Urban Design
Streetsblog LA
White House Pitches $400M for Healthier Neighborhood Food Outlets
The connection between walkable development and grocery shopping may not seem immediately apparent -- until you consider studies conducted
in cities from Austin to Seattle that showed the share of trips taken
by foot or by transit rises as local food outlets move closer to
residential areas.
February 3, 2010
The Urbanist Case Against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), an advocacy group working to
reform local development practices, is seizing on House Financial
Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank's (D-MA) recent call for a new system of housing finance to replace government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
January 29, 2010
Obama Previews His New Budget’s Urban Policy Moves
When it comes to re-centering the Washington bureaucracy to better
accommodate cities' needs, the first year of the Obama administration
has brought its share of progress (a three-agency partnership set to spend $150 million on sustainable development) and hiccups (a White House urban affairs office with lots of talk but little action).
January 22, 2010
U.S. DOT Previews How New Transit Rules Could Define ‘Livability’
When the Obama administration announced an ambitious revamp of transit funding rules to, as the Transportation Secretary put it, “take livability into account,” urban planners and transit advocates alike were pleased — but also uncertain. Baltimore’s rail network, with the proposed new Red Line — which could get a boost from the U.S. DOT’s livability … Continued
January 21, 2010
West Hollywood Shows Us How to Use Stimulus Funds to Make a Difference
Not every transportation reform project needs to bring visionary change to a city to be a good project. Case in point, the beutficiation project recently started on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Instead of just repaving the road, as is done so often on the streets of Los Angeles, West Hollywood is taking the extra step to also plant trees, fix the sidewalks and improve the crosswalks. In West Hollywood, a repaving is a reason to re-examine whether or not to re-imagine a street.
January 5, 2010
Environmental Reviews: Helpful (and Hurtful) to Many Ideologies
Writing at the Heritage Foundation's blog, Nick Loris says that
the White House's pending decision on whether to consider climate
change in federal environmental reviews amounts to "more green tape."
January 5, 2010
A Message from Copenhagen: Climate Plan Must Include Walkable Urbanism
At
a panel discussion yesterday at the Copenhagen climate summit, American
policymakers and transit experts delivered a clear message: Walkable
urban development must be part of any effective plan to reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to the magic of live webcasts, I can
relay a few highlights for Streetsblog readers.
December 9, 2009
“The Highway to Play a Vital Role in the Progress of Civilization”
Disney's Magic Highway USA is one of the more extraordinary
examples of the myopic devotion to automobility and its infrastructure
I've ever seen. It's probably also required viewing at the Reason Foundation and among Senator James Inhofe's staff in Washington DC.
December 1, 2009
Just How Regressive is America’s Federal Housing Policy?
(ed. note. Please welcome contributor Chris Bradford, author of the economics blog Austin Contrarian.) As this recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report reminds us, the answer is “very regressive.” Even in lean economic times, the average rent in San Francisco (above) is close to $2,000/mo. (Photo: BinBin.net) The disparity between the federal government’s support for … Continued
November 20, 2009
New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
(editor's note: The section with area specific data for Southern California isn't done yet. When it is, we'll have a post specific to our region. In the meantime, this statewide article prepared by Matthew Roth in San Francisco is a great read.)
November 20, 2009