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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Deadline is just around the corner. Submit your proposals now!

Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Got a project in the works on valuing infrastructure? Submit it to this @buildssrc.bsky.social conference. Deadline for submissions is 7/31. build.ssrc.org/build-resear...

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Today's the deadline--send in your proposals now!

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Are you working on an exciting housing, transportation or energy paper that you want policymakers to engage with? Submit to the BUILD Research Network's first annual research-to-policy convening. Application deadline is 6/5. build.ssrc.org/build-resear...

build.ssrc.org

BUILD Research Network First Annual Research-to-Policy Convening

BUILD Research Network First Annual Research-to-Policy Convening CONFERENCE DATE: November 4th, 2026 Call for Papers The BUILD Research Network invites paper submissions for our first annual Research-...

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 08/04/2026

This looks promising! PS - I hope this network will actively work to address the widespread problem of published research studies that fail to replicate.

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Calvin Thigpen @calvinthigpen.com · 08/04/2026

Love the acronym, and glad to see this coming to life!

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Are you a researcher or policymaker working on housing, energy, or transportation issues? Welcome to the BUILD Research Network! A project of @ssrc.org w/ support from @arnoldventures.bsky.social, BUILD is a new platform for strengthening the research-to-policy pipeline. build.ssrc.org 🧵/9

build.ssrc.org

BUILD Research Network - Better Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Land-use Decisions

The BUILD (Better Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Land-use Decisions) Research Network connects researchers, policymakers, and funders working to improve housing, energy, and transportation systems.

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Matthew Gillikin @mtgillikin.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Funding inclusionary zoning is good progressive policy!

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Progressives in the Pacific Northwest are lapping their CA sibs in the race for good housing policy. The latest: An Oregon ban on unfunded inclusionary zoning, with Democratic Socialists leading the charge. Read @andersem.bsky.social's story, www.sightline.org/2026/03/05/o... 1/2

sightline.org

Oregon’s New Path to Inclusionary Housing: Fully Funded and Flexible | Sightline Institute

An environmental justice champion led the push to end counterproductive, unfunded mandates.

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Want to learn about @caforever.bsky.social while doing the dishes? @volts.wtf breaks it down, with a new doubleheader podcast. Highly recommended! www.volts.wtf/p/is-the-bra... www.volts.wtf/p/how-to-des...

volts.wtf

Is the brand new city in California for real?

Jan Sramek joins me to discuss the controversy, funding, and master plan behind the massive California Forever project.

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Everybody Gets Pie @everybodygetspie.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

"Builder's remedy" is a little-known mechanism where, if a city isn't complying with state housing laws, builders don't have to comply with the city's zoning. Then @cselmendorf.bsky.social made a viral 2019 thread about it that sparked a California building revolution.

youtube.com

What is "Builder's Remedy"?

YouTube video by Everybody Gets Pie

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Justine Underhill @justineunderhill.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Which arguments ACTUALLY change people’s minds about housing? Last year I worked with researchers testing different messages, and the results were... surprising! New video on it: youtube.com/watch?v=aCKr... Enjoyed working with @cselmendorf.bsky.social @jkalla.bsky.social @dbroockman.bsky.social

youtube.com

What Makes People ACTUALLY Change Their Minds About Housing (real experiment)

YouTube video by Justine Underhill

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Sam Alcorn @samalcorn.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

California housing legislation idea: For the purpose of ensuring compliance with PSA deadlines, require municipalities to post on their websites A) date of application submission for housing project and deadline for determination of completeness (30 days after submission)

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Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Another new paper on housebuilding and vacancy chains, this time with data on every Swiss resident & housing unit! An interesting context given Switzerland's high immigration, very large rented sector and strong tenancy rent controls... frederickluser.github.io/files/Moving...

Locations of new homes built in Switzerland in 2018

Country-wide effects of new housing supply: Evidence from
moving chains, by Lukas Hauck and Frederic Kluser

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Greg Shill @gregshill.com · 11/02/2026

✨ introducing… ✨ 🌇 Transportation for the Abundant Society 🚅 "Abundance" says our problem is artificial scarcity—especially housing. But you can’t build your way out if transportation policy still treats traffic flow as sacred. Transportation is the binding constraint. ssrn.com/abstract=538...

