What’s Better for the Environment: Raising the Gas Tax or Fuel-Efficiency Standards?

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/08/25/whats-better-for-the-environment-raising-the-gas-tax-or-fuel-efficiency-standards/

Down the Drain: Infrastructure Needs a Cheering Section

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Voices/Perspective/2011/Summer/001-Down-the-drain.aspx

Infrastructure must adapt to protect economic growth from the threat of climate change

http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2011/05/09/infrastructure-climate-change/

The past as prologue: US passenger rail service in the last half-century

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Amtrak's start of operations, the editors at Greater Greater Washington have compiled a slideshow visually documenting the evolution of passenger rail service since the early 1960s. Here are a few snapshots of recent history in US passenger rail transport.

For some perspective on precipitous decline in the US passenger rail sector during the 1960s, compare the two maps above, less than a decade apart. Such loss was particularly steep in the Northern Plains, where passenger service on the relatively heavily-travelled mainlines of the early 1960s and prior was in many cases reduced to no more than one train with two lightly loaded carriages daily by the late 1960s.

Note how the network became 'rationalized' by comparing the above map with the 1970 one, illustrating the government takeover of passenger rail service between passage of the Rail Passenger Service Act and the first run of an Amtrak train, which was the Clockers service between Philadelphia and New York (now branded along with its connecting routes as Northeast Regional, a slower but cheaper alternative to Acela Express). Sixty percent of cities with passenger rail service lost it when private rail companies save for a few such as Southern and Denver, Rio Grande and Western (though both ultimately turned their passenger operations to Amtrak within a decade of its creation) relieved themselves of the passenger carrier business.

Other than frequency increases and scheduling improvements since 2000, as well as the replacement of Metroliner with Acela along the Northeast Corridor, the present state of Amtrak rail service is not much different from its 1971 state. Given the sparse network, a low modal share for passenger rail is quite understandable, with the implication that increasing frequency and coverage of service appears a reasonable remedy.

A 'ConnDOT Super 7-like' case in the making, or merely ignorance of lessons from the economic crisis?

According to a news release in Next American City this weekend, the Sierra Club recently charged that the sponsors of a third orbital motorway for Houston, the Grand Parkway, "purposely constrained “the purpose and need” section of the plan to preclude the no-build option" and that "the environmental assessment ignored the impact of induced growth" (Schmitt). Schmitt also notes that the proponents of project, while acknowledging that the new motorway is not necessary, make a 'build-it-and-they-will-come' argument in its favour, quite unabashedly making the case that sprawl is inevitable in a few decades due to people moving to Texas to buy larger houses and hence enjoy a higher quality of life. We can only hope that they assume the federal government will succeed in its attempts to resuscitate the housing market and return the economy to the debt, consumption, and sprawl-based growth trajectory of the past three decades, a scenario that the triple convergence of rising energy costs, demographic change, and unsustainable debts and deficits would render highly unlikely.

The airship as a low-carbon replacement for freighter jets

The Daily Climate provides an overview of recent interest in airships for transporting goods, citing Lockheed Martin's prototype as a candidate for commercialization in the near future.

Something may happen in Chinese policy making process

the Chinese government sacked its railway minister Liu Zhijun and announced he is under investigation.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-12/china/28542642_1_railway-minister-announcements-liu-zhijun

Feb 12, 2011

After this news,
China slow HSR

http://www.dailytech.com/China+Slows+High+Speed+Trains+Amid+Reports+of+Shoddy+Construction/article21489.htm

April 28, 2011

This link is also interesting
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/china-high-speed-rail-impact-on-china.html

Ai Weiwei sculpture outside the Plaza Hotel in NYC

Fred talked about Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sculpture outside the Plaza Hotel in NYC. For those interested in the issue, here is a NY Times article about it: "12 Heads Do the Talking for a Silenced Artist"

"...

“Zodiac Heads” is a Conceptual work bodied forth as bronze sculpture that my colleague Holland Cotter rightly predicted would look “winsome” if you didn’t know the back story, but that becomes more subversive if you do. The heads are enlarged versions of those that were designed in the 18th century by European Jesuits for the Manchu emperor Qianlong as part of a famous fountain clock in the European-style gardens of the Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, near Beijing. (Each of the originals spouted water for two hours a day, which may explain why the mouths of Mr. Ai’s copies are open, as if they are noisily expressing themselves.)

The heads were looted when this vast complex of buildings and gardens was ransacked and burned by British and French troops during the Second Opium War in 1860, an event that remains a signal symbol of national humiliation. They began to resurface in 2000, and at this point the Chinese government has retrieved five of them (ox, tiger, horse, monkey and boar).

..."

Greening the Chinese City at the Asia Society in NYC

Fred mentioned going to New York for a conference at the Asia Society. The complete video of Greening the Chinese City is online.

Introducing Sec. Mullan

YouTube has a series of videos featuring our 'boss' in Paper 4. They are definitely not the least bit silly and assuredly deserve your time and attention as you research for the assignment.

