Why Carmageddon never comes

The fear associated with even temporary reductions in road capacity in Auckland is often so extreme that this report from Joe Cortright in City Observatory, Why Carmaggedon never comes (Seattle edition), is worth drawing to everyone’s attention. It takes the example of the closure for demolition of the Alaskan Way, a 3.5km, double stacked, 6-lane, fugly as, harbour-severing, 1940s fly-over in Seattle, to illustrate a well observed feature of city traffic.…
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Ch-Ch-Changes

Submissions to the Productivity Commission’s Low-emissions economy draft report close today June 8th, here. Arrrg. There is a great deal that’s really good in the report, but one thing that I feel the Prodcom is missing is the changing nature of our cities, in particular Auckland.…
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The Change Agency

Auckland Transport is not (just) a transport agency, it is a change agency. Auckland Transport (AT) is the lead agency of change to our public realm in Auckland. AT has to front increasing amounts of change in both small and large ways, to our streets, to our daily experiences, and is therefore is the main focus for anyone, reasonable or otherwise, who has a view on these changes.…
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Exports, prosperity, and cities

What does New Zealand do to pay its way, in the global context? And what could it do differently? These are an important questions because New Zealand is a small, trade-exposed country. We produce some of the things that we need locally, but many other things must be imported, which means that we need to export something in return.…
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Is Auckland too big?

[This was originally posted in unfinished form this morning. It has since been rewritten.] Is Auckland too big? Some people are asking that question. For instance, in a Twitter exchange a while back Radio New Zealand producer Tim Watkin stated: @pv_reynolds Patrick I thought you wanted people off the roads here!…
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The Ideology of Traffic

Sometimes we come across something that is so perfect and so timely that it just needs repeating as it is. This is one of those times. The following post by Charles Marohn is lifted in its entirety from StrongTowns.org The Ideology of Traffic by Charles Marohn The greatest accomplishment of any ideology is to not be considered an ideology; to be a belief system that is not considered a belief system.…
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