A decade or two ago, a traveler who wished to stay in a city temporarily had no alternative to a hotel. Even if the owner of a house or condominium wished to rent out a room for a short period of time, the costs of advertising in a newspaper would have at least partially canceled out the … [Read more...]
Urbanism In A Time Of Terror
Brussels, Belgium--I had recently moved from Los Angeles, my home of twenty years, to Brussels. It would be my first time living in a traditional city since becoming interested in urban design. So I was constantly looking for little urban insights and pleasures on the ground. For instance, I … [Read more...]
Glamour in streetscapes
A while ago I attended an Urban Land Institute event on development trends in Fairfax's Mosaic District. A presenter from the retail developer EDENS described their strategy of adding "sidewalk jewelry," a design technique used to entice shoppers to travel down sidewalks between stores. Having never … [Read more...]
Potential for Voluntary Infrastructure
Last fall I visited Budapest and learned some interesting history of the city's beautiful Chain Bridge. Before 1849, the small cities of Buda and Pest were connected by a temporary bridge that was only viable during warm months. In the winter, the bridge had to be taken down due to ice, making it … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Cutting Costs On California HSR Doesn’t Have To Add Delays
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 … [Read more...]
In Defense Of Land Reclamation: It Ain’t All Palm Islands!
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...]