Abstract for Transportation for the Abundant Society:

A growing chorus known as the abundance movement seeks to overcome artificial scarcity in the built environment—especially housing. Yet this movement’s signature goal of increasing housing production collides with a central driver of scarcity: development restrictions rooted in traffic concerns. Advocates often assume that building more housing will generate support for needed transportation reform. Experience suggests otherwise. In auto-dependent regions, adding housing without reconfiguring transportation tends to reinforce the logic of restriction. Unlocking abundance’s promised feedback loops requires re-grounding transportation policy in its relationship to land use.

This Article makes two contributions. First, it introduces into legal analysis a core urban-planning framework: transportation accessibility, which evaluates system performance by users’ ability to reach destinations. Though facially modest, anchoring policy in accessibility would depart sharply from a century of practice, with significant implications across state and local government law.

Second, drawing on 13 original interviews with current and former transportation officials, the Article develops a novel account of institutional barriers to reform. Far from the marble corridors and mahogany courtrooms where law is articulated, transportation policy is functionally made in the unglamorous offices of state and local government. We call this institutional crucible—shaped by agency culture and industry convention as well as hard law—“transportation policy linoleum.” It helps explain why proven, seemingly unobjectionable reforms routinely wither. The Article closes with a policy playbook designed to help accessibility break through the linoleum and deliver abundance.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
I. ABUNDANCE AND TRANSPORTATION POLICY 6
A. The Rise of Abundance 7
B. Transportation as a Binding Constraint 10
II. THE PURPOSE OF TRANSPORTATION POLICY 17
A. What Counts as Success? 18
B. From Mobility to Access 20
C. Transportation Policy Spillovers 24
1. Housing affordability 24
2. Climate mitigation 28
3. Roadway safety 29
III. OPERATIONAL BARRIERS TO REFORM 32
A. Network Effects and System Interdependence 33
B. Operational Complexity and Risk 34
IV. LEGAL BARRIERS TO REFORM 36
A. NEPA and the Dawn of Conservation Primacy 36
B. Judges as Planners: California’s CEQA Regime 40
C. Judges as Planners Around the Country 44
1. Minnesota and comprehensive planning 44
2. Washington, D.C. and density review 46
3. Montana and constitutional penumbra 46
V. TRANSPORTATION POLICY LINOLEUM 48
A. Policy “In Books” and “In Action”: 13 Interviews 48
B. Fragmentation and Coordination Failures 49
C. Path Dependence and Institutional Lock-In 53
D. Legal Risk and Defensive Administration 55
VI. A POLICY PLAYBOOK FOR ACCESS 57
A. Behavioral Data as Participation 57
1. Ex ante participation 58
2. Ex post participation 59
B. Realistic Alternatives Modeling 59
C. A More Honest Cost-Benefit Analysis 60
1. Requiring cost-benefit discipline 61
2. Accounting for opportunity costs and externalities 63
CONCLUSION 64

ToC continued, plus first bit of text from article:

A central claim of the emerging “abundance agenda” is that in the physical world, more is more: more housing, more clean energy, and more infrastructure to support both. Abundance brings the American promise of plenty into policy, arguing that government should expand capacity—so that individuals can access the good life and society can advance climate goals, scientific discovery, and prosperity. In both its academic and popular expressions, the ideologically diverse movement contends that law has created artificial scarcity and that the remedy is to loosen outdated constraints and rebuild state capacity so government can build and approve major projects—housing, transportation, energy, health—more quickly and reliably.
Abundance draws on a substantial literature diagnosing law-made supply constraints in American public policy. Its core question is pragmatic: how to clear regulatory blockages to enable more building. Scholars have long identified such blockages at the intersection of land use and transportation, from highways to high-speed rail. Yet even improved megaprojects would not meet most Americans’ daily transportation needs. And the connection between transportation policy and abundance remains underdeveloped, even as political interest grows.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 04/02/2026

You've probably heard that a group of CA tech guys wants to build a brand new port city in northern CA. The project is called "California Forever" & it's apparently breaking ground this year. Lots of folks are skeptical! On Wed., I'm going to talk with Jan Sramek, the founder/CEO. Got questions?

californiaforever.com

California Forever

Building the next great American city

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Such a fun conversation! Thanks, @jerusalem.bsky.social, for having me on the show to discuss my work w/ @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social on aesthetic objections to housing development. www.theargumentmag.com/s/the-argume...

