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Vancouver towers along False Creek. Photo by author. Two competing narratives often emerge when talking about policy responses to housing costs. One asserts that lowering the costs of construction and development will allow those savings to be passed on to eventual users of the real estate; the other asserts that markets set prices, and lowering Continue reading Development costs and housing affordability Today, Second Ave Sagas linked to a digitized copy of Massimo Vignelli’s 1970 graphics standards manual for the New York City Subway. The photographed pages of the manual describe, in exacting detail, the graphic look and feel and philosophy of wayfinding signage for the Subway. While Vignelli’s schematic map (a scan of the map can Continue reading Graphic standards on the Subway – a lesson for Metro as it evaluates the future of ‘Metro Brown’ Last week, the Washington Post featured a lengthy profile of WMATA’s head architect, the man behind the concepts in Metro’s recently unveiled ‘station of the future‘ concept. The article offers some insight into the thinking behind the proposed re-design of the Bethesda station, as well as some of the pushback Metro has received already from the Continue reading What’s wrong with ‘Metro Brown?’ San Francisco skyline w/ crane. CC image from Omar Omar Tales from two cities: San Francisco: From Ilan Greenberg in The New Republic – San Francisco’s Gentrification Problem isn’t Gentrification. Greenberg compares the public debate (often writen, and discussed previously here) in San Francisco compared to more the more familiar narrative in other cities. Here, the debate is Continue reading Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism – the tension between demand for more housing and the desire to curate great cities
From the 1100 block of 10th St, SE, Washington, DC. In the background, note the ongoing demolition of the Most Beautiful Bridge (elevated highways and viaducts category) of 1972. The demolition is part of the 11th Street Bridge project. Tucked into the testimony of Amtrak President Joesph Boardman at last week’s Senate hearing on the future of the Northeast Corridor is this graphic demonstrating the number of daily train movements by operator at different locations along the spine of the Northeast Corridor:
One interesting thing to note is the difference in the volume Continue reading Capacity on the Northeast Corridor This week, WMATA unveiled a concept for their “station of the future.” The press release and accompanying video flythough of the pilot station (Bethesda) for these improvements lists the reasons for these changes, including “improved lighting, better information and improved customer convenience.” And who would be against those things? All three have been criticisms of Metro Continue reading Metro’s ‘station of the future’ – why mess with what works? CC image from davecito Two pieces on the challenges in re-building following a disaster. The first, from Lydia DePillis at the New Republic, on the challenges Brad Pitt has encountered in his rebuilding efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans: But for a while now, Make It Right [ed- Brad Pitt's charity foundation] has been having trouble enticing Continue reading Disasters: the more things change, the more they stay the same Recently, everyone in DC has been hopping on the bandwagon to bash an extensive redevelopment of a 2-story rowhouse into a 5-story condominium. Headlines make liberal use of middle finger references, with photo angles to match the description. In the comments of one PoPville post on the house, a representative from DC’s Continue reading Perspective on pop-ups
Brookland Metro Station – photo by author. While in the midst of repacing the old terra cotta tiles at the Brookland station (the most colorful of all Metro stations) with the newer concrete tiles for outdoor stations, Metro was kind enough to build some temporary wood benches for customers. |
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