Every day, The Overhead Wire collects national and international news about cities and sends the links to their email list. At the end of the week they post some of the most popular stories to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to Streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region.
Houston’s Mayor believes his way is the right way: A New York Times profile on Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a controversial figure to active transportation advocates, discusses how he thinks cities should be run in the age of political polarization. Running as a Democrat, he often stakes out very conservative positions on transportation policy and police and fire unions as well as urban noise. (J. David Goodman | New York Times)
Finding your city’s “carbon hoof print”: Researchers at the University of Michigan have mapped out carbon emissions from producing meat for specific cities around the country. They show that eating the same meal in different cities could have drastically different emissions and the amount of meat a city consumes is not strongly tied to how many emissions a city produces. (Matt Davenport | University of Michigan)
Don’t export US car safety standards: A number of European cities and civil society organizations are warning that a trade deal with the United States that accepts lower vehicle safety standards risks improvements in road safety and leadership in public health. EU vehicle standards have supported a 36% reduction in road deaths since 2010 while the United States has seen an increase of 30%. (Transport and Environment)
Highway repair more valuable than expansion: Recent research from Good Jobs First finds that road repair spending generates more economic value than expansion. However, the United States still spends $27B per year expanding highways. The report also ties smart growth to stronger local economies as well as higher construction and wage growth. (Chris McCahill | SSTI)
Landscape restoration in Mexico City: Plans for a new airport were scrapped by the previous Mexican administration leaving runways laid out and ground compacted. But landscape architect Inaki Echeverria saw the end of those plans as an opportunity to restore ecological systems of a once diverse lake system that has been covered over by urban development. The result is a 30,000 acre park. (Architect Magazine)
This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by Ben Donsky of Agora Partners to discuss City Walk BHAM in Birmingham Alabama, a public space project that connects two sides of the city separated by a highway.
Quote of the Week
“We may not be fond of admitting it, but we are drawn inexorably to cities, even as we like to complain about them. That has been true since Thomas Jefferson’s day, and it is not going to change anytime soon.”
—Alan Ehrenhalt in Governing wondering why some people dislike cities even as they are drawn to them.