[This is the essay that I wrote to apply for SJSU’s Masters in Urban Planning program. I’ll be starting at the end of January 2020. …

Overview of transit-adjacent articles I’ve found recently, and a few tabs that have been open for too long. — Progress towards car-free city spaces always runs into the same argument, even though there’s no evidence for it. Congrats to Oslo for taking the next step! ^_^ (via New York Times) The strongest opposition came from local business owners who were worried that fewer cars would mean fewer customers. So…

This is a conversation that’s been going on for several months, and many people have weighed in on the topic. It’ll come up again in a few months when we get the 2018 ridership data, too. My take, from looking at the APTA data is it’s just the bus, but…

Green spaces are critical for urban areas. People feel better when they get a reminder that the world isn’t just concrete and glass boxes, no matter how interesting or organic their shape. …

Hearing an interview with Lynn on KUCI’s Monkeywrench, I immediately connected with her ideas on the role of art and artists in a community. Her current project is Art Produce, a former grocery store that she has transformed into a community hub for art and outreach. The origin, though, was…

[Edited from an email sent to a friend, and an extension on dinner conversation soon after my last post.] ​There’s a lot of nonsense being tossed around right now. What it comes down to is that there aren’t any laws on the books about who’s criminally responsible in a case…

The more I read and learn about transit and urban design changes, the more clearly I see that an engaged community is always at the heart of successful ventures. Janette Sadik-Kahn’s Streetfight is, if you read between the lines, a series of community triumphs. Sadik-Kahn begins and ends each project…

The more I look, the more stories about autonomous vehicles I find. Sometimes I don’t even have to look… Public trial of 'last mile' pods underway in London Members of the public are being invited to test a fleet of driverless pods…cities-today.com These seem awesome! I’ve got a friend in the Greenwich area whom I haven’t seen in forever, but has just passed the driving test, so perhaps this would be a fun…

With all the talk about self-driving cars being tested and companies like Uber trying to integrate them into their business model, I’m curious about the effect this is going to have on city planning and infrastructure. If we assume that, like automatic transmissions and airbags, autonomous vehicles (AV) will become…