What do garage bands and tech startups have in common?
Russell Brown’s Public Address article on the impending closure and redevelopment of the King’s Arms music venue got me thinking. Russell highlighted the importance of certain types of physical spaces for a music scene’s ongoing vitality:
What the King’s Arms and the Powerstation have in common is that they are reasonably large rectangular boxes, which makes them ideal rock ‘n’ roll venues.…
18 Comments Zoning reform: Why have house prices gone up in Auckland?
This is an addition to an ongoing series of posts on the politics and economics of urban planning reform. In an earlier post, I took a look at the costs, benefits, and distributional impacts of urban development. Basically, enabling more flexible / responsive urban growth is a good idea for society – but many of the gains accrue to new entrants to the housing market.…
Sunday reading 30 October 2016
Welcome back to Sunday reading. This week, I’d like to start off with a short essay on agglomeration economies (sort of) by science fiction writer Charlie Stross: “Insufficient data“:
What is the minimum number of people you need in order to maintain (not necessarily to extend) our current level of technological civilization?…
Not so surprising: When cyclists are happy, so are drivers
News site Daily Hive Vancouver recently published an article with the following headline:
Surprise: Bike-friendly Netherlands named best place in the world to be a driver
Daily Hive was reporting on the results from a new index created by wayfinding app Waze:
…a new report released last week by community-based traffic and navigation app Waze, proves a place pleasant for cycling and one pleasant for driving are not mutually exclusive.…
Who’s carrying on the conversation? (2 of 2)
This is the second part of a two-part post looking at some of the people who are making a positive, evidence-based contribution to public discussions about policy. An active and well-informed public conversation about policy issues is a vital bulwark for representative democracy.…
Who’s carrying on the conversation? (1 of 2)
Last week, I wrote a piece explaining why I write for Transportblog and setting out some of the broader social goals that encourage us to spend unpaid volunteer time writing blog posts. An active and well-informed public conversation about policy issues is a vital bulwark for representative democracy – meaning that people have to participate in that conversation.…
Sunday reading 16 October 2016
Welcome back to Sunday reading. One of the best things I’ve read in the last few weeks is a 2014 article about water in the New Zealand Geographic. Dave Hansford tells the story of New Zealand’s water problems: “Liquidation“. It’s a broad-ranging and troubling tour through a policy with some sizeable benefits: Some sizeable costs: And some vexing questions about the way that our society and economy works: Read it in full.…
Submit on inner west cycle consultation
Auckland’s about to take a few significant new steps towards being a more cycle-friendly city. We’ve gotten the go-ahead for some major off-road cycleways, like Grafton Gully, Pinkpath, the Glen Innes to Tamaki cycleway, and (pending Environment Court appeals) Skypath. Investments to date are paying off nicely, with big jumps in cycle trips along the routes that have seen the biggest improvements in connectivity.…
Why we blog
As delegates were leaving the American Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”. Franklin replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
He meant that, while the delegates had recommended a set of principles for government, it was up to average citizens to make them work in practice.…
The costs of tunnelling
Auckland Council and the Government have recently signed an official agreement to jointly fund the City Rail Link (CRL) – a move that both had previously committed to in principle, but not on paper. This is good news for the city, as it gives us certainty about how CRL will progress.…
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