To Open Up Cities, Make Single-Family Zones More Flexible
As the number of jobs in Seattle explodes, the city is grappling with how to make room for all the population growth that's expected to follow. The city's "Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda" maps out a strategy to do so, focusing mainly on infill development in denser areas near transit. Most of the city, however, is zoned for single-family housing.
October 26, 2016
How Much Would Cyclists Pay to Cover Their “Fair Share”?
Cyclists should pay their "fair share" for streets -- it's a favorite complaint of newspaper commenters worldwide.
October 25, 2016
D.C. Riders: Late-Night Transit Cuts Would Leave Workers Stranded
Hard to believe, but one of the biggest transit agencies in the U.S. -- WMATA -- is moving to eliminate eight hours of late-night Metro service per week. The whole system will simply not be available for those eight hours, and people in D.C. are livid.
October 24, 2016
London Is Going to Ban the Deadliest Trucks From Its Streets
Heavy trucks with big blind spots are a deadly menace to cyclists and pedestrians.
October 21, 2016
Tesla’s Vision for the Future of Autonomous Cars Should Scare Us
What impact will self-driving cars have on cities?
October 21, 2016
Center City Philadelphia Commuters Increasingly Arriving by Bike
Where bicyclists were once a trickle in Philadelphia, they are now a steady stream.
October 20, 2016
When People Aren’t Afraid to Walk in the Street With Cars
"Shared spaces" are streets where driving is allowed but walking and biking take priority. They are designed without curbs, signage, and other typical markers that separate cars from people on foot. The design cues are subtler. Everyone mixes together in the same space, and drivers travel slowly enough that they can make eye contact with pedestrians.
October 19, 2016
Private Toll Road Backed By $430 Million in Federal Funds Goes Bust
From the beginning, there were plenty of reasons to suspect that Texas 130 -- a private toll road between San Antonio and Austin -- was a bad idea.
October 18, 2016
You Don’t Have to Trash BRT to Make the Case for Light Rail, and Vice Versa
In cities considering a light rail project, it's common for transit opponents to suddenly cast themselves as big believers in bus rapid transit. They don't really want to build BRT, they just want to derail the transit expansion. The light rail advocates then have to make their case not only on the merits of the project, but also in relation to the strawman BRT project.
October 18, 2016
How Cities Like Cleveland Can Grow and Tackle Climate Change
City leaders from around the world are meeting right now in Quito, Ecuador, for the summit known as Habitat III -- convened by the United Nations to map out a strategy for sustainable urbanization as more people flock to cities.
October 17, 2016