Infrastructure Commons^™

Death By A Thousand Curb-Cuts: Evidence On The Effect Of Minimum Parking Requirements On The Choice To Drive, Rachel R. Weinberger

Rachel R Weinberger

Little research has been done to understand the effect of guaranteed parking at home –in a driveway or garage—on mode choice. The research presented here systematically examines neighborhoods in the three New York City boroughs for which residential, off-street parking is possible but potentially scarce. The research is conducted in two stages. Stage one is based on a Google Earth© survey of over 2,000 properties. When paired with the City’s tax lot database, that survey served as the basis to estimate on-site parking for New York City neighborhoods. With parking availability estimated, a generalized linear model based on census tracts …

Engineers And Communities, Earthea Nance

Earthea Nance

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Edward L. Glaeser, Triumph Of The City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, And Happier (The Penguin Press 2011), David J. Reiss

David J Reiss

It is always a bit unnerving to read someone else’s love letters, but even more so, when you have the same object of desire. Edward Glaeser’s TRIUMPH OF THE CITY is a love letter to cities and to New York City in particular. Glaeser provides a theoertical framework of the city, arguing that “Cities are the absence of physical space between people and companies. They are proximity, density, closeness.”

Glaeser prescribes three simple rules to protect the vitality of the urban environment: First, cities should replace the current lengthy and uncertain permitting process with a simple system of fees. Second, …

In Third Parties We Trust? The Growing Antitrust Impact Of Third-Party Green Building Certification Systems For State And Local Governments, Darren Prum, Robert Aalberts, Stephen Del Percio

Darren A. Prum

According to the American Institute of Architects, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of municipalities with a green building program in place since 2007. And 24 of the country's 25 largest metropolitan areas are built around a city with green building legislation on its books. Reducing buildings' environmental impact is a noble - and critical - goal. But governments' reliance on private, third-party standard-setting organizations - and the rating systems that they promulgate - as the basis for that legislation may be legally problematic.

This Article reviews one of those potentially problematic bases: antitrust. In order …