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cities
More Density for Bigger Cities
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 05/02/2013 - 9:29amI recently have noticed lots of comments in blogs and listservs on ideal densities. But the ideal density for a city or a neighborhood (if there is such a thing) depends on context.
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Why? The smaller the city, the less density you need for walkability.
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Are The Poor Being Forced Into Suburbia?
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 04/21/2013 - 8:47pmI recently read a blog post explaining that smart growth and urban infill are not so smart because it forces poor people into suburbia. The logic behind this claim is, as far as I can tell, as follows: 1) infill means rising real estate values in cities, (2) rising real estate values mean... read more »
Our Three Environments
Submitted by barefooturbanist on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 8:42amIn the science-fiction classic THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, the hero finally escapes from his house into his front yard. His once normal world is now to him a limitless universe. This, he knows, is conatined within an even more limitless universe; that of the earth in the solar system, ... read more »
Nonsense about Nixon and Reagan
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 11/14/2012 - 12:33pmA recent article in the New Republic has the reassuring (to me) headline: "Republicans Can't Afford to Ignore Cities Anymore." I'm certainly all for Republicans not ignoring cities, but there was a passage in the article that made me want to bang my head against the nearest brick wall.
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An excellent article in The Economist on the importance of cities
Submitted by wajdighoussoub on Sat, 10/20/2012 - 1:40pmI had a feeling Glaeser's book would be mentioned as I started reading and there it was, in the fifth paragraph. Interesting statistics and argument.
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Let LA be LA (And New York, And Cleveland...)
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 10/14/2012 - 1:56pmI recently read a blog post asserting that Los Angeles must be a suburban city, because "what makes LA LA is that people do want to live in a suburban environment." Since I don't live in Los Angeles (and have never been tempted to move there) perhaps this is none of my business.
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Nonsense About The City
Submitted by MLewyn on Sat, 10/13/2012 - 11:54pmAs I was reviewing the Planetizen web page, I noticed a bizarre headline: "Are Cities Driving Us Crazy?" I then clicked the link, finding a story in Nature magazine: "Stress and the City". The article suggests that the stress of city life is a "breeding ground for psychosis."
And the evidence ... read more »
The no-lose argument
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 07/16/2012 - 8:46amThere will always be those who argue that the suburb-dominated status quo is inevitable.
When cities were declining, they had an easy case to make. They could argue: "look, cities are declining so suburbia is inevitably the wave of the future!"
Then when cities started to gain populatio... read more »
Housing costs and centralization
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:43amIn my limited experience, commentators who oppose regional land use regulations like urban growth boundaries (or at least worry about the impact of such regulations on housing costs) tend to favor keeping cities constrained within their 1950 boundaries, while people who favor such regulations t... read more »
Ed Glaeser Interview in Grist
Submitted by Sam Newberg - J... on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 12:49pmCheck out this excellent interview of Ed Glaeser in Grist magazine. In it, Glaeser discusses his new book, Triumph of the City." Interesting is his argument against the notion that the city is not where true AMerican ideals reside.
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