City Beautiful

How Much Should a Parking Space Cost?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 18:05:00 -0000

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Which cities have the most expensive parking spaces, both on the street and in garages/lots? And what is the right price to charge for parking? This video answers those questions!

Resources on this topic:

https://www.parkopedia.com
Shoup, D. (2021). High cost of free parking. Routledge.
Chicago (https://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193236496X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OT4IM18XNK45&keywords=the+high+cost+of+free+parking&qid=1703393857&sprefix=the+high+cost+of+free+parkin%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-1)
https://edc.nyc/article/new-yorkers-and-their-cars
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-16/where-to-park-in-nyc-rise-in-new-cars-outdoor-dining-deepen-nightmare
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01944363.2013.787307
https://www.vox.com/2014/6/27/5849280/why-free-parking-is-bad-for-everyone
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/37638/1/Parking Issues and Policies.pdf#page=152
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856415303396?casa_token=I00D9L0vgEsAAAAA:QK8Ain5eQvykdlGGiMZAIRd5oY3PzU9-t5sYcvTMe3mquk0x-dF9h6shNY6WvmVKGFG61bKr
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X11001090?casa_token=gvqjiJ3dkj8AAAAA:l36lGzv1Q7CRaFZyC3eyRIsi3ev8yCHQlQWVfwAGknMDvg5_oQ8_HVag1RvkQzUU56tX4uWi
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Impacts_of_Parking_Pricing_Based_on_a_Review_of_the_Empirical_Literature_Policy_Brief.pdf
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Why Are City Boundaries So Weird?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:52:30 -0000

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Many city limits look like a tangled mess. Why? The answer is a combination of politics, taxes, autonomy, systemic racism, contiguity, and topography.

Resources on this topic:

The Most Segregated City in America: https://www.amazon.com/Most-Segregated-City-America-Birmingham/dp/0813923344

Fiscal case for annexation: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Evgenia-Gorina/publication/326867365_Fiscal_effects_of_municipal_annexation_Evidence_from_a_large_national_sample_of_urban_municipalities/links/652ef34a0ebf091c48fd4511/Fiscal-effects-of-municipal-annexation-Evidence-from-a-large-national-sample-of-urban-municipalities.pdf

Politics in annexation: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/D-Austin/publication/4889705_Politics_vs_Economics_Evidence_from_Municipal_Annexation/links/602d4769299bf1cc26d22040/Politics-vs-Economics-Evidence-from-Municipal-Annexation.pdf

Birmingham info: https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/1970s-1980s_Birmingham_annexations

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/10/us/growing-birmingham-irks-neighbors.html

Vestavia Hills info: https://vestaviavoice.com/news/road-to-prosperity-how-two-boundary-crossing-annexations-ves/

Interesting contract cities info I didn't get to in the video: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2683&context=ulj

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How Can Cities Fix Big Box Stores?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:40:00 -0000

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Big box stores like Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco dominate the suburban retail landscape. What impact do they have on cities, and are there ways local governments can reduce their negative impacts?

Resources on this topic:

- Growth of Target, 1962-2008 | FlowingData

- https://www.statista.com/statistics/255965/total-number-of-target-stores-in-north-america/https://www.statista.com/statistics/256172/total-number-of-walmart-stores-worldwide/

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r_q50XPRY

- https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2024/09/target-small-format-data.html?page=all

- https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/costco-housing-apartments-south-la-19541521.php

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQqbXbUrP34

- https://www.sightline.org/2021/12/16/yes-even-walmart-wants-to-build-smaller-parking-lots/

- https://www.sightline.org/2022/01/11/to-stop-building-heat-islands-stop-overbuilding-parking-lots/

- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/business/ev-chargers-store-parking-lots.html

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204601001967?casa_token=mTNICLDzaiIAAAAA:TpMxknWL7wiGFA7qWmp79m04q8MPBS7msfdWXvixmb7VpjwRyl-y7Z-iE8HzjnKm8U5BRc3H

- https://lawreview.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/9.-Schindler-FINAL_s.pdf

- https://inhabitat.com/big-box-supermarket-transformed-into-gorgeous-eden-prairie-library-in-minnesota/

- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26202645.pdf?casa_token=fB4tCcvYh9cAAAAA:ZhoZQrHJZ_1LfkM-mA-xxpA7Bic56mMsrYzAK4Vp400NhHhTI-D8g4QLsw4RBZ7Ccd91b4-E316yvBLQGqpM2cLkl-f6HSCPp0YQE9PSH3Ux_e3kcA

- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26202645.pdf?casa_token=fB4tCcvYh9cAAAAA:ZhoZQrHJZ_1LfkM-mA-xxpA7Bic56mMsrYzAK4Vp400NhHhTI-D8g4QLsw4RBZ7Ccd91b4-E316yvBLQGqpM2cLkl-f6HSCPp0YQE9PSH3Ux_e3kcA

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Why do countries build new capital cities?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:27:30 -0000

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Sources:
A.Schatz, E. (2004). What Capital Cities Say About State and Nation Building. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 9(4), 111–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537110390444140

B.Spate, O. (1942). Factors in the Development of Capital Cities. Geographical Review, 32(4), 622-631. doi:10.2307/210000

C. Reps, J. W. (1965). The making of urban America: A history of city planning in the United States. Princeton University Press.

D. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/ottawa-chosen-canadian-capital

E. https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/history/why-canberra.aspx

F. Grimes, A., Matlaba, V. J., & Poot, J. (2017). Spatial impacts of the creation of Brasília: A natural experiment. Environment and Planning A, 49(4), 784–800. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16684519 (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0308518X16684519

G. Schatz, E. (2004). What Capital Cities Say About State and Nation Building. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 9(4), 111–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537110390444140

H. (1986). Abuja: the making of a new capital city for Nigeria. 2nd ed. Abuja [Nigeria]: Federal Capital Development Authority.

I. Potter, A. (2017). Locating the government: Capital cities and civil conflict. Research & Politics, 4(4), 2053168017734077.

J. Schatz, E. (2004). What Capital Cities Say About State and Nation Building. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 9(4), 111–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537110390444140

K. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47638619

L.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/11063797/Argentinas-president-contemplates-moving-capital-city-from-Buenos-Aires.html

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Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

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Chicago's Geography Advantage

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:15:00 -0000

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Here is Mr. Beat’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7-UAcRTW58
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This video is based on the book Nature’s Metropolis by William Cronon. Check out this amazing book: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Metropolis-Chicago-Great-West/dp/0393308731/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534132675&sr=8-1&keywords=nature%27s+metropolis

Chicago is the greatest metropolis in the interior of North America. The region is home to almost 10 million people, 29 Fortune 500 companies, the Obamas, and the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. There is no bigger or more influential city between Los Angeles and New York, but Chicago’s dominance was not a foregone conclusion. Why did Chicago grow biggest, bigger than competitors such as Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh?

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How to Punish Bad Drivers

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:02:30 -0000

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Road deaths are on the rise, and dash cams are catching drivers do crazy and dangerous things. What is the best way to punish drivers that cause crashes, particularly those that cause serious injury or death? Is justice even possible?

Resources on this topic:

- https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D176;jsessionid=B5D158EC5FC4AEC58A85A15A6407

- https://abc7ny.com/dj-jinx-paul-driver-killed-hit-and-run-in-brooklyn/5301601/

- https://abcnews.go.com/US/hit-run-drivers-kill-people-jail-time-rarely/story?id=61845988

- https://archive.ph/mSach

- https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/arz64&id=722&men_tab=srchresults

- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7500576/

- https://trid.trb.org/View/850023

- https://www4.courts.ca.gov/documents/dmv_handout.pdf

- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7500576/

- https://calmatters.org/justice/2021/01/california-drivers-licenses-traffic-ticket/

- https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/driver-license/occupational-driver-license

- https://www.hfkylawyers.com/blog/2022/04/madd-statistics-show-the-true-scope-of-drunk-driving/

- https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/marqlr106&id=499&men_tab=srchresults

- https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/distracted-driving/understanding-problem

- https://www.chp.ca.gov/Documents/TextingItCanWait.pdf

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457524001532#b0170

- https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/spc3.12586

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027273580500142X

- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/00952990.2014.966199

- https://journals.copmadrid.org/ejpalc/archivos/1889_1861_ejpalc_11_2_0081.pdf

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Can You Buy A City?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:50:00 -0000

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If you had enough money, could you buy an entire city? Or maybe just a small town? Is something really a city if one person owns all the property?

