In a long excerpt from his new book Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post Carbon World, Patrick Condon explains the advantages of streetcars, where they went, and why we should bring them back.
Condon writes,
"Streetcar cities were walkable, transit accessible and virtually pollution free while still dramatically extending the distance citizens could cover during the day.
The planning literature occasionally refers to the streetcar city pattern, but seldom is the streetcar city mentioned for enhancing human well-being or lauded as a time when energy use per capita for transportation was a tiny fraction of what it is today.
This is tragic, because the streetcar established the form of most U.S. and Canadian cities. That pattern still constitutes the very bones of our cities -- even now, when most of the streetcars are gone."
Condon cites many studies showing the benefits of streetcars over other transportation modes.
FULL STORY: News A Tyee Series Why a Streetcar Is Something to Be Desired
Streetcar Suburbs May Not Actually Support Streetcars
Yonah Freemark suggests that the original streetcar suburbs were actually not dense enough to continue supporting streetcars back in the day.
A History of Public Transit Disinvestment in the US
The Union of Concerned Scientists takes us on a “trip down memory ‘train,’” examining the history of public transit, including its chronic disinvestment and perpetuation of racism, from the 1800s to today.
Atlanta’s Transit Past, Present, and Future
The city once had an extensive streetcar system. Can it revive public transit once again?
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
Twin Cities Trains Move to Fewer Cars, Higher Frequency
Headways will drop from 15 minutes to 12 minutes.
DC Bikeshare System Breaks Ridership Record
Capital Bikeshare users took over 20,000 rides on one day in March.
EV Infrastructure Booming in Suburbs, Cities Lag Behind
A lack of access to charging infrastructure is holding back EV adoption in many US cities.
Barrett Planning Group LLC
City of Cleburne
KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
