• In 1958, Disney made an animated video imagining the future of America’s highway system, some of which has actually come to fruition. This critique observes that many of its guiding principles–a “fully privatized life,” decentralized populations–have led us astray. (DiscoveringUrbanism)
• As expected, President Obama did propose increased spending for infrastructure-related projects. But budget rules may strictly limit the way TARP funds can be spent and prohibit the administration from using them for job-creation. (WSJ)
• The Obama administration is also pushing for federal oversight of regional transit systems in the wake of a crash in June on D.C.’s Metro system. This has the potential to strain budgets that are already at a breaking point. (WSJ)
• Cargo biking, long popular in Europe, is on the rise in the U.S. One manufacturer says he’s sold his bikes to a brewery for keg delivery and to a floor refinisher for transporting his sander. (NPR)
• Add Providence, RI to the list of cities looking to build streetcar lines. The proposal is part of a city-wide transportation overhaul that will involve redeploying the bus fleet in an effort to get people out of their cars. (ProJo)
• Looking at the median efficiency of LEED-certified buildings in Illionois, a study found that they perform only 5% better than non-LEED buildings. Time to up the ante on efficiency standards? (The Atlantic)
• Latin America will have its first high-speed rail by the 2016 Olympics, on a line connecting Rio de Janeiro and Sao Pãolo. North America, not quite there yet. (Americas Quarterly)
December 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I’ve always loved these “In the future” bits. They are really fun. The only mistake they all seemed to make was that “In the Future” people will still have money, and still want to do things as cheaply as possible.
Another thing that is funny is how people are so incapable of thinking in terms of consequences. Like this video that shows how will never have to walk anywhere, but they didn’t think about how that might make them very fat. Or how spreading the city out and increasing your daily radius would cause people to waste years of their lives and thousands of dollars stuck in traffic.