Resources on this topic:

https://www.loveproperty.com/gallerylist/51810/entire-villages-and-towns-for-sale-that-you-can-actually-buy

https://people.com/home/town-california-campo-sale-16-acres/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0885412213512331?casa_token=orUG7_ojXIIAAAAA:mGWy0fn3nukPe6bOCJENF69De_vi8kU6AIG3wfhAqiRXy-N2D6-8ouS7uakrMA7wZ6uI0AjvEXM

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/finance/downloads/pdf/reports/reports-property-tax/nyc_property_fy22.pdf

https://www.opendatanetwork.com/entity/1600000US2622000/Detroit_MI/finance.michigan_property_tax.total_taxable_value?year=2022

https://www.senate.ga.gov/committees/Documents/CarlVinsonSummaryMunicipalIncorporationProceduresbyState.pdf

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Can Los Angeles Be Sustainable?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:37:30 -0000

This video is sponsored by Siemens.
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Check out the pLAn here: http://plan.lamayor.org

Cities are a great scale to think about sustainability. And no city is more interesting to consider than Los Angeles. Yes, the city well-known for its traffic and smog.

A. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16819-city-dwellers-harm-climate-less/
B. 2. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-owens-valley-eminent-domain-20170712-story.html#

Resources:
Garbage Truck by icon 54 from the Noun Project
Thermometer by Delwar Hossain from the Noun Project

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Rome's Geography, Explained

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:25:00 -0000

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Rome is called "The Eternal City" and with that much history, it can be a challenge to understand the geography and history of the city. This video breaks it all down, explaining why many of Rome's landmarks are where they are.

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How New York Built the Memorial and New WTC

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:12:30 -0000

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Betty's video at ARTiculations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTb34AO2EbE&feature=youtu.be
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How do you create a memorial that speaks to the victims families, but also to those who didn’t experience the event at all? How do you design a memorial that will carry on the significance of what happened to people 50 or 100 years from now? And how do you do all of that while also creating a functional public space in the heart of Lower Manhattan?

Sources:

A. Fainstein, Susan S. "Ground Zero’s Landlord: The Role of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the Reconstruction of the World Trade Center Site." Contentious City: The Politics of Recovery in New York City (2005): 73-94.

B. “How Security Concerns And Developers Undermined The Design Of 1 World Trade Center” by Karrie Jacobs. Fast Company. 2014. https://www.fastcompany.com/3035461/how-cops-and-developers-compromised-the-design-of-1-world-trade-center

C. Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Jacques Carré, and Romain Garbaye, eds. A city of one's own: blurring the boundaries between private and public. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008.

D. Low, Setha M. "The memorialization of September 11: Dominant and local discourses on the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site." American Ethnologist 31.3 (2004): 326-339.

E. “Daniel Libeskind’s World Trade Center Change of Heart” by Elizabeth Greenspan. The New Yorker. 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/daniel-libeskinds-world-trade-center-change-of-heart

F. Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Jacques Carré, and Romain Garbaye, eds. A city of one's own: blurring the boundaries between private and public. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008.

G. “Architect for 9/11 memorial tells the story of its creation” by Susan Gonzalez. YaleNews. 2012. https://news.yale.edu/2012/11/28/architect-911-memorial-tells-story-its-creation

H. Watts, Linda S. "Reflecting absence or presence? Public space and historical memory at Ground Zero." Space and Culture 12.4 (2009): 412-418.

I. “Daniel Libeskind’s World Trade Center Change of Heart” by Elizabeth Greenspan. The New Yorker. 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/daniel-libeskinds-world-trade-center-change-of-heart

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Should Cities be Circles?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:00:00 -0000

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Most cities have streets that are in a grid pattern, cul-de-sacs, or organic jumble. But cities could be arranged as circles, in a radial-concentric configuration. In fact, there are examples throughout history of cities being designed this way. What are the advantages, and why aren't they more popular?

Resources on this topic:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261513002154?casa_token=RciD1AdwrPsAAAAA:FIyGSVpuz_BgelZmWetnS1xArN7tT8ra8Fd3uuKjJ_JVApJwVrQuFqRK51gco-PuE2R1ov-b
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692315001544?casa_token=-sZevwE7RpAAAAAA:p0FxEL8Kth7lzhozWTRo_dc8kGHsiSGwI8yNH4GOJD2FdcPT638EcakuOl-fYxV6Sv6KDrR-
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438001400297X?casa_token=UoZqGC2PJGgAAAAA:PUkeVeyFMTkhIUKrv8Um_DXiD2tDIEZtLCsjEcBkDSW_Gvj5mNIf7GK4BVvKpw6IgNzSi90d
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261513002154?casa_token=sSivpFk4gJEAAAAA:v9pIitAexoFXhgBJLfvKVnjmXJXQsQ6m1owrRrJVpjSy2bieBprEOuJWq8-VTcVo03vEihGD
https://web.archive.org/web/20110629113720/http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch6en/conc6en/burgess.html

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The Best Map of a City: The Nolli Map of Rome

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:47:30 -0000

Go crazy and buy this huge map: https://www.amazon.com/1748-Nolli-Laminated-Archival-Paper/dp/B018JDSO8E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1529294019&sr=8-2&keywords=nolli+map+rome

Check out the Nolli website: nolli.uoregon.edu

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The 1748 Nolli Map of Rome is the best map of any city ever for three reasons: accuracy, detail, and influence. I’m not going to say it’s THE MOST accurate, detailed, or influential map ever, but it has all three attributes in spades. It’s one of the most important historical documents we have about the eternal city, Rome.

A. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

B. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

C. Nice, James. “The Nolli Map and Urban Theory.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/urbanTheory.html

D. Ceen, Allan. “Nuova Pianta di Roma Data in Luce da Giambattista Nolli l’Anno MDCCXLVIII.” http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html

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Can ADUs Solve the Housing Crisis?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:35:00 -0000

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ADUs are small backyard cottages that can provide affordable housing in underused areas of the suburbs. Their numbers have been growing on the west coast of the U.S., and this video discusses the reasons why.

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/7Fgyjx52B3

Resources on this topic:

- Decker, N. (2023). How landlords of small rental properties decide who gets housed and who gets evicted. Urban Affairs Review, 59(1), 170-199. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10780874211041513

- Pilkauskas, N. V., Amorim, M., & Dunifon, R. E. (2020). Historical trends in children living in multigenerational households in the United States: 1870–2018. Demography, 57, 2269-2296.

- https://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/2018/10/01/Build_Small_Coalition_2018_ADU_code_audit_report_final.pdf

- https://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-blog/thebigwestcoastdataset

- https://architecturaltherapy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/portland-adus-permitted-and-not-2009-10-13.pdf

- https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/accessory-dwelling-units-adus-in-california/

- https://www.ocregister.com/2024/01/12/californias-7-year-housing-push-has-yet-to-boost-building-experts-say/

- https://www.santamariasun.com/news/santa-maria-amends-adu-ordinance-amid-lingering-frustrations-15567323

- https://www.smartsharehousingsolutions.org/demo-cottage/

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How school boundaries segregate cities

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:22:30 -0000

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Sources:
A. https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/school-quality-has-a-mighty-influence-on-neighborhood-choice-home-values/2015/09/03/826c289a-46ad-11e5-8ab4-c73967a143d3_story.html?utm_term=.d3e27e72f5fc)
B. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/05/02/back-to-the-future-a-new-school-district-secession-movement-is-gaining-steam/?utm_term=.c9ba150f8fff
C. https://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo1.pdf
D. https://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo3.pdf
E. https://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo8.pdf

Other great sources:
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/8/16822374/school-segregation-gerrymander-map
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/es_20171120_schoolsegregation.pdf
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/08/23/490513305/the-50-most-segregating-school-borders-in-america
https://www.kappanonline.org/richards-gerrymandering-educational-opportunity/
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16004084/school-segregation-evolution
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/06/14/what-to-know-before-using-school-ratings-tools-from-real-estate-companies/?utm_term=.89cbeb1520c7
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/29/upshot/money-race-and-success-how-your-school-district-compares.html?_r=1
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/03/school-segregation-is-not-a-myth/555614/

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny Sacramento, California.
Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

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Why Do Some Countries Only Have One Big City?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:10:00 -0000

Want to restore the planet’s ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code BEAUTIFUL10 will get the first month for free at: https://planetwild.com/r/citybeautiful/join
If you want to get to know them better first, check out their project about fungi: https://planetwild.com/r/citybeautiful/m28

Some countries only have one major city—the city where just about everyone lives. This city can dominate the cultural and economic landscape of that country. Urban geographers refer to them as "primate cities." Can they tell us anything about urban planning? Are they a good thing?