A taste:

Nissan wins bid for New York’s iconic yellow cabs

Nissan will be able to convert the NV200, which will get 25 miles per gallon, to run on electric-only engines beginning in 2017

http://www.heritagecorporateservices.com/2011/05/nissan-wins-bid-for-new-york-s-iconic-yellow-cabs-reuters

Transit Killed by Auto Manufacturers in Grand Rapids, MI

Fred Quinllin tries to bring great public transit back to Grand Rapids, MI after auto manufacturers bought out and dismantled the system many years ago.



From Boing Boing

California Gambles on Carbon Trade

By RORY CARROLL | REUTERS

Published: May 1, 2011

California is putting its reputation as a pioneering environmental heavyweight on the line as it prepares to establish a carbon market in eight months.

State regulators are battling the clock, the courts and their own empty pockets as they prepare to oversee the start of the multibillion-dollar market Jan. 1.

The idea of capping greenhouse gas emissions and providing cleaner companies with the potential for profit from their success is not new, but it has never been tried in the United States on this scale.

“This is by far the most ambitious program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in North America, and by some measures the world,” said Franz Litz, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute.

California regulators are convinced that they have the data and intelligence necessary to improve upon the system running in the European Union, which has shown results but has also experienced theft and fraud.

Read More

In emerging economies, leveraging innovation to avoid a repeat of post-Depression mistakes in US transport policy

Topics from the Sustainability Summit panel on transport were brought up during Idea Storm on sustainability and development yesterday evening at Sloan, which featured discussion on leveraging the creative sector and social media to tackle infrastructure-related challenges both in quake-stricken Japan and less-developed countries. Particularly notable among facts cited to provide context was Joe's mention that the car has become the most popular present for newly-wed couples. Due largely to rising auto ownership and usage in China and other emerging economies, the transport sector is arguably the sector with the fastest growing rate of greenhouse gas emissions. At the event, participants were encouraged to adapt ideas they suggested for accelerating post-quake recovery in Japan to the development of more-sustainable alternatives to auto-centric transport in developing countries. Most ideas were rooted in mobile telecommunication and social media with the objective of maximizing outreach while minimizing cost.

How can we leverage innovation in information and communication technology to enhance mobility for households in developing countries and reduce the environmental impact of transport?

New Federal Highway Report on Livability: State of the Practice Summary

The US Federal Highway Administration just published a new report (March 21, 2011) The Role of FHWA in Livability: State of the Practice Summary that provides a very good summary the current state of the practice in implementing livability principles in transportation. The report provides a variety of definitions of livability and sustainability from different stakeholders in and around the transportation enterprise.

Driving Force: Energy and Climate Strategies for China's Motorization - a report from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

While the discussion during the transport panel session Friday at the Sustainability Summit was geared towards US policy, as is the content of this class, Joe aptly brought the situation in China to the forefront of conversation by arguing how the Chinese must avoid making the same policy decisions that created and reinforced auto-dependency in the US. Such significance of path dependence features in the conclusion of this report by the Carnegie Endowment, which provides graphic illustration of why China is now at a crossroads with respect to transport planning. Keep in mind that dependence on the auto for fulfilling basic necessities in most US communities is one major reason why substantive efforts to reduce auto-dependence tend to encounter political headwinds.

Accessed via Sustainable Cities Collective, China's Rapid Motorization Calls for Efficient Public Transit, posted 21 April 2011 by EMBARQ

Transport policy and land use planning as discussed at the MIT Sustainability Summit this morning

This panel was part of the third annual Sustainability Summit at MIT today. Critical discussion of ideas presented below is highly encouraged; feel free to expand this post into an open forum for your ideas about transport, environment, and urban development.

Sustainability in the built environment
Integrating transport planning with land use and building design

For much of the post-World War II era, transport policy focused on 'the concrete commons' has resulted in land use patterns that are not only energy and space intensive, but also dependent on continued economic growth for their viability. Recently however, the convergence of the lingering impacts of recession, demographic shift, and increasing environmental awareness has provided an opportunity to develop new paradigms and strategies for urban development and land use planning that are economically resilient, environmentally sustainable, and socially equitable. How can and should transport policy be leveraged to promote such development patterns, given its inseparability from land use policy as demonstrated throughout the history of cities and regions in the United States and abroad?

Focusing questions
- In the context of urban and regional development, how do you define 'sustainability'?
- Since the 1950s, the 'green commons' movement founded initially on opposition to road construction has increasingly drawn the attention of policy-makers; their strategy has since evolved into one based on ecological integrity and environmental justice, though not without conflict amongst different stakeholders. What barriers amongst these stakeholders do you believe need to be overcome in order to implement principles of sustainable urban development more effectively, and what strategies might be particularly effective in building political will in both the near term and the long term?

