by Stephen SmithWhile most people associate cities with pollution and the material and ecological excess of late capitalism, I've long believed that urbanization has the potential to be a great environmental savior. The NYT has a fascinating article that confirms what I said about cities … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2009
Redistribution (a follow up)
I threw up Friday's Redistribution post somewhat hastily during my break, but there isn't much more that I haven't said before. As a follow-up, I'd like to tie it in with some other interesting reads.Ryan Avent at The Bellows agreed with Yglesias' post and added: Anyway, I saw in Google reader … [Read more...]
Redistribution
Discussing Ithaca, New York's plan to increase permitted density and reduce parking minimums, I can dig what Matthew Yglesias says : The distributive impact of parking minimums is to redistribute income from people who don’t own cars to people who do own cars—not to shift income from poor to rich. … [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...]
The Story of I’On: Struggles of a New Urbanist Project
I recently googled upon a post at a blog called "Rub-a-Dub" that mentioned a land development project in Mount Pleasant, SC called I'On.I imagine the developers of the I'On "Traditional Neighborhood Development" (TND) community are sympathetic with Market Urbanism, as they named … [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...]
Uncomfortable truths about the progressive legacy
by Stephen SmithYesterday I was listening to the pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial on the radio, and one of the speakers said something that struck me as emblematic of the challenges that Barack Obama faces, though I doubt she realized the ironic significance. She was praising … [Read more...]
IBM Congestion Pricing Commercial
Apparently, IBM helped implement a congestion pricing solution in Stockholm, Sweden. Could commercials like this help break down aversion to market-based solutions?[hat tip: The Overhead Wire] … [Read more...]