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More transportation choices, better health
A recently released nationwide study strongly correlates greater transportation "modal diversity" with better health for the population as a whole.An academic study shows that sustainable community design and transportation choice have a highly beneficial effect on public health. The study of 148 US metro areas on Commute Mode Diversity and Public Health is robust and broad, measuring 12 public health and quality of life indicators against...Read more -
Civic Commons: Spreading opportunity to the whole city
Reimagining the Civic Commons was launched in Philadelphia, and similar strategies are now being applied to five US Cities.For decades the “Philadelphia Story” was about steady economic decline. That story is being rewritten today, but so far Philadelphia’s comeback is limited to certain parts of town. “We have one of the highest infusions of Millennials coming here, but also some of the highest rates of poverty and...Read more -
How (lack of) streets contributed to the London tower tragedy
There are no adjacent streets, and fire engines had a difficult time reaching the building. It wasn't always this way.Did anyone notice how virtually all of the news images and videos of the recent fire disaster at Grenfell Tower in London were shot from some distance or from the air? There were no views from adjacent streets. This wasn’t just because of public-safety reasons, but something more fundamental: There...Read more -
Freeway fill-in feeds urban revival
The noose around Rochester's downtown has been partly removed, breathing oxygen into the repopulation of the city center.First completed in 1965, the Inner Loop of Rochester, New York, was designed to wrap like a noose around downtown. Combined with the rolling demolition of urban renewal, the Inner Loop served to lure and siphon residents out of the city center—and Rochester’s downtown population plummeted. “We...Read more