Speakers
Joseph Coughlin, Director of MIT AgeLab, Lecturer at MIT ESD and DUSP - moderator
Yonah Freemark, graduate student at MIT DUSP, editor of The Transport Politic
Susanne Rasmussen, Director of Transportation and Environmental Planning, City of Cambridge, Massachusetts
Vivien Li, Executive Director, The Boston Harbor Association

Summary of presentations:
With case studies of Dallas and northern Virginia exemplifying the context, the discussion was centred primarily on increasing the modal share of transit and non-motorized transport through changing land use policy, neither one separable from the other. Dallas was presented as a case of building transit infrastructure without accompanying it with zoning revisions and other incentives for higher density of development, thus resulting in low passenger volume relative to population and jobs (about 0.07 trips per person per day, compared to roughly 0.25 for denser cities such as Boston and 0.5 or more for dense European cities) even though mileage of permanent way for rail transit increased rapidly. Arlington County in northern Virginia was presented as an opposite case, in which the development of neighbourhoods around Metrorail stations enabled increased population and employment growth unaccompanied by increasing auto usage. All panellists agreed that changes in parking infrastructure regulations such as ending free or subsidized parking (presented such that people are aware of costs of parking versus costs of riding the bus or train, rather than believing that they lost an entitlement that was never actually present) and improvement of bus service (rather than continuing to build rail lines in ignorance of the transport-land use interaction) will be necessary to leverage transit infrastructure to its full potential for improving quality of life and reducing environmental impact. It will also be crucial to provide sufficient amenities in dense urban areas to attract a wider demographic, namely families with children whose preference for auto-oriented suburbs is based on availability of schools and recreational opportunities as opposed to predilection towards auto-dependent lifestyle. Building new transit lines seem easy and popular; ensuring that they enable achieving goals of sustainability requires a carrot-and-stick approach towards promoting transit-oriented development and the pre- and post-requisite behaviour change.

Summary of audience Q&A (and responses from panel):
- Opposition towards changing the current land-use patterns in the United States might stem from a philosophical basis (not entirely the case, as very few actually 'prefer' motoring for every occasion -- people desire options and utilize alternatives as long as convenient and attractive).
- While the panellists implicitly assume continued urban expansion in the foreseeable future, high cost of energy will compel abandonment of the industrial food system, leaving small-scale agriculture as the only viable alternative and therefore encouraging migration back to rural areas (possible, but since small farms have also undergone technology-induced efficiency improvements, labour needs for agriculture will likely remain low -- assumption of urban growth seems reasonable).
- Transit is not very popular in the United States due to poor user experience (improvements possible using off-the-shelf technology and integration of transit systems -- national system ideal but unlikely due to fragmented nature of politics in the US).
- Higher-density inner cities and lower-density outer suburbs might require different types of bus service for particular needs, and the same applies to different regions of the US (Northeast Corridor clearly not representative of the entire US; however, MIT and its peer institutions play a crucial role towards developing the capacity for leadership in addressing transport-related sustainability challenges within the US and around the world).

It was emphasized that no new transport project will realize its potential at transforming behaviour and land use patterns as long as a more-convenient and user-friendly alternative exists. For example, within the last decade, a water taxi system for accessing Logan IAP and points along Massachusetts Bay directly from Boston Harborfront was shut down only a few years after its initial start of operation since potential passengers preferred using existing transit services and the new MBCR line to Hingham.

How would you respond to the concerns raised by both the panellists and the audience? What are some of your ideas for developing a sustainability-oriented paradigm for urban and regional transport planning?

How Can You Be Against Bike Lanes?

The was a big battle about the bike lane on the Brooklyn street Prospect Park West in the past year. For those that want to explore the issue, here are a few links:

• NYC DOT's site on "Prospect Park West Bicycle Path and Traffic Calming"
• The Gothamist has a before/after photo comparison showing the difference and sifts through the NYC DOT data collected a month after the initial installation (June 2010).
• New York Times City Room blog (October 2010): "Dueling Protests Over a Brooklyn Bike Lane"
• New York Times City Room blog (December 2010): "Survey Finds Support, but a Bike-Lane Debate Continues"
• The Gothamist on CBS news showing video of ambulance using bicycle lane while road is jammed with traffic "Video: Ambulance Takes Prospect Park West Bike Lane"
• The Gothamist on the opposition (March 2011): "Park Slope Big Shots Sue DOT Over PPW Bike Lane"
• New York Times (March 2011): "In Brooklyn, Divided Opinion About a Bike Lane by a Park" and "Residents Face Off Over Brooklyn Bike Lane"
• The Gothamist on the resolution of the conflict (April 2011): "Prospect Park West Bike Lane Gets Final Community Endorsement"

Thomas Clarkson and the Sugar Boycott

Fred mentioned the book about Thomas Clarkson and the sugar boycott he organized in England to fight slavery. London's daily paper The Guardian's review on Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild is a brief summary of the story. The Wikipedia biography of Thomas Clarkson and shows the image of the slave ship Fred mentioned that was next to every pub dart board. The Wikipedia biography of William Wilberforce describes the conversion of this British MP to the abolitionist movement. (This was the other guy Fred was thinking of.)

