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Extremist New Urbanism
Submitted by Sam Newberg - J... on Wed, 04/23/2014 - 9:19pmA pitched battle has emerged in Minneapolis between two groups, one advocating for the preservation of a large single-family home and the other favoring its demolition to allow for a 45-unit infill project by the Lander Group. The preservationist have accused those in favor of demolit... read more »
Two Cheers For Negative Thinking
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 04/17/2014 - 10:41amI recently read an article suggesting that Cleveland's problems were in part due to "negative thinking"- some fuzzy "vibe of negativity" that discourages people from moving to Cleveland. I am skeptical of this claim for two reasons.
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Always Room For More
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 03/03/2014 - 1:38pmOne common argument against infill: "but there isn't room for any more people!" (or, alternatively, "we can't have more people without turning into a skyscraper monoculture!"
Manhattan is far from a skyscraper monoculture- even in midtown there are lots of 2-6 story buildings of all types.&nbs... read more »
Presidential heroes of urbanism
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 02/17/2014 - 10:18pmSince the weekend that just ended was Presidents' weekend, I thought now would be a good time to acknowledge some especially pro-urban Presidents. I don't plan to focus on their actual policies (a complicated topic, and one not very relevant to most pre-New Deal presidencies) but on their post... read more »
Some Cities Have More Children Than Their Suburbs
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 02/07/2014 - 4:51pmToday, I read a blog post by Joel Kotkin asserting, for the umpteeth time, that famlies with children prefer suburbs. But at the bottom of the post is a chart comparing the child population (as a percentage of total population) for dozens of cities and their suburbs.
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Looking at another Republican Governor's Transit Record
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 02/06/2014 - 11:14amA few weeks ago I posted an entry on transit ridership under several Republican governors who might be running for President; since most governors are judged based on one or two high-profile decisions (e.g.
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Review of Emily Talen's book online
Submitted by MLewyn on Sat, 02/01/2014 - 9:17pmMy review of Emily Talen's book City Rules is now online. To briefly summarize the book: in addition to explaining how land use and street design regulations promote sprawl, Talen shows how those regulations have become stricter over time. In addition to addressing oft-discussed issues ... read more »
Urbanism and the Oscars
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 01/22/2014 - 12:20pmI just finished watching all nine Best Picture nominees, and thought I would discuss what the front-runners should be from an urbanist perspective. Which films occur in an urban or walkable environment? Which films present such environments favorably (or at least not unfavorably)?
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Comparing Christie With Other Governors: Public Transit
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 01/12/2014 - 8:18pmIn view of the recent scandal involving the politically-motivated closing of some bridge lanes in New Jersey, I thought I would start to take a look at how New Jersey Gov Christie's record compares with those of some other governors who might be running for President. But rather than going pro... read more »
More Evidence That There Are Still Poor People In Cities (Or, I Told You So)
Submitted by MLewyn on Tue, 01/07/2014 - 12:31pmIn numerous blog posts (most extensively here) I have pointed out that despite the enormous amount of writing about suburban poverty and urban gentrification, cities still have a disproportionate share of regional poverty.
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