Blogosphere: TIFIA & PPPs, Mass Urban Destruction, Modern Life Is Killing Us, Recapturing Infra Investments, Determining Parking Value
August 13, 2012
More News & Resources:
| Blogosphere - In this section you'll find commentary, opinion and editorials from blogs and newspapers around the country. The opinions expressed in these blogs do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Reconnecting America. |
| TRANSPORT |
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Blogosphere: TIFIA To Spark Public-Private Partnerships Financial News Last month, President Barack Obama gave a campaign speech, in which he said: "You know what? There are some things we do better together." Among his examples were the construction of the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Romney VP Pick A Longtime Foe Of HSR California High Speed Rail Blog Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin member of Congress who is best known for his budget proposal that would privatize Social Security and gut Medicare, was announced this morning as Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential nominee. Ryan's hostility to federal spending predictably extends to passenger rail and high speed rail in particular.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Olympic Superstars Ride Public Transit Grist The members of the American men's Olympic basketball team are on their way to a gold medal. They also ride public transit... Read On |
| URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES |
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Blogosphere: Weapons Of Mass Urban Destruction Foreign Policy In the last five years, China has built 20,000 miles of expressways, finishing the construction of 12 national highways a whopping 13 years ahead of schedule and at a pace four times faster than the United States built its interstate highway system. Over the last decade, Shanghai alone has built some 1,500 miles of road, the equivalent of three Manhattans. China's urban population is projected to grow by 350 million people by 2020, effectively adding today's entire U.S. population to its cities in less than a decade. China has already passed the United States as the world's largest car market, and by 2025, the country will need to pave up to an estimated 5 billion square meters of road just to keep moving.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Modern Life Is Killing Us Salon Remember all that buzz about how the length of your commute affects your happiness? "A person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40 percent more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office," wrote Jonah Lehrer, God rest his soul, in 2010. (Can probably assume that wasn't a Bob Dylan quote!) Turns out going to work not only stinks, it leaves psychological scars.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Recapturing Investments In Infrastructure Next American City In 1978, three real estate developers in Boston set their eyes on a decaying waterfront property south of downtown. The lot, owned by the bankrupt Penn Central station, was up for $3.5 million. The deal fell apart. A few years later, one of the trio, Frank McCourt, bought the land for around three times the rate and set up shop on the 24 acres, using them mostly as a parking lot. He and his wife became the largest private developers in South Boston..... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Power To The People Urban Times After what happened in Aurora, CO, I was not sure that I would be able to again look at 'The Dark Knight' trilogy with optimism. Suddenly, the events and themes of those movies felt eerily reflective of the darkness that can shroud the world I see every day. But then I looked beyond 'The Dark Knight' and beyond the Joker. I looked at all three movies together. I looked at Gotham. And what I saw was a modern city learning what it means to give power back to the people..... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Politics Of Urban Comeback In DC The Atlantic Is bemoaning the gentrification of Washington, D.C., a genre past its prime? I mean, there's considering the meaning of the transformation of the city from a majority-black metropolis to one that is no longer so, and there's reflecting on what it means to see all-black, working-class cultural communities replaced by middle-class, multi-ethnic, multi-racial ones that nonetheless have the kind of homogenized cultural aesthetic characteristic of the college-educated.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: The Right To The City Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space There is a good Atlantic piece, "The Politics of the Urban Comeback: Gentrification and Culture in D.C.," responding to another whitey is taking over the city/appropriating black culture piece in the Washington Post, "The Brixton: It's new, happening and another example of African-American historical 'swagger-jacking'."... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Density Vs. Creative And Economic Output Urban Times Demographers and socio-geographers have long seen it coming but the first decade of the 21st century will be remembered as the first time more than half the people on earth, 3.3 billion of us, lived in cities. And by 2050, according to the best projections, this figure would have risen to as many as 70 percent. As nations spend trillions accommodating these new urban dwellers, which direction should city planning take? The answer, as both Chicago and Manhattan apparently know, is up! Or is it?... Read On |
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Blogosphere: How San Diego Wins The Talent Race U-T San Diego Cities are competing in the most important race of the 21st century: the race for talent. By talent, we mean the highly educated, highly mobile 24-35-year-olds who urban economist Joe Cortright has dubbed the "young and restless." As Cortright explained at a recent presentation hosted by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and Equinox Center, a city's ability to develop, attract and retain these highly sought after young people is, by far, the biggest factor in driving future prosperity.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Let Market Determine Parking Price Edward Glaeser, Bloomberg View On First Avenue in Manhattan, right before the 96th Street entrance of FDR Drive, there is a large open parking lot in front of the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses, a public-housing project. The residents of New York's public housing pay no more than $45 a month for reserved parking, which is a pretty good deal because daily parking fees in midtown Manhattan average $40.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: The Perils Of Computer-Aided Design Polis In a recent post covering open-source architecture I expressed my enthusiasm for a future generation of D.I.Y. computer-savvy designers. I then stumbled upon the words of acclaimed architect Juhani Pallasmaa, cautioning against the negative effects of over-digitization.... Read On |
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Blogosphere: Urban Renewal Board Game The Pop-Up City Toronto-based visual artist Flavio Trevisan's work is always strongly related to mapping and analyzing the urban fabric. One of his projects is 'The Game of Urban Renewal', a board game that introduces its players to the exciting world of urban renewal. The game can be played by any number of people and enables players to "do all the things that are done in a modern city's cut-throat planning office". Read On |
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Blogosphere: Miniature City Made Of 100,000 Staples Grist Artist Peter Root's "Ephemicropolis" looks like a miniature megacity - four inches tall and sprawling over 200 square feet. But it's actually made out of fragile stacks of staples that took 40 hours to arrange.... Read On |
