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Time-Lapse Treat of the Week: San Francisco
Time-Lapse Treat of the Week: San Francisco
This week’s eye-candy comes from the West Coast, taking a look at the crown-jewel of the Bay Area, San Francisco.
Header Photo Credit: Evonne – https://flic.kr/p/9xVXDU – Creative Commons License
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Public Park Rakes In Cash For Miami
Public Park Rakes In Cash For Miami
Ultra Music Festival happened this past weekend in Miami. Ultra is one of the largest and longest running electronic dance music festivals in the world – held annually in Miami since 1999. The secret key to Ultra’s success apart from the beach, great weather, and an all-star list of headliners? The venue: beautiful Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
Photo Credit: Miami Visitors Bureau
Although…
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Mini-Series for Millennials
The next big thing in urban residential development appears to be very small, micro in fact.
Micro-housing, appropriately named for the tiny square footage of the units, is a growing trend in city real estate. With increasing numbers of millennials moving back to the nation’s downtowns, they’re bringing a lifestyle that pushes the urban experience out of the domestic sphere and out into the…
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Eagle Eyes
Despite their potential threat to the White House and CNN’s excessive propensity to feature them in “exclusive” breaking news stories, drones can actually provide some useful services – like capturing unique bird’s eye views of urban spaces. OpenCulture brought together some drone footage of cities from around the world, including these videos from New York, Los Angeles, and London:
[vimeo…
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[Continuation of last week’s post examining the state of America’s transportation infrastructure and its future]
The second critical element that needs to be addressed in our transportation framework is mass transit. The majority of Americans already live in metropolitan areas, and that percentage will only increase in the foreseeable future. Efficient, affordable, and clean public transportation systems are essential for tackling the transit and spatial needs of cities. But mass transit in the United States has, except in a few cases, never reached the level of popularity and importance it holds in virtually every other industrial country.
Let’s look at criticisms leveled (often fairly) at public transportation in the United States:
Inconvenient/Inefficient/Impractical
Unreliable
Dirty
Crowded
Expensive
Not user-friendly
1. Complaint #1 encompasses a range of issues and is the biggest barrier to uptake of transit. The physical reach of public transportation is critical to its success. A bare bones transit system will have a correspondingly minimal ridership while more extensive systems (NYC, DC) that cover many different locations (including residential, work, retail, and entertainment) will have proportionally large user bases, generally. However, even if systems cover a wide area they can have infrequent service, significantly lowering the usefulness of the system to its users.
2. Another often-cited reason for not using public transportation is unreliable service stemming from construction, poor scheduling, and delays. If people are going to seriously consider using transit, especially for getting to work, the service needs to have minimal unpredictable behavior.
3. Appearance is one of the most undervalued aspects affecting the public’s opinion (and usage) of transit. Public transportation systems in the United States – especially bus fleets – typically fail in outward appearance and cleanliness. Dirty, outdated trains and buses actively steer away users because they are constantly in the public eye and, in a sense, are their own rolling advertisements. This will reinforce the image of an unclean mode of transportation and the stigma that goes with that. Conversely, if fleets and facilities are updated, they enter into a virtuous cycle of promoting a safe and clean means of transport to the public.
4. Crowding is a similarly associated downside to public transportation. The good news is that with the correct scheduling, this problem can be solved fairly easily. If ridership is still overwhelming the system during peak hours, it may be time to invest in more capacity.
5. Cost may seem like an odd complaint when speaking about public transportation, as it’s estimated that using transit (as opposed to a car) saves you upwards of $9,000 a year. Here, I am referring to the cost in terms of value: what are you getting for your money? Transit systems in the United States often charge comparable fees, but not all of them provide equal levels of service. A subway ride in New York will get you far more places than a similarly priced ride in Atlanta. For public transportation to see major growth in US cities, it needs to be economically competitive with personal vehicles. People commuting into cities make rational transportation choices, largely based on costs.
6. Lastly, public transportation often suffers from unnecessarily complicated interfaces, to its own detriment. We’ve all seen (or been) the tourist fumbling with change at a metro kiosk while trying to decide which of the 12 fare-cards to purchase. People want convenience and will often avoid transit if it is not straight-forward to avoid the hassle. This concept is especially important when thinking about the various public transportation systems of a city. Interoperability among systems (metro, buses, bike shares, etc…) is key to gaining, and maintaining, users. If people are able to have one card that works for all modes of transportation in a city they are much more likely to use it. In a busy city full of busy people, an intuitive payment system can do wonders for transit.
