San Francisco « City Block

Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism

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

Middle class in Manhattan?

Manhattan. CC image from sakeeb.

Breaking news! Last week, the New York Times reported that it is expensive to live in Manhattan. The Times frames the question through the lens of the middle class, asking what the definition means in the context of they city’s densest borough.

In a city like New York, where everything is

Continue reading Middle class in Manhattan?

Urban density and innovation

CC image from Seth Waite

One more round on density – this time focusing on affordability via the tangentially related prospect of innovative and creative economies.

Richard Florida chimed in at The Atlantic Cities, asking this:

Stop and think for a moment: What kind of environments spur new innovation, start-ups and high-tech industries? Can you name one

Continue reading Urban density and innovation

What would land use regulatory reform look like?

Law Library. CC image from Janet Lindenmuth

Via the always interesting Land Use Law Professors blog, I came across this summary from interfluidity (written by Steve Waldman) of the main points of Avent, Glaeser, and Yglesias. Dubbed the econourbanists, Waldman summarizes their arguments:

In a nutshell, the econourbanists’ case is pretty simple: Cities are really important,

Continue reading What would land use regulatory reform look like?

Parking, lots and lots of parking!

There’s been a horde of great parking posts in the last few days:

First, Jarrett Walker documents San Francisco’s new adventure in market pricing for on-street spaces:

The goal is to ensure that there’s always a space available, so that people stop endlessly driving in circles looking for parking. People will be able to check

Continue reading Parking, lots and lots of parking!

Observations from San Francisco

As a nice respite to DC’s heat, I was able to spend the last week in California – including several days in San Francisco. Some thoughts and observations from the trip:

Hills and Grids: Gridded streets have plenty of benefits, to be sure – but the downside is that they do not react to topography. San

Continue reading Observations from San Francisco

Parking, Census, & Maps

Some cool map-related items:

San Francisco’s Parking Census – with one of those ideas that’s so obvious that no one ever thought of it before, San Francisco has completed the first known census of all the publicly available parking spaces in an American city. The census found 441,541 spaces in the city, just 280,000 of which

Continue reading Parking, Census, & Maps

Links – bad day for the Midwest

Soldier Field, US v. Honduras World Cup Qualifier, summer 2009. CC image from flickr

The US has narrowed their list of potential host cities for the US Soccer Federation’s bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup – and shockingly, that list does not include the Windy City.

The final cities are Atlanta,

Continue reading Links – bad day for the Midwest

As Financial Industry Challenges Crowd-Funding Model for Real Estate, Fundrise Eyes New Markets – Next City 3 hours ago
OK - I think crowdfunding a million-dollar infill real estate project is one thing, but multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects is probably a whole 'nother scale.
Seriously, We Have to Stop Giving Away Free Parking to the Disabled - Emily Badger - The Atlantic Cities 4 hours ago
And this doesn't even get into the fraud potential with these disabled placards.
Human Transit: how to (not) sound elitist when discussing transit 12 hours ago
Excellent discussion of the disconnect between architects/designers and transit planners. This gap leads to things like Arlington's one million dollar bus stop.
Slow Jam – Next City 2013/06/17
Fascinating story about buses in Lima. Includes formal vs. informal transit, confusion via many private operators, and challenges in planning for future infrastructure.
The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure | StarTribune.com 2013/06/12
Proof of payment for mass transit: The best way. 2013/06/12
Matt Yglesias discovers the operational benefits and cost-effectiveness of POP fare collection.
Malls: the long goodbye | west north 2013/06/11
We barely knew ye.
Riders try out Metro’s new stainless steel fare gates - The Washington Post 2013/06/07
The obsession with stainless steel continues.
When i say "city"... / fake is the new real 2013/06/07
I remember seeing this scroll across my twitter feed in real time. Great stuff.
Venn Diagram: Why Conservatives Hate Citi Bike -- Daily Intelligencer 2013/06/06
I do love a good Venn Diagram.

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City Block

Prescriptive urbanism vs. market urbanism

Middle class in Manhattan?

Urban density and innovation

What would land use regulatory reform look like?

Parking, lots and lots of parking!

Observations from San Francisco

Parking, Census, & Maps

Links – bad day for the Midwest

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