Category Archives: cities

The Center for an Urban Future has released a startling report on the fate of New York’s middle classes — even as the population of the city continues to grow, its middle class is shrinking, and when it comes to … Continue reading →

Barbara Kiviat understands, I think, why Chicago sold off its parking meters on the cheap: Chicago hadn’t raised rates on some of its meters in 20 years–there’s a lot of value to be had by the person who doesn’t fear … Continue reading →

Ed Glaeser, Matt Resseger, and Kristina Tobio have a new paper out on urban inequality (ungated version here), which declares Manhattan (New York County) to be the most unequal county in the US: While Manhattan is the physical embodiment of … Continue reading →

New York and other big cities always complain that they provide vastly more in federal tax revenues than they receive back from the government in benefits. But John Gapper makes an excellent point: The U.S. government’s latest plan to buy … Continue reading →

I have an essay in the June issue of Poder magazine, wondering whether city-dwellers "could be the defining political force of the 21st century": More than half the world’s population now lives in a city, and cities provide most the … Continue reading →

Is real-estate executive David S. Mack: Mr. Mack, a Long Island resident who says he typically rides the railroad 5 to 10 times a year, said that if he had to pay, he might change his habits. “Why should I … Continue reading →

Amtrak – Amtrak! – is now cheaper than commuting by car: Stroud was looking in Elk Grove., Calif. — about 85 miles away from his job in the San Francisco Bay Area — because homes there are more affordable. But … Continue reading →

Now that MasterCard’s ranking of the "75 Worldwide Centers of Commerce" has been released, it’s fun to pick out some datapoints. The scores rank from 79.17 (London) down to 26.11 (Caracas). Only two cities (London and New York) manage a … Continue reading →

Many thanks to Matthew for pointing me to an extremely peculiar 3,000-word Business Week feature on global architecture. If you want proof that the teachings of Jane Jacobs have yet to sink in around much of the rest of the … Continue reading →

SAR has a provocative back-of-the-envelope calculation today: At $4.00 a gallon, a minimum wage earner driving the average 15,000 miles a year will spend 25% of his/her after-tax income on gasoline. I’m not sure whether this includes things like the … Continue reading →

Paul Krugman joins me in Berlin: Consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping. It’s the kind … Continue reading →

Joshua Benson, the bicycle program coordinator for the New York City Department of Transportation, mentions a startling statistic without even seeming to realise how startling it is: As the number of cyclists in New York City has grown (75 percent … Continue reading →

Congestion Pricing Plan Is Dead, Assembly Speaker Says I hope Shelly Silver finds it impossible to show his face in his own district from here on in.

The Atlantic doesn’t have a subcription firewall any more, but it does impose a pretty substantial delay between sending the magazine out to subscribers and putting it up online. As a result, I can’t (yet) link to Christopher Leinberger’s excellent … Continue reading →

Aaron Naparstek has details of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission recommendation with respect to NYC’s congestion charge. It differs from the original Bloomberg proposal in a number of respects, and I have to say I like it: it’s much simpler, … Continue reading →