It's Hard...and Expensive to be Green

The impact of economic pressure on individual choice to be green...one purchase at a time is considered in this article by Stephanie Clifford and Andrew Martin. The New York Times piece discusses consumer packaged goods sales of green products taking a hit during the economic downturn since 2008. It's hard, and can be expensive, to be green.

As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and ANDREW MARTIN

When Clorox introduced Green Works, its environment-friendly cleaning line, in 2008, it secured an endorsement from the Sierra Club, a nationwide introduction at Wal-Mart, and it vowed that the products would “move natural cleaning into the mainstream.”Sales that year topped $100 million, and several other major consumer products companies came out with their own “green” cleaning supplies.But America’s eco-consciousness, it turns out, is fickle. As recession gripped the country, the consumer’s love affair with green products, from recycled toilet paper to organic foods to hybrid cars, faded like a bad infatuation. While farmers’ markets and Prius sales are humming along now, household product makers like Clorox just can’t seem to persuade mainstream customers to buy green again.Sales of Green Works have fallen to about $60 million a year, and those of other similar products from major brands like Arm & Hammer, Windex, Palmolive, Hefty and Scrubbing Bubbles are sputtering. “Every consumer says, ‘I want to help the environment, I’m looking for eco-friendly products,’ ” said David Donnan, a partner in the consumer products practice at the consulting firm A. T. Kearney. “But if it’s one or two pennies higher in price, they’re not going to buy it. There is a discrepancy between what people say and what they do.”For instance, a 32-oz bottle of Clorox Green Works All-Purpose cleaner is $3.29 at Stop & Shop. A 32-ounce bottle of Fantastik cleaner, by contrast, costs $2.89.Indeed, outside a Whole Foods Market in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, June Shellene, 60, said she did not buy green products as often as she did a few years ago.“People are so freaked out by what is happening in the world,” she said, before loading her groceries into a Toyota Prius. Of green products, she said, “That’s something you buy and think about when things are going swimmingly.”

Read the rest of the article click here

Green Development? Not in My (Liberal) Backyard

"Park Slope, Brooklyn. Cape Cod, Mass. Berkeley, Calif. Three famously progressive places, right? The yin to the Tea Party yang. But just try putting a bike lane or some wind turbines in their lines of sight. And the karma can get very different."

A nice short article from the NY Times about NIMBYism from the elite, and some reflections from psychology on the role that norms can play in getting these green facilities accepted.

Who killed the electric car?

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

The Other 'Miracle'

By and large, we have focused on policy measures to mitigate and avoid global warming and other environmental impacts of transportation: CAFE, CfC, gasoline tax, cap-and-trade, etc. We have also given some time to technological "fixes," usually electric and hybrid vehicles. (For more on different worldviews through which one can view environmental problems, Clapp and Dauvergne's Paths to a Green World is a fantastic treatment). Perhaps it is because they are so fraught with problems, we have not talked much about biofuels. One of their many problems is the theory that biofuels will raise food prices. This impact is no longer hypothetical:

But with food prices rising sharply in recent months, many experts are calling on countries to scale back their headlong rush into green fuel development, arguing that the combination of ambitious biofuel targets and mediocre harvests of some crucial crops is contributing to high prices, hunger and political instability.

Seems that we might just have to change our behavior.

From New York Times

"Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" by Stiglitz

There is a fantastic piece in Vanity Fair by Joseph Stiglitz about wealth distribution in America. Stiglitz won the Nobel prize in Economics in 2001, so the article is not just the semi-coherent rantings of an under-qualified progressive (such as, some argue, myself). He even gives a shout to transportation:

Third, and perhaps most important, a modern economy requires “collective action”—it needs government to invest in infrastructure, education, and technology. The United States and the world have benefited greatly from government-sponsored research that led to the Internet, to advances in public health, and so on. But America has long suffered from an under-investment in infrastructure (look at the condition of our highways and bridges, our railroads and airports), in basic research, and in education at all levels. Further cutbacks in these areas lie ahead.

Further, Stiglitz offers a critique of trickle-(not-very-far-if-at-all)-down economics. Returning to my under-qualified opinion, I think that, exactly as Stiglitz says, it is the need for "collective action" is precisely what makes the decadence and inequality of America especially troublesome.

Full article here, via BoingBoing.

Issue Framing & Science

Issue framing is key to understanding what issues make the public agenda and which lanquish in technical obscurity. 'Framing' is also the way the public makes sense of complex information and issues, such as global warming.

The link below discusses issue framing and science in the public mind.

http://www.somedicyt.org.mx/assets/hemerobiblioteca/articulos/Mooney_Framing_Science.pdf

Transparency International's Corruption index 2010

The Guardian has an article with the complete list for 2010, along with a graphic depicting the data on a modified world map. A Google Doc with all the data in a spreadsheet is also linked there.

Sprawl Crawl

The Texas Transportation Institute's TTI congestion index just doesn't add up. Defining congestion as the ratio of peak to free-flow travel times is a benchmark that promotes raw mobility rather than accessibility.

