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Talking Headways Podcast: How Does This Podcast Make You Feel?
This week, Jeff Wood and I get indignant about Miami-Dade County's misuse of transit funds for roads, and we speculate about why -- with the current success of pedestrian projects like Times Square -- old-style pedestrian malls are still going belly-up. And then we peek behind the curtain at an exciting new frontier for urban planning: connecting urban form with the feelings they inspire.
February 12, 2014
Can Snow Inspire Better Streets? It Already Has.
Sneckdowns are having a big moment. In case you've missed the viral blog posts and major press coverage, sneckowns (a contraction of "snowy neckdowns" popularized by Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson Jr. and Streetsblog founding editor Aaron Naparstek) are leftover snow piles on city streets that show space that could easily be reclaimed for pedestrians.
February 11, 2014
Before We Build, We Should Review How a Project Will Affect Safety
Jim Aloisi is a Boston-based lawyer, historian and transportation policymaker. He is a former Massachusetts state secretary of transportation. His most recent book is The Vidal Lecture.
February 11, 2014
Map: Where Buffalo Drivers Smash Into Buildings (Hint: Everywhere)
Cynthia Van Ness, a librarian and host of BuffaloResearch.com, put together the above map, showing the nearly 150 sites where drivers crashed into buildings in the Buffalo region and made the news since 2006.
February 10, 2014
A Bill to Make American Streets Safer Surfaces in the Senate
Has the moment finally arrived for a national complete streets law?
February 7, 2014
Talking Headways Podcast With Special Guest Jan Gehl
Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl, who led Copenhagen's turn away from car-domination toward streets and public spaces for people, is on a U.S. tour. I got to sit down with him this week in Washington.
February 7, 2014
What Sets Apart the Places Where People Walk More?
A lot of research has shown a link between living in a walkable community, active transportation habits, and better health outcomes.
February 6, 2014
Five Ways Colleges Are Coaxing Students Out of Their Cars
The University of Wisconsin-Madison provides bike valet at its football games. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supports free transit for everyone in the region. The University of California, Irvine launched a bike-share system in 2009, long before any major city in California had done so.
February 5, 2014
Tom Vanderbilt in NYT: Jaywalking Tickets Don’t Make Streets Safer
Enforcement of jaywalking doesn't improve pedestrian safety. So what will? Tom Vanderbilt, best-selling author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, gave a succinct answer in a New York Times op-ed this weekend. Our cities will be safer to walk in when we have "better walking infrastructure, slower car speeds and more pedestrians."
February 3, 2014
Fresno City Council Slams the Brakes on BRT
Sprawl and big money prevailed over progress last night in Fresno. The City Council dealt a major blow to local plans for smart planning and bus rapid transit, but stopped short of killing the project completely.
January 31, 2014