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 … [Read more...]
Freakonomics Quorum: Can Amtrak Ever Be Profitable?
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 … [Read more...]
California HSR Review Panel Recommends Against $2.7 Billion Bond Issue
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 … [Read more...]
Qatar’s Skyscraper Diplomacy
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 … [Read more...]
The Pitfalls Of The Manhattan Street Grid
2011 is almost over, so it’s the last week I’ll be able to run random NYC street grid facts with the excuse that it’s the 200th anniversary of New York‘s 1811 Commissioners’ Plan! This WSJ blog post on the high cost of filming in Manhattan rare alleyways reminded me of … [Read more...]
North Korean Urbanism at Kim Jong-il’s Funeral
Quick, are you at the computer reading this around 2 a.m. Wednesday eastern time??... … [Read more...]
A Roosevelt Island Campus To Make Le Corbusier Proud
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 … [Read more...]
William Fischel On The Origins of Zoning
If you’ve ever done a Google Scholar search for anything zoning related, you’ll probably recognize the name William Fischel. He’s an economic historian at Dartmouth who’s written a lot about local government, and especially land use regulations. He’s got a wide-ranging paper published in 2004 called … [Read more...]