'Driven Apart,' a report by CEOs for Cities, uses an alternative approach that measures congestion with trip distance and total travel time metrics. Cities that come out on the top: New York, Chicago, Philly; At the bottom: Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville.

What Do Americans Worry About? The Real Public Agenda

The following is excerpted from The Center for Media Research and summarizes Gallup data released this week. As you look through the data, note where environment, green, transportation and related issues to our class fall on the public agenda as 'worry' that may translate into policy 'action'.

Article Begins Here - Who, Me Worried?

According to 13 issues Gallup measured in a March poll, summarized by Lydia Saad, 71% of Americans say they worry about the economy "a great deal," more than worry about 13 other issues. 64% worry a great deal about federal spending and the budget deficit. Race relations is the only issue about which the majority of Americans is "only a little" or "not at all" concerned.

Americans' Concerns (% of respondents; Fourteen National Issues)
	Degree of Concern
Issue	Great Deal	Fair Amount	A Little/ None
Economy	71%	22%	7%
Federal spending and budget deficit	64	23	12
Availability and affordability of healthcare	58	25	17
Unemployment	57	27	15
Social Security system	51	26	22
Size & power of federal government	48	24	28
Availability & affordability of energy	46	33	21
Crime and violence	44	30	25
Illegal immigration	42	23	34
Hunger and homelessness	41	34	26
Future terrorist attacks in US	40	29	31
Drug use	40	24	35
Quality of the environment	34	34	31
Race relations	16	28	54
Source: Gallup, March 201

 Gallup has tracked 10 of the 14 items measured this year every year since 2001, except for 2009. Federal spending/the deficit as well as the size and power of the federal government, both hallmark concerns of the national Tea Party movement, are new to the list this year. The "possibility of future terrorist attacks" was added to the list in 2002 and Social Security in 2005.
The availability and affordability of energy is the only issue about which Americans have grown significantly more worried since last year, from 38% to 46%. The current level of concern about this is similar to what it was from 2006 to 2008.

Energy Availability and Affordability Concern (% of Respondents Saying "A Great Deal")
Year	% Who Worry ("A Great Deal)
2001	46%
2001	32
2003	27
2004	35
2005	39
2006	48
2007	43
2008	47
2009	n/a
2010	38
2011	46
Source: Gallup, March 2011

The economy and unemployment are top-ranking concerns for Republicans, independents, and Democrats. Additionally, majorities of Republicans and Democrats are highly worried about Social Security.
Beyond these areas of common concern, however, the parties diverge. Large majorities of Republicans say they worry a great deal about federal spending and the size and power of government, and more than half worry a great deal about immigration. All of these issues are absent from Democrats' top concerns. In contrast, Democrats' top-ranking issue, healthcare,  is not a great concern to most Republicans.
Among the four issues of concern to a majority of independents, the economy and unemployment are issues they have in common with both major parties, while federal spending is primarily a Republican concern and healthcare, a Democratic one.

Top Concerns By Party Affiliation (At least  50% Worried "A Great Deal")
	Republicans		Independents		Democrats
Rank	Issue	Worried	Issue	Worried	Issue	Worried
1	Federal spending	79%	Economy	72%	Healthcare	69%
2	Economy	76	Federal spending	65	Economy	64
3	Size/power of government	62	Healthcare	58	Unemployment	60
4	Unemployment	58	Unemployment	55	Social Security	53
5	Illegal immigration	55
6	Social Security	52
Source: Gallup, March, 2011

 Of note,says the report, women are significantly more likely than men to be worried about healthcare, hunger/homelessness, Social Security, crime, unemployment, the environment, and drug use.
Young adults aged 18 to 34 are significantly less likely than older Americans to be concerned about Social Security and the size and power of the federal government. Young adults are significantly more likely to be concerned about the quality of the environment.
Americans' economic anxiety has not abated over the past year, as 7 in 10 Americans continue to tell Gallup they personally worry a great deal about the economy. This has ranked as Americans' top concern on this measure since 2008. Healthcare led the list from 2002 through 2007 and remains among the top five today.
This year's additions reveal that federal spending and the budget deficit worry Americans nearly as much as the economy. The interesting distinction is that all three party groups worry about the economy, while the deficit concerns far more Republicans and independents than Democrats.
Special note: This year's survey was conducted before a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan on March 11, launching a series of events that has sparked a nuclear crisis in that country and has raised Americans' concerns about the safety of nuclear power, says Gallup
For more about Gallup measurements and this study, please visit here.

Ray LaHood on Cash for Clunkers

In case you want to hear the pitch 'from the horse's mouth' so to speak, here is a link to Ray LaHood on CNN from the day C4C started. Note that the word 'environment' isn't used once, and a hardly a passing mention of GHGs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWTfoXHjqiQ&feature=player_embedded

Another Infrastructure Funding Idea

Infrastructure Savings Bank. Via New York Times.

