Seeing the Urban Forest for the Trees
Blogger
It is important to focus on forests rather than individual trees when evaluating trade-offs between infill and sprawled development.
No, Traffic Congestion Does Not Really Cost Every American $1,348 Annually
Blogger
The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard exaggerates congestion costs in order to enhance the value of its traffic monitoring services. A little skepticism is justified.
Can Upzoning Increase Housing Supply and Affordability?
Blogger
Increasing allowable densities and reducing parking requirements are important strategies for achieving long-term planning goals, but to succeed they must be applied to large areas.
A Better Travel Experience
Blogger
Transportation engineers sometimes treat people as objects to be moved as quickly and cheaply as possible from one location to another, but people have preferences and feelings which should be considered when planning transport systems.
Toward More Comprehensive Multi-Modal Transport Planning
Blogger
Transportation planning is undergoing a paradigm shift. The new paradigm is more multi-modal and comprehensive, and so can better respond to changing travel demands and emerging community needs.
Planning for Crime Reduction
Blogger
Few issues are more emotional, and therefore vulnerable to bad analysis, than urban crime risk. Solid research indicates that more compact and mixed development tends to increase neighborhood security. Jane Jacobs was right!
Win-Win Solutions for Climate Protection and Health
Blogger
The Call to Action on Climate and Health is an ambitious plan to achieve both global climate and health goals. Planners can help identify win-win solutions that provide multiple benefits and so can build broad implementation coalitions.
Dynamic Planning for Affordability
Blogger
Conventional planning is static, designed to lock in existing land use patterns. We need more dynamic planning to respond to changing household needs and community goals.
How Filtering Increases Housing Affordability
Blogger
Good research indicates that building middle-priced housing increases affordability through "filtering," as some lower-priced housing occupants move into more expensive units, and over time as the new houses depreciate and become cheaper.
Affordability Trade-offs
Blogger
Strategies for increasing affordability often involved trade-offs between various goals and impacts. It is important to consider all of these factors when evaluating potential solutions to unaffordability.