Bicycling grew more in Chicago than in any other major American city in the last five years
"According to an analysis sponsored by CDOT, bicycling has grown more in Chicago than in any other major American city in the last five years. The study showed a 119% increase in biking between fall 2019 and spring 2023, marking the largest jump among the country’s 10 largest cities."
Federal grants don’t always go to the communities that need them most.
Data for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program shows just that. The grants target low- and moderate-income communities, but a disproportionate share goes to the moderate-income neighborhoods, not the ones suffering the most.
For brothers Pierre and Granville Pullis, photographing the sprawling system was intrepid, precise work—not unlike the construction itself - by Jessica Leigh Hester March 6, 2020
"...The...images are technically proficient, but also artistic & tenderly humane. Many of the photographs were bound into books...as reference documents, or as evidence... (it was, after all, an era when construction was staggeringly dangerous and injuries were commonplace).
They were also impeccably timed snapshots of urban life & work. [They] captured signs & businesses & moments of striking symmetry, such as people frozen in mid-stride as they wandered between buildings. “What makes these full of personality [in a way] that other photographs of this type usually [aren’t] is that you can tell [they] ...waited for just the right moment to click the shutter,” says Shapiro..."
I would love to know how this new Purpose-Built Student Accommodation block on New City Road in Glasgow managed to get planning permission as it sticks out like a sore thumb and blots out views across the historic buildings of the West End of the city from the equally historic Speirs Wharf.
Any sort of Viewshed Analysis would have shown it would have an undue impact on view of building, such as the towers of the A-Listed former Trinity College (the tallest of which you can just see poking over the top of the new building) and that of the former Park Church as well as the surrounding Park District.
Glasgow's historic buildings, and the views of them, are one of the city's greatest and most unique assets, but the council planning department seems to continually ignore the need to protect them. The issue here is that if we lose them through poor planning decisions, they are often gone forever and we cannot get them back. As such, I would like to see a much more cautious approach to urban planning in Glasgow.
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
Hornsby is the fifth best place to live in Australia, apparently.
At least, according to a study SGS Economics and Planning:
"Sydney's Northern beaches ranks as the highest in the nation for wellbeing, with only one Queensland city making it to the top 10, the annual index revealed today.
"The Australian Capital Territory came in second due to its low gender wage gaps, climate change risks and the division of wealth."
The study assessed 518 local council areas on seven indicators:
It’s also a failure of politics. If you tell people you’re going to raise taxes to pay for the road, you’re probably not getting elected. Toll roads ideally are just another form of tax that is more sneaky than straight up raising taxes.
People won’t stop driving entirely. Some are legitimately afraid of rain, sun, wind, snow, etc . Placing the toll booths every 100m would go a long way to reducing traffic and reducing dangerous vehicle speeds.
Looks like Sydney Trains is going to drop the jargon from its PA announcements.
From the SMH:
"Commuters will soon be told to “get off” the train, rather than “alight”, after Sydney Trains resolved to overhaul its station announcements to favour colloquial language.
"The phrase “this train terminates here” is also being retired, due to concerns the word “terminates” is difficult to understand."
@rusl@ajsadauskas@sydneytrains You think that's bad? I was in an airport where they made passengers "deplane" to take care of a mechanical issue. When it was time to have the passengers get back on, the gate agent made an announcement asking them to "re-deplane". 😒
@stefan I'm always a bit cynical when I read reports about folk confusing gas and brake pedals, and I drive a car with an auto 'box myself - (one pedal is physically larger than the other as well as different positions and tactile feel) - i feel a lot of these collisions are caused by sheer impatience and rushing to get into the parking space, or DUI / distraction from mobile phones..