Is NAMA's policy of withold property to recover value unraveling?

There seems to be a lot of action in the property scene at the moment.  Site Value Tax proposals by the National Competitiveness Council http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/competitiveness-council-calls-for-introduction-of-site-value-tax-1.1629604,   Government considering Vacant Site Tax proposals by Dublin City Council http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/coalition-considers-vacant-site-tax-1.1629056 and unspecified changes to planning law predicted by 'sources'. 

This all points to one thing.  There is a serious problem in property.  Its not coming to the market quick enough.  The properties available are generally not good enough, and the planning permissions attached to sites are either out of date or unsuitable.  Furthermore, the financial mechanisms available to develop properties consist of either REIT funds or Student Accommodation.  There's no problem with either mechanism, as long as there are multiple-choices in the market, but in reality its not a free market at all, nor has it been for a long time.

In Irish property, there is no Third Sector to speak of.  Housing associations have a minute influence. There is no equivalent of UK's Locality, or Non-profit /social enterprise funds used in the US.  There is no underwriting of community or social enterprise risk.

Compare this to innovative funds for enterprise and export which the government have been driving.  The national government has a willingness to engage with innovative models of finance when it comes to IT, SME and jobs creation, but property is not on the same page.  The reason is simple.  The property sector was one of the main causes of the Irish collapse, and the government isn't going to go out of its way to help these guys out again.

Nama have made much mileage of the fact that the slight rise in property prices (in Dublin) justifies their policy of releasing so little to the market (in Ireland).  However, this stance is looking more precarious by the day.  Rather than looking like the big game player, who has resisted the temptations of firesales, they risk behaving as the monopoly landlord who restricts supply to the detriment of those who are in need of a reasonable product. 

Under every scenario, Nama will have to offload a huge amount of property very quickly.  The question is, will it be handing the ownership (or ownership of the loans .. whatever..) from one monopoly to the other?  Where is the debate, research and work needed to create variety and opportunity in the property market?  

Uber infill - Aldo Rossi

Aldo Rossi, Schutenstrasse, Berlin.  Perhaps not as clever as the other 2 examples, and closer to a less-mannerly post-modernism,  but deals with breaking up massive facade pretty well!

Aldo Rossi infill on broadway NYC

This is a nice infill by the late Aldo Rossi.  Restrained but still individual and certainly not overshadowed by adjoining buildings.

From the Context\Contrast exhibition: Scholastic Building, 557 Broadway, SoHo, by Aldo Rossi with Gensler Associates, 1996-2001. Image by Elizabeth Felicella (source: http://www.wallpaper.com/gallery/architecture/new-york-architecture-week/17051411/22275)

Aldo Rossi

This is the Bonnefantan Museum in Maastrict, NL by Aldo Rossi.  Something really nice and simple yet inventive, quirky but respectful...

eclectic post modern???

I came across this building today on a listserv... sourced from another list.   Anyway, what a great building.  No idea where it is, or who designed it!

In the interests of the common good

When in need of the higher moral ground, or a superiority judgement, you just can't beat invoking 'The Common Good'.  The 'Common Good' is without doubt a good thing.  But are we as planners uniquely privilged to act in its interest, let alone credibly understand what the Common Good is?  Do our cities and towns abound with evidence of 'Common Good' planning?

The Common Good is a profoundly philosophical challenge and dilemma.  To have a proper understanding of the common good, its probably best to start with Plato and work your way up through Marx and Lefebvre.  Issues of equality are matters of government policy not philosophy or law.  There is a profound difference between invoking a policy (i.e. give us 10% of your houses because we don't build any) to claiming you act in the common good.  Those in Council's have a  very limited mandate (local Councillors) or no mandate (officers and administrators) to act in the public good, other than the fact that the government pays them (they are therefore more responsible to government (and their pay cheque) than the common good).  No less, the consultant is responsible to their client and (potential) next pay cheque.

