There have been so many interesting pieces on urbanism land-use and transportation over the past few days and it’s too difficult to choose just one or two to highlight for you so here comes a smorgasbord:
The New York Times on the CityCenterDC development and the impact that it will have on metro Washington. We wrote about this months ago but the Times provides some interesting history on the project and analysis on the DC market.
Eric Fidler at Greater Greater Washington asks if Metro expansion proposals are too focused on pushing the system outward? What about increasing service in the region’s core areas where more folks tend to use the system for a variety of trips?
The New Yorker calls into question America’s burgeoning urban renaissance and The New Republic calls them out for it. The Wall Street Journal profiles Amanda Burden “one of the most powerful people” in New York City and a driving force behind the High Line and other innovative projects in the Big Apple.
Amtrak connections to DC from cities in Virginia – Richmond Lynchburg and the Hampton Roads area – have seen massive increases in ridership over the past few years. Does this growth in train ridership signal a shift in transportation culture in the Old Dominion?
Europe is “stifling” cars in favor of auto alternatives. Despite giving a lot of sympathy to Europe’s “tormented” drivers this New York Times piece does a nice job outlining the differences between the typical approaches to urban planning in the US and Europe. We hit on some of these differences last week when discussing congestion pricing.
Next America City discusses the future of bikesharing in the US noting that Capital Bikeshare our country’s largest system is still “just about one-fifth the size of Montreal’s Bixi (the largest in North America) and one-twentieth the size of Paris’ Vélib´.” CaBi is working on expansion; however in places like Montgomery County and Alexandria. Arlington County which is already a CaBi jurisdiction wants you to help pick where future stations will go.
Just for fun: A rocketplane being developed by European defense manufacturer EADS will run from Paris to Tokyo in less than three hours and produce negligible emissions. Is this the future of long-distance air transport?