Description: "How can urban housing, and the land underneath, now account for half of all global wealth? According to Patrick Condon, the simple answer is that land has become an asset rather than a utility. If the rich only indulged themselves with gold, jewels, and art, we wouldn't have a global housing crisis. But once global capital markets realized land was a good speculative investment, runaway housing costs ensued. In just one city, Vancouver, land prices increased by 600 percent between 2008 and 2016. How much wealth have investors extracted from urban land? In this engaging, readable, and clearly reasoned treatise, Patrick Condon explains how we have let land, our most durable resource, shift away from the common good--and proposes bold strategies that cities in North America could use to shift it back."--
Brief description: Patrick M. Condon teaches in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia and has forty years of experience in the art and science of sustainable urban design. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Review Quotes: "Through extensive research and case studies, Condon demonstrates that if land rents are left unchecked, Western cities are headed for economic polarization on a scale we have not seen before. . . . I highly recommend Condon's book for understanding our present housing crisis and for finding solutions backed up by clear evidence. One does not need to be an economist to either understand or appreciate his carefully articulated vision of housing justice."-- "Christian Century"