March 2010
15 posts
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Like to Text? Take Transit. →
I’m all for creative arguments to get people to swap cars for transit.
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Imagine A City Built for Bicycles →
The author captured pretty much everything I would have said if I had written that piece. I think a bike/pedestrian only city would be simply fantastic. I love biking to school every day, but it would be so much better without cars.
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Silicon Valley Land Conservation Didn't Hurt... →
This is interesting. Researchers countered the idea that land conservation in the Bay Area was causing high housing prices. They found that most of the land in conservation wasn’t prime residential real estate; the land was often too hilly. While the terrain was one of the major reasons why land conservation wasn’t to blame, I kind of hope this research has applications in Oregon....
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Developer Builds International Airport to Anchor... →
The airport property, northwest of Panama City, occupies just a fraction of the company’s 75,000-acre West Bay sector plan, which envisions 27,000 residential units, 490 hotel rooms, 2 marinas and 37 million square feet of commercial space that would bring tourists and entrepreneurs to the panhandle.
I have to admire the guts of this development, but 27,000 units in a city with only 35k in...
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German Town Selling Potholes →
Germany had a cold winter that has busted up 40 percent of its roads. One cash-strapped town, Niederzimmern, will stamp your name on the pothole patch after you pay 50 Euros to have it fixed.
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How to Design Family-Friendly Transit →
This is an important issue. If we want families living in cities, the transit needs to accommodate them. I also liked this point:
Children who grow up comfortable with transit are more likely to use it as adults; those who grow up in the suburbs—and whose main exposure to “transit” is an uncomfortable yellow school bus—are more likely to continue an auto-centric lifestyle...
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Small Cities Should Have Fareless Transit →
This is a repeat from The Urbanophile, but he makes a great point that should be repeated:
Why have a fare in the first place? It is odd that we pay per use on transit. We don’t pay to check books out of a library. We don’t pay to visit most city parks. We don’t pay when the police or fire department come to our house for a legitimate emergency. Most non-utility municipal services are provided...
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Can We Design Cities for Happiness? →
An inspiring profile of the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa.
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A Permanent Home for the Olympics →
I really like the idea of cities hosting the Olympics, but it never seems to pencil out financially. For the sake of urban budgets, I’d have to say having the Olympics in one or a few permanent sites makes a lot of sense.