Reimagining Albuquerque
Albuquerque with an Urbanist/YIMBY lens. Read at www.reimaginingalbuquerque.com
- And consider signing the petition to legalize housing in Albuquerque: c.org/9ZbZpZVSBJ
- As Albuquerque debates modest zoning updates, a familiar cycle has returned: incremental change framed as existential threat. But at recent hearings, a broader coalition is showing up. Amendment season may finally be giving way to something more grounded. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2026/01/17/a...
- As Albuquerque debates modest zoning updates, a familiar cycle has returned: incremental change framed as existential threat. But at recent hearings, a broader coalition is showing up. Amendment season may finally be giving way to something more grounded. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2026/01/17/a...
- Southern New Mexico isn’t waiting. Silver City legalizes multiplexes, ADUs, neighborhood businesses — proof that zoning reform is possible, popular, and rooted in our unique history. Albuquerque: time to catch up. Otherwise, we need the Roundhouse to act 👇 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/12/01/w...
- The politics of abundance are winning — from Albuquerque to Las Cruces and beyond. 🏘️ Ending exclusionary zoning and saying yes to homes isn’t just right, it’s popular. Read more → reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/11/05/t...
- A fight over two parcels at Lomas & Broadway became a case study in why Albuquerque struggles to grow. The Martineztown CPO hearing shows how our planning system traps us in the past. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/11/02/b...
- Downtown isn’t just a place on a map — it’s where our democracy plays out in real time. The “No Kings” protest reminded Albuquerque that our city still has a heart. If we keep treating downtown as expendable, we lose more than square footage. Read more: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/10/28/n...
- Our housing shortage isn’t an accident. It’s policy. Albuquerque’s zoning code still enforces scarcity. The new IDO reforms could change that: more homes, corner stores, and walkable neighborhoods. The Planning Commission must pass them. #abq #albuquerque reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/10/24/t...
- Imagine a South Campus that feels like a real neighborhood: homes, cafes, trees, and life. Not another shopping center in a sea of asphalt. UNM has a chance to get this right. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/10/23/r...
- The myth of “perfect friendship” still shapes who gets to belong in New Mexico. Zoning, heritage, and property values are its modern language. Unpacking how race, land, & law intertwine in Albuquerque: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/10/21/p...
- Between walls and bridges: Albuquerque’s 80s-00s growth story isn’t just about sprawl—it’s about zoning, NIMBYism, and how we locked away the core. Read Part 3 of ABQ’s land-use history ↘️ reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/09/20/a... #ABQ #Urbanism
- Albuquerque doesn’t need fewer apartments—it needs more homes. 🏘️ Filtering creates more affordable housing than subsidies, but NIMBY zoning keeps supply strangled. #abq #albuquerque Stasis is the real luxury. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/09/03/f...
- Broadway is Albuquerque’s heart—but politics are turning it into a highway. Plans to restripe and slow traffic between Lomas & Coal are finished, funded, and proven safe. Yet Mayor Keller stalls. Every delay is another risk. It’s time to act. Read more: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/27/b...
- ⏱ The NIMBY Double Bind: Stifle every shelter, shelter reform, or safe campsite—and then act shocked when tents fill the streets. Albuquerque deserves better. Time to open more exits. Read more: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/12/t...
- Albuquerque’s housing ladder is broken but R‑25‑167 opens a cautious, city‑wide path forward. Let’s talk inclusion, character, and policy that meets our moment. #abq #albuquerque #yimby #zoningreform reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/08/a...
- Downtown Albuquerque is stirring to life. Vacancy fees are nudging long-stalled buildings forward, housing projects are gaining momentum, and scooters are bringing joy back to the streets. Let’s build on this progress. #YIMBY #Urbanism #ABQ reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/07/a...
