Cities and Countries
Streetsblog Basics
Stim Cash Gone Bad: Feds Fund Houston’s Highway to Nowhere
Reuters just wrapped up a two-day "Infrastructure Summit" and published a great collection of stories about the state of transportation policy in the U.S. I especially like this piece, featuring Robin Holzer of the Houston-based Citizens' Transportation Coalition, who does a great job illustrating some of the major deficiencies that the federal stimulus bill failed to address:
May 8, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Holland on the Hudson
Streetsblog San Francisco's Bryan Goebel attended the NY400 event yesterday, where Dutch Cabinet Minister Frans Timmermans presented Deputy Mayor Robert C. Lieber and NYC & Company CEO George
Fertitta with 200 orange commuter bikes as part of a year-long commemoration of "four hundred years of friendship between the Netherlands
and the City of New York." To mark the 400th anniversary of Henry
Hudson’s arrival, the bikes arrived in Manhattan via
a water taxi on the Hudson River.
May 1, 2009
Streetfilms: London’s Campaign for People-First Public Spaces
In 2002, then-mayor of London Ken Livingstone launched the 100 Public Spaces Programme, a campaign to better realize the potential of the city's public realm. With guidance from Jan Gehl, the initiative emphasized reclaiming space for pedestrians and enhancing street life.
April 13, 2009
“Do as We Say, Not as We Do” = No Model for Sustainability
Environmentally-conscious citizens of India aren't alone in their concern about the rollout of the Tata Nano, the "world's cheapest car." But in an op-ed piece for Forbes, Projjal Dutta, the director of sustainability initiatives for the MTA, writes that American critics should look to their own example if they expect developing nations to follow a more sustainable path.
April 8, 2009
Barcelona, 100 Years Ago: A Model for Streets Today?
This film, as featured on YouTube via Infrastructurist, shows the streets of Barcelona a century ago, taken from the front window of a tram going down the street. It's an amazing film. The central avenues of this Catalan city are so vital, so alive, a mix of every activity. Then the film compares the old streets to the same streets today. Quite a comparison.
April 3, 2009
Streetfilms: Curitiba, the Cradle of Bus Rapid Transit
Since adopting its master plan in 1968, Curitiba, Brazil has become a beacon for inventive urban planning and
public transportation. The city's pioneering Bus Rapid Transit system inspired the implementation of BRT in many other cities, including TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia; Metrovia in Guayaquil, Ecuador; as well as the Orange Line in Los Angeles.
April 1, 2009
Back to the Grid, Part 2: John Norquist on Reclaiming American Cities
As mayor of Milwaukee from 1988 to 2004, CNU President John Norquist made urbanism and livability top priorities. Some of his most notable achievements centered on the redevelopment of highway corridors with street grids and infill, culminating with the demolition of the Park East Freeway in 2002 -- one of the largest voluntary highway removal projects undertaken in America. Other projects, like the introduction of a light rail system, never reached fruition.
March 30, 2009
Cycling News Photographer Catches Drivers in the Act
Wisconsin's Jeff Frings is an avid bike rider. He's also a photographer for Milwaukee's Fox 6, which may be why this report is among the most fair and balanced we've seen on cyclists' right to the road.
March 24, 2009