Toward a Stronger Theory of NIMBYism

The old adage about pornography from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart—that it’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it—could just as easily apply to NIMBYism. If the term were merely a catch-all for development opposition, then it would fit San Franciscans reflexively blocking infill proposals as well as Jane Jacobs stopping a highway through the Village. That one is clearly NIMBYism and the other closer to heroism suggests a need for greater verbal precision.

That’s the mission embraced by Austin land-use regulations lawyer Chris Bradford at his new blog, Club NIMBY. Bradford contends that when it comes to NIMBYism we are all Justice Potter: powerless to define the practice systematically instead of ad hoc. He believes people concerned with zoning restrictions and land use regulations—and, by extension, housing affordability and income inequality in American cities—must improve their understanding of local obstructionism as a first step toward diminishing it.