Link to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_city

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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What’s it like to live next to a highway?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:57:30 -0000

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Highways are noisy and full of polluting cars. How bad is it to live near one? And why do we keep building new housing next to them?

# Resources mentioned in this video
- LA Times: L.A. keeps building near freeways, even though living there makes people sick
- Great book: City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways
- My video on highway removal: How to Remove a Highway
# Resources on this topic
- Mitigating air and noise pollution through highway capping: The Bundang-Suseo Highway Cap Project case study
- [Combined impacts of highways and light rail transit on residential
property values: a spatial hedonic price model for Phoenix, Arizona](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692314001653)
- [Health Effects caused by Noise:
Evidence in the Literature from the Past 25 Years](file:///Users/daveamos/Downloads/health_effects_caused_by_noise__evidence_in_the.3.pdf)
- [Urban Elevated Highways in Residential Districts: New Developed Elevated Highways from Residents’ Perspectives](https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000800?casa_token=yX5EaM94gTMAAAAA:_lXVYsO94VK9u-8khX8_LuLkUIwU4_zmXPSE9-e5fX44-DFhI2Tlqo68qvgKNJaUJNB8-cH3Ctg)
- Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks
- Characterization of winter air pollutant gradients near a major highway
- Reduction of air pollution levels downwind of a road with an upwind noise barrier
- Spatial and temporal differences in traffic-related air pollution in three urban neighborhoods near an interstate highway
- Effective Noise Barrier Solutions for TxDOT

# Other stuff!
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Why Shopping Malls Refuse to Die

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:45:00 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-why-shopping-malls-refuse-to-die

Some shopping malls have closed, but others remain full and thriving. Why? And can adaptive reuse breathe new life into dying malls while making them mixed use urban centers?

Resources on this topic:

https://www.businessinsider.com/american-mall-decline-150-left-10-years-how-many-2022-10)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-02/us-shopping-centre-turned-into-school-with-transformation/100046028

https://highlandatx.com/a-rich-history/

https://watermark.silverchair.com/i1943-4618-17-2-83.pdf

https://stonecreekllc.com/shopping-mall-redevelopment-and-re-use-projects/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/20/business/shopping-mall-retail-growth/index.html

https://coresight.com/research/the-state-of-the-american-mall-competitive-attractive-and-here-to-stay/

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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How to Get Involved in City Planning — City Beautiful Basics

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:32:30 -0000

Watching videos can introduce you to the world of city planning, but if you want to make change in your community, you need to get involved! This guide discusses all of the ways you can make a difference where you live.

Here are some more videos about social issues:

https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-the-highway-fight-that-changed-cities-forever

https://nebula.tv/videos/city-beautiful-the-most-miserable-city-in-america

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.

Co-written by Sullivan Israel
Select images and video from Getty Images.

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How Did We Create the Housing Crisis?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:20:00 -0000

Learn more about Eastern Washington University's programs here: https://www.ewu.edu/cahss/political-science-public-policy/urban-regional-planning/

The housing crisis: how did we get into this mess? This video looks at the last 100 years of housing policy to try to understand how.

Resources on this topic:

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18852/w18852.pdf
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/research/files/harvard_jchs_homeownership_rate_layton_2021.pdf
https://journals-sagepub-com.calpoly.idm.oclc.org/doi/epdf/10.1177/1538513205278372
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/03/18/the-return-of-the-multi-generational-family-household/
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/the-demographics-of-multigenerational-households/
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/dl-transcript/m00-1_alexander.pdf
https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/31/why-do-we-have-30-year-mortgage-anyway/
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18821/w18821.pdf
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS
https://shelterforce.org/2022/08/08/what-is-the-financialization-of-housing/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02673037.2020.1762847
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/rental-housing-unaffordability-how-did-we-get-here
https://calmatters.org/housing/2024/03/institutional-investors-corporate-landlords/_
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/4/93
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/09516298211044852?casa_token=_ETy6ZWc0YMAAAAA:Be2fsf2Y6KPNBb2bIxAaPXe-NzcmaLoHo0dyDOlw9s5Tm9BF3DvQN0RUoRgBwVLD-AFmjw0imnV7gQ
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26895803.pdf?casa_token=hxb25C-6iegAAAAA:tVWP2e_FoXhGNTgl7XT4dltFxzpC9Z9VOVBO3MvssvxN5vLAOWGBHzBqXV7MwOV9PWa-yyVQg9ir1qJku_SgctaeAr4gfoIszEsbrb4t_Vrx0nCRwdKQ

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Bike lanes are not good enough

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:07:30 -0000

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I like a good bike lane. They separate me from cars when I’m on my bike and make me feel safer than riding in traffic. But they’re not perfect. Cars and delivery trucks will block them. Sometimes drivers open their doors into the bike lane without looking. And they don’t feel safe enough for most people. If we want more people to bike, we have to build better bike infrastructure, and the good news is that this is starting to happen here in the US, believe it or not. But we need to make this happen faster.

Resources:
A. http://www.northeastern.edu/peter.furth/criteria-for-level-of-traffic-stress/
B. http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_406_en.pdf
C. http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/Where_We_Ride_2014_data_web.pdf#12
D. https://dutchcycling.nl/news/310-dutch-ebike-sales-beat-regular-bike-sales

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny Sacramento, California.
Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

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Why U.S. Cities Don't Build Metro Systems

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:55:00 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-why-us-cities-dont-build-metro-systems

New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia built their metro systems over 100 years ago, and since then there hasn't been a big boom in metro construction. Big cities like Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix don't have one. Why not? And should they?

Resources on this topic:

https://ggwash.org/view/71583/light-rail-heavy-rail-subway-rail-transit-modes-fall-on-a-continuum
https://www.metro.net/about/rail-modes
https://journalistsresource.org/economics/bus-versus-rail/
https://policy.tti.tamu.edu/strategy/heavy-rail/
https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2016/10/how-seattle-blew-its-chance-subway-system
https://enotrans.org/article/70-year-trend-federal-infrastructure-spending/

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Why Dallas Is Growing Insanely Fast

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:42:30 -0000

Ready to enhance your public transport planning? Sign up for a free demo of PTV Lines and get personalized consulting from one of our experts to help you set up the tool for your dedicated use case! Http://www.ptv.to/citybeautiful

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area recently crossed the 8,000,000 people threshold. It's one of the fastest-growing areas of the U.S. What is fueling that growth?

Resources on this topic:

- https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/09/16/native-american-how-did-texas-push-out-native-americans-monument-sparks-look-past/8256336002/

- https://www.nps.gov/bith/learn/historyculture/oil-gas-industry.htm

- https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2017/06/02/tall-tales-and-big-holes-are-part-of-dallas-skyscraper-lore/

- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-u-s-oil-production-reached-an-all-time-high-in-2023

- https://www.dallasfed.org/research/heart/dallas

- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00856.x?casa_token=8ZK9Hp7EdmQAAAAA%3Ag0Ex0X8M4p2k3IzmpA_efmPPswamr7xB5IC6o9SIDvRwJs5p_Ddr0ycRIrRTAx8sTxPIZYsRGV8R-g

- https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/texas-cities-are-sprawling-ever-theyre-also-more-dense

- https://www.dallasnews.com/business/autos/2024/06/25/how-bad-is-traffic-in-dallas-one-study-says-its-only-getting-worse/

- https://www.dmagazine.com/urbanism-transportation/2018/06/how-dallas-paved-a-future-of-growth-inequality-and-crisis/

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Written by Dave Amos.
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How to Remove a Highway

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:30:00 -0000

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Highways are a blight on the urban landscape and are difficult to tear down. But there are some factors that can make a highway easier to tear down, and that's what this video is all about.