- 🏙️ “If ART ran later, and if Albuquerque built more along Central and Downtown—and there were jobs for both of us—I think we’d come back.” A former Burqueña reflects on why she so wants to return. Read more reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/06/a... #abq #albuquerque #yimby
- Views, 'character,' and 'we are not California.' Albuquerque's zoning fights aren't just about housing—they're about envy disguised as virtue. How resentment fuels NIMBYism, and why saying yes to neighbors is the only way forward. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/08/01/e... #ABQ #albuquerque
- Who gets to shape the future of Huning Castle? One of Albuquerque’s wealthiest neighborhoods is trying to opt out of zoning reform. The tactics are familiar—height caps, "character," preservation—but so are the consequences. ✍️ New on the blog: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/07/18/w... #ABQ
- New on the blog: “Defanging the Tyrant’s Veto” 🐢 When neighborhood coalitions can stall even the mildest reforms, that's not democracy—it’s dysfunction. How Albuquerque’s zoning process got captured—and how we take it back. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/07/12/d...
- What does it mean to live a car-free life in a city built for cars? From ART to avocado toast, this urbanist diary explores the daily rhythms, quiet resistance, and real hope of living without a car in Albuquerque. Read it here: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/07/11/a... #ABQ #Urbanism #Transit
- It wasn’t the bus. Nob Hill and Central aren’t struggling because of ART—they’re struggling because we stopped letting people live there. Fewer residents = fewer customers = empty storefronts. Read why housing, not blame, is the answer: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/07/09/i... #ABQ #Urbanism
- Albuquerque didn’t grow by accident—it was engineered. From zoning and freeways to cul-de-sacs and erasure, Part 2 of our land use history traces how policy shaped the city we know today. #abq #albuquerque Read now ⬇️ reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/07/05/a...
- Albuquerque’s most controversial infrastructure project just passed 10 million rides—and it’s working. ART is moving people, shaping growth, and changing how the city works. Here's what it got right—and what comes next. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/27/m... #ABQ #Urbanism #Transit #BRT
- Albuquerque’s Route 8 is getting more frequent service. Will the land use catch up? A proposed redesignation of Menaul as a Major Transit Corridor could unlock housing, jobs, and walkability—if fear doesn’t get in the way. #abq #nmpol #albuquerque 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/25/a...
- Albuquerque has 7 major mayoral candidates, but not all are playing the same game. Who’s ready to lead with housing + land-use reform, and who’s doubling down on enforcement and status quo? Read how they scored ⬇️ reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/24/a...
- It should’ve been a walkable, transit-aligned gem. Instead, The George got redesigned to appease NIMBYs—trading good urbanism for driveway politics. Albuquerque’s land use system isn’t democratic. It’s dysfunctional. 🧱 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/23/t...
- It took 17 years to build housing next to a train station—in one of the most unaffordable cities in the country. Zia Station is a case study in bureaucratic failure, NIMBYism, and why New Mexico needs to wrest control of housing from local obstructionists. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/20/t...
- Zoning didn’t arrive in Albuquerque to shape growth—it arrived to control it. Before 1953, land had already been carved up—from Indigenous commons to colonial grants to a grid of prohibitions. Read how that legacy still shapes ABQ today: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/06/17/a...
- In the 50s, ABQ bulldozed a neighborhood to build I-25. Now, the state wants to expand it—again—claiming it’s for ‘safety.’ But the damage never stopped. #abq We dug through the archives and explain why it’s time to rethink the S-curve: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/30/a...
- Las Cruces just passed one of the most progressive zoning reforms in the U.S.—and it might be the blueprint for ABQ. We break down how “Realize Las Cruces” works, what it avoids, and how it can help us envision a more just, walkable, and vibrant ABQ. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/23/r...
- Downtown #Albuquerque is finally gaining momentum. Vacancy enforcement. Arts activation. A BID in the works. But other cities aren’t waiting for us to catch up. What’s working, what’s stalled—and what needs to happen next: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/20/d...
- #LasCruces just passed one of the boldest zoning reforms in New Mexico—and beat back a fear-driven, far-right petition campaign trying to stop it. This is what leadership looks like. #Albuquerque and #SantaFe: take notes. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/19/l...
