Archive for November, 2007
« Previous EntriesUrban blog perspectives
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007Most bloggers about urban issues have social science backgrounds (loosely defined) in fields like economics, economic history, urban planning, sociology, demography, etc.
Our opinions sometimes differ, along with the topics we choose to write about. But, we tend to approach the question of how cities work with similar tool kits and frameworks for analysis.
That’s why […]
Wikinomics - 5 implications for cities
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007By guest blogger, Dave Atkins…
Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ book Wikinomics is not a book about cities. However, the social changes it describes will have profound effects on cities because they impact how we live and work as well as how businesses perform. Here are five potential implications of the “wiki effect” […]
Public toilets and cities
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007Jim Dwyer penned a fascinating story this month on the history of public toilets — or the lack thereof — in New York City. A temporary collection of port-a-johns in Time Square created quite a stir, as few other options exist if you need to go in the city that never sleeps.
This got me […]
Is divorce good for the urban economy?
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007Is divorce good for the urban economy?
A recent article by Kerry Gold in the Globe and Mail suggests that it is.
Divorce generates real estate transactions and housing demand. Quoting real estate agent Brad Lamb:
“But for real estate agents, we do really well because we sell them the apartments they both lived in before they […]
Rapid transit and democracy
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007As Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst system in the world, save all the others.” However, he wasn’t trying to get a new metro system built.
As many US cities may be proving, there can be too much of a good thing — voters keep vetoing bills to build or expand transit systems and […]
Street names - do they reflect the true city?
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007Most people give little thought to their city street names. In older neighborhoods most streets have held their name for a century or more. But if you stop and think about street names in your city and community, do they reflect the region’s history?
In Vancouver there are some of Spanish names, honoring […]
Virtual vacation planning (San Diego)
Sunday, November 18th, 2007We’re going on a real winter vacation to San Diego, not a virtual one. But, instead of following our previous travel style of just making things up on the fly, we decided to plan (seemed a better idea with a baby and a toddler in tow).
In deciding where to stay, we combined our faithful […]
Do schools and condos mix?
Thursday, November 15th, 2007As more families move to dense urban areas in places like New York, Toronto or Vancouver, the question of fitting schools into an already dense urban landscape emerges. The traditional and suburban model of a large one-story building surrounded by proprietary sports fields won’t work.
As reported in the NY Times this week (pointer Planetizen), a […]
New lens on New York (Warhol Economy Reviewed)
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007Elizabeth Currid, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City (Princeton University Press, 2007). See also the earlier post, “Top Three Reasons to Read the Warhol Economy.”
Elizabeth Currid seeks to turn our assumptions about New York’s economy upside down. Most people assume that New York’s economic core and […]
Bikes, Boston and attracting talent
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007Does bicycle friendliness contribute to a city’s economic development? City planners and economic development specialists are spending increasing amounts of time trying to make their cities attractive to younger, educated workers and the companies that wish to hire them. They often focus on creating river walks or revitalizing downtowns through cleaning up crime […]
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