Tag: sunday reading

What makes a city a city? The MIT Technology review covers some new research into the determinants of vibrant urban life from a team led by Marco De Nadai at the University of Trento. The conclusion: Jane Jacobs was right! De Nadai and co gathered this data for six cities in Italy—Rome, Naples, Florence, Bologna, Milan, and Palermo.…

Size, size, size. Many people are concerned about it. But Australian urban policy commentator Alan Davies observes that we shouldn’t fear it (in Crikey): There’s a popular doomsday scenario where Sydney and Melbourne collapse from the intolerable burden of their populations doubling to 8 million by circa 2050.…

And now for something completely different. One of the best things I’ve read recently was Australian economist John Quiggin’s discussion of “peak paper”, which the world apparently reached in 2013. It’s an optimistic story: showing how the slow accumulation of efficiencies can result in a more sustainable economy.…

Welcome back to Sunday reading. This week, let’s start with a new research paper on complexity. Oxford University researchers ask, “are big-city transportation systems too complex for human minds?” Many of us know the feeling of standing in front of a subway map in a strange city, baffled by the multi-coloured web staring back at us and seemingly unable to plot a route from point A to point B.…

Welcome back to Country Calendar Sunday Reading. Today I thought it would be nice to lead off with a mesmerising video of sheep herding in New Zealand. It’s not very urban, but it does nicely illustrate bottleneck queuing, which is a common phenomenon on urban roads and busy pedestrian streets.…

We are now living in the anthropocene – the period in which humans have begun to shape the earth’s geology, ecosystems, and climate. Vox’s Brad Plumer recently compiled a set of images that vividly illustrate humanity’s transformative effect: “15 before-and-after images that show how we’re transforming the planet“.…

Sunday reading! I wanted to lead off the week with two important articles on migration. But first, here’s an amusing comment about technological progress: Something to consider tonight when you're paying for the taxi home@thegooglecar pic.twitter.com/NLZpcZGW41 — NZ Horse Network (@Nzhorserec) December 31, 2015 Back on topic, Michal Ignatieff wrote a great article in the New York Review of Books on “the refugees and the new war“.…

The start of a new year is a good time to read a bit of history. The Economist recently published a fascinating piece on Russia’s rail history: “The gauge of history: A train journey north shows how Russia has evolved—and regressed“: What makes trains weigh so heavily on Russia’s consciousness is the sheer size of the land mass.…

This is the last Sunday reading post I’ll assemble this year. I hope you’ve enjoyed it – see you in 2016! Let’s start with a look at economic geography – specifically, how railroad history shaped internet history. Ingrid Burrington at Citylab tells the story of how persistent infrastructure networks can be: My favorite part of looking for network infrastructure in America is really all the ghosts.…

Welcome back to Sunday reading. To start out, here’s a fun little quiz from the Guardian: “How well do you really know your country?” It tests your knowledge about statistics from obesity rates to wealth distribution. The most important article I read this week was Paul Krugman’s New York Times column on “inequality and the city“.…