The Boston MBTA, the city’s public transportation agency which operates public ferries, buses, the subway, and commuter trains, is broke. The agency’s budget for last year was patched by a one-time payment of $160 million funded by a state sales tax increase, and the agency has over $8.5 billion dollars in outstanding debt. In addition, […]
What is Government 2.0?
With last year’s Gov 2.0 Summit and the explosion of social networking service GovLoop, “government 2.0” has become a buzzword in technology and government circles. What does government 2.0 refer to? And what exactly was the government 1.0 that we’re improving on? This article attempts to define the term and unearth some of the hidden […]
Which Big City Has the Greenest Transportation Profile?
When I was in San Francisco in October, I met Chava Kronenberg, a bay area transportation planner and Metro Boston native. During our conversation she commented Boston’s quite extensive alternative transportation profile is often overlooked in national discussions. Instead, usual suspects like Portland, Oregon get all the credit for their green transportation systems. I decided […]
Transit Apps, Visualizations, Data Plans Announced
Today I attended the MassDOT Developers Conference on transportation apps and data. The conference was organized by Chris Dempsey and Josh Robin, two Massachusetts state employees who have been spearheading work to publish transportation data and encourage third party developers to create apps in the state. The big news at the conference was their announcement […]
Planetizen Post: American ‘High Speed’ Rail Will Be Regional and Slow
See my latest Planetizen article: “The Future of American High Speed Rail: Regional and Slow“
Simulating Our Petroleum-Dependent Future
Computer modeling is a powerful tool for analyzing complex urban systems. Indeed, for decades metropolitan-scale transportation planning has been informed by increasingly sophisticated computer models. In addition, models are commonly used to study all types of infrastructure systems, the urban environment, even possible location of future of urban growth. In fact, I’m building an attractiveness […]
New Database of Tools for Participation and Collaboration in Urban Planning
Over at my MIT webspace I just launched a database of web tools for participation and collaboration in planning. I created it mostly to help myself keep track of all the technology and consultants in this area, and also because of my dissatisfaction with existing databases. It’s not meant to be all-encompassing, just cover the […]