With a few notable exceptions, public transit in the United States has largely failed to overcome the aforementioned negatives and, consequently, has not attained mainstream usage. The good news is that there are plenty of fantastic models around the world on which to base upgrades to US systems.
Extensive systems with many convenient stops are mainstays for good public transport. For example, although Madrid’s metro system extends well into the suburbs, it also has enough stops so that, within the city core, you will never be more than a 10 minute walk from a station, and often never out of view.
London
Tokyo
Madrid
Berlin
Seoul
Zurich
Paris
Frequency of service on these systems makes them incredibly practical for getting around their respective cities. From personal experience, I can attest to London’s Tube having an average weekday wait time of 5-7 minutes and Madrid’s Metro being closer to 3-5 minutes – at every station across the network.
Great public transit systems are easy-to-use, welcoming, clean, and efficient. These systems are used by all demographic segments of society.
Finally, cost and interoperability play a huge role in making these systems successful. Most of them operate on an affordable single-card system that allows integration with other modes of transit throughout the city. By doing this, transit agencies give users what they want most, choice, while also making it easy to compensate service for construction or delays.
A modern double-decker bus like this easily has capacity for 70-80 passengers
So if transit systems were built like this in the US, would we see the same uptake in public transportation use as other cities around the world have? In short, yes. The New York City subway system, by far the most expansive and used system in the States, doesn’t meet all of the criteria that most foreign systems have in place, and still maintains massive ridership. If its trains and stations were upgraded to be inline with the above systems, usage would certainly increase. Every other system in the US has even greater potential to grow and improve.
For decades, public funding has deprioritized public transit with the result being that US cities have, in general, sub-par public transportation systems. Critics of increased transit funding will point to low ridership on many systems as evidence for their collective failure. When you build bare bones systems with limited functionality in the first place, it should not be surprising they don’t become popular. The people who will ride these ineffective transit systems are those that cannot afford personal vehicles and so are forced to deal with the inefficiencies of the system because they have no choice.
There is a threshold level of effectiveness, practicality, reliability, and cleanliness that needs to be reached for transit to be self-sustaining. The European and Asian transit models above have reached and surpassed that threshold. It is important to note that, while the systems used here are notable examples, this level of service and continuity in urban mobility is common in most major, industrial cities around the world – except in the United States. In the US, cars are still given massive priority and personal vehicle ownership is, in large part, subsidized by cities.
When we look at our city landscapes, we’re unfazed by highways, overpasses, and parking structures because that’s what we’ve always known – at least for the past 50 years – but when you think about land use through a planner’s lens, it quickly becomes apparent how much cities have bent over backwards to accommodate personal cars during that same period. Disregarding vehicle-related pollution, the sheer space cars need makes them a nightmare to have in a city. Maintenance for roads also devours local transportation budgets while construction of new roads has been proven to be the least effective measure for combating congestion.
From spatial, environmental, and personal cost standpoints, high-quality public transportation systems are the only viable route for metropolitan areas to accommodate their increasing number of residents. These transit systems must offer effective, practical, reliable, clean, affordable, and interoperable service so residents and visitors alike can easily move around the city. As shown in the examples above (and countless other cities), there is great precedence for these types of systems already. On the part of cities, to not act on this issue begs the question, “What is the alternative solution?” With many of our cities projected to double in population over the next 20 years, what other transportation option is there? Even if there is a miracle explosion of clean electric cars in that time (which Elon Musk is skeptical about, which should tell you something), it doesn’t address the spatial problem of where you put all those personal vehicles in increasingly dense urban areas.
The only solution is great mass transit. If you don’t think such a thing exists, go to any of the countries mentioned above and see just how far behind most US cities are in their infrastructure. On the bright side, we have the opportunity to leap-frog to the front of the pack by learning from foreign cities and skipping the mistakes they had to discover by trial-and-error. US cities have the chance to create transit systems (and a lot of jobs in the process) that can handle their capacity needs in ways roads and personal cars could never accomplish. Still worried people won’t use transit? Look at major foreign capitals as a litmus test – build it right and they will come.