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

CA Supreme Court has denied review / depublication of Save Our Access v. City of San Diego. This means that worst CEQA opinion of the last two decades is binding law on superior court judges statewide. Leg attention needed!

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

This is a great question ⤵️. The CA Leg has made existing old, small, and often-unsafe apartment buildings almost impossible to redevelop. A big mistake. There's a real need to reconsider & standardize tenant protections, while giving tenants collective agency to authorize redevelopment.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

A thread for those interested in housing construction economics & regulation/codes.

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 01/01/2026

Prof. Elmendorf's thread reminds me of the time when a Palo Alto homeowner wanted to hire me to find fault with the environmental assessment for this affordable housing project. He and his attorney were perfectly ready to pay me $300/hour for this work. 🧵 site.robquigley.com/project/alma/

A photograph of a four-story stucco apartment building at the corner of a city street, with a mix of beige, concrete, and bright red paint. Umbrellas can be seen on a 2nd story balcony. Source:

https://site.robquigley.com/project/alma/

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 31/12/2025

“The Leg should revisit how state code requirements (and local code amendments) are made, requiring cost-benefit analysis. Then audit the existing code and strip away rules that don't pass the test.“ My thoughts exactly.

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Evan Roberts @evanrobertsnz.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Recent manuscript by @cselmendorf.bsky.social, @dbroockman.bsky.social and Joshua Kalla suggests this *is* important. osf.io/preprints/so...

osf.io

OSF

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Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

I asked a national expert on laws like this, @cselmendorf.bsky.social, what parts of Oregon's proposed rules are most nationally important. He called their use of "good enough" + clear consequences for real-life outcomes "conceptually a big step forward."

Oregon’s new rules follow a national trend toward pre-defining a set of state zoning standards. Oregon pre-defines them more specifically than other states have so far.

“Because the rules are known, people can make reasonable decisions about how to plan these projects,” Elmendorf said.

Another unique thing about Oregon’s approach: It evaluates cities based on actual homebuiliding performance relative to similar jurisdictions.

Oregon, Elmendorf said, is “not saying you’re subject to this remedial requirement because you didn’t write a really pretty plan. You’re subject to it because of outcomes. That’s conceptually a big step forward.”

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Welcoming Neighbors Network @welcomingneighbors.us · 02/12/2025

Three cheers to Flagstaff for––as of a few minutes ago––becoming the first city in Arizona (and maybe the entire southwest?) to legalize fourplexes on every residential lot citywide. And congrats to Flagstaff for Affordable Housing & @azneighborhood.bsky.social for leading the charge!

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Scale -> incentive for transportation innovation + internalization of agglomeration externalities. Which gives @caforever.bsky.social an incentive build densely, which normal greenfield developers lack.

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Bobby Garrity @bobbygarrity.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Incredible op-ed from 2 absolute legends. Localities should not have veto power over projects of state or regional concern. That's a classic collective action problem And it's especially harmful when it prevents great and ambitious projects like California Forever from being built

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David Broockman @dbroockman.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

NEW PAPER w/ @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social: An under-appreciated reason why voters oppose dense new housing, especially in less-dense neighborhoods: they think it looks ugly and want to prevent that, even in other neighborhoods. Some of what we think is NIMBYism might not be!

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

@cselmendorf.bsky.social told me about this paper last week and I think it's a paper that every developer should force their architects to read.

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

👀 Since 2018, 15 major foundations have donated "$260 million ... to nonprofits across California that have actively opposed pro-housing legislation"

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

This is a great article from @conordougherty.bsky.social on the Builder's Remedy. The only detail I would've added is that @cselmendorf.bsky.social told the world about the Builder's Remedy in a tweet thread on **New Year's Day** because that's how hard that man is working to get homes built.

nytimes.com

The Housing Strategy That Has California NIMBYs in a Corner

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

"One way or the other, the answer was going to be yes." Great reporting by @conordougherty.bsky.social on the resuscitation of California's builder's remedy. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/b...

nytimes.com

The Housing Strategy That Has California NIMBYs in a Corner

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Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

"One way or the other, the answer was going to be yes." Great reporting by @conordougherty.bsky.social on the resuscitation of California's builder's remedy.

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