Edward Glaeser's New Book: Triumph of the City

Edward Glaeser argues in his new book that the city is humanity's greatest invention and our salvation for the future. Glaeser says that the 2/3 of Americans who live in cities (which take up only 3% of the country's land mass) are healthier, more prosperous, and more environmentally conscious than other Americans.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Triumpho


Here is the link to his recent talk on C-SPAN (hosted by the Manhattan Institute, a public policy think tank based in New York City) about his new book Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

Peak Travel?

Induced demand, latente demand and 'the extra mile' have come up a number of times in class as possible collateral effects to changes in land use, the transport system or energy prices. However, this recent study examines the empirical data and suggets that at least in some industrialized countries we may have reached the saturation point for travel.

Further speaking of bicycles...

anti-bike lane rebuttal

Japanese nuclear problem is not only for Japan...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/110315/japan-nuclear-germany-atomic-power

Japanese nuclear disaster will be the worst example of the evolution of the green value in the international nuclear poewr...
I think our world need to decide important decision soon.

Private Sector Public Transit

Public transit operated by private companies tragically continues to have problems with safety.

New York Times article: How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida

The March 11 edition of the New York Times features the article How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida which offers the following in its analysis of the demise of the Florida HSR project:

"The story of the line’s rise and fall shows how it was ultimately undone by a tradeoff that was made when the route was first selected.

The Tampa-to-Orlando route had obvious drawbacks: It would have linked two cities that are virtually unnavigable without cars, and that are so close that the new train would have been little faster than driving. But the Obama administration chose it anyway because it was seen as the line that could be built first. Florida had already done much of the planning, gotten many of the necessary permits and owned most of the land that would be needed."

'Dignified' afterlife of MTA subway vehicles

The Infrastructurist today features some reporting on the disposal of retired MTA subway vehicles as artificial reefs for marine habitat, including a slide show in The New York Times and photographs by Stephen Mallon courtesy of Co.Design of the expansion of Red Bird reef off coast of Delaware.

At least fish find the R-44 vehicles quite hospitable (implicitly more so than the older namesake Redbirds), for all their sub-par reliability while in service with the MTA (All 278 subway vehicles have been withdrawn from use as of last September.).

“We call these the DeLoreans of the deep....The one problem I see with them,” Mr. Tinsman said, “is that just like the DeLoreans, there are only a limited number.”

Jeff Tinsman, Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

Contrast this end-of-life outcome with that of the Boeing Vertol LRVs retired from MBTA Green Line.

Speaking of bicyclists...

I think that this is the cyclist whom Fred imagines:

What happens when you ask Americans to build a train...

The sad (and graphic) end to Fred's Boeing Vertol story from yesterday.

(for when you need 4 minutes of mindless distraction from your paper or other work)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n64duG73Sak

MTA procurement during decline and renewal: the good, the bad, and the ugly

"While Grumman and Rockwell were incapable of manufacturing sturdy subway and bus equipment, they were able to manufacture satisfactory components for the space program" (New York Daily News, 16 Dec. 1980, p. 33)!

For those interested in the MTA (formerly NYCTA, or simply TA) as a case study in procurement, the context can be found at nycsubway.org. The following sections are particularly relevant, including explicit summaries of procurement procedures and the state of transit vehicle manufacturing from the 1970s through the 1980s:

"The R-46 Rockwell Truck Fiasco," in The New York City Transit Authority in the 1970s
"All Cracked Up" and "New Subway Cars for New York" in The New York City Transit Authority in the 1980s

Details pertaining to the troublesome R-44 and R-46 vehicles are presented in Chapter 10 of They Moved the Millions by Ed Davis, Sr.

The Prince by Nicolò Machiavelli

For those who want to read The Prince by Nicolò Machiavelli (written c. 1505, published 1515) in the 1908 English translation by W. K. Marriott, it can be found at http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm: the chapters are available individually, as are the complete text in one text or one PDF document.

And in case Fred ever goes online, he can find the original Italian text as a PDF at http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_4/t324.pdf.

“We’ll put up half the money for California HSR” says Japan’s Ambassador to the United States

“Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, was in Los Angeles from Washington, DC for the conference. Ambassador Fujisaki’s opening remarks to the conference were a forceful call for us to use Japanese know-how and equipment for our high speed rail. Most extraordinarily, the ambassador stated that he believes Japan will pay for up to half of the cost of the California’s HSR. [...] Basically our Japanese allies are begging us for the chance to build our train because they know it’s going to profitable.”

—California High Speed Rail Blog, via Infrastructurist.

Longfellow Bridge Pictures

On Tuesday, 1 March 2011, from about 11am to 12pm, Ryusuke and I walked the Longfellow Bridge and took some pictures. We'd like to share the pictures with you in the spirit of collaboration and openness. The pptx file (hopefully) shows where the pictures were taken.

Sometimes They Ask for Regulation

It is not always the case that business is against government regulation, even those businesses that will be negatively affected by the regulation. For example, a few years ago three oil companies asked policy makers across the world to pass climate change regulations. Why would they do something like that? Taking climate change and climate change mitigation legislation as inevitable, they want to have time to adjust their businesses to new rules. Or, for the more cynical, perhaps they think that taking a proactive stance will secure them a seat at the table. Either way, in seeking regulation, they are attempting to minimize risk.

