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.…
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.…
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.…
No, Boomers, it’s not like it was back in the day
Last week BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander was in the paper with some stern words for young people trying to find somewhere to live in a city that doesn’t have enough housing to go around. As reported by Susan Edmunds:
Think your parents got an unfairly great deal when they bought their house for $40,000 – or thereabouts – 30 or 40 years ago?…
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.…
Do economists think we should build more infrastructure?
Should we spend more money on infrastructure?
That’s a good question. Recent posts on Transportblog have looked at the case for a greater focus on providing better transport choices in Auckland, the need to start discussing rapid transit provision in smaller but growing cities, and the need for better connections between New Zealand’s cities and towns.…
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!…
City Centre Streets for the 21st Century
Santiago de Chile is home to some 6m+ souls, its origins date back to the 16th Century, and it has south American largest, and still expanding, Metro system. But, like almost all cities coming out of the 20th Century, its city centre streets have been allowed to be dominated by vehicles, with all of the disbenefits this brings.…
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.…
The Auckland productivity premium
The Motu Institute recently published new research into the urban productivity premium in New Zealand, or the degree to which firms and workers in big cities tend to produce more and earn higher wages. This is an essential issue for urban and transport policy as it gets to the heart of why we have cities.…
Thank you for subscribing
Thanks for signing up for news from Greater Auckland! Keep an eye on your inbox for regular updates.
Processing...