Entrepreneurship and the Built Environment
Posted: 1 Oct 2016
Date Written: September 30, 2016
Abstract
This Article will explore the relationship between entrepreneurship and the built environment by examining a significant obstacle to transportation network startups' expansion: outdated land use regulations that require significant parking requirements that decrease urban density and, in turn, consumer demand for such startup's services. Some of the resistance likely originates from landowners who, for example, anticipate their holdings will decrease in property value due to higher density and traffic. To these interest groups, reforming land use laws in this way represents a significant wealth transfer to transportation network startups. This Article proposes that one way transportation network startups might earn the support of these landowners – and, in turn, the city councils and zoning boards that represent their interests – could be to recognize reform of the laws and regulations governing the built environment as a capital raising strategy. In exchange, landowners and cities would be given a stake in the capital structure of transportation network startups that benefit from land use reforms that drive higher passenger demand and otherwise monetize underutilized urban spaces.
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