Commentary
My friend Steven Greenhut just popped out another book on California, “Back from Dystopia: A New Vision for Western Cities.” It’s free here (pdf).
A year ago I reviewed his “Saving California: Solutions to the state’s biggest policy problems.” (Here are parts two and three of my review.) And in 2020 it was “Winning the Water Wars.” He’s resident senior fellow and western region director, state affairs, for the R Street Institute.
The new book is the first installment of a series of books from the Pacific Research Institute’s new Free Cities Project, which Greenhut heads.
He begins by noting planning for cities is necessary, but in recent years it ends up making every place look the same, “Many new urban developments end up having the charm and excitement of suburban developments or even theme parks, even though they happen to be built in cities….