The Elysian

The Elysian

Essays

Decentralize America: The case for cities that don't need Washington
Cities should be richer than the federal government. Mayors should matter more than the president.
 • Elle Griffin
An indigenous nation just built a better city than California Forever
We should build more cities. But they should benefit residents, not just developers.
 • Elle Griffin
Stop idolizing Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Próspera
There are much more utopian cities than these.
 • Elle Griffin
Singapore: Where your home loses value & everyone's better off
Singapore solved private property by making it worthless over time.
 • Elle Griffin
Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam
Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
 • Elle Griffin
Disney World has more autonomy than any US city
And it built a much better one.
 • Elle Griffin
San Francisco should be profitable—instead property owners are
Or how the Gilded Age screwed American cities and how we can reverse it.
 • Elle Griffin
Ebenezer Howard built a better city than the government
That time a group of investors built the welfare city London couldn't.
 • Elle Griffin
Cadbury built a city for workers—then gave it to them
It's still community-owned 100 years later.
 • Elle Griffin
The Scottish island that bought itself
100 residents now own the island they live on—not some billionaire.
 • Elle Griffin
What Victor Hugo taught me about writing during political upheaval
I'd been struggling to write during this political moment, so I turned to Hugo for guidance.
 • Elle Griffin
If I get sick, I'm moving to Malaysia
My experience in a Malaysian hospital and why it was so much better than in the US.
 • Elle Griffin
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