Clean Air Policy: Unintended perils of legislating?

Legislating regulatory authority gone awry!

City’s Lengthy Push for Hybrid-Engine Taxicabs Hits a Legal Dead End (NY Times)

"The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider an appeal by the city on its longstanding effort to mandate fuel emissions standards in New York City’s taxicabs. The city’s plan...had been rejected by lower-court judges as a de facto regulation of emissions standards — a power that, under existing laws, belongs to the federal government"..."I cannot imagine,” Mr. Yassky added, “when Congress wrote theClean Air Act that they intended to handcuff states and cities trying to clean their own air.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/nyregion/01taxi.html?em

Media coverage of urban pollution - unfair?

Along the lines of our discussion of CO2 emitted per square mile versus CO2 emitted per capita: What is the role of the media in influencing people's perspectives on pollution, climate change, and, most importantly, their relationship to cities?

I came across this article today, which I found to be typical of the media's inflammatory treatment of environmental issues (on of the standard "Most polluted/depressing/corrupt... cities" articles):

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html

Aside from their analytical integrity, such pieces merely perpetuate American's negative perceptions of cities. (This piece, for example: of course cities contain high levels of pollution, being the site of most industry for the past 150+ years. Also, the issue of course isn't how much pollution / polluted space is contained within an MSA, but rather its proximity to residential areas.)

Does such media coverage illustrate American's negative/skewed attitudes towards cities, or are they key in influencing such attitudes? Could the power of the media be harnessed in new or better ways to influence behavior towards more environmentally friendly practices, beyond the usual "recycle more" or "litter less" campaigns?

Propaganda

In all of our discussions, we have been pushed to consider "problem framing" because it shapes the solution set and to remember that "words matter." For example, consider Prof Coughlin's last post with the quote

I'm not an activist, an alarmist, a Democrat, environmentalist or anything like that.

Not an activist??! What is wrong with being an activist! Ms Gant is deliberately invoking contemporary propaganda in order to distance herself from popular caricatures that she fears some may use against her to discredit her claim. BoingBoing linked to this site: http://propagandacritic.com/, which provides a fascinating history and summary of propaganda, and, perhaps most importantly, tips to help citizens think critically about issues rather than fall victim to the propaganda.

Growth, Sprawl, and Urban Form

Following our Friday discussion on cities vs. suburbs (good vs. evil), the new urbanism, greenbelts and models of urban growth, some may find this article interesting. It looks at 'linear planning' as a strategy proposed over the last 100+ years as an optimal way to organize urban space and accommodate the "inevitable" growth of urban populations. Those interested in the topic might just want to browse over pictures and plans.

[Article from 11.330 lecture on Theory of City Form]

Public Health, NIMBY & Powering the Dreams of the Electric Car

"I'm not an activist, an alarmist, a Democrat, environmentalist or anything like that. I'm just a person who isn't able to manage the health of my family because of all this drilling."

Kelly Gant, whose says her children have had severe asthma attacks and headaches since a gas well was set up near her house in Bartonville, Tex.

This is not  directly a transportation example of conflict between infrastructure placement and environmental values. However, it is the most passionate and reasoned comment that can be understood by everyone, from the media, policymakers to business leaders. Gas rig drilling is one strategy that will power the dreams and engines of the electric car. Often in public policy seeming 'solutions' to one problem only displace costs and create new problems. This is worth the read.

Read the rest of the story in the original New York Times article here.

BMW Documentaries Presents: "How We'll Learn To Stop Worrying and Love the Future"

BMW Documentaries Presents: "How We'll Learn To Stop Worrying and Love the Future
Visions (albeit vague, being strong on principle yet weak on practice) of the future of transport according to prominent individuals in the transport sector, including Robin Chase of ZipCar and George Whitesides of Virgin Galactic

Featured in The Infrastructurist 24 February
The Morning Dig: BMW Takes On the Future of Transportation

James Howard Kunstler; Barry Schwartz

Not one, but two TED lectures relevant to topics in today's lecture:

The themes from the Fast Company video on transit-oriented development receive a more acerbic but very funny treatment by James Howard Kunstler. It starts, "The immersive ugliness of our everyday environments in America is entropy made visible," and only gets better.

Individual choice is one of the values or objectives central to traditional transportation interests. Barry Schwartz points to the fact that increased choice may actually decrease quality of life.

Will Car Companies Become Mobility Service Providers?

BMW's New Market Strategy Suggests Auto Industry Moving to Mobility Services. Imagine a car company giving information on transit services. Here is a direct quote from the article:

"In a departure from the traditional auto-focused advertising of its parent, the BMW i venture will advertise with lifestyle images that will "gradually be complemented with more and more content related to the products," per a company statement.

There is also a new Web site, www.BMW-i.com, showing several films about the generation of the forthcoming BMW i3 and BMW i8 cars from design sketches to engineering principles. The Web site will also have a social media element, mining online debates around developments in urbanization, sustainability and mobility, with links to BMW i's Facebook, YouTube and Twitter fan sites, according to the company.

