Here’s my answer to the question “Should the next surface transportation bill allow states and municipalities to use a greater share of scarce Trust Fund dollars on non-highway projects such as bike lanes and pedestrian walkways?” on the National Journal’s Transportation “Expert” Blog. For more background, see my post “Fixing America’s Federal Transportation Policy.”
New Planetizen Post: ‘Whither the Regional Planning?’
These are exciting times for local-level and perhaps national urban planning, but not for regional planning. Does regional planning have a future in the U.S., or are we destined for a future where our jealously independent towns and cities will develop in an uncoordinated way? Or is the concept of regional planning itself simply too […]
Boston Work
I thought I would note here that I recently moved to Boston, and last week started work as a Research Analyst at the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a planning agency that represents 101 cities and towns in the metropolitan Boston region. I’ll be working in the agency’s Data Center, as well as on the […]
Planning a Fake City
Our novels, films, and urban planning textbooks are filled with imaginary cities. Whether utopias or dystopias, most of these fictional cities imagine what a city could be at its best — or worst. However, few describe an average city, let alone map out a typical yet entirely fake 1,011 square mile American city in excruciating detail, complete with a named streets and an imaginary history. That’s precisely what my friend Neil Greenberg set out to do with his Fake Omaha project. Read more to find out how he keeps track of 11,000 street names and how imaginary transit systems and mayors transform the fake backwards city into a fake dynamic metropolis, and what we in the real world can learn from it.
19th Century Scots and Your Regional Sewer Authority
Who is this man? The declining intellectual influence of Scottish thinker Patrick Geddes is one of the reasons I cite to explain the declining interest in regional studies and planning among academics in my latest post for Planetizen.