Exclusion got repackaged as neighborhood character. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

The housing crisis is a storytelling problem. www.fastcompany.com/91518297/hou...

"We walked a lot and sometimes rode bikes to doctor’s appointments, the stores, the pool. But my mom’s favorite assignments were the ones to towns and cities with good public transportation, the places where a person with a vision problem had no problem getting around." www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Sound economics will open the doors to abundant housing. www.fastcompany.com/91509561/if-...

Maybe we're doing public engagement wrong. www.fastcompany.com/91505393/tra... @fastcompany.com

Be deeply skeptical of any report on the economic costs of traffic congestion. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

Putting already careless and reckless drivers in large vehicles without any sort of demonstrated skill is asking for trouble. www.fastcompany.com/91496840/we-...

Lunch-break analysis should happen long before rush hour traffic analysis. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

Productivity, and alleged lost productivity, has driven most of the conversation around traffic congestion and sprawl in the United States. While “time is money” is true in some contexts, it’s a terrible starting point for planning transportation systems. www.fastcompany.com/91496835/tim...

There are absolutely valid concerns about autonomous vehicles. But remember that humans are causing a public health crisis that kills tens of thousands every year. www.fastcompany.com/91485413/if-...

People seem to be clueless about everything they *can't* see while driving modern SUVs and pick-ups.

I think it was Frank Drebin who wisely said free parking and Drano both have benefits.

If you’re like most drivers, public transit is for other people. But here’s the thing: investing in better buses and trains could make your commute faster and less stressful, without you ever setting foot on one. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

A surprisingly small drop in cars on the road—just 5-10%—can dramatically ease congestion, and public transit is one of the most effective ways to get that drop. www.fastcompany.com/91493803/whe...

Every day on social media:

Once upon a time, did Americans flock to dealerships out of pure need—or were they herded by subversive forces? Was it free will or predestination? www.fastcompany.com/91480898/psy...

The automobile’s rise was a master class in what the military would call a psychological operation, a psy-op. In a flash, the “household automobile” became the “personal automobile,” thanks to advertising genius that turned utility into aspiration. www.fastcompany.com/91480898/psy...

State lawmakers don't realize they're making life more dangerous for school-aged kids. www.fastcompany.com/91480894/is-... In VA, some politicians are threatening to ban safety cameras even though:

Lessons from the cockpit that was designed to fit zero pilots. www.fastcompany.com/91481684/wha...

The Highway Trust Fund is in a state of bankruptcy, but we keep chugging along as if there’s no real financial urgency. www.fastcompany.com/91469982/ame... @fastcompany.com

When people don’t feel secure on public transit, they opt out. Some of you will want to get defensive about real vs. perceived security, but you can't ignore human nature. Go the extra mile to improve transit conditions. www.fastcompany.com/91469963/wan... @fastcompany.com

We shouldn’t be aiming to nudge a few percentage points in public opinion. Our goal should be to make freedom of mobility so compelling that people demand it. usa.streetsblog.org/2026/01/13/o...

I hope you feel something between discomfort and rage when you hear about people being forced to let a road widening take over their front yard, or being forced to move out of their home to make way for some corporation. www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/the-busine...

Zoning will keep killing the squirrels. www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/the-purpos...

After the Kelo case, many states reconsidered the whole "greater good" defense of eminent domain. But there are still lots of loopholes for taking property by force. www.fastcompany.com/91463687/cas...

In many states, you can get kicked out of your home if the local government thinks someone else will generate more tax revenue. My latest in @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91463687/cas...

Local regulations created (and continue to create) car-oriented sprawl in cities and the suburbs. This has been going on for nearly 100 years without taking a foot off the brake. Planners need to confront zoning as the Villain. www.fastcompany.com/91463800/bui...

"Normal science" is the activity in which most scientists spend almost all of their time, and it's predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like. Zoning has a "normal science" problem. www.fastcompany.com/91460628/zon...

I still can't believe Trump is going to Make Trucks Great Again. 🙌

When you study history, you can’t help but be overwhelmed by how often things get better in the end—and how quickly the transformation can happen once it begins. www.fastcompany.com/91450326/ber...

Claim: Zoning helps more people than it hurts. Evidence: Zoning hurts more people than it helps. Planning Inc: Let’s keep trying more zoning.

It’s disappointing that the intellectual energy to improve the built environment is still coming from outside Planning Inc. or from planners who first had to unlearn much of what they were taught. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

When the engineers became pro-roundabout, the planners became roundabout skeptics or flat-out anti-roundabout. www.fastcompany.com/91448151/rou...

Planning Inc. would do itself a favor by considering why its heroes aren't products of Planning Inc. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

"The Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs (redacted to avoid offending professional planners)

In the US, we make sure that our 300 million motor vehicles have proper housing. Sometimes, there's even room for vehicle operators to be co-housed.

The promise of freedom and wealth held until cities and suburbs began optimizing for vehicle throughput instead of local access and mobility. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

There's a King Midas aspect to motor vehicles. The Midas touch was great until he wanted to eat or drink or just hug his daughter. My latest in @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91443440/ame...

The status quo believes the fantasy that traffic violence is inevitable. That there’s nothing we can do. The truth is, we can prevent severe crashes. www.fastcompany.com/91443434/cha...

When DOTs refuse to use roundabouts, commercial corridors turn into this:

The lack of diversity of thought on this site is why I spend so little time here. It's also why, I think, so many people are returning to X.

AI-powered bus cameras can drive a transit revolution. www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/technology...

The economics principle behind bad traffic can be used to create good traffic. I wrote about INDUCED DEMAND for @fastcompany.com 👇 www.fastcompany.com/91418253/eco...

Normalizing good urbanism requires culture change, and culture change requires an advocacy long game that makes space for ideas that seem impossible today. www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/your-advoc...

Normalizing good urbanism requires culture change, and culture change requires an advocacy long game that makes space for ideas that seem impossible today. www.fastcompany.com/91415749/how...

In the US, local land use regulations are the key to unlocking healthy infrastructure. Zoning forces everything to be sprawled out across creation. If neighborhoods are allowed to have a variety of land uses, then riding a bike becomes an obvious & practical way to get around.

Doomer advocacy is a losing strategy, but it's common among US bike advocates. Things can get better in the end. After all, Copenhagen wasn't always Copenhagen. Organize fun group rides. Make some short trips by bike with a friend. Celebrate new bike lanes. Spread hope.

Road building contractors, truckers, civil engineers, and labor unions—they all funnel substantial sums of money into political campaigns because they want access to decision-makers and key influencers so they can shape legislation to their advantage. www.fastcompany.com/91402783/gro...

Zoning broke our brains, and legalizing healthy infrastructure is the first step in the path to recovery. www.urbanismspeakeasy.com/p/zoning-bro...

Human-scale design outlawed. People separated from friends & family. Racial tensions exacerbated. Housing variety outlawed. Housing prices jacked up. Car dependency normalized. Agree or Disagree: Zoning created more problems than it solved. 🤔