Resources on this topic:

Freeways Without Futures: https://www.cnu.org/our-projects/highways-boulevards/freeways-without-futures
How Highway Removal Is Changing Our Cities: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2020-03-deconstruction-ahead-urban-highway-removal-changing-cities
The Economic Case for Removing Highways: https://smartgrowthamerica.org/five-cities-argue-the-economic-case-to-tear-down-a-highway/
Rochester Inner Loop North project: https://www.innerloopnorth.com/about
I-81 Syracuse project: https://webapps.dot.ny.gov/i-81-viaduct-project-overview
I-81: https://www.syracuse.com/news/2023/07/new-york-starts-225-billion-interstate-81-rebuild-despite-court-challenges.html
I-81: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/03/nyregion/syracuse-interstate-81.html
Buffalo Skyway: https://www.wivb.com/news/higgins-kennedy-put-the-brakes-on-tearing-down-the-skyway/
My favorite graph: https://www.sightline.org/2011/07/13/wsdot-vs-reality/
Claiborne Avenue Alliance: https://www.claiborneavenuealliance.com
Restoring Our Community Coalition Buffalo: https://roccbuffalo.org
Connect Oakland: http://www.connectoakland.org/about/vision-2/
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Can I Design the Perfect Neighborhood Street?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:17:30 -0000

Check out Tom Scott here: https://nebula.tv/tomscott?ref=citybeautiful
Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-i-design-the-perfect-neighborhood-street

We are used to the usual street in front of our houses: wide, parking, driveways, maybe sidewalks. But is there an optimal design? One that improves safety and makes it nicer to live along?

# Resources mentioned in this video

- Oregon Neighborhood Street Design Guidelines

# Other stuff!

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Fresno is removing its pedestrian mall. Will it save downtown?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:05:00 -0000

On September 1, 1964, the city leaders of Fresno, California broke ground a new pedestrian mall along Fulton Street (Fulton Mall), one of the city’s main thoroughfares. On March 3, 2016, when city leaders broke ground on the removal of that pedestrian mall. Will the removal reverse Fresno's fortunes?

Resources on this topic:
http://www.gofresnocounty.com/Fulton%20Mall/FultonIndex.htm
http://tclf.org/landscapes/fulton-mall
http://kvpr.org/post/fulton-mall-project-become-reality
http://mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

Videos courtesy of Archive.org's Moving Image Archive and the Community Media Access Collaborative.

Photo credits:
Alan Light, Flickr
Geoff Livingston, Flickr
David Prasade, Flickr
Joe Green, Flickr
NYCDOT
Gruen and Associates
Minnesota Historical Society
Life Magazine Photo Archive

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A Brief History of U.S. City Planning

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:52:30 -0000

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500+ years of history in 15 minutes. I'm sure I didn't miss anything!

1. Rodriguez, Roberto. (2005) The Foundational Process of Cities in Spanish America. Focus, Volume 2. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=law+of+the+indies&btnG=&httpsredir=1&article=1038&context=focus
2. Architecxture and Urbanism in the Southwest. The University of Arizona. http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/adobe/townmaking.html
3. Reps, J. W. (1997). The making of urban America: a history of city planning in the United States (Nachdr.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
4. Vazquez, Leonardo. (2006). Thomas Jefferson: The Founding Father Of Sprawl? Planetizen. https://www.planetizen.com/node/18841
5. Kim, Sukkoo. (2005). Industrialization and Urbanization: Did the Steam Engine Contribute to the Growth of Cities in the United States? National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass. https://www.nber.org/papers/w11206.pdf
6. Levy, J. M. (2013). Contemporary urban planning (10th ed). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education. p. 34.
7. Schultz, S. K., & McShane, C. (1978). To engineer the metropolis: sewers, sanitation, and city planning in late-nineteenth-century America. The Journal of American History, 65(2), 389-411.
8. Hall, P. (2014). Cities of tomorrow: an intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880 (Fourth edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
9. Ibid. p. 37-38
10. Ibid. p. 194
11. Jackson, K. (1985). Crabgrass Frontier: The suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press.
12. Hall, P. (2014). Cities of tomorrow: an intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880 (Fourth edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell., p. 60
13. Howard, E. (1898). Garden Cities of Tomorrow. London: Faber and Faber Ltd.
14. Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (2003). American apartheid: segregation and the making of the underclass (10. print). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.
15. Hall, P. (2014). Cities of tomorrow: an intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880 (Fourth edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell., p. 248
16. Nevius, James. (2016). Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, and the Battle Over LOMEX. Curbed. https://www.curbed.com/2016/5/4/11505214/jane-jacobs-robert-moses-lomex
17. Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (2003). American apartheid: segregation and the making of the underclass (10. print). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.
18. Garreau, J. (1992). Edge city: life on the new frontier (1. Anchor Books ed., 6. print). New York, NY: Anchor Books.
19. Hall, P. (2014). Cities of tomorrow: an intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880 (Fourth edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell., p. 366

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Are Streets Too Complicated Now?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:40:00 -0000

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Streets have more lines, lights, lanes, and complications than ever before. Is it too complicated, or should it have been this way all along?

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Is Europe Sprawling?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:27:30 -0000

Learn more about Cornell Urban Studies Summer Programs here: https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/crp/urban-studies-summer-programs

The United States is known for its sprawl, but what about Europe? Cities in Europe are sprawling, but differently than U.S. cities. How so? And what can they do about it?

Resources on this topic:

- Clifton, Kelly, et al. "Quantitative analysis of urban form: a multidisciplinary review." Journal of Urbanism 1.1 (2008): 17-45.

- https://journals.plos.org/sustainabilitytransformation/article?id=10.1371/journal.pstr.0000034

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204622001815?casa_token=2wcg5qZrDDgAAAAA:fOqCuA5_1tAvEtzGqp5A5FRyYMh3-YG_ldfW0xryygHDrTaMuOGKNtjl5y-eQLESDZKYQBtJ

- https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/2/127

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204622001815?casa_token=UN_o9GDKGUgAAAAA:Ti3Gyz0wSYpPluDdohkempMgGyY5PYxVYvyKO4OqvECKzdpPKYjOH4QMycKzirxX7meG4psw

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204622001815?casa_token=2wcg5qZrDDgAAAAA:fOqCuA5_1tAvEtzGqp5A5FRyYMh3-YG_ldfW0xryygHDrTaMuOGKNtjl5y-eQLESDZKYQBtJ

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Introduction to Land Use — City Beautiful Basics

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:15:00 -0000

City planners, community members, and decision makers all must decide how the land within their cities should be used. This video discusses the tools and plans used to make those decisions.

This is part of the new "Basics" series. Four more videos to come!

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos and Sullivan Israel.
Motion Graphics by Anagha Kulkarni and Subha Eranki.
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How NYC Is Banning Cars on Broadway

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:02:30 -0000

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Broadway used to be called "Automobile Row," but today, block by block, the City of New York is redesigning the street to minimize or eliminate cars. The stretch between Columbus Circle and Union Square looks completely different than it did in 2000. How are they doing this?

Resources on this project:
- https://www.nyc.gov/content/getstuffdone/pages/broadway-vision

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/7Fgyjx52B3
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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How do cities grow?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:50:00 -0000

To support City Beautiful and learn more about Brilliant, go to http://brilliant.org/CityBeautiful/ and sign up for free. The first 200 people that go to that link will get 20% off the annual Premium subscription.

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This video is based on:
Muller, P.O. (2004) “Transportation and Urban Form: Stages in the Spatial Evolution of the American Metropolis”, in S. Hanson and G. Giuliano (eds) The Geography of Urban Transportation, 3rd Edition, New York: Guilford, pp. 59-84.

