Subscribe to Market Urbanism
|
By Stephen Smith, on January 7th, 2012
There’s been a lot of handwringing by American lefties over the austerity plans that Germany is asking indebted eurozone governments like Italy and Greece to implement in exchange for bailouts, but many aspects of the plans – especially labor market deregulation – are long overdue no matter which side if the aisle you sit [...]
By Stephen Smith, on January 6th, 2012
Scrapping viaducts like this would make California HSR cheaper, faster to build, and easier to maintain, without a loss in quality
The recent peer review report recommending that California delay construction on the first segment of its high-speed rail project has caused a bit of consternation in the transit twittosphere. Blogger The Overhead [...]
By Emily Washington, on January 6th, 2012
On a recent post about property rights in the land market, commenter David Sucher brought up the issue of transaction costs. He commented here and at his blog City Comforts:
The “least intrusive means” should be always kept in mind. The only issue for me is the huge transaction costs which, I believe, [...]
By Stephen Smith, on January 6th, 2012
Earlier today Urban Photo Blog tweeted earlier today a link to an article about Hong Kong’s latest land reclamation project, with an obviously sarcastic “because it worked so well in Dubai!” tacked on at the end. Not to pick on Urban Photo Blog – actually, his Twitter account is definitely one of the best I [...]
By Stephen Smith, on January 5th, 2012
Are America's private railroading glory days gone forever?
The folks at Freakonomics have asked me to contribute to a “Quorum” on Amtrak and whether it can ever be profitable. Maybe I was a sucker, but it looks like I hewed closer to the question that some of the other contributors….
Continue reading [...]
By Stephen Smith, on January 3rd, 2012
Enormous viaducts like this are one reason for the project's ballooning cost estimates
Well, the other shoe has finally dropped: the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group is recommending that the state legislature not authorize the issue of $2.7 billion in bonds to begin paying for the state’s planned $98.5 billion high-speed rail line….
By Stephen Smith, on December 31st, 2011
London’s Shard tower, soon to be the tallest in Europe, is, financially speaking, a bit puzzling. Europe is in the midst of an economic crisis, and London’s Southwark, across from the skyscraper-crazed City of London, is gentrifying, but not the safest place for a massive real estate investment. The developers have yet to sign [...]
By Stephen Smith, on December 22nd, 2011
Cornell-Technion has released another “fly-over” video, this one focused on the interior. But it does shed a bit more light on what the development will look like from the ground, and it ain’t pretty – the campus will be laid out in a fairly Corbusian plan, replete with lots of concrete plazas and grassy [...]
|
|
Italy’s Austerity Plan Spurs Transport Deregulation
There’s been a lot of handwringing by American lefties over the austerity plans that Germany is asking indebted eurozone governments like Italy and Greece to implement in exchange for bailouts, but many aspects of the plans – especially labor market deregulation – are long overdue no matter which side if the aisle you sit [...]