Upzoning the YIMBY rent gap: A transit‐oriented spatial fix

This paper takes up the phenomenon of transit‐oriented zoning reform as an urban planning solution to the housing crisis that promises affordability, sustainability, and racial justice. I hypothesize that upzoning near transit creates a vertical rent gap that represents a YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) spatial fix, a targeted spatial deregulation by the real estate state that further entrenches racial capitalism. A spatial analysis of the comprehensive zoning reforms of Minneapolis, Seattle, and Los Angeles finds that upzoning is targeted narrowly at transitscapes that are disproportionately tenanted, racialized, lower‐income, and higher‐density than the city average. The resulting airspace enclosure renders tenants displaceable by making space for intensified housing development from thin air. This is compared with a counter‐scenario that imagines mid‐rise upzoning in exclusionary neighbourhoods within walking distant to the frequent transit network.