How do cities grow? On the surface, this question has a pretty simple answer. Cities grow out. They start out small, and as more people move in, they get bigger. Sure, cities grow up, too, but here in the United States cities really grow out. But there’s more to it than that. Cities grow out faster now than they did 150 years ago. And they don’t always grow evenly out from the center. Why?

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Should Cities Ban Drive Thrus?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:37:30 -0000

Visit: https://aap.cornell.edu/JoinCRP to sign up for an info session. Learn more about getting a Bachelor's or Master's degree from Cornell University's Department of City and Regional Planning!

Drive thru lanes may be convenient, but some cities are labeling them as nuisances. They cause traffic, generate emissions, and can cause restaurants to abandon in-person dining. Should they be banned, or is that too far?

Nebula subscribers, I have a Discord! https://discord.gg/UmNMyDsy

Resources on this topic:

Drive-Thru Dreams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250090725/?bestFormat=true&k=drive%20thru%20dreams%20book&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_de_k0_1_17&crid=3R8SIK48YZVW3&sprefix=drive%20thru%20dreams

- https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article259313669.html

- https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/lets-tackle-charlottes-chick-fil

- https://www.johnfry.com/pages/JackintheBox.html

- https://atomicredhead.com/2022/03/24/a-bite-of-hot-dog-history-at-the-first-wienerschnitzel/

- https://cityobservatory.org/drive-thrus-are-ruining-cities-and-helping-kill-the-planet/

- https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/eda2/c11f55a6590adf2c0aa680146cbda1821c81.pdf
-https://files.dep.state.pa.us/Energy/Office%20of%20Energy%20and%20Technology/lib/energy/docs/climatechangeadvcom/transportation/121708/tbr_drive-thru_idling.pdf

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S089040650200052X

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135382921930735X

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953611005636

- https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12889-018-5061-1.pdf

- https://www.planning.org/planning/2020/apr/is-fast-food-through-with-drive-thrus/

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Introduction to Housing - City Beautiful Basics

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:25:00 -0000

People need places to live, but providing quality, affordable housing in the right size and location can be challenging. This video explains the basics of planning for housing and housing policy.

This is part of the new "Basics" series. Two more videos to come!

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

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Are the Suburbs Getting Worse?*

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:12:30 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-are-the-suburbs-getting-worse

Cul-de-sacs, loops, and separated subdivisions make it difficult for people to walk and bike in the suburbs. We've known this for decades. Have we improved our suburban street patterns in recent decades? I conducted a study to find out! I published the study in the Journal of Urban Morphology: https://journal.urbanform.org/index.php/jum/article/view/7826

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Disney World's Private Government

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:00:00 -0000

Walt Disney World Resort is huge — it consists of four theme parks, 27 hotels with 21 thousand rooms, over 30 thousand parking spaces, shopping, water parks, and all of the backstage areas needed to run such a massive operation. Walt Disney World is set on 27,000 acres in central Florida — roughly the size of the city of San Francisco. It’s also the most visited resort in the world. It’s impressive size and record setting visitor attendance are amazing. For sure. But what might be even more amazing, particularly if you are a city planning nerd like me, is the special district that grants the company unprecedented powers over its land and municipal services.

This video was heavily based on:

Chad D. Emerson, Merging Public and Private Governance: How Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District "Re-Imagined" The Traditional Division of Local Regulatory Powers, 36 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 177 (2009).

Video sources:
- Archive.org

Photo sources:
- Orlando Sentinel
- Wikimedia Commons

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California. Filmed on location in Walt Disney World.

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Why U.S. Roads are Spaced One Mile Apart

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:47:30 -0000

Compare news coverage from diverse sources around the world on a transparent platform driven by data. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your Vantage subscription: https://ground.news/citybeautiful

In the 1780s, the United States began to survey its land. This survey process resulted in townships six miles to a side, and roads every single mile. This video explores how that shaped our land and our cities.

Resources on this topic:

- Excellent journal article on this topic:
Webster, G. R., & Leib, J. (2010). Living on the grid: the US rectangular public land survey system and the engineering of the American landscape. In Engineering Earth: The Impacts of Megaengineering Projects (pp. 2123-2138). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

- https://legaldictionary.net/metes-and-bounds/

- Surveyor Book: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Manual_of_United_States_Surveying_System/kRbA8nEdWTQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=rectangular+survey+United+States+cities&pg=PR11&printsec=frontcover

- https://jchmhistorian.com/2021/09/27/monday-map-day-ft-howard-green-bay-1827/

- https://humantransit.org/2010/11/transits-role-in-sprawl-repair.html

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Written by Dave Amos.
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An Introduction to Zoning

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:35:00 -0000

Zoning may seem boring, but it dictates what can and can't be built in your city. I go through the basics of the zoning code (zoning ordinance), describe the pros and cons, and tell you how you can influence changes to your community's zoning code.

For more information:
http://dcoz.dc.gov/about/Zoning%20Basics06.06.11.pdf
http://plannersweb.com/2001/04/zoning-basics/

Photo credits:
Bettercities.net
DialogDesign.ca
Chris Brown on Flickr
City of Toronto
Form Based Codes Institute
Gary J. Wood on Flickr
Mike Mozart on Flickr
Paul Sableman on Flickr
State of California
Unsplash.com

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The Case AGAINST One-Way Streets

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:22:30 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-the-case-against-oneway-streets

One-way streets are everywhere in our street grids, moving cars fast through cities, often to highway on-ramps and off-ramps. But cities have increasingly been converting them back to two-way traffic. Why?

Resources on this topic:

- Ortigosa, J., Gayah, V. V., & Menendez, M. (2019). Analysis of one-way and two-way street configurations on urban grid networks. Transportmetrica B: transport dynamics.
- Riggs, W., & Gilderbloom, J. I. H. (2017). How multi-lane, one-way street design shapes neighbourhood life: collisions, crime and community. Local Environment, 22(8), 917-933.
- Riggs, W., & Gilderbloom, J. (2016). Two-way street conversion: Evidence of increased livability in Louisville. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 36(1), 105-118.

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How to Fix America's Worst Streets

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:10:00 -0000

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Suburban arterial roads, sometimes known as "stroads," are some of the most dangerous streets in a city's network. Cars drive on them fast, and there is often limited facilities for those walking and on bikes. But they can be fixed!

Streetmix: https://streetmix.net/

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Chicago sold the Chicago Skyway for $1.8 billion

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:57:30 -0000

This episode is the unlikely story of a public toll road sold to private interests for $1.8 billion dollars, the story of the Chicago Skyway.

Resources on this topic:
http://trrjournalonline.trb.org/doi/pdf/10.3141/2297-15
http://www.chicagoroads.com/roads/chicago-skyway/
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-blogs/chicagos-highway-in-the-sky/b38ffc79-0a1b-4d4b-985f-c5a1225f2c10
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Chicago-Skyway-Toll-Increases-Take-Effect-in-New-Year-408833865.html
http://ibtta.org/sites/default/files/unrestricted/38250_Section1.pdf

Dashcam video provided by Paul Donovan: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulNDonovan

Other videos courtesy of Archive.org's Moving Image Archive

Photo Sources:
- Great photographers from Flickr: Grant, Ian Friemuth, Ken Lund, Marc Buehler, Matt Buck, phvolmer, vxla
- Wikimedia Commons
- Chicago Tribune
- University of Illinois, Chicago

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Can Trains Save Seattle?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:45:00 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-trains-save-seattle

Seattle passed Sound Transit 3, an ambitious plan to build new frequent transit routes and expand others. Can transit-oriented development around the stations help the region out of its housing affordability crisis?