David Harvey in his brilliant and provocative book 'Rebel Cities' addresses the concept of an Urban Commons in some detail.

"... Much of the corruption that attaches to urban politics relates to how public investments are allocated to produce something that looks like a common but which promotes gains in private asset values for privileged property owners.  The distinction betweeen urban public goods and urban commons is both fluid and dangerously porous.  How often are developmental projects subsidized by the state in the name of the common interest when the true beneficiaries are a few landholders, financiers, and developers?"

The point is that no decision is completely a-political.  Planning is highly political.  Developers arn't always the bad guys just as planners arn't always the good guy.  There is no reason a Common Good can't be economic just much as environmental or cultural.

The Common Good is a catch-phrase just like Sustainable Development that is utilised to give an impression of superiority.  By saying you act in the Common Good doesn't mean you do, and chances are you don't!

More Portoghesi images. If only post-modern archiecture had followed this path...

Paolo Portoghesi's wonderful interior of the Moschea Mosque, Rome

A rush and a push and the land we stand on is ours

Our view of the city can often become sanitized. A vision of cappuccino culture servicing the needs of a consumer society that engages easily between homesome suburb and edgy/artistic city streets. However, sometimes we are reminded that the city is also a formation of taught tension and uneasy alliances that on occasion breaks down in a very dramatic way. And it does explode ... very frequently. The recent unrest in Istanbul and subsequently cities throughout cities reminds that in reality cities are a very uneasy peace. It is interesting that we have seen this explode in London and Istanbul in the last 3 three years - two world cities growing in the face of recession, and feeding off immigrants from former empires. In recent days Detroit has basically gone bust - harking back to New York's flirtation with the financial abyss 40 years ago. These cycles are shocking but at the same time so predictable. So it is only right to quote The Smiths from Strangeways here we come, which echoed the Clash's London Calling from 8 years earlier and in turn to evoke Henri Lefebvre's The Urban Revolution. This incredible essay by David Harvey 'The Right to the city' provides a persuasive thesis that the urbanisation process from Haussman's Paris to Bloomberg's New York are inextricably linked to economic and political power. Istanbul's summer reminds that sometimes the fight for the city, and public space is violent and instantaneous. Because, lest we get too comfortable, we need to be reminded at all times that smart cities are not about technology, but about equality, access to opportunity rather than opportunism. A smart city is a place of enabling networks and transparency.

Under-Urbanized

This little two-worder really struck me when I read it recently. It's a wonderful phrase to ensapsulate analysis of urban neighbourhoods. Rather than concentrating on measures such as density, it frees us to think in terms of qualities good neighbourhoods have: the services, social services, employers, attractions/ entertainments, spaces, architecture, street life, education, residential availability (tenure and typologies), cross-sections of society, retailers etc. Pretty soon we come to realize that most urban neighbourhoods are under-urbanized. It is this lack of diversity that affects good neighbourhoods, rather than a magical plot ratio, or even a 'cafe-culture'. The really interesting thing is that is takes a huge number of people, interests, developers and businesses to fill so many gaps. The great thing is that with all these gaps in under-urbanized urban areas, there are multiple opportunities for multiple organisations. The challenge is to create the framework in terms of governance, culture and legally to enable change. This is the true meaning of the smart city, or the entrepreneurial city..... I suggest;-) This post is inspired by an interview with Arturo Mier y Terán, an architect and urban planner in Mexico City, from "Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models" by Rosa and Weiland.

'Future Traditional'. Really like this design for the Ideal Homes Show by the Prince's Foundation. The design is a collaboration between Douglas Ardern, Jamie Wallace and Ruaridh Inverarity, features a pronounced double-gabled front and was inspired by traditional vernacular buildings. The design is winner of competition to respond to an architectural design brief reflecting the Foundation's ethos of sustainability, practicality, durability, beauty and comfort in modern living. http://www.princes-foundation.org/content/unveiling-princes-house-ideal-home-show-2013