Robert Tolan
Projects
Community
- In February 2025, I started curating letters alongside Tom Ough for a journal run by a society of techno-optimists established by some of my friends in London.
Housing Policy
- During a gap year in 2022/3, I founded the Better Planning Alliance to research the potential of supply-side housing policies in Ireland. I modelled a number of proposed policies, including Street Plans and Accessory Dwelling Units, that could help ease Ireland's housing shortage. This was inspired by the Housing Theory of Everything which states the developed world's ailments are easily treated by solving housing shortages, an idea due to John Myers, Sam Bowman and Ben Southwood. Reforming planning in Ireland has the potential to turn development from a zero-sum to a positive-sum game. Along the way I met so many interesting people and I acquired a co-founder Seán O'Neill McPartlin, who now leads the BPA.
- The Minister for Housing is considering legalising Accessory Dwelling Units as of 2025Q1.
- The project led to my being quoted in The Economist on Irish housing policy and some coverage in the Irish Times as well as The Currency.
- Researching such policies from a farm in the West of Ireland involved extensive use of Google Earth, Google Maps, and spreadsheets in addition to giving me exposure to civic hacking, fundraising, and alliance building. I was fortunate to receive extensive mentorship from John Myers, Freddie Poser, Ben Southwood, Sam Bowman and Arnaud Schenk. I am grateful for the support from Tyler Cowen, Nick Whitaker and Tamara Winter.
- Funding was received from the Mercatus Center through their Emergent Ventures program and Entrepreneur First through their Polaris Fellowship.