[ For those of you who haven't heard the story or checked it out, I highly encourage you to check out Renew Newcastle, which is a great urban success story out of Newcastle, Australia. There are a lot of lessons here to be learned, particularly for places that struggle with a lack of financial resources. Hopefully this article can give you some ideas and some hope - Aaron. ] This article was written for the latest edition of the Dutch architecture/ design journal Volume… Let me put a scenario to you. Say you live in an aging, fading … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2011
A Civic Going Out of Business Sale
State and local governments from coast to coast are making major budget cuts as they grapple with plunging revenues and years of deferred investment and maintenance. One refrain of some has been that just like with household budgets, government simply cannot spend more than it takes in. Thus painful cuts are the only option. There's no doubt this is true in the short term. Clearly, we have to make adult decisions about priorities and can't spend money on everything, no matter how much shrieking about the end of the world every single special … [Read more...]
The Gated City
Update: Ryan posted a reply to some of the points I raise here. It's definitely worth reading. The Gated City is a mini-ebook by Ryan Avent that makes the case for removing restrictions on densification in cities. In addition to being a left-leaning economist, Avent is also a journalist who is an editor at the Economist magazine and a principal contributor to its Free Exchange blog. Avent's journalism skills make him one of the more articulate and easy to read economists out there. This book brings Avent's signature readability to the … [Read more...]
The Cost of Congestion, The Value of Transit
Last week the Texas Transportation Institute released the 2011 edition of its benchmark Urban Mobility Report. It is packed full of useful statistics about roadway networks, congestion, and public transit, though is not without its critics (see below). I'd like to highlight some of the more interesting findings out of this. The Value of Transit One of the values TTI estimates is the number of additional hours of delay each peak hour commuter would incur annual if public transportation were discontinued. In effect, this is one key benefit to … [Read more...]
Globalization and the Airport
I had originally planned to position this as a day late and dollar short review of Greg Lindsay's book Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next. Yet I think in a way the title misleads. The word "aerotropolis" conjures up dull visions of depressing airport development, security lines, and power points at conferences. But what Lindsay has done with this book is really something much bigger: He has told the story of globalization as seen through the lens of the airport. Because of that, the book isn't entirely convincing. Air travel and shipping … [Read more...]