3. Cleveland in 1915 \[…\] ## [“Demystifying Real Estate Development”](https://westnorth.com/2025/03/28/demystifying-real-estate-development/) _2025-03-28 · payton · west north_ Presentation given at the Smart Growth America Equity Summit, March 2025. ## [Old tweets & new posts](https://westnorth.com/2025/01/28/old-tweets-new-posts/) _2025-01-28 · payton · west north_ Apartment buildings have lower population densities than other land uses, so office to residential conversion could reduce overall population density. Site news! I’ve put up a searchable archive of my Tweets at https://paytonchung.github.io , principally for my own reference. I’m probably most often at Bluesky, though I also maintain a Mastodon account. Three recent posts I’ve written for Greater… ## [Tiny Japanese fire trucks, explained](https://westnorth.com/2025/01/06/tiny-japanese-fire-trucks-explained/) _2025-01-07 · payton · west north_ Wee Japanese fire trucks, as some Stateside auto enthusiasts have discovered, are adorably, I-wanna-pinch-your-cheeks tiny. Here’s one on the streets of Onomichi: Of course, something this different doesn’t exist in isolation; there are systemic differences between Japanese and American fire response that allow and even require smaller trucks. There are more, but smaller, trucks. Japan \[…\] ## [High rises’ high cost, part 4: ecological cost, and the superiority of low-rise courtyard apartments](https://westnorth.com/2024/11/22/high-rises-high-cost-part-4-ecological-cost-and-the-superiority-of-low-rise-courtyard-apartments/) _2024-11-22 · payton · west north_ Earlier, I’ve written about how high-rise residential buildings have higher construction costs, land costs, floorplan efficiency, and maintenance costs than low-rise buildings. But leave it to some supertall skyscraper architects to make the ecological case for low-rise multifamily, with the book Residensity. The Chicago-based architects ran analyses on nine different arrangements for 2,000… ## [Transcript-Driven Stock Discovery (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/nf5M8AUMEnp6) _2024-11-22 · **Sponsored**_ Ranked, evidence-backed watchlists from indexed executive transcripts for 1–2 quarter horizons ## [Two Japanese new-house ads, explained](https://westnorth.com/2024/10/23/two-japanese-new-house-ads-explained/) _2024-10-23 · payton · west north_ Here’s a Google-translated ad for new houses for sale in suburban Hiroshima; just this one small advertisement for new houses required a lot of research and explaining to make sense! Building and zoning codes reference link: www.iibh.org/kijun/japan.htmBrookings Institute overview www.brookings.edu/articles/japan-rental-housing-markets/English blog on Japanese housing: catforehead.com/ If those…