These U.S. Cities Have More Parking Lots Than Housing - They paved paradise again and again and again.
by Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 17, 2024
"...On average, about one-fifth of all land in city centers is dedicated to parking. But what’s the actual harm being done by all that parking space? For one, city centers that are more “parkable” become less walkable. In other words, fewer things are casually accessible.
...Americans’ attitude toward driving is changing. The share of high school seniors with a driving license has dropped from 85.3% in 1996 to 71.5% in 2015. The rise of shared, multi-modal, and (soon, they keep promising us) autonomous mobility will further reduce the need for driver’s licenses, individual cars, and massive parking facilities in city centers.
Perhaps it’s time for American cities to become denser, more lived-in, more walkable—and less “parkable.”
This Vienna street isn’t “closed” because cars have been removed. It has successfully been “opened” to everything else, to a diverse and invigorated civic life, because cars have been replaced by a multitude of wonderful things.
"5 Innovative Ideas for Retrofitting a Suburban Office Building" || by Monte Anderson and Christopher Duncan 5/15/2024
"...the modernization of suburban office buildings represents a dynamic shift toward more innovative and human-centric work environments. By embracing concepts such as technology integration, employee well-being, adaptability and community connectivity, developers can create office spaces that not only meet the needs of the present but also anticipate the demands of the future..."
I often see abled urbanists leaping on the words of any disabled person who says that they can get along without a car, but not being as eager to boost efforts of disabled people pointing out inaccessible infrastructure that often prevents them from dumping cars.
Don't be that person - be as willing to boost (and work for) calls for accessibility as you are to boost disabled people who happen to cycle.
Both abled car-centrists and abled urbanists use disabled people as a cudgel in arguments. Emphasis on "use".
Make your movement accessible, then when disabled ppl are involved - listen. Then get active on problems disabled ppl identify.
We cannot equitably drastically reduce personal motor vehicle use (as we need to) without prioritizing making public transit, train, and cycle infrastructure fully accessible in ways that allow for disabled people to get around independently #Cycling#Urbanism
FINALLY! @TheWarOnCars episode based on the Winter Cycling Congress 2024 is out:
"Winter Cycling in Oil Country":
An unlikely cycling revolution is happening in #Edmonton, Alberta. Despite freezing temps, sprawl, an economy built on tar sands, this #Canadian city is in the midst of a 4-year, C$100M investment in active transportation that will connect the city with a network of high-quality, protected bike lanes.
The person on the left is carrying bags, the one in orange is a delivery driver and a couple of people are wearing backpacks. Aside from car brained, Damaris is also blind.
🧵 Even before I formed @ucaccessnow, I persisted through campus channels trying to get them to acknowledge that cycle racks ALSO have to be accessible, not car parking spaces. After months of brick walls with UC and my union, I got a meeting with the head of UC Davis TAPS, who
This is why I & @ucaccessnow want all cycle racks to be accessible designs, accessibly sited. Here we have a twofer - for-profit micromobility that was given carte blanche on campus & in town without offering accessible vehicles nor a just plan for dealing with bad actors...like the people who parked at the new rationed "oversized cycle parking only" racks.
I put the camera down so I could get a photo of the sheath with its bollard missing, and the SUV that is now able to get beyond it because UC Davis driving employees take these bollards out and (in this case) make them go missing. #UCAccessNow#CarCentrism#Urbanism#Cycling@fedibikes@mastobikes
"The multi-level apartment building is located in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighbourhood, a transitioning area that has been attracting creative types and urban professionals."*
This is a beautiful building, but I cannot help but translate the term "transitioning area" into gentrification.
For brothers Pierre and Granville Pullis, photographing the sprawling system was intrepid, precise work—not unlike the construction itself - by Jessica Leigh Hester March 6, 2020
"...The...images are technically proficient, but also artistic & tenderly humane. Many of the photographs were bound into books...as reference documents, or as evidence... (it was, after all, an era when construction was staggeringly dangerous and injuries were commonplace).
They were also impeccably timed snapshots of urban life & work. [They] captured signs & businesses & moments of striking symmetry, such as people frozen in mid-stride as they wandered between buildings. “What makes these full of personality [in a way] that other photographs of this type usually [aren’t] is that you can tell [they] ...waited for just the right moment to click the shutter,” says Shapiro..."
Just saw someone recommending cycling/urbanism accounts to follow and every one was a white (presumably abled) dude, with the exception of a podcast that has a white woman.
I know we're somewhat limited in recommendations by who joined Mastodon & participates here, but try to recommend more diverse follows. The most famous accts are not necessarily the ones doing the work. I've seen some scrape & re-brand the work of white women & BIPOC without credit.
It's one thing for an individual to be able to live car-free. It's another thing for an entire municipality to exist without cars. There are actually four necessary conditions:
• Car-free existence within the municipality
• Residents can function car-free outside the municipality
• Critical mass of car-free individuals
• Car-free community structure
Spoiler: the New York Times's #urbanism "experts" get them confused.
If you're tempted to cut public flowers, the best place to do it is in a curbcut where thorny roses were planted too close and narrowed an already-too-narrow sidewalk.
Those thorns can give wheelchair users a flat tire, which will make this sidewalk that is only barely wide enough for one wheelchair user an even bigger pain in the ass. #UCAccessNow#Ableism#Urbanism#gardening
Trains: have to turn a profit
Buses: have to turn a profit
Roads: being maintained by tax payer money, don’t have to make a profit (we barely have any toll roads at all in NL).
What Can We Learn From the Ruins of Gary, Indiana?
Exploring deindustrialization by Matthew Christopher May 3, 2024
"...To understand the root of Gary’s problems, we have to understand why it was built in the first place. Gary was founded in 1906 by United States Steel on approximately 10,000 acres of swampland it had covertly purchased. Unlike other American cities that had a more organic evolution, Gary’s sole purpose was to manufacture steel at Gary Works. ...Gary was a metropolis born of the ruthless pragmatism of railway lines and shipping routes—not quality of life...
...In 1973, a recession in the global steel market led to drastic decreases in steel prices and mill closures across the country. The effects were severe and long-lasting, and steel towns were among the hardest hit...
...It’s a warning, a monument to loss....It’s really a shame to see everything that you grew up with gone.”
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
Cycling isn't legitimate transportation...apparently (sh.itjust.works)
The person on the left is carrying bags, the one in orange is a delivery driver and a couple of people are wearing backpacks. Aside from car brained, Damaris is also blind.