Check out The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org
Donate to The Urbanist here: https://the-urbanist.fundjournalism.org/donate/

Resources on this topic:
- https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/west-seattle-and-ballard-link-extensions-station-planning-progress-report-interbay.pdf

- https://www.psrc.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/vision-2050-intro.pdf

-https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/OPCD/SeattlePlan/OneSeattlePlanDraftPlan2024.pdf

- https://www.planetizen.com/news/2024/09/131817-seattle-launches-new-rapid-bus-line

- https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion/federal-way-link-extension

- https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/11/05/transit-oriented-development-planned-for-kent-des-moines-station-additional-feedback-sought/

- https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6660afcf06e288d8f25a1b3c/6660afcf06e288d8f25a1c58_Seattle Downtown Action Plan - Full Plan - Accessible.pdf

- https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/09/27/seattle-council-approves-batch-of-harrells-downtown-activation-plan-rezones/

- https://cdn.kingcounty.gov/-/media/king-county/depts/executive-services/facilities-management/documents/cci-king-county-civic-ground-20240802.pdf?rev=1e6a585e20c24217870f9b388fae5732&sc_lang=en&hash=3DAFD58A39C1168E0B4D45A82CA72367

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Are gated communities bad for cities?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:32:30 -0000

Watch ad-free on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/city-beautiful-are-gated-communities-bad-for-cities

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Sources:

Thumbnail photo: Wikipedia user Parihav

A. Sanchez, Thomas, Robert Lang, and Down Dhavale. 2005. “Security versus status? A first look at the census's gated community data.” Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739456X04270127

B. Ben-Joseph, Eran. 2005. “The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making.”

C. Goodyear, Sarah. 2013. “The Threat of Gated Communities.” CityLab. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2013/07/threat-gated-communities/6198/

D. Low, Setha. 2001. “The Edge and the Center: Gate Communities and the Discourse on Urban Fear.” American Anthropologist. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/683921.pdf?casa_token=I6nHizodqzwAAAAA:RPpLd7fuhzxsbMonqhkMFBy_0IXk7iCqlsyLGOayzQ60wuUQ_AvH3kME0Ek5QK3VkkU-uw1B8QycIZeTTC3Ga8nfviVk-mUe1FRAe34zr9KSSUitCec

E. Goodyear, Sarah. 2013. “The Threat of Gated Communities.” CityLab. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2013/07/threat-gated-communities/6198/

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.

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I Rode the Longest Waterfront Path in the World

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:20:00 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-i-rode-the-longest-waterfront-path-in-the-world

Vancouver, BC is home to the longest waterfront bike path in the world. I rode all 28 kilometers while considering how long-distance paths can be used for tourism and commuting.

Resources on this topic:
https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/seawall.aspx

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Can Paths Save America's Suburbs?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:07:30 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-paths-save-americas-suburbs

Nebula subscribers can watch my next video already! https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-tokyo-has-the-best-streets-in-the-world

Shared-use paths—paths designed for pedestrians and cyclists—could create safe and comfortable ways for people to move through the suburbs. Let's find out how they can be integrated into neighborhoods to maximize their positive effect.

Source: me and my research

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Savannah's mysterious historic plan

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:55:00 -0000

There’s an ongoing mystery that planners and urban historians have been trying to solve for over 100 years. How did an amateur planner forego centuries of established city design and implement a pattern that resulted in one of the most charming, walkable historic centers in the U.S.? For many, it’s just too hard to believe that he designed it out of thin air — there must’ve been an obvious precedent. Scholars have been searching for this precedent to solve this mystery since the 1800s.

The Making of Urban America, by John Reps: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691006180/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0691006180&linkCode=as2&tag=cookfrie-20&linkId=808173f37c1a1e52494a3541e3e94a88

Resources on this topic:
http://savannahurbanstudies.blogspot.com/2007/02/urban-planning-in-savannah-past-and.html
Oglethorpe's Sources for the Savannah Plan, Bannister, 1961: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/988103.pdf

Savannah video courtesy of Archive.org's Moving Image Archive

Photo sources:
- Wikimedia Commons
- Flickr user Steven Martin

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Introduction to Transportation - City Beautiful Basics

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:42:30 -0000

People need to get from origins to destinations in cities, and they do that by using different modes of transportation: cars, bikes, buses, and feet. Transportation planning makes sure people can get places safely, efficiently, and quickly.

This is part of the new "Basics" series. Three more videos to come!

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos and Sullivan Israel.
Motion Graphics by Anagha Kulkarni and Subha Eranki.
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How Data Centers Avoid Local Planning

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:30:00 -0000

Stay on top of host city road conditions with TomTom’s world championship traffic dashboard: tomtom.com/citybeautiful And to get your hands on the data, try TomTom’s Move portal — free for 30 days.

TomTom transportation dashboard: https://www.tomtom.com/traffic-index/world-championship/?utm_source=influencer-citybeautiful&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=influencer-citybeautiful-campaign&utm_content=influencer-citybeautiful-campaign-test1

Tech companies are building hundreds of massive data centers in communities around the US. Planners have to grapple with the impacts (power, water, noise) those data centers cause. How do they do it? And should they stop it?

# Resources mentioned in this video

- This video was inspired by a great article in the Journal of the American Planning Association by Justin Kollar Planning Under Preemption: State Power and Local Authority in the AI Data Center Era: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2026.2618221

- Pew Research: Most New Data Centers in the US Are Coming to Rural Areas: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/13/most-new-data-centers-in-the-us-are-coming-to-rural-areas/#

- Brookings: AI Data Centers and Water: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-data-centers-and-water/#:~:text=A typical data center uses,of up to 50%2C000 residents
- Lincoln Institute: Water Impacts and Data Centers: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/land-water-impacts-data-centers/

- The Guardian: Monterey Park, California Data Center Ban: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/03/california-monterey-park-datacenters-ban

- Mountain State Spotlight: Lawmakers Strip Local Authorities of Data Centers: https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2025/08/03/lawmakers-strip-local-authority-data-centers/

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Written by Dave Amos.
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How did smart growth become politically divisive?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 18:07:30 -0000

I do three things in this video. First - I explain what Agenda 21 REALLY is. Second, I describe smart growth, the city planning concept that Agenda 21 promotes. And finally, I give you my explanation for why smart growth became tangled in a conspiracy theory that also relates to climate change denial and fears of a one world government.

Resources on this topic:

Obama Will Abolish the Suburbs? (Slate):
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/onearth/2013/03/agenda_21_no_the_government_isn_t_going_to_confiscate_your_property.html

Anti-Government Conspiracy Theorists Rail Against UN's Agenda 21 Program (Southern Poverty Law Center):
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2012/antigovernment-conspiracy-theorists-rail-against-un’s-agenda-21-program

I Got Duped by Glenn Beck (Salon.com):
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/19/i_got_duped_by_glenn_beck/

Agenda 21 Revealed (Conspiracy theorist website):
http://guardianlv.com/2013/09/agenda-21-revealed-you-need-to-know-this/

Agenda 21: Conspiracy Theory or Real Threat? (Conspiracy theory website):
https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2011/07/02/agenda-21-conspiracy-theory-or-real-threat-n1080301

U.N. Agenda 21 - Coming to a Neighborhood Near You (Conspiracy theory website):
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/10/un_agenda_21_coming_to_a_neigh.html

Video sources:
- Videoblocks.com

Photo sources:
- Flickr user Beyond DC
- Flickr user National Renewable Energy Lab
- Flickr user Number 10
- Flickr user Reg Natarajan
- The United Nations
- Wikimedia Commons user Gage Skidmore

Music sources:
- Metaphysik by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400056
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Filmed in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Urban Sprawl: Which U.S. City Sprawls the Most?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:45:00 -0000

Urban sprawl — we’ve all seen it — the strip malls, residential subdivisions, clogged streets. But which U.S metro area sprawls the most? Is it Los Angeles, a city built around the car? Or is it another sunbelt city like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Antonio, or Atlanta?

Resources on this topic:

Ewing, R., Pendall, R., & Chen, D. (2003). Measuring Sprawl and Its Transportation Impacts. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1831, 175–183. https://doi.org/10.3141/1831-20

Sutton, P. C. (2003). A scale-adjusted measure of  Urban sprawl using nighttime satellite imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 86(3), 353–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00078-6

New York Times: "Seattle Climbs but Austin Sprawls: The Myth of the Return to Cities" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/upshot/seattle-climbs-but-austin-sprawls-the-myth-of-the-return-to-cities.html?_r=1

Media sources:
- Google Earth
- Flickr user Daniel Ramirez
- Flickr user

Social media:

Website/Tumblr: http://citybeautiful.city
Instagram: citybeautifulcity

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Kyoto's Geography, Explained

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:22:30 -0000

Compare news coverage from diverse sources around the world on a transparent platform driven by data. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your Vantage subscription: https://ground.news/citybeautiful

Kyoto is one of the most historic cities in Japan. Founded in the 8th Century, it boasts numerous shrines and temples. This video explores this history and geography of Kyoto.

