municipal
Parking report: L.A. needs infill (badly)
How can parking impact traffic in one of the country’s most notoriously congestion-plagued cities? Plenty of cities maintain minimum parking requirements, yet, as certain researchers are pointing out, there is lacking data on how much parking infrastructure has expanded. In the recent study, “Parking Infrastructure: A Constraint on or Opportunity for Urban Redevelopment? A Study […]
Identifying the most desirable communities in America
What’s the most desirable community in the U.S.? In a recent study titled “Driving to Opportunity: Local Rents, Wages, Commuting, and Sub-Metropolitan Quality of Life,” researchers investigated differences in local rents, pay, commuting costs, household characteristics and amenities in nearly 2,100 areas within metro areas throughout the U.S., creating an index based on “willingness-to-pay,” which “indicates the quality […]
Bike share program launches in newly bike-friendly Pittsburgh
Historically car-centric Pittsburgh is becoming cyclist-friendly. The city’s bike share program launched its Healthy Ride program on May 31, stocking stations with public-use bikes that will reach and connect 11 of the city’s neighborhoods to encourage exercise, and to reduce both traffic and pollution. While the launch didn’t go quite as smoothly as possible (some […]
Ferguson, traffic citations, and racism
It’s official: Ferguson, Missouri is making money off of racially biased traffic citations. The U.S. Department of Justice this week finished its civil rights investigation into the city’s police department and municipal court system, discovering the city’s police department used traffic enforcement to “systematically discriminate against minorities,” as AutoBlog reports. Police officer prejudice and crippling […]
Lawn ornaments no longer entitle Bostonians to parking spots
Christmas decorations, traffic cones, deck chairs, children’s outgrown toys and old appliances: Following record snowfall, Boston residents have been using whatever they can get their hands on to claim their shoveled-out parking spots while they’re not using them. The unofficial rule, as NPR reports, is “[W]hoever takes the time to dig out a parking space […]
How San Francisco & other ped-friendly cities are expanding sidewalks
The lunar New Year yesterday brought attention to an issue plaguing San Francisco’s crowded Chinatown: overflowing sidewalks. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, city officials are working with Chinatown business owners to develop a plan to add much-needed space for pedestrians. “The challenge is that when you change one thing, there’s a ripple effect,” recently appointed […]
Carless in Seattle
Carsharing is taking off in Seattle. Last week the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee voted for an increase in carshare permits and operators, reports The Urbanist, in a move that would both benefit and encourage competition with Car2go, a company that rents minicars on a minute-by-minute rate. Carsharing — any service that allows users to […]
Understudied but omnipresent: the economics of parking
Cars are parked for a staggering 95% of the time, and can even create problems that are just as serious as when they are parked compared to when they’re in motion — yet there are very few studies available on the economics of parking. In reality, parking problems are more complicated than drivers just nabbing […]
Does smart technology make for dumber cities?
Our smart cities are perhaps too intelligent for our own good, argues The Guardian in a recent editorial. The data collection that both characterizes a smart city and makes life more seamless within such a city is a mixed blessing: While data is changing life from the street up, who — or what agency — […]
Why traffic estimates are ultra-important
Urban planners, engineers and policymakers use traffic projections to settle everything from how many parking spaces a property needs to whether to widen roads, lengthen signal cycles or reduce housing or retail plans. What would happen if these estimates were faulty? Funds would be diverted from projects that really need them. Housing costs could rise. And new developments would […]
Vision Zero for cities symposium tackles traffic safety
Last week in Brooklyn, advocacy group Transportation Alternatives held the Vision Zero For Cities Symposium, a panel on Vision Zero, New York City’s movement to reduce traffic injuries to zero with the guiding principle that “No human being should be killed or seriously injured in traffic.” The event included leaders from the NYC Department of Transportation, […]