Thumbnail Image: DriveThruCafe – https://flic.kr/p/q8pagC – Creative Commons License
If You Build It, They Will Come The second critical element that needs to be addressed in our transportation framework is mass transit. The majority of Americans already live in metropolitan areas, and that percentage will only increase in the foreseeable future.
The Economic Value of Place
The Economic Value of Place
Ed McMahon, of the Urban Land Institute in Washington DC, recently spoke at a TEDx event about the competitive advantage of local uniqueness.
“If every place was just like every place else, there would be no reason to go anyplace.”
He begins by discussing how serving in the military in Europe changed his perspective on the American landscape. “Because ladies and gentlemen,” he says, “to travel…
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Reservation Roads
Anthony Foxx, the United States Secretary of Transportation since 2013, has been on a valiant campaign recently promoting US DOT’s long-term national framework plan “Beyond Traffic” as well as the Mayor’s Challenge advocating multimodal transportation and safer streets in metropolitan areas. An increasing number of cities are adopting Vision Zeropolicies to address the long overlooked aspect of…
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Time-Lapse Treat of the Week: New York
Time-Lapse Treat of the Week: New York
Some stunning visuals this week from Manhattan. Look for some great shots of the pedestrianized plaza around the Flatiron Building (the same place Match.com filmed their newest batch of omnipresent commercials).
Thumbnail Image: Giacomo Carena – https://flic.kr/p/8TgY9e – Creative Commons License
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It's What the Kids Want
It’s What the Kids Want
Cities across the country are competing for the nation’s college graduates and young professionals – the single most important factor in determining a city’s long-term prosperity – and those cities not picking up on what this generation wants are being left behind.
Sometime in the past 10-15 years the prevailing sentiment among young people dramatically shifted in terms of what represents the…
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LA After Dark
See the City of Angels when the sun goes down thanks to Gavin Heffernan’s incredible time-lapse work, as featured on CityLab.
Thumbnail Image: Emmanuel D. Photography – https://flic.kr/p/7GpnbJ – Creative Commons License
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Sneckdowns
With monster snowstorm Juno enveloping the northeast last night and dumping snow on cities like New York and Boston, the next few days will be the perfect opportunity to photograph sneckdowns – snowy neckdowns.
By Naparstek (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Sneckdownsare the result of emergency vehicles and traffic only using…
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Unproductive Growth
A great piece this week by Andrew Price over at Strong Towns takes a look at 5 major drawbacks to car dependency: social isolation, discrimination, expenses, decline of small business, and effect on public health. The article, “The Negative Consequences of Car Dependency,” is an easy read and really worth checking out, even if you just look at the pictures.
Stro…
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I came across an article a friend living in Barcelona recently posted: “22 Reasons We Should All Be Moving To Barcelona Right Now.”
Usually I don’t fall for these BuzzFeed-esque lists, but having lived in Spain and traveled to the capital of Catalonia, it got my attention. As anyone who has ever been there will tell you, Barcelona is a truly unique city and an all around amazing place. Located on the northeast coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea and cushioned by inland mountains to the north, it’s blessed with fantastic weather and a gorgeous natural setting. The cultural vibrancy – as in the rest of Spain – is focused on food, drinks, fiestas, and street-life.
Colin Brown – Barcelona Beach – Creative Commons License
Colin Brown – “Las Ramblas” – Creative Commons License
Colin Brown – Plaza – Creative Commons License
My Wave Pictures – https://flic.kr/p/qsdpv6 – Creative Commons License
Marimbajlamesa – https://flic.kr/p/aNhZmR – Creative Commons License
Colin Brown – Mercado Boqueria – Creative Commons License
MorBCN – https://flic.kr/p/4DNKeC – Creative Commons License
MorBCN – https://flic.kr/p/6pARnn – Creative Commons License
Now, I’m not going to say the bohemian culture of Barcelona was shaped by its built-environment – the city’s development is very clearly organic and bottom-up – but the physical form of Barcelona certainly compliments and encourages its vibrant and social atmosphere.