Resources on this topic:

- Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan's Premodern Capital by Matthew Stavros: https://www.amazon.com/Kyoto-History-Premodern-Capital-Architecture/dp/0824838793

- Wonderful map overlay of Historic Kyoto: http://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/archive01/theater/html/heian/

- Kyoto: A Cultural History by John Dougill: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Kyoto/rhMTDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

- Seeing Kyoto by Juliette Winters Carpenter: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Seeing_Kyoto/L4JK8jH2uU4C?hl=en&gbpv=0

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Will sea level rise drown our coastal cities?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Sea level rise viewer (U.S. only, sorry international plan fans): https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/

Sea level rise could submerge land currently home to up to 760 million people worldwide if global temperatures rise 4 degrees celsius by the year 2100. So what are cities and city planners going to do to minimize the potential devastation?

Resources on this topic:

Brecht, H., Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., Murray, S., & Wheeler, D. (2012). Sea-Level Rise and Storm Surges: High Stakes for a Small Number of Developing Countries. The Journal of Environment & Development, 21(1), 120–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/1070496511433601
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.940.7848&rep=rep1&type=pdf

"Climate change crusade goes local" By Doug Struck
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/0809/Climate-change-crusade-goes-local

Hauer, M. E., Evans, J. M., & Mishra, D. R. (2016). Millions projected to be at risk from sea-level rise in the continental United States. Nature Climate Change, 6(7), 691–695. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2961

"9 Popular Cities Losing War with Rising Seas"
https://www.seeker.com/9-popular-cities-losing-war-with-rising-seas-1767623708.html

"Shanghai Struggles to Save Itself From the Sea" by Coco Liu
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/09/27/27climatewire-shanghai-struggles-to-save-itself-from-the-s-43368.html?pagewanted=all

"From Miami to Shanghai: 3C of warming will leave world cities below sea level" by Jonathan Watts
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/03/miami-shanghai-3c-warming-cities-underwater

"The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warming" by Josh Holder, Niko Kommenda, and Jonathan Watts
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/three-degree-world-cities-drowned-global-warming

"Mapping Choices: Carbon, Climate, and Rising Seas, Our Global Legacy" by Climate Central
http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/uploads/research/Global-Mapping-Choices-Report.pdf

"The Rise of Resilience: Linking Resilience and Sustainability in City Planning" by Timon McPhearson
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552ec5f5e4b07754ed72c4d2/t/5550a70ae4b0134fb5a0bcf6/1431349002346/mcphearson+2014c_the+nature+of+cities.pdf

"Shanghai takes measures against rising sea levels"
https://gbtimes.com/shanghai-takes-measures-against-rising-sea-levels

Photo sources:
- Wikimedia Commons

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Why don't more U.S. cities have metro systems like New York?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 16:37:30 -0000

The subway was my favorite part of living New York. The New York subway has more stations than any other metro system in the world (472), meaning I could just pop up just about anywhere in the city and live there entirely without a car. It was great. When I moved away, I couldn’t help but wonder — why do so few U.S. cities have subways?

Resources on this topic:

How Much Does Rail Transit Cost to Build and Operate:
https://www.thoughtco.com/rail-transit-projects-costs-2798796

Urban Densities and Transit: A Multi-dimensional Perspective:
http://www.its.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/publications/UCB/2011/VWP/UCB-ITS-VWP-2011-6.pdf

Loo, B. P. Y., & Cheng, A. H. T. (2010). Are there useful yardsticks of population size and income level for building metro systems? Some worldwide evidence. Cities, 27(5), 299–306.

Video sources:
- Videoblocks.com
- Archive.org, Prelinger Archives

Photo sources:
- Flickr user A Diamond Fell From the Sky
- Flickr user Atomic Taco
- Flickr user Canadian Pacific
- Flickr user Ian Fuller
- Flickr user Michael B
- Flickr user Michael Semensohn
- Flickr user Paul Sullivan
- Flickr user Susanne
- New York MTA
- Oregon Department of Transportation
- Trimet
- Virginia Department of Transportation

Filmed in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Why did NYC Build a Park in the Middle of a River?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 16:15:00 -0000

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Little Island at Pier 55 is an iconic park built in the Hudson River in 2021. It was largely funded by a billionaire, and almost not built at all, thanks to another billionaire. The Little Island story is one of commerce, cruise ships, hurricanes, billionaires, and park acreage.

Resources on this topic:

Pantitanonta, A. (2022). Little Island: Its big journey through legal battles. Journal of Urban Regeneration & Renewal, 15(3), 262-274.

https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2015/04/chelsea-piers-new-york-city-in-the-age-of-the-ocean-liner.html

https://atlanticliners.com/pier-54/

https://urbanomnibus.net/2014/10/the-rise-and-fall-of-manhattans-density/

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Where Is the Best Place to Locate a Theme Park?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:52:30 -0000

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Residential streets are too wide. Here's why.

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:30:00 -0000

In many places in the United States, residential streets were as wide as busy city streets. I understand why urban streets might need to be wide — parking, buses, traffic, and bike lanes all need the room. But why do quiet residential streets need to be so wide? Why do they need parking when all of the houses on the streets have garages and driveways? Why do they need wide lanes when most of the traffic is just cars and minivans? Why are we building residential streets as wide as big city streets?

Resources on this topic:

I based this video on my Master's thesis, which my advisor and I turned into a book chapter. You can buy the book, Retrofitting Sprawl, on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0820345458/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0820345458&linkCode=as2&tag=cityb-20&linkId=fd656b3efd3b9143ed3a413a9e2ea148

Video sources:
- Videoblocks.com

Photo sources:
- AASHTO
- Blake Wheeler (via Unsplash.com)
- Drew DeVitis https://psudelft2015drewdevitis.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/the-woonerf-living-streets-for-people/
- Google Maps
- NASA
- Wikimedia Commons

Filmed in sunny Sacramento, California.

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Did Seattle Build the Best Pedestrian Bridge Ever?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:07:30 -0000

Seattle's new Overlook Walk is an impressive connection between Pike Place Market and its revitalized waterfront. Is this pedestrian bridge worth the $70 million price tag?

Thanks for all of the support over the last 8 years!

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Other Seattle videos:

- https://nebula.tv/videos/city-beautiful-the-alaskan-way-viaduct-how-seattle-chose-the-bertha-tunnel-alternative

- https://nebula.tv/videos/city-beautiful-what-happens-after-a-city-removes-a-freeway

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Written by Dave Amos.
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Why did we build high-rise public housing projects?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:45:00 -0000

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In the spring of 2007, the Chicago Housing Authority demolished the last of the 28 buildings in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project. Robert Taylor Homes is one of several high profile housing project demolitions, from St. Louis’s Pruitt-Igoe to fellow Chicago project Cabrini Green. The demolitions serve as an admission that high-rise public housing wasn’t a good idea. The housing that replaced them are all low rise projects better integrated within existing neighborhoods. So why did anyone back then think it was a good idea? Why did housing authorities build these high rise projects in the first place?

Resources on this topic:

Hunt, D. B. (2001). What Went Wrong with Public Housing in Chicago? A History of the Robert Taylor Homes. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, 94(1), 96–123.

"Demolished: The End of Chicago's Public Housing" by David Eads and Helga Salinas. https://apps.npr.org/lookatthis/posts/publichousing/

"When Public Housing Was Paradise" by Joy Connelly https://openingthewindow.com/2011/06/13/when-public-housing-was-paradise-2/

"Elizabeth Wood, 93, Innovator In Early Days of Public Housing" by Bruce Lambert http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/17/us/elizabeth-wood-93-innovator-in-early-days-of-public-housing.html

"A Brief History of Public Housing" by Jennifer Amy Stoloff https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jennifer_Stoloff/publication/228789405_A_brief_history_of_public_housing/links/5643a68008ae9f9c13e05df6/A-brief-history-of-public-housing.pdf

Video sources:
- Archive.org, Prelinger Archives

Photo sources:
- Wikimedia Commons
- Flickr user Samuel A. Love
- Zahiri, N., Dezhdar, O., & Foroutan, M. (2016). Rethinking of Critical Regionalism in High-Rise Buildings. Buildings, 7(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings7010004

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Why Tokyo Has the BEST Streets in the World

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:22:30 -0000

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Tokyo's streets may look utilitarian, but their simple, no frills design makes them a joy to walk and bike on. This is made possible due to dense land uses and a populace that prefers transit to cars.

