Every day, The Overhead Wire collects news about cities and sends the links to their email list. At the end of the week they take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to Streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. They are national and international links, sometimes entertaining or absurd but often useful.
A nation of homebodies: Americans were spending almost 30 fewer minutes outside the home on a daily basis in 2019 than they had been in 2003; this trend only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift toward working from home has serious implications and impacts, including disused office and retail space, declining transit ridership and increased social isolation and loneliness. (Brian D. Taylor, Eric Morris, Sam Speroni | The Conversation)
“Giant White Houses”: Giant houses painted white are popping up all over the United States. The oversized homes try to maximize square footage and height, reflecting the economics of real estate speculation and a trend toward higher ceilings. As the market favors certain types of construction — such as these white houses — the space becomes less about “home” and more about financial investment and long term gains. (Dan Kois | Slate)
Trump DOT wants bikes, green projects gone: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has sent out a memo asking for a complete review of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)-supported projects that go against Trump’s executive orders related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and climate policy. The memo specifically targets “green infrastructure” while also calling out bike lanes and electric vehicle infrastructure for funding pulls. This move also follows discussions on the next transportation bill that would focus mostly on road funding and state DOT formula funds. (Gersh Kuntzman | Streetsblog USA)
Giving up a car to buy a home: Ken Miguel-Cipriano was able to purchase his first home in Grand Rapids, Michigan by making one lifestyle change — a big one in much of the United States — giving up his car. As someone who had been taking transit all his life, living car-free was already familiar, and it allowed him to save for a down payment on a house. The cost of owning a car — even at the low end— is thousands of dollars more per year than the cost of a transit pass. (Allaire Conte | Realtor.com)
City pioneering flood insurance: The city of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area is pioneering a citywide flood insurance mechanism called parametric insurance: If a flooding threshold is met, a payout to the city is triggered. The city can then use the money for helping individual residents, general recovery or anything else it needs. While parametric insurance has been used by neighborhoods and homeowners’ associations, Fremont is the first American city to purchase it. (Leslie Kaufman | Insurance Journal)
This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re joined by Ren Yee of UNStudio at the Mpact Transit + Community conference in Philadelphia. We chat about the cognitive workload of pedestrians and creating safe opportunities for mind wandering and absorbing information.
Quote of the Week
“Arguments in favour of increased urban density seem to emanate mostly from Western scholars and policymakers. Western cities, however, are not only far less dense than those in Asia, rarely crossing the 10,000 people per square km mark, they are also losing population, both due to low fertility rates and various economic issues, creating a phenomenon known as ‘shrinking cities’. They need to shore up their economy through a pro-growth strategy.
“The situation is quite the opposite in India. Cities are extremely dense and urbanization is set to increase for the next few decades. Given the natural tendency of economies to agglomerate, Indian cities look set to grow even denser. India needs to decide at which cut-off point density becomes counterproductive even in economic terms.”
— Dr. Ramanath Jha in Observer Research Foundation, discussing density in the context of Indian growth.