The Hidden Inequity of Car-Based Design

There’s nothing inhibiting the advancement of youth without cars and the income-vulnerable than a car-centric community. To ensure that all people are able to succeed in your community there needs to be a plan that empowers those without cars to be able to contribute without fear or costly expenses of ride sharing. 

-Ryan

Engineers Should Not Design Streets

Last week, Chuck Marohn at Strong Towns visited Shreveport again to give his new presentation about our nation's transportation systems. The design process for our local streets was one of the main topics of his talk - built upon the concepts presented in Chuck's original article and expanded upon by Andrew Price in the link above. The provocative headline will catch your eye - but you need to read the articles to see how the engineering profession should utilize the time, talents, and treasure in communities to design local streets. That is, engineers need to 'de-center' ourselves so that our streets can be better platforms for building local wealth. At Verdunity, we take these issues to heart in every planning, community engagement, and engineering effort we do so that our places are more resource-conscious.

-Tim

The Federal Government Sells Flood-Prone Homes To Often Unsuspecting Buyers

This is a radio story that clocks in at about 4 and half minutes. It’s well worth your time. So HUD is selling homes, often to the people who are least able to handle a flood, that are more likely to flood than other homes. The situation is untenable of course, but this gets me thinking about climate change, and the ever widening collection of places in which we will see more and more flooding and extreme weather. Organizations like HUD are going to need to lead the way on mitigating these effects for some of the most vulnerable populations in this country. And right now, it doesn't seem like they are doing that.

-Marshall

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