Rethinking the Economy

If streets are gridlocked, how can mass transit work? Human Transit, a.k.a. Jarrett Walker, explains:
A few years ago I had a memorable ride on the Ventura Blvd Metro Rapid from Warner Center to Sherman Oaks. The service flowed smoothly through Tarzana and Encino but then got stuck in two miles of gridlock leading [...]

[Read more →]

Great little video by Streetfilms about the transformation of New York City’s streets so they become both more bike and pedestrian friendly — and create some great new urban spaces in the process.

[Read more →]

If you want help save the planet, you should green your house or buy a green car, right? Not so fast, says an EPA study (via Planetizen).
No factor has a bigger impact than going from conventional suburban to transit-oriented design. Making that change alone results in a 50 percent reduction in energy [...]

[Read more →]

The movement to create “livable communities” – communities where you don’t have to own a car to get around – is pretty white. But there’s no reason it has to be. DCStreetsBlog ’s Tanya Snyder sums up a new study by the Centers For Disease Control:
The CDC asked people how “street-scale urban design policies” [...]

[Read more →]

Once upon a time, people living in cities had a remarkable amount of freedom to do what they wanted. If they wanted to butcher pigs in your apartment and drop the unused remains out the window onto the sidewalk, they could. If they owned a horse they used to get around, the horse could poop [...]

[Read more →]

On the heels of San Francisco’s new parking meters that automatically adjust parking rates based on up-to-the-minute market supply & demand, Tyler Cowen wrote a nice NYT piece on the problems with the fact that here in the US of A, Big Government regulations mandate that real estate developers create lots [...]

[Read more →]

This week, the Livable Communities Act, designed to help support and coordinate efforts to encourage walkable development and other smart growth initiatives — passed the Senate Banking Committee, one small but important step on the way to passage. According to DC Streets Blog, seniors are a driving force behind the bill:
Some of the [...]

[Read more →]

When I lived in the Bay Area, I did what Mark Mykleby said we should do: I biked to work. I don’t in DC, and it isn’t just the awful summer weather. It’s simple — I don’t want to die.
In DC, I have friends here who bike to work every day. They tell [...]

[Read more →]

The International City/County Management Association just came out with an report, Getting Smart About Climate Change, that’s a nice example of Principle #2, Place Your Bets. It uses case studies to illustrate nine strategies cities and counties are using to combat global warming:
1. Create more sustainable and resilient communities
2. Green the local economy
3. Engage [...]

[Read more →]

If you’re feeling blue about our side’s chances of getting its act together, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and several other environmental justice organizations from around the country just released a report you should check out: Environmental Justice and the Green Economy. The report lays out three principles for building a just, sustainable [...]

[Read more →]