Do Urban Limits raise house prices?

  This little gem was posted on Reddit’s urban planning board, with the title “The relationship between the cost of housing and how much cities are allowed to sprawl onto new land“. Note the key word “Allowed”. The user who posted the image, /u/Sidewinder77, implies that urban authorities who disallow urban expansion are the sole…

Response to Transport Blog: Why trams are an irresponsible suggestion for the North Shore

Yesterday, TransportBlog posted a rather surprising article titled Light Rail to the Sea. The post describes a light rail (modern trams) spur to Takapuna. It caught me off guard  is  because while Transport Blog’s articles are normally either good ideas, or well thought out critiques of bad ideas, this was a bad idea and rather incoherent…

Don’t make towers (sub)urban deserts

The urban highrise building, the stereotype of an intensifying city: not quite tall enough to require incredible engineering feats or architectural inspiration, yet still trying to cram in as many residents as possible. There is nothing wrong with the urban highrise, they provide much needed living space on as little land as possible. After all, land…

Two arguments for LRT over BRT that need to be put to rest.

There are two all to common arguments for streetcars or trams that need to be put to rest. Both modes certainly have very valid arguments, often depending on the situation at hand, but a number of arguments are often used (normally against BRT alternatives) that just don’t hold water, at all. Light Rail has a sense of permanence…

Rural Areas: Mistaking Want as Demand

The Kiwi Dream: A big house, a quarter acre plot, Rugby on Sundays and fresh milk from the local dairy farmer. A Third of New Zealand lives in the Auckland “Super City”. In fact the majority of the country’s economic output comes from just three cities. 72% of the population lives in a “Main Urban Area” (of over…

Yes: cars do actually use energy

Most of the transportation energy use is intra-city or intra-country transport of goods. This is across the ocean, or vast distances on land. Your bike lanes and public transit are nice, but they’re not a significant contributor to the overall energy-usage profile of the planet. This is a very typical conversation with any sustainable type.…

Could car free transit grow economies?

Yes. Car free transit, specifically buses, trains, bikes and your own feet are often described as methods to improve overall quality of life. It’s boasted that walkable cities will make us healthier and improve mental well being, while taking cars off the roads improves air quality. This post isn’t about fitness or air quality though, we’ll be…

Car Free Transit – The Real Way to Save Energy

Energy is perhaps one of the most focused upon areas of our economy. With fears of peak oil and fossil-fuel produced global warming there is increasing consensus that we must look to reduce and offset our energy usage. Vehicles like the Tesla offer better energy efficiency, but still involve over 2,000 kilos of metal moving…

The Safety of High Speed Rail Transportation

On July 23 2011, two high speed trains travelling by overhead track through Wenzhou, China collided. The incident killed a total of 40 people and the attempted cover up caused considerable unrest and international publicity. The crash in China was a major blow to the public image of their high speed rail (HSR) system, no doubt it also turned…