Of the “22 Reasons We Should All Be Moving To Barcelona Right Now,” at least 8 are directly related to the city’s built-environment or infrastructure. From fantastic public transportation to walkable neighborhoods, Barcelona allows and promotes pedestrian culture, not car culture and in turn, this makes the thriving street scene possible. If Barcelona did away with its compact neighborhoods, plazas, pedestrian-only streets, and shifted funds from the public transit budget into building car avenues and highway cloverleafs throughout the urban core, the city’s fundamental character would be altered – and not for the better.
Social interaction, much less a street festival, doesn’t happen when pedestrians are separated by 4 lanes of speeding traffic and crammed onto tight sidewalks. Over the past few years the US has seen an explosion of Ciclavias and road-closing festivals; but what does that say about our existing infrastructure when the most popular use of roads is when they are closed to cars? Barcelona, and many other cities, have cultivated a culture of vibrant street-life by the virtue of their infrastructure allowing it…year-round.
In part, it’s this fabric of social vitality that is attracting millennials to certain cities in the US. But, for cities, it’s about more than winning over the brain-power and economic influence of young professionals. There is a critical capacity question that US urban areas will need to address in the very near future. Cities like Barcelona can have huge populations (~5 million) without feeling overly congested largely because its inhabitants are not bringing cars with them into the city. Beyond the health and environmental benefits of leaving cars behind it is essentially a question of space. Cars take up huge footprints compared with pedestrians and require an even greater footprint in infrastructure to accommodate them. Surface lots, on-street spots, as well as underground and above ground parking structures are required to house vehicles – valuable space that is often empty and could be re-purposed into businesses, housing, or public space. Relative to the square footage required for cars in cities, an extensive network of public transportation hubs would be minimal in comparison. In this way, Barcelona has prioritized its urban area for people while providing a cheap, clean, convenient, and efficient means of transport for its citizens.
The high quality of life in cities like Barcelona is, to a large degree, a result of smart planning that aims to accommodate people above cars. As hundreds of mayors from across the US met with President Obama in Washington this week, the focus on smart growth in cities needs to be addressed. Furthermore, as Bernie Sanders has been pointing out for a long time and as the Cincinnati bridge collapse highlights, US transportation infrastructure is underfunded and, in cases of public transportation, is miles behind virtually every other major industrial nation in the world. Hopefully this congress can agree on transportation infrastructure investment from safety, economic, environmental, and job creation perspectives. If they can’t (and maybe even if they do), look to mayors for the most innovative change on this front.
Thumbnail Image: Paco CT – https://flic.kr/p/E3KM5 – Creative Commons License
Barcelona: Best Practices For A Vibrant City I came across an article a friend living in Barcelona recently posted: "22 Reasons We Should All Be Moving To Barcelona Right Now."
The Future Of Transit Planning
The Future Of Transit Planning
The long process of assembling feasibility studies, cost projections, and estimated ridership levels has long been a barrier for city governments to creating efficient, sustainable, and responsive transit systems. Enter TransitMix. The ultra-customizable geospatial planning tool allows users to create, alter, and share different types of transit routes for their city while providing instant…
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Transforming Transportation 2015
“Transforming Transportation: Smart Cities for Shared Prosperity” took place at the World Bank in Washington DC from January 15 – 16. The conference brought leaders from around the world – including former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon, who delivered the keynote speech – together for discussions on urban mobility.
Check out more highlights from the conference here.
http://thecityfix.com/fi…
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Transportation Camp 2015
Last week George Mason University hosted the 4th annual Transportation Camp in Arlington, Virginia. The “un-conference” runs every year prior to the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board Conference – now in its 94th edition – also held in Washington DC. Topics at Transportation Camp this year ranged from induced traffic to the effect Uber and its data is having on cities.
The one…
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2014 In Review: Transit + Placemaking
2014 In Review: Transit + Placemaking
The past year saw some considerable progress on both the public transit and placemaking fronts in cities across the country:
“This Was a Good Year for Transit Progress” – NextCity
“The Biggest Transportation Breakthroughs of 2014″ – CityLab
“Placemaking News Roundup: The Top 10 Posts of 2014″ – Project for Public Spaces
The challenge for 2015 will be to continue momentum for these types of…
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