# Why NIMBYs Oppose Housing (with Chris Elmendorf)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-argument-7510944/why-nimbys-oppose-housing-with-chris-elmendorf
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-argument-7510944/why-nimbys-oppose-housing-with-chris-elmendorf.md
Podcast: [The Argument](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-argument-7510944)
Published: 2026-01-19T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.theargumentmag.com/s/the-argument-podcast
Audio file: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2541989/episodes/18531300-why-nimbys-oppose-housing-with-chris-elmendorf.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-argument-7510944/episodes/why-nimbys-oppose-housing-with-chris-elmendorf
Duration seconds: 4060

## Resource

NIMBYism is usually explained as selfishness: homeowners protecting property values, or neighbors who just hate change. But a growing body of research suggests something simpler and harder to argue with: aesthetics. What if people oppose new housing not only because of who might move in or what it might do to traffic, but because the building just looks “wrong”? In this episode, Jerusalem Demsas talks with UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf about new experiments that test what actually mo...

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## Transcript

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