Ideas, inspirations and discussionson creating better, smarter cities

As if its news: Smart Growth Saves Taxpayer $

Growth in Las Vegas, NV. 1972-2010
Courtesy NASA Goddard Space center. Creative Commons
A new report out from Smart GrowthAmerica lays out how smart growth, simply directing development and public investment within existing cities and towns rather than sprawling into the countryside, is the most prudent fiscal approach…

So Much Wasted Space (and money)

How many times have you heard someone say that buses and bike lanes are such wastes of money because they have seen them empty? And, of course, only running buses when they would be full would be like only opening roads for rush hour.

Bikes as Pedestrians: Osaka/Kyoto

Stepping out the door onto the sidewalk in Kyoto and Osaka can take a while to get used to with all the bicycles whirring by, sharing the usually tight space with crowds of pedestrians…

The Evolution of Urban Mobility: a short photo essay from the streets of Portland

And Now, Everything You Need to Know About Urban Mobility–in Spanish!

¡Échale un vistazo!

Scholarly article re: the impact of parking requirements on Affordability

Following up on the recent spate of articles on mandating off-street parking, here in Portland and nationally, here’s a research article based on real world experience in Los Angeles: Parking requirements as a barrier to housing development: regulation and reform in Los Angeles Abstract: Using a partial deregulation of residential parking in downtown Los Angeles, [...]

The National Movement to Tame Parking

“Reform is not only adopting good policies but also repealing bad policies. Requiring all buildings to provide ample parking is one such bad policy that cities should repeal.” Portland is going backwards by considering resurrecting the bad policies of the past and is out of touch with national trends. What our neighborhoods need is not more government-mandated, expensive and unneeded off-street parking; rather, we need an intelligent approach to managing cars, including charging for on-street parking…

Off-Street Parking Mandates (continued)

It seems like there is nothing like threatening the loss of a parking spot in front of your house to raise the ire. A voice of reason in this debate is the informal group calling itself Portlanders for Sustainable Development whose letter to the Mayor and City Council appears below. Coming soon will be a [...]

Tell Metro about your ideas to reduce carbon pollution from cars

Metro, the Portland Oregon regional government, is asking about Greenhouse gas reduction strategies here Focus is on motor vehicles and transport with a bit of land use thrown in. *Note: Opt In is an innovative on-line civic forum with almost 20,000 registered participants from all around the metro region begun when I was a Metro [...]

Don’t Tread on Me: It’s time to stop requiring off-street parking

In a tempest in a teapot, a few residents of southeast Portland – that supposed bastion of eco-friendliness – are taking to the barricades to defend their right to park. They feel threatened by the recent appearance of numerous new housing developments that are taking advantage of a two-decade old exemption from parking requirements for buildings along transit streets. From the enraged and outraged tone of their complaints, you would think that the City is sending in the black helicopters.

There are good arguments that government shouldn’t be requiring parking anywhere – it reduces developable land area, it raises costs and therefore reduces affordability, it increases impermeable surface or requires expensive mitigation, it encourages car ownership and use and many times creates barriers to pedestrian activity and deadzones. Parking is an amenity, like granite counters, that a homebuyer or renter should be able to choose, or not, depending on how much they are willing to pay for housing…