flynn050

In recent decades urban transportation policies have migrated out from forgotten corners within department of public works buildings to hip and flashy places where hot-button issues like bike-sharing, car-sharing, complete streets, and transportation equity are addressed. This article tracks why transportation has become a front and center matter for mayors across the country and why transportation is seen now as a key economic development tool. Urban congestion in Manhattan (source: Best Practices for NYC) In economic terms, cities are agglomerations that provide economic benefits that make it more beneficial to locate businesses there than elsewhere. Such beneficial agglomerations also tend to produce "productive inefficiencies", —things like air pollution, parking cost, and congestion. These inefficiencies begin to limit or even reduce the agglomeration benefits. Vehicle-based mobility in a growing agglomeration initially increases as more jobs and amenities locate in an a...

There are a great many people who would like to know what's next. Maybe  right now the future is less predictable than it has been in a long time. Especially immigrants are concerned what the future will hold. This article, although written from the perspective of an immigrant, isn't about the recent election but about the "brand" USA, how the world sees the country and how it sees itself and what should happen next to align the country with expectations and master the challenges with a special eye on cities.  Each immigrant has a vision of the country of choice over the reality left behind. An idea of what the future homeland should be like that is fed from education, stories, news and folklore. America's brand has held its appeal over generations, even though the country has reinvented itself many times over. Immigrant nation: what's next? Each immigrant will find that the new found reality doesn't always conform to the imagined one. The worse the place ...

Speaker after speaker agreed: Infrastructure would be a good investment especially for cities. The psychiatrist Mindi Fullilove and the doctor Richard Jackson spoke about infrastructure in the context of health and human well being, "In social psychiatry health comes from connectedness i.e. A sense of shared values". (Mindi Fullilove ).  Panel discussion in the NYT Conference center by Renzo Piano with open air atrium behind the stage opening a view to 41st Street. Speaking: Mitchell Silver, NYC Parks Commissioner (photo: Philipsen) The developers Jonathan Rose and Chris Leinberger evoked the "Well Tempered City" and the social entrepreneur . NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver spoke about the value of parks ("parks are where you let your brain breathe"), Tyler Duvall , Partner at McKinsey advised about the structural deficiencies in how to deliver infrastructure, Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans made a fervent case for cities as the places where ...

I wrote the below article for this blog in June 2012, four years ago in the last presidential election cycle.  Back then the Maryland Governor was Martin O'Malley who would run briefly for President in this year's Primaries. In 2014 O'Malley's Lieutenant Governor, an insider, was anointed to become his successor but lost the bid in an upset by a Republican outsider. A stunning result in a blue state like Maryland.  In 2015 Baltimore experienced a widespread disturbance that rattled the city. The Governor called it a riot and sent the National Guard. The Black Lives Matter movement called it an uprising. The Governor rode into town a few times since decrying the conditions in this city and promising decisive action. But he cancelled the city's largest project in decades, a $3 billion rail project slated to connect the rich and the poor parts of the city. The recognition that anger was also bottled up inside the big city did nothing to reduce the anger in the rural pa...

No doubt, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization which can't be partisan and shouldn't disrespect a who a constitutionally elected president. A pragmatic approach suggests cooperation.  But then there is dignity and a broader sense of what is right. The AIA faces the same dilemma as so many others face this week. Pragmatism is too gentle a term for AIA's public statement not even half a day after the result of the general election became clear and only minutes after the losing candidate's concession speech. Its fawning opportunism exuded the pungent flavor of sucking up to the winner in a thinly veiled attempt of gaining business. “The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening the nation’s aging infrastructure. During the campaign, President-elect Trump called for committing at least $500 billion to infrastructure spending over fiv...