I’ve been reading two books: Broken City by Patrick Condon, and Happy City by Charles Montgomery. Both are compelling and deeply researched, and each offers practical, evidence-based ways to improve urban life.

There are endless points to consider but here are a couple of paragraphs that stood out to me. The first is from UBC Professor Condon, a participant in the upcoming online forum Housing: The Affordability Challenge.

This value increase for urban land does not add one bit to the nation’s production of goods and services. In other words, it is not part of the real economy but simply, and frighteningly, a measure of the annual increase in land Rent. It is money that passively fills the pockets of urban landowners and speculators. All of this wealth that is sucked out of the capital-creating collaboration between city wage earners and entrepreneurs is drawn from the real economy.

The second is from Canadian author and urbanist Charles Montgomery:

Sometimes the forces that shape our cities can seem overwhelming. It is easy to feel small in the face of the monumental power of the real estate industry, the tyranny of zoning codes, the inertia of bureaucracies, and the sheer durability of things that have already been built. It is tempting to believe that the job of fixing cities is the untouchable terrain of distant authorities whom the state has deemed responsible.

It is a terrible mistake to give in to this temptation.

The quoted statements authored by Professor Condon are indisputable.

Mr. Montgomery explains some of the reasons that situation exists, but it’s hard for me to feel optimistic that ordinary people can do much beyond accepting the way things are.