With apologies to Harry Beck, TfL, and basically everyone.
A few weeks ago I got it into my head that what the world needs is another tube-like map, but for American housing. We continue to have issues with housing all our people – there are many people unhooked, people who spend too much of their annual budget on rent, those who want to buy but can’t, and those who want to downsize but can’t because the market is so hot.
These examples don’t just happen in high-employment markets such at New York, San Francisco, Boston, etc but are happening in Sun Valley, Columbus, Ohio and many other communities
What pushed me over the edge was Darrell Owens’ Who’s Who: The Dictionary of ‘-In My Backyard’ which put together a taxonomy and explainer of who’s who in the housing discourse.
The Bowerbird
The Bowerbird combines excuses to not build, the major players: government, NIMBY’s, YIMBY’s, builders, and such. Throw in some zoning and procedure tactics, and different typologies of homes, and all of a sudden we have a slightly disjointed faux-transport diagram.
You can get a print version in Issue 2: Scorching and since you are nice people, you can use the free shipping code, freeshipping
Besides being inspired by maps in general, The Bowerbird has great deal of legacy owed to the 1992 lithography by Simon Patterson called The Great Bear.
I’m looking for feedback and hopefully include a copy in an upcoming issue.