A few things to know this week: January 10, 2020
Happy Friday!
Every week, we round up some of the things we read, listened to, or watched that really caught our attention. Here are just a few things we think you should know this week:
This week's things to know:
New on the Go Cultivate! podcast:
What did we learn about housing in 2019? — w/ Daniel Herriges
Daniel Herriges, senior editor at Strong Towns, joins Jordan Clark to talk about some important housing-related stories from 2019 and what lessons they hold for those of us who care about housing equity.
And here’s what we’re reading…
1. We ran traffic simulations on our people-first street designs. Here’s what we found
Sidewalk Talk took street designs they had in mind that prioritize people and ran simulations to test these designs. Interestingly, while there are some limitations to the simulation which they acknowledge, there were some takeaways that cities should definitely pay attention to. It's a powerful tool to help planners and engineers talk candidly about the trade-offs. They conclude by saying, “the biggest barrier to implementing these principles [...] is political feasibility, not technical feasibility. Our hope is that these types of simulations can provide a basis for city planners and communities to have informed discussions […] and ultimately decide on the streets that work best for them." – AJ
2. How Wealthy Towns Keep People With Housing Vouchers Out
To read about the plight of this country’s poor (especially as a member of the professional class) is to recognize that we participate in an unjust society, that we put up with patterns of naked cruelty that absolutely do not have to persist. That is, people suffer because of decisions we make and decide not to make, often because many of us have the luxury of being able to not live with the actual costs. The point isn’t to get depressed; it’s to fully confront how we’re failing people, and then to put resources into rectifying that. This piece from ProPublica, the latest in their series on housing segregation in Connecticut (although it happens everywhere), details the draining and dehumanizing experience of looking for housing with a Section 8 voucher. Give this (whole series) a read, and see whether there aren’t ways your city could be having its residents’ backs, rather than leaving them (literally) in the cold. – Jordan
3. “Gentle” density can save our neighborhoods
We've been talking a lot lately about helping communities diversify their housing and neighborhood types and price points. This is a good write-up with some simple graphics and math that help explain how higher density development increases city revenues, improves viability for local small businesses, reduces home prices, improves construction profitability and other metrics communities say are important. – Kevin
4. For over 20 years, this Indiana mayor has been steadily building a world-class city in the Midwest
I'm personally a little skeptical about Carmel, Indiana, because of how much they are relying on debt to fund their development (the build it and they will come philosophy). However, I do think Mayor Jim Brainard's vision for Carmel is well-intentioned and informed. He says several things in this interview that I think all city leaders should be aware of and striving to address. – Kevin
5. On the Waterfronts: Flood buyouts and the economics of climate catastrophe
Do you enjoy these weekly roundups? (Why wouldn’t you?) You can get them sent straight to your email inbox every Friday, if you’re into that.
This longer read is an excellent and challenging picture of what a climate retreat looks like, on the ground, for real people. Who decides when it's time to leave and seek higher ground, and who gets harmed by those decisions? It’s clear that climate adaptation is going to be necessary for cities; we can no longer keep pretending that cities are separate from their ecological context. That will mean de-building rather than rebuilding in many places, like the Houston neighborhoods discussed in this piece. But that’s also going to mean that entire neighborhoods of people will have their lives flipped upside-down. That’s something we can’t ignore in our attempts to deal with the new reality that there are some places we shouldn’t be, and there are some places that levees and seawalls just aren’t sustainable solutions. Jake Bittle, the author of the piece: “If the government’s future approach to retreat is anything like the one it has taken thus far, families who can’t move or don’t want to will become the living collateral of the retreat process.” People with means will land on their feet. It’s the rest of the community, the invisible ones, who we need to proactively protect. – Jordan
6. Hello, 2020, What Do You Have in Store?
Thankfully, 2019 is fully in the rear-view mirror now. Starting a new year gives us the excuse we sometimes need to pause and reflect on the society we want to be. Here’s a good roundup of eleven vital transportation issues that will define the coming year. Will we get over our fixation with AVs? How will we handle an anti-transit backlash? When density and zoning become campaign buzzwords, how will voters respond? – Ryan
7. ‘Car-free’ development breaks ground in Arizona
A development without cars? Well, not entirely, but it's a step in the direction of planning modes of transportation that make them largely unnecessary. This will be a fun one to watch. – AJ
8. In rural Texas, people experiencing homelessness lead "masked" lives outside of public view
“Nobody thinks about us.” Homeless Texans in the state's less populated areas are harder for people to find and help. But the number of people experiencing homelessness outside of Texas' urban centers has increased 33% in recent years. – Jordan
Want to learn more about how fiscal analysis can help you make your city stronger financially?
We created a new sister website showcasing how we use math, maps, and money to help cities communicate your resource gap and explore ways to increase tax revenue and improve service efficiency without necessarily raising taxes.
Hey, friends in local government:
Have thoughts on any of the links above? Think we missed something essential? We’re discussing these topics and more over on our brand-new online community, exclusively for local government employees.* Sign up for the Community Cultivators Network and join the discussion!
* The network is currently only for those wonderful folks out there who work in local government. If you’re not currently working for a city, town, or county, we still love you (and are sure many of you would add value to the community), but we want to keep our commitment to making this a community focused specifically on our friends working in local government. Thanks for understanding!
