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Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies and Planning

Are Wide Streets Negligent?, Michael Lewyn Dec 2018

Are Wide Streets Negligent?, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

American commercial streets are typically designed to encourage rapid automobile traffic, thus making streets unsafe for pedestrians. In the 2016 case of Turturro v. City of New York, the New York Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict against a city for failing to slow down such traffic. This article describes Turturro, but shows how limited its holding was: the Turturro court emphasized a city's failure to study traffic calming, so if a city studies its options adequately it can avoid liability even if its policies are unsuccessful.


Planetizen Blog Posts- First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn Dec 2018

Planetizen Blog Posts- First Half Of 2019, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Op-ed length articles on various land use-related issues.


Market Urbanism, Michael Lewyn Apr 2018

Market Urbanism, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A speech comparing market urbanism and new urbanism.


Engineering Standards In Highway Design Litigation, Michael Lewyn Dec 2017

Engineering Standards In Highway Design Litigation, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Highway engineers sometimes believe that if they redesign streets to improve pedestrian safety (for example, by introducing traffic calming techniques) they might be successfully sued for negligent design by motorists. This chapter suggests that in such situations, governments are likely to be protected by discretionary function immunity. In addition, the chapter discusses a variety of technical issues.


Health And Safety Overregulation, Michael Lewyn Jan 2017

Health And Safety Overregulation, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Anti-jaywalking laws are designed to protect the safety of pedestrians. Similarly, police and child protection officials punish parents who allow their children to walk to school, in the name of child safety. This speech criticizes these policies and their justifications.


Robocar Risks, Michael Lewyn Dec 2016

Robocar Risks, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Suggests that policymakers should not widen roads or stringently enforce anti-jaywalking laws in order to accommodate autonomous vehicles.


Tracing A History Of Atlanta’S Public Transit, Joseph Hurley Nov 2015

Tracing A History Of Atlanta’S Public Transit, Joseph Hurley

Joe A. Hurley

No abstract provided.


Place-Based Programs And The Geographic Dispersion Of Employment, Matthew Freedman Jun 2015

Place-Based Programs And The Geographic Dispersion Of Employment, Matthew Freedman

Matthew Freedman

Government efforts to improve local economic conditions by encouraging private investment in targeted communities could affect the broader geographic distribution of employment in a region, especially to the extent that subsidized businesses face few constraints on whom they hire. This paper examines the labor market impacts of investment subsidized by the U.S. federal government’s New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program, which provides tax incentives to promote business investment in low-income neighborhoods. To identify the program’s effects, I exploit a discontinuity in the rule determining the eligibility of census tracts for NMTC-subsidized investment. Using rich administrative data on workers’ residence and …


Global Trade Impacts: Addressing The Health, Social And Environmental Consequences Of Moving International Freight Through Our Communities, Martha Matsuoka, Andrea Hricko, Robert Gottlieb, Juan Delara Apr 2015

Global Trade Impacts: Addressing The Health, Social And Environmental Consequences Of Moving International Freight Through Our Communities, Martha Matsuoka, Andrea Hricko, Robert Gottlieb, Juan Delara

Martha Matsuoka

As ports and goods movement activity expands throughout the United States, a major challenge is how to make the adverse impacts of freight transportation a more central part of economic development, policy and planning discussions and transportation decision making. In 2009, faculty and staff from the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute of Occidental College and from the environmental health sciences and regional equity programs of the University of Southern California (USC) began a study of this evolving global trade and freight transportation system, focusing on areas in the United States where the system is expanding and where community, labor and …


Smart Growth-Oriented Density And Parking Regulations, Michael Lewyn Feb 2015

Smart Growth-Oriented Density And Parking Regulations, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Many articles have been written about pro-sprawl land use regulation, such as minimum parking requirements. This speech, by contrast, focuses on the frequency of land use regulation designed to increase walkability- in particular, minimum density requirements and maximum parking requirements. I conclude that the first type of regulation is quite rare and usually very lenient. The second type of regulation is more frequent; however, the impact of maximum parking requirements is not yet clear.


On Foot And By Bike: Who Uses The Greenbelt?, Jaap Vos Oct 2014

On Foot And By Bike: Who Uses The Greenbelt?, Jaap Vos

Jacobus J. "Jaap" Vos

This presentation provides a quick preview of the initial results of the City of Boise's 2014 annual Greenbelt user survey. In addition is provides insight in the logistics that are involved in pulling of the survey without glitches.


Global Cities Are Coastal Cities Too: Paradox In Sustainability?, Herman L. Boschken Jul 2013

Global Cities Are Coastal Cities Too: Paradox In Sustainability?, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

Worldwide, most global cities are located in coastal zones, but a paradox of sustainability is especially striking for American global cities. This article examines such paradox drawn between globalization-induced development and coastal ecosystems. It focuses on two developmental components found principally in global cities: (1) the agglomeration of foreign waterborne commerce and global business services and (2) the accelerated activity and mobility habits of a global professional class. Despite formidable gaps in research, some anecdotal evidence suggests unique hazards exist for the coastal ecology as globalization pressures expand a global city’s urban footprint.


