A fetish with density is spiking the rising tide of housing demand in cities like Portland. To make housing affordable, we have to deal with the cause of the spike.
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When the issue of housing affordability comes up again and again, it is always tied to the agreed upon narrative that Portland is growing and will continue to grow, world without end. I don't buy that.
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Where improvement is not an option, stagnation and decline are all that remain.
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"Build it and they will come" transit has distorted the housing market in Portland.
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It's the incremental nature of both the private and the public investments that made traditional cities strong, resilient and financially productive.
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Refuting 4 myths about why housing in Portland (and cities like it) is so expensive.
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It is incrementally rising land values, combined with the ability to redevelop to something more intense, that naturally prompts the redevelopment of property in decline. Take away one of those two factors and redevelopment breaks down.
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If we can align the incentives of the players involved, we can build infrastructure that is actually necessary and while doing it quicker and at lower prices than we do now.
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The condition on State Street is dangerous for anyone outside of a automobile. The city is well aware of this fact. Something must be done.
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Cities need to be given the responsibility -- and the ability -- to fund their own local transportation improvements.
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The case of Mats Järlström and the Oregon licensing board is an absolute embarrassment for the traffic engineering profession.
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We're not as smart as we think we are.
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I'd like you to join with me and the many good people of Worcester as we mourn the passing of this amazing building.
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Government – particularly local government – needs to be about redundancy, not efficiency. We need spare parts. We need slack in the system.
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A brilliant application of Strong Towns thinking highlighted at the Strong Towns Summit.
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We prepare for the Strong Towns Summit on Transportation this Friday and Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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According to their newest report, the American Society of Civil Engineers would have us believe that we're failing to act by not spending enough on infrastructure. This is false.
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America's engineering profession is deluding itself. In their own propaganda echo chamber, they are blaming society for the messes they helped create and perpetuate.
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We have collectively believed for so long that spending on infrastructure is the key to prosperity that we don't even bother to check if it really is.
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We've spent trillions to save seconds in the first and last mile of each trip, and what we've gotten is the fake prosperity of a land use pattern that is bankrupting us.
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