| This Big City

Feb

Why a Sales Tax on Gasoline Makes Sense

Categories: Cars and Roads, Governance, People, Transport, USA and Canada

Tags: cc

by Theodore Brown

Federal gasoline excise tax in the United States has been stuck at $0.184 per gallon since 1993, and with vehicles getting more efficient, tax intakes have dropped. But whilst charging a tax per miles travelled has been discussed, a sales tax on gasoline makes more sense. Read more

Jan

24 Random Urbanism Predictions for 2013

Categories: Asia and the Pacific, People, UK, USA and Canada

Tags: cc

Comments: 1

by Theodore Brown

Here’s a list of things that will almost certainly happen in urbanism in 2013 (and when we say almost certainly we mean there’s probably a 30% of five of them happening which is pretty good as far as clairvoyance is concerned.) Read more

Nov

The Whole Cost of Driving, or Why You’re Probably Paying too Much for the Subway

Categories: Cars and Roads, Public Transport, Transport, USA and Canada

Tags: cc, New York City

Comments: 3

by Theodore Brown

Car owners pay extra in the form of additional expenses while city dwellers pay the higher living costs associated with having access to reliable public transportation. It balances itself out... right? Read more

Sep

Brooklyn’s Dollar Vans: Bringing Shadow Transit Out of the Cold

Categories: Public Transport, Transport, USA and Canada

Tags: Brooklyn, cc, New York City

Comments: 1

by Theodore Brown

Brooklyn's dollar vans are unlicensed vehicles which supplement public transit with incredible efficiency. But they're totally illegal. Should they be punished for picking up administrative slack? Read more

Aug

Olympic Cities: Urbanization and the Secrets of Basketball Success

Categories: Arts and Culture, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, People, USA and Canada

Tags: basketball, cc, olympic cities, sport

Comments: No

by Theodore Brown

Basketball is a city game; you just need a ball, a patch of concrete and some kind of hoop. All competitive national teams have seen positive urbanization rates in the last four decades, with at least 60% of people living in cities in each nation. Read more

May

Megacities: Three Ways to Fix US Suburbs from the Inside Out

Categories: Planning, Urban Scale, USA and Canada

Tags: cc, megacities, megacities microcities, suburbs

Comments: 6

by Theodore Brown

The US suburbs might be unsustainable, but changing the living arrangements of tens of millions of Americans isn’t as easy as simply changing their tastes in geography. Here’s three problems and three potential fixes for our neighbours in the sprawl. Read more

Apr

Introducing Spongephalt: A Game-Changer for Roads that Doesn’t Exist Yet

Categories: Cars and Roads, Transport, USA and Canada

Tags: cc, innovation, roads, water

Comments: 3

by Theodore Brown

Asphalt, as many people know, creates a lot of problems for the environment, and environmentally-friendly alternatives seem a little uncreative for something as ubiquitous as roads. So what about 'spongephalt' - a surface of semipermeable asphalt that allows water to seep through into reservoirs? Read more

Introducing Spongephalt: A Game-Changer for Roads that Doesn't Exist Yet