Infrastructure

With bike use exploding across North America, The New York Times has asked its readers to submit their suggestions for how best to navigate their city streets on two wheels. Covering 16 cities, the project has received 4,614 comments to date.

July 14, 2013 - The New York Times

In the first in a series of articles exploring 'infrastructure solutions for the next generation', Cynthia Barnett examines the creative ways that communities are solving the problems caused by old and overtaxed water systems.

July 14, 2013 - Orion Magazine

John M. Broder writes about a new U.S. Department of Energy report released July 11th that details the vulnerability of the nation's entire energy system to climate change effects - from droughts, intense storms, rising seas, lower river levels...

July 13, 2013 - The New York Times - U.S.

We've recently looked at the shortage of bike parking plaguing cities like Amsterdam. Designers are on the case, inventing 'ingenious ideas' for parking all those bikes. Ben Schiller looks at five of the best.

July 13, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

While much of America’s southwest and inter-mountain west battles blazing forest fires, Magdalena, NM faces a less spectacular but equally fearsome crisis: a municipal system no longer capable of delivering water to the village's 938 residents.

July 13, 2013 - This Big City

The creator of the TED conference has teamed up with Esri to develop an innovative interactive exhibit and online mapping tool to compare 16 global cities along 16 data points, including: population density, open space, and traffic.

July 12, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

While Staten Island and Rockaway, Queens also suffered devastation from Superstorm Sandy; Broad Channel, an island in Jamaica Bay, Queens, may be the lowest lying area in the City and endures tidal flooding regularly, not just from storm surges.

July 12, 2013 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

More and more local governments are adopting complete streets policies. But gaps in implementation in these places suggests that the building of actual complete streets is dependent on a true culture shift. Angie Schmitt looks at the obstacles.

July 12, 2013 - DC.Streetsblog

Recent studies report a noted decrease in traffic congestion in the D.C. area. Robert McCartney credits two trends and asks how the area should spend additional transportation revenues that will be generated by recent tax increases.

July 12, 2013 - The Washington Post

Access to affordable healthy food is a problem in poor communities throughout the U.S. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and a local non-profit have developed one way to quickly boost the healthy food infrastructure in food deserts.

July 12, 2013 - Daily News

An Indian newspaper has started a campaign aimed at making Chennai more accommodating to pedestrians. The issue is particularly acute in the global South, as growing auto ownership threatens the safety of those yet to climb the economic ladder.

July 9, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Despite widespread budget woes and austerity programs, European cities are pushing forward with plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by retrofitting existing transit systems in a "slow-motion revolution" in electric transport, reports Erica Gies.

July 8, 2013 - The New York Times

Wash. state senate Republicans dealt a crushing blow to governors of both Wash. and Ore. by killing a 10.5-cent gas tax bill needed to tap $850 million in federal funds to finance rebuilding of two, obsolete I-5 spans over the Columbia River.

July 8, 2013 - The Columbian

Taichung, Taiwan (pop 2.7 million) has beaten out six other finalists to claim the Intelligent Community Forum’s (ICF) designation as "intelligent community of the year". Robert Bell and Sylvie Albert describe what makes the city an intelligent icon.

July 5, 2013 - The Global Urbanist

As news reports indicate, the recent BART strike made a mess out of the Bay Area's morning and evening commutes. For planning think tank SPUR, it has helped to illustrate significant gaps in the region's transportation infrastructure.

July 5, 2013 - SPUR Blog

Since we covered the many problems encountered by users of New York's Citi Bike, we though it only fair to share news of a large-scale bike share system that recently launched with far fewer problems (at least according to one reporter).

July 5, 2013 - Grist

Have you heard of stroading? While we don't recommend you try this at home, it behooves us to tell you about the ingenious meme that Charles Marohn and his friends have devised to point out America's over-engineered urban streets.

July 4, 2013 - Strong Towns Blog

The nation has a huge quantity of postwar housing that can be made more walkable and appealing to new generations of residents. Robert Steuteville examines what makes them good candidates and notes some examples of successful retrofits.

July 3, 2013 - Better! Cities & Towns

Shannon Mattern examines how media scholars and environmental artists are working to reveal the material and immaterial infrastructures that shape our lives, from the Interstate to the Internet.

July 3, 2013 - Places Journal

Across America's Midwest, resident revolts have challenged the traditional DOT orthodoxy of continuous highway construction. The most recent battleground is St. Louis, where a growing movement is protesting a highway project first conceived in 1957.

July 1, 2013 - DC.Streetsblog