Funding Rail: Federal Decisions And Local Financing, Kate Lowe Dec 2012

Funding Rail: Federal Decisions And Local Financing, Kate Lowe

Kate Lowe, PhD

No abstract provided.


Maintaining Diversity In America’S Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools For Equitable Neighborhood Change, Stephanie Pollack, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham Apr 2012

Maintaining Diversity In America’S Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools For Equitable Neighborhood Change, Stephanie Pollack, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham

Stephanie Pollack

No abstract provided.


Death By A Thousand Curb-Cuts: Evidence On The Effect Of Minimum Parking Requirements On The Choice To Drive, Rachel R. Weinberger Jan 2012

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 …


What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year 3 Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon, Vinay Murthy Jan 2012

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year 3 Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon, Vinay Murthy

Hilary Nixon

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate and creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard socio-demographic factors, travel behavior (public …


Neighborhood Crime And Travel Behavior: An Investigation Of The Influence Of Neighborhood Crime Rates On Mode Choice – Phase Ii, Christopher Ferrell, Shishir Mathur Jan 2012

Neighborhood Crime And Travel Behavior: An Investigation Of The Influence Of Neighborhood Crime Rates On Mode Choice – Phase Ii, Christopher Ferrell, Shishir Mathur

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.


A Decision-Support Framework For Using Value Capture To Fund Public Transit: Lessons From Project-Specific Analyses, Shishir Mathur, Adam Smith Jan 2012

A Decision-Support Framework For Using Value Capture To Fund Public Transit: Lessons From Project-Specific Analyses, Shishir Mathur, Adam Smith

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.


Bringing Equity To Transitoriented Development: Stations, Systems, And Regional Resilience, Rolf Pendall, Juliet Gainsborough, Kate Lowe, Mai Nguyen Dec 2011

Bringing Equity To Transitoriented Development: Stations, Systems, And Regional Resilience, Rolf Pendall, Juliet Gainsborough, Kate Lowe, Mai Nguyen

Kate Lowe, PhD

No abstract provided.


Maintaining Diversity In America’S Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools For Equitable Neighborhood Change, Stephanie Pollack, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham Dec 2011

Maintaining Diversity In America’S Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools For Equitable Neighborhood Change, Stephanie Pollack, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.


What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 Of A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon May 2011

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 Of A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data, some minimal travel behavior data, and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to …


Neighborhood, City, Or Region: Deconstructing Scale In Planning Frames, Kate Lowe Dec 2010

Neighborhood, City, Or Region: Deconstructing Scale In Planning Frames, Kate Lowe

Kate Lowe, PhD

No abstract provided.


What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon Jun 2010

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

No abstract available.


Unpacking Preference: How Previous Experience Affects Auto Ownership, Rachel R. Weinberger, Frank Goetzke Jan 2010

Unpacking Preference: How Previous Experience Affects Auto Ownership, Rachel R. Weinberger, Frank Goetzke

Rachel R Weinberger

As environmental concerns mount alongside increasing auto dependence, research has been devoted to understanding the number of automobiles households own. The 2000 US census public use micro sample is used to demonstrate the importance of preference formation in auto ownership by studying auto ownership among recent movers. Using a multinomial probit model, the paper demonstrates that residents in the US transit cities who moved from major metropolitan areas are more likely to own fewer vehicles than counterparts who moved from smaller metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas. It is concluded that these results are due to learned preferences for levels of …


Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara Jan 2010

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.


Green Transportation Taxes And Fees: A Survey Of Californian, Asha W. Agrawal, Jennifer Dill, Hilary Nixon Jun 2009

Green Transportation Taxes And Fees: A Survey Of Californian, Asha W. Agrawal, Jennifer Dill, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

This report explores public opinion on a new and promising concept—green transportation taxes and fees. These are taxes and fees set at variable rates, with higher rates for more polluting vehicles and lower rates for those that pollute less. This approach to transportation taxes and fees adapts the traditional transportation finance system to achieve two critical public benefits at once: encouraging drivers to choose more environmentally-friendly transportation options and raising revenue for needed transportation programs. To test public support for green transportation taxes and fees, the authors conducted a random telephone survey of 1,500 Californians that asked respondents their views …


Effect Of Suburban Transit Oriented Developments On Residential Property Values, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell Jan 2009

Effect Of Suburban Transit Oriented Developments On Residential Property Values, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.


Growing Greener, New York Style, Rachel R. Weinberger Jan 2008

Growing Greener, New York Style, Rachel R. Weinberger

Rachel R Weinberger

No abstract provided.


Neighborhood Crime And Non-Auto Mode Choice, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell, Emy Mendoza Jan 2008

Neighborhood Crime And Non-Auto Mode Choice, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell, Emy Mendoza

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.


Housing Silicon Valley: A 20 Year Plan To End The Affordable Housing Crisis, Shishir Mathur, Alicia Parker Jan 2007

Housing Silicon Valley: A 20 Year Plan To End The Affordable Housing Crisis, Shishir Mathur, Alicia Parker

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.