by Stephen SmithI was heartened to see an article about the need for mass transit in the pages of The Nation, though I was severely disappointed by the magazine's own hypocrisy and historical blindness. The article is in all ways a standard left-liberal screed against the car and for mass … [Read more...]
Density in the Animal Kingdom
Longtime reader, Dan M. wroteHey Adam, I was on your site and saw that you posted a video about ant cities. ( I didn't watch the vid yet, so my thought may or may not have anything to do with it) It's funny that you posted it because it sounds related to something I've been thinking about. I … [Read more...]
Ant Cities Don’t Have a Planning Department
Ants are a lot like humans in some ways. Look what ants can achieve without any top down management:[hat tip: Cafe Hayek] … [Read more...]
Taxing Land Speculation
Bill Hudnut at the Urban Land Institute wrote a post that attracted some attention at Austin Contrarian and Overhead Wire. Hudnut discusses a different approach to taxing land: How about restructuring the property tax across America to install a two-tiered system? More tax on those horizontal … [Read more...]
President Obama on Jane Jacobs and Cities
Without getting too political on inauguration day, I'd like to share a positive video featuring our new President that urbanists should appreciate, regardless of political persuasion:Let's hope President Obama keeps Jane Jacobs' lessons of spontaneous order from The Death and Life of Great … [Read more...]
Another Angle on Planning in Houston
Brian Phillips at Live Oaks contacted me regarding the recent post by Stephen Smith on planning in Houston. Brian is a long time opponent of land use restrictions and defender of property rights in Houston. Brian has a different point of view on the subject, and has written a post on his blog, … [Read more...]
Urban[ism] Legend: Is Houston really unplanned?
by Stephen SmithIt seems to be an article of faith among many land use commentators – both coming from the pro- and anti-planning positions – that Houston is a fundamentally unplanned city, and that whatever is built there is the manifest destiny of the free market in action. But is this true? … [Read more...]
Happy Park(ing) Day 2008
I guess I must not be hip enough to have known about this beforehand, but there's a very interesting citywide event happening here in New York today called Park(ing) Day. All throughout New York City, people are reclaiming parking spaces for their street-side enjoyment. It's a very novel idea that … [Read more...]