Month: September 2019
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The Week Observed, September 27, 2019
What City Observatory did this week 1. Why diversification is a simplistic, often flawed economic strategy. When it comes to personal investment everyone understands (or certainly should understand) the concept of portfolio diversification–by having a wide variety of different investments, one lowers the risk of loss. That same principle is widely applied in economic development,…
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A lack of nearby jobs doesn’t cause urban poverty
There’s scarcely any evidence that proximity to jobs matters for escaping poverty. One of the most popular and persistent theories of urban poverty is that the poor are poor because they don’t live particularly close to jobs. John Kain popularized the “spatial mismatch” theory in the late 1960s, explaining increased and persistent urban unemployment as…
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Why economic diversification is a poor guide to local strategy
Too much economic development policy is based on a naive analogy to portfolio theory Cities looking to strengthen their economies should concentrate on building upon and extending current specializations One of the most widely agreed upon bits of folk wisdom in economic development is the idea of “economic diversification.” The notion is that your local…
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The Week Observed, September 20, 2019
What City Observatory did this week 1. What super-commuters really mean. Media coverage of super-commuters–people who travel more than 90 minutes each way to and from work–is invariably sympathetic, treating these folks as hapless victims, and lamenting the congestion on the highway system. But despite all the attention they get, these long-distance commuters are remarkably…
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Portland’s Climate Fail: More Driving
Carbon emissions from transportation in Portland increased 6 percent last year In the one are where city policy can make the most difference, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing Portland has long prided itself in being one of the first cities in the US to adopt a legislated goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The…
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What supercommuting really means
Super-commuting is a really a plea for more housing and better transit If long distance commutes are up, its probably because gas prices are so low If you’re covering the transportation beat, the plight of the poor super-commuter is a reliably evergreen story. Profile some poor person who gets up at 4.00 AM to travel…
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How Ecotopia is failing its biggest test
West Coast political leaders talk a good greenhouse gas game, but actions speak louder Throughout Ecotopia, carbon emissions are rising due to more driving, yet the region’s leaders are throwing even more money at subsidizing car travel This weekend, leaders of some of the world’s most environmentally progressive cities are meeting in Copenhagen for the…
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The Week Observed, September 13, 2019
What City Observatory did this week 1. Beto O’Rourke brings a strong inclusive urbanist message to the Presidential contest. While its been great to see housing affordability and climate change grow in prominence on the national stage, some of what’s been proposed, especially to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been too much alternative fuels and…
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“Smart Cities” have to be about much more than technology
A framework for thinking about smart cities Cities are organisms, not machines The growing appreciation of the importance of cities, especially by leaders in business and science, is much appreciated and long overdue. Many have embraced the Smart City banner. But it seems each observer defines “city” in the image of their own profession. CEOs…
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Inclusive urbanism comes to the presidential race
Beto O’Rourke brings a strong urbanist, inclusive message to the presidential campaign The 2020 Democratic presidential race has been remarkable for addressing both climate change and housing policy issues that have long been ignored. For example, as the Brookings Institution’s Jenny Schuetz has chronicled, several of the candidates have stated policy positions on improving housing…
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The Week Observed, September 6, 2019
What City Observatory did this week 1. Highway to Hell. There’s a new report out on the the future of the Interstate Highway System, and its a shocker. It’s a shock because it shows that the National Academies of Engineering, ostensibly a pillar of the nation’s scientific establishment, is willfully blind to the problems of…
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Highway to Hell: Climate denial at the TRB
The Transportation Research Board, nominally an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is engaged in technocratic climate arson with its call for further highway expansion and more car travel. The planet is in imminent peril from global warming, with much of the recent increase in emissions in the US coming from increased driving. In…
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Seeing red
We’re killing more people because more people are ignoring traffic signals We’ve charted the ominous increase in road deaths in the past several years, and now there’s a new bit of evidence of just how bad the problem has become. In 2017, according to an American Automobile Association analysis of NHTSA data reported by the…