While doing research for something totally unrelated, I came across this paper by Asha Weinstein (.pdf) on parking policy in Boston in the 1920s. One of the things she (?) discusses is the political feasibility of charging for the right to park downtown: Despite this general consensus, however, … [Read more...]
Stadtluft Macht Frei (city air makes one free)
Thomas Schmidt wrote a great article for LewRockwell.com that covers a lot of urbanist ground, with some help from a broad selection of Jane Jacobs’ work. Here’s a snippet: Though you might blame any number of obvious villains and historical processes for this, the name Ebenezer Howard would … [Read more...]
Tolling NY’s East River Bridges Back on The Table?
[flickr: darren bryden] Congestion pricing schemes, touted as environmentally-responsible at the time of $4 gas, were defeated in New York City last Spring. However, as the market turmoil threatens to wreak havoc on tax revenues, fiscal necessity has lured New York State and New York City … [Read more...]
Block on Road Socialism
For quite some time, Economist Walter Block has been one of the more radical thinkers when it comes to advocating free market solutions. Many of his writings on roads and rent control are featured in the Links to Articles, Academic Papers and Books page. Today's Lew Rockwell Podcast features an … [Read more...]
Abandoned Cities
Here's a link to a very interesting article at weburbanist.com with photos of 20 abandoned cities and towns around the world - 20 Abandoned Cities from Around the World: Deserted Towns and Other Derelict Places … [Read more...]
link: Medieval Cities
I have little expertise in Medieval Cities and have little input, but thought it was interesting: Marginal Revolution - Medieval cities: Europe vs. the Arabic world also, Econlog - Producer and Consumer Cities Cities in the Arab world were on average much larger than those in Europe, … [Read more...]
The Great Depression and America’s Addiction to Government Roads and Oil
One of my favorite new blogs, Rationalitate brought up a topic that I have spent much time thinking about, The Great Depression and Public Roads: In a time before the widespread adoption of income and sales taxes, property taxes made up the lion's share of local government revenues: two-thirds of … [Read more...]