The company says its new "BMW i Ventures" is set to invest in "highly innovative service providers," The first of these is My City Way, which develops apps for information on public transportation, parking availability, and local entertainment for over 40 cities in the U.S. Another 40 cities will be part of the global rollout, including Munich, of course, according to the automaker".

Read entire article on BMW's new electric vehicle strategy and entry into services 

EPA to Ease Cost of Reducing Air Pollution

EPA to Ease Cost of Reducing Air Pollution

Is the T Safe To Ride (asks Boston Magazine)

Picking up on Fred's comment that "if you want more people to ride the T, then make the T better" here is a short set of articles from Boston Magazine summarizing physical and fiscal problems with the T and what it might take to fix them.

Bringing streetcar back: One more argument that Portland is ahead of other cities in smart transit planning

This is worth the read...transit and environmentalism being defined as being a step ahead of others much the way growth and development has traditionally been touted by other regions. This piece is more than about Portland it is a perspective on transit and livability that we should consider throughout the semester. Good video too! Take note of the links in the story.

"As we wait for work crews to finish laying Portland Streetcar tracks into Northeast Portland (and to reopen automobile and bike lanes), here’s a little something to scratch the ol' chin over.

Patrick Condon’s new book “Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities”argues that bringing streetcars back is the wisest thing cities can do. 

With guidance and consulting fromPortland Streetcar officials, Los Angeles is in the process of bringing streetcars back to its moribund downtown. 
The Sustainable Cities Collective blog has a nice piece on Condon, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of British Columbia. " Read the rest of the story here....

On Whose Authority?

A question which has been bouncing around my head for some time: what characteristics are shared by effective transportation planning arrangements?

For example, the MBTA ("a body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts") operates both the T and Commuter Rail; while in Toronto, subways are operated by the TTC (a commission of the city) and commuter trains are run by a different, regional body. Transport for London appears to be quasi-regional, associated with a Greater London Authority; and a link in Ryuusuke's earlier post discusses the multitude of operators in Tokyo.

There are many variables here:

• Sometimes transportation (in general) and (public surface) transit are managed by the same entity; other times they are separate. The distinction also exists for aviation and water transport.
• Entities can be publicly operated or private companies.
• Public entities can be affiliated with one of the standard levels of government (municipal, regional, state/province, federal) or managed jointly by representatives from multiple levels.
• Private entities can be transit operators only, or have other related businesses; they can operate within or across jurisdictions (for example, MTR in Hong Kong).

Obviously the context is very different in any city, but I am curious about common themes, e.g. does it tend to be harder to execute policy using a municipal (vs. regional) transportation authority? Are funding mechanisms a better determinant of success than where planning authority lies?

A casual search turns up some U.S.-specific literature on the subject; does anyone know of a respected, general source, or a good visualization of different structures?

Holding an owned car in Tokyo is almost impossible and meaningless

"Like many Japanese of his generation, the 28-year-old musician and part-time maintenance worker says owning a car is more trouble than it's worth, especially in a congested city where monthly parking runs as much as 30,000 yen ($330), and gas costs 100 yen a liter (about $3.50 a gallon). "

Original article is here.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/123121951587500.xml&coll=7

Especially in high population density cities, such as Tokyo, railway transportation is more useful than owned car.
http://blog.greggman.com/blog/tokyo_trains/

A Few Fast Facts on Cars & Countries

According to the United Nations there are:

• 762 cars per 1000 people in the United States
• 164 cars per 1000 worldwide
• 10 cars per 1000 people in China

United Nations Statistics Division: http://www.unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm

300,000 people bid for 20,000 license plates in Beijing

"300,000 people in Beijing apply for second round of number drawing, with a 5.7% chance of getting a license plate. The second round of application for passenger car quota in Beijing ended yesterday. There are 306,865 individual applications and 13,386 corporate applications from 7,108 enterprises. The chance of getting quota for license plate in the second round of number drawing is 5.7%.

Beijing municipal government issued a new policy to relieve traffic jam at the end of 2010. The quota for newly added motor vehicles in Beijing in 2011 is restricted to 240,000. People who want to buy new cars have to file applications before getting license plates through number drawing.

In the first round of public number drawing, 17,600 individual applications, or 8.37% of the total, are picked. The remaining unselected applications are automatically transferred to the second round, in addition to the newly added 137,045 individual applications. The second round of number drawing will be carried out on February 26."

The original article with commentary may be found here

For more on cars and China go to http://www.chinacartimes.com

Joe Coughlin

Obesity Linked to Income, Education; Not Sprawl?

Obesity is more prevalent in areas with lower educational attainment and certain ethnic profiles than in areas of suburban sprawl, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Researchers at UIC's Urban Transportation Center revisited their 2005 analysis of data from about 7 million northern Illinois drivers licenses, which found that body-mass index scores in most city neighborhoods differ little from those in the farthest outlying areas. Read the rest of this story....
Joe Coughlin