• Occupy Main Street

    Great Barrington’s Main Street should be a place where place people want to get out of their cars to shop, eat, and socialize—under a canopy of trees. That’s not what state departments of transportation build, however.
    An old Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” In other words, it’s not too late to fix the economic and social problems the recent rebuilding of Main Street brought to town. Great Barrington’s Main Street has lost the curb appeal that...Read more

  • Citizens fight wasteful urban freeway

    A diverse group is promoting "cost effective," place-creating alternatives to rebuilding an ugly freeway in Providence, Rhode Island. The current 6-10 plan "feels like they are screwing poor people, like it's urban renewal 201," says a Coalition member.
    The city doesn't want it, the neighborhoods are damaged by it, but Rhode Island Department of Transportation ) RIDOT wants to rebuild a $400 million highway interchange that divides the West Side of Providence. An urban boulevard, a more cost-effective alternative that would perform better...Read more

  • Twenty thousand C-notes for the 'civic commons'

    Major foundations are investing $20 million into four cities, matched by local funds, to revitalize underutilized assets and improve the public realm at the neighborhood scale.
    The breaking news today is good for Akron, Detroit, Chicago, and Memphis—four post-industrial cities—that will be getting $20 million from the Knight, Kresge, Rockefeller, and JPG foundations, matched by local funding sources, to connect civic assets and improve public spaces. These cities join...Read more

  • Autonomous vehicles: Hype and potential

    Autonomous rapid transit Is the best use of autonomous technology. Combined wtih high-capacity metro transit systems, this will avoid the degradation of autonomous vehicle performance from mixed-traffic flow and attract riders from private cars.
    Every new transportation technology impacts the geography of our communities and the structure of our lives. Autonomous vehicles (AV) are one such technology. Just as our freeway system or the streetcar network shaped our cities and lifestyles, AV will remake the metropolis once again. The question...Read more