Special thanks to Christian Dimmer and Will Galloway!

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Written by Dave Amos.
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The Alaskan Way Viaduct: How Seattle chose the Bertha tunnel alternative

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:00:00 -0000

In April of 2017, Bertha, the massive tunnel-boring machine successfully completed digging a nearly 2 mile deep-bore tunnel under Seattle. The tunnel will carry traffic from the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which had been damaged and deemed seismically unsafe after an earthquake. The tunnel will be much less intrusive than the wall-like Viaduct structure, which cuts Seattle off from its waterfront, and the tunnel, new surface street, and transit will take care of the Viaduct’s 110,000 vehicles per day.Why did Seattle move the highway from above ground to below ground? What we're the replacement options considered? How did Seattle settle on the deep bore tunnel, one of the most expensive options possible, as a replacement for the Viaduct? What was that process like?

Resources on this topic:

Bloomberg: "Stuck in Seattle": https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-bertha/

Seattle Times: "Bertha's woes grind on":
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/berthas-woes-grind-on-more-delay-higher-cost-for-highway-99-tunnel/

Seattle Times: '8-lane highway' on Seattle's waterfront:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/8-lane-highway-for-seattles-future-alaskan-way-challenged/

A special thanks to the Washington State Department of Transportation for the video and many wonderful photos of the project!

Other photo sources:
- Wikimedia Commons
- Flickr user Brad-514
- Flickr user Eric Fidler
- Flickr user Nic McPhee
- Flickr user Oran Viriyincy
- Flickr user Rene Schwietzke
- Flickr user SounderBruce
- Flickr user Stephen Bruce
- Flickr user tdlucas5000
- Flickr user Victor R Ruiz

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What is the BEST Density for Cities?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 13:37:30 -0000

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Some cities are incredibly dense, filled with towering skyscrapers. Others are spread out, filled with single family homes. Which is better? Is there a best density? Spoiler: it has something to do with transportation.

# Resources mentioned in this video

- A Pattern Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language

- Transit-Supportive Density in Greater Boston: https://www.tbf.org/-/media/indicators/boston-indicators-reports/report-files/transit-supportive-density-report-2025_01_30.pdf

- Transit-Supportive Densities and Land Uses: https://www.psrc.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/tsdluguidancepaper.pdf

- Urban Densities and Transit: A Multi-dimensional Perspective: https://escholarship.org/content/qt3mb598qr/qt3mb598qr.pdf

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Why do so many U.S. cities have gridded streets?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 13:15:00 -0000

Many U.S. cities were founded with a street grid. Why? This video describes the historic factors that contributed to the adoption of a grid. This includes influential city designs from Versailles, London, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Reno.

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Introduction to Sustainability - City Beautiful Basics

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 12:52:30 -0000

Cities have a profound impact on the natural environment due to emissions, sprawling land use, water pollution and more. But people living in dense urban areas also pollute less and are overall better for the environment than people living in the suburbs. How can cities be made more sustainable and attractive for everyone?

his is part of the new "Basics" series. One more video to come!

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Co-written by Sullivan Israel
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Will Lagos be the first city to 100 million?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 12:30:00 -0000

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Demographers believe that African cities will be some of the largest in the world by 2100, and soon after Lagos, Nigeria could cross the 100 million people barrier. Why Lagos? And what will it be like?

Resources on this topic:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956247816684711

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/095624781666355

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168116175/lagos-the-biggest-city-in-nigeria-is-experiencing-a-population-boom

https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-should-we-understand-about-urbanization-in-china

https://www.oecd.org/china/42607972.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_fertility_rate

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273682019_Living_conditions_and_public_health_status_in_three_urban_slums_of_Lagos_Nigeria

https://businessday.ng/maritime/article/four-new-deep-seaports-set-to-attract-investments/#:~:text=The four deep seaports are,Deep Seaport in Rivers State.

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2020/03/26/africa-is-changing-so-rapidly-it-is-becoming-hard-to-ignore

https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2214254120, https://www.archdaily.com/966346/african-urbanism-preserving-cultural-heritage-in-the-age-of-megacities

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Written by Dave Amos and Hannah Woolsey
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How Frank Lloyd Wright Predicted Modern Suburbs (Broadacre City)

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 12:07:30 -0000

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U.S. architect Frank Lloyd Wright proposed Broadacre City in the 1930s. It was a vision for a decentralized, low-density city that presaged the exurbs, or the most rural of the suburbs. What did Broadacre City get right, and what did it miss?

Resources on this topic:

- The Disappearing City by FLW: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015047936219

- The Suburbanite of FLW's Broadacre City: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0096144218797923?casa_token=Ym9IPiU9YloAAAAA%3AXniSCLN0XfasavCJ2xLoH8R8ZMlJoJJlWLD483Sb_JpeZ7Ph3R9Lu83YHoJA8n7bPAKhduI-CPYU

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Can Tourism Ruin Cities?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 11:45:00 -0000

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Tourism can create jobs and boost economies, but it can also turn a city into a theme park. This problem has become more acute as the number of tourists continues to increase. What can be done? How do we strike a balance between locals and visitors, while retaining what makes these tourist-friendly cities so special?

Sources:
A. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-29/chinese-tourists-are-reshaping-world-economy

B. https://econlife.com/2017/09/looking-at-the-southwest-effect/

C. https://ourworldindata.org/tourism; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_international_visitors

D. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/the-airbnb-invasion-of-barcelona

E. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6568754/Venice-stages-its-own-funeral-to-mourn-its-population-decline-60000-and-falling.html

F. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/04/tourism-kills-neighbourhoods-save-city-break

G. https://www.thedailybeast.com/venice-italy-to-charge-entrance-fee-for-tourists

H. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2019/05/11/why-the-netherlands-tourist-board-wants-to-discourage-people-from-visiting/#a8dfe9a51abc

I. https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/05/amsterdam-tourism-travel-tips-vacation-cruise-hotels-airbnb/590221/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=citylab&utm_term=2019-05-30T15%3A46%3A52&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social

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The Hidden Benefits of Street Trees

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 11:22:30 -0000

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I live in Sacramento, and when I moved here I learned two things quickly. First, Sacramento summers are hot. Like really hot. Many days are over 100 degrees. The second thing I learned is that Sacramento is livable, even with those high temperatures, thanks to its extensive tree canopy. The trees provide shade that makes me feel about 10-15 degrees cooler, and without them I probably would’ve moved a long time ago. Shade is just one of the many many benefits trees provide in urban areas, and I’m going to count down my favorites, as well talk about what it takes to maintain a verdant urban forest.

Information gathered from these excellent websites:

The Arbor Day Foundation: https://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm

Friends of the Urban Forest: https://www.fuf.net/benefits-of-urban-greening/

Sources:

A. Wolf, Kathleen L, PhD, University of Washington (2007) City Trees and Property Values. Arborist News. 16, 4:34-36.

B. Donovan, G.H.; Butry, D.T. (2010). Trees in the City: Valuing Street Trees in Portland, Oregon. Landscape and Urban Planning 94:77-83

C. McPherson, Greg, Center for Urban Forest Research via https://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm

D. U.S. Department of Agriculture via https://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm

E. Naderi, Jody Rosenblatt, Young Suk Kweon, and Praveen Maghelal (2008). The Street Tree Effect and Driver Safety. ITE Journal on the Web. http://www.naturewithin.info/Roadside/Tree&Driver_ITE.pdf

F. Global Status Report on Road Safety (2015). World Health Organization. (https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wV40DgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=road+safety+and+speed&ots=DJSBBThVnn&sig=I3zRpXGQVhaEUoonWoi-EGPX2TI#v=