Shane Phillips is a student at the University of Southern California working on a Masters program in Public Administration and Urban Planning. His focus is transportation and land use, with a special interest in how our public institutions are structured to either promote or discourage safer, healthier, more economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable communities. He also writes about these topics at his blog, Better Institutions.
Originally from the Seattle area, Shane now lives in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles and has been car-free for more than five years. In addition to school, he also works as a Junior Associate at Urban One, a real estate and transportation project management firm located in Downtown LA. His background is in biochemical research and he developed a passion for urbanism through his interest in public health, but his writing and his interests now extend to the economic, social, spatial, and environmental impacts of urban planning and policy.
Shane can be reached at [email protected] and on twitter at @shanedphillips.
End the Transit Commuter Benefit, And Replace It With This
If we really want more people to use transit, and we think it's a worthwhile goal to subsidize people's commutes, why go through all the trouble of tax deductions and employer control? Why not just subsidize transit passes directly?
Urban Road-Building Linked to Poor Statewide Economic Performance
Besides wasting billions of taxpayer dollars, road-building may actually be holding back economic growth overall.
Scientific Proof That Cars and Cities Just Don't Mix
A fascinating new study found that drivers perceive exactly the same things more negatively than those who walk, bike, or take transit. These findings have a few interesting implications.
Families Aren't Leaving Cities, They're Just Getting Smaller
While there's no denying the fact that the number of children in many American cities has declined, it's untrue that urban life is incompatible with raising a family, or that families in cities are being replaced by singles and childless couples.
Recovering Housing Market Gets Smart
As the housing market recovers, are we back to the McMansion-binges of the 2000s? Or, are we growing just a little bit smarter?