Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seem like an unlikely site for a YIMBY revolution.
The historic Boston suburb is home to bothHarvard Universityand a bevy of affluent homeowners opposed to any new development.
Cambridge could certainly use the new units.
Homelessness in Cambridge has also been on the rise, particularly since the pandemic.
But the latest measure is perhaps the most radical, and most promising.
Unlike the geographically confined Central Squareupzoning, the newest pro-housing ordinance has the potential to remake the entire city.
The likelihood that some neighborhoods will become denser has provoked the usual opposition from local homeowners.
But viewed from another angle, this densification could make the city a morevibrant and beautiful place to live.
As it turns out, Paris is a good model for midsize American cities to follow.
By allowing more European-style construction, places like Cambridge can both lower housing costs and look good doing it.
But these assumptions are incorrect for two reasons.
But nobody is compelling you to do either of those things if you like your existing home.
Some changes make a bigger impact than others.
Take Minneapolis, one of the recent YIMBY success stories.
In other words, going just a few steps further is how you get real results.
But to truly unlock housing production at the necessary scale, high-cost cities cannot stop at upzoning.
They also need to reshape permitting rules and other onerous building requirements, such as off-street parking mandates.
True European-style zoning would allow for mid-rise apartment buildings with no off-street parking anda single central staircase.
Ned Resnikoffis an urban policy consultant and writer.
