Why NIMBYs Oppose Housing (with Chris Elmendorf)

About this episode

The episode explores the aesthetic reasons behind NIMBY opposition to housing developments.

NIMBYism is usually explained as selfishness: homeowners protecting property values, or neighbors who just hate change. But a growing body of research suggests something simpler and harder to argue with: aesthetics. What if people oppose new housing not only because of who might move in or what it might do to traffic, but because the building just looks “wrong”? In this episode, Jerusalem Demsas talks with UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf about new experiments that test what actually mo...

People in this episode

Hosts: Jerusalem Demsas, Matthew Yglesias

Guest: Chris Elmendorf

Topics covered

• NIMBYism
• housing
• aesthetics
• urban development
• community opposition

Keywords

• NIMBY
• housing opposition
• aesthetics
• urban planning
• community values

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UC Davis

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