Saint Paul eliminates parking minimums, Amtrak proposes new routes
Hello all, my favorite urbanism tweets from the past couple days below.
A 2012 Study of 20,000 Danish kids aged between 5 & 19 concluded kids who cycled or walked to school performed better on tasks that required concentration, such as solving puzzles, with the effects lasting for up to 4 hours after they arrived. Via @modacitylife in #CurbingTraffic
The West Edmonton Mall, along with it's approximately 20 thousand parking spaces, vs the Italian walled city of Lucca, at the same scale.
It's 9 pm on a Tuesday and the main plaza at The Amazing Brentwood mall is a busy playground for both kids and the kids at heart.
All it takes is an amazing activation to take a plaza to the next level. #vancre #vanpoli 1/3
dailyhive.com/vancouver/impu…
Edmonton, Buffalo, San Francisco, Minneapolis did it. St. Paul is doing it too. Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria are working on it.
Time for all cities to eliminate minimum parking requirements on new development. Let the market decide how much parking is built, not the government. https://t.co/C0XGQNPZ84
Pioneer Press @PioneerPress
Toronto's regional rail network will get five new infill stations by 2026, adding to improvements that are bringing two-way, 15-minute frequency service to the system.
Ontario Ministry of Transportation @ONtransport
Here’s a chart comparing the share of units receiving affordable-housing subsidies by city in the United States, United Kingdom, and France.
And now you know why America has one of the highest rent burdens in the developed world.
The other reason why America has extremely high rent burdens, is because of a lack of housing. But this also applies to the UK and, to a much lesser degree, France.
The key difference is that the UK and France invest heavily in renters, while the US does not:
Black homeownership rates are at their lowest since housing discrimination was made illegal 5 decades ago, and NYC is one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. Today we pub'd a series on some of the systemic inequalities that led to this moment 🧵 nytimes.com/2021/08/17/rea…
^Click the tweet above for a thread with more details on the situation faced by black home buyers, segregation by race in NYC, and impacts of home ownership on intergenerational wealth.
Amtrak has posted proposed route maps & travel times of new lines it's planning, like Raleigh-Wilmington; ATL-Nashville/Montgomery; Chicago-Indy/Louisville/Cincy amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/
The proposed travel times aren't always ideal.
Chicago-Indy
🚉3h35 🚗3h02
Chicago-Louisville
🚉5h45 🚗4h44
Chicago-Cincinnati
🚉6h10 🚗4h42
Atlanta-Nashville
🚉6h34 🚗4h14
Atlanta-Montgomery
🚉3h20 🚗2h19
Raleigh-Wilmington
🚉2h48 🚗2h02
Salisbury-Asheville
🚉3h45 🚗2h12
If Amtrak were proposing high-speed rail at French speeds:
CHI-Indy
🚄1h23 🚗3h02
CHI-Louisville
🚄2h15 🚗4h44
CHI-Cincinnati
🚄2h14 🚗4h42
ATL-Nashville
🚄1h54 🚗4h14
ATL-Montgomery
🚄1h13 🚗2h19
Raleigh-Wilmington
🚄0h58 🚗2h02
Salisbury-Asheville
🚄0h59 🚗2h12
Among the 20 largest cities, here were the population increases versus the housing increases.
Many cities added housing from 2010 to 2020 faster than they expanded population, including LA, Chicago, Houston, Philly, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Austin, Denver, & DC.
The metro areas that added the most housing stock from 2010-2020:
-NYC +455k
-Dallas +445k
-Houston +432k
-Charlotte +370k
-DC +286k
-ATL +249k
-Austin +240k
-LA +228k
-Phoenix +187k
-Seattle +187k
The share of housing growth that occurred *in the central city* of the top 10 regions by housing growth differed:
-54% of NYC metro new housing was in NYC
-38% in Austin
-36% in LA
-32% in SEA
-24% in Houston
-22% in PHX
-19% in DC
-16% in Charlotte
-14% in ATL
-12% in Dallas
Modest proposal:
Launch a trade-in program that gives New Yorkers money towards transit passes, an e-bike, or a scooter if they give up their car.
(Finland tried this, and it's been a hit. Info: yle.fi/uutiset/3-1168…)
Longer read:
If you haven't already, take a moment to read @MichaelManvill6's essay on value capture. It's the best 26 pages on the subject that I've ever come across and should be required reading for any elected official who makes decisions about housing policy.
Michael Manville @MichaelManvill6