Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?
One of the themes of the financial and economic crisis we've faced
over the past two years is that government, pressed into responding to
serious economic pain, has often found itself supporting the activities
that got us into this mess in the first place.
November 2, 2009
Advice for Policymakers: Time to Check Your Blind Spots
Last week, I left my Washington home, walked to the nearby Metro
station, rode a train downtown, walked to the National Press Club, and
settled in to hear Steven Rattner, former head of the Obama
administration's auto task force, declare that "no one has yet invented
a substitute for the automobile."
October 27, 2009
Congestion Pricing: Still Good For Basically Everyone
Urbanists often find themselves falling into a pattern of thinking
that boils down to the dictum that what's good for drivers must be bad
for walkability, and sustainability, and all the things that they prize
about well-designed cities. Drivers seem to believe this too, which is
interesting because it often isn't true.
October 13, 2009
Transit and Congestion, an Indirect Connection
Yesterday, Freakonomics linked to a new piece of research
[PDF] on congestion that I'd been musing over for a few days. Let me
quote the abstract here (paragraph break and emphasis mine):
October 2, 2009
Growth of Compact Development Likely, Important for Reducing VMT
About two years ago, the Urban Land Institute published Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change,
which argued that it will be crucial to build cities in a more compact
fashion if the country hopes to avoid substantial growth in vehicle
miles traveled and carbon emissions over the next few decades.
September 25, 2009
What Should We Learn From Moses and Jacobs?
There is probably no more beloved figure in urbanism than Jane Jacobs,
who fought to preserve some of New York City's most treasured
neighborhoods and who gave urbanists some of the field's fundamental
texts. As Ed Glaeser notes in the New Republic this week,
Jacobs died in 2006 "a cherished, almost saintly figure," while her
principal antagonist, Robert Moses, remains popularly reviled as a
villain.
September 9, 2009
More People, Less Driving: The Imperative of Curbing Sprawl
Experience with case studies has made it clear to many urban
planners and environmentalists that to maximize the benefits of transit
investments, and to slow growth in traffic congestion, vehicle miles
traveled (VMT), and carbon emissions, you have to focus on land use.
September 3, 2009
A Last Word on ‘Cash for Clunkers’
One thing the government's CARS program -- a.k.a. "cash for
clunkers" -- has clearly stimulated is commentary. For a policy
involving a shade under $3 billion in federal spending, it has enjoyed
no shortage of media coverage.
September 2, 2009
Toward a Positive Argument for High-Speed Rail
In recent weeks, I've been busily making what you might call a
negative argument for high-speed rail -- pointing out the many ways in
which arguments against HSR are deficient. That's all well and good,
but positive cases for HSR need to be made, as well.
August 28, 2009