- The mayor’s race in Albuquerque is finally getting serious. Alex Uballez just dropped a real platform—with bold ideas and some risks. We break down where he gets it right, where it could backfire, and what it’ll take to deliver. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/13/a... #abq #albuquerque
- “Just because your mom told you you didn’t deserve beautiful things doesn’t mean the rest of us have to live by that script.” Albuquerque deserves better. Say yes to housing, vision, and leadership. #abq 🗳️ On November 4th, Let’s get them off the stage. 🧵 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/08/t...
- Albuquerque City Council’s latest meeting was a meltdown. Farmers insulted. Survivors dismissed. Downtown reinvestment tanked. Public comment silenced. This is not how a serious city is governed. #abq #albuquerque 🧵 Read the full breakdown: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/05/07/w...
- Part 6 of our series explores how justice language can block investment and silence diverse voices. In Barelas and beyond, real justice means shaping change—not stopping it. The threat isn’t growth. It’s fear of the future. #abq #albuquerque #yimby 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/29/a...
- Some say they're protecting working-class communities. But what if the real threat isn’t growth—but stagnation disguised as protection? Part 5 of our series looks at Martineztown, GENM, and how exclusionary tools often backfire. #abq #albuquerque 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/27/a...
- Some say they support affordable housing, but oppose every policy that would build it. Part 4 of our series shows how “process” and “affordability” are used to block reform and protect privilege. The affordability smokescreen is real. #ABQ 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/26/a...
- 🏗️ Housing, film, & local industry projects are shaping a more connected, invested Albuquerque. New UNM-area housing Frivolous appeal defeated Westside job growth rising Will we grow wisely—or repeat the mistakes of the past? #abq #albuquerque 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/25/h...
- Environmentalism has always shaped how cities grow—but not always for the better. In Part 3 of our series, we explore how ‘green’ rhetoric is used to block housing and reinforce exclusion. Part 3 in our series. #abq #albuquerque 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/22/a...
- O-24-69 legalized more housing near transit and curbed frivolous appeals. The backlash exposed something deeper: how NIMBYism spans the political spectrum from neighborhood groups to anti-capitalist activists. #abq #albuquerque Part 2 of the series: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/21/a...
- How the past haunts the present: Many who once marched for justice now block housing and inclusion. O-24-69 revealed the deep divides shaping Albuquerque’s future. New series on NIMBYism now live ↓ reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/20/a...
- Albuquerque doesn’t need to wait for a miracle—we’re already seeing momentum in clean energy, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. But we have to make it easier to build housing and opportunity here. #abq Read more on how we rise to the moment: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.wordpress.com?p=228
- Downtown doesn’t need more gravel lots—it needs vision. A new performing arts center, housing, and bold investment can bring it back to life. Martineztown deserves a future shaped by participation, not fear. 📰 Downtown Deserves a Future 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/17/d...
- Some say closing Central to cars would kill culture. But what if it actually brought it back to life? Downtown deserves to be for people again—not just traffic. #abq #albuquerque #downtownabq #abqlocal 🏙️ Read more: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/14/c...
- Governor Lujan Grisham has had six years to lead on housing. Instead, she fired the experts, empowered the insiders, and left New Mexicans behind. #abq #nmpol #newmexico #mlg #housing Now on the blog: reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/11/g...
- Sending troops won’t solve a housing crisis. Albuquerque needs opportunity, not occupation. 🏙️✊ Read why investment—not force—is the way forward: 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/04/09/a... #albuquerque #abq #abqlocal #nmpol #abqpol #urbanism
- Neighborhood coalitions are suing the City of Albuquerque. Not to build more housing — but to keep blocking it. We break down what O-24-69 actually does, why the lawsuit matters, and how “community voice” is being weaponized. 🔗 reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/03/27/n... #abq #albuquerque #abqlocal
- Downtown shouldn’t feel like a fortress. Fear-based design locks people out, drives away business, and kills joy. We can build trust instead. Albuquerque deserves better. 👇 #abq #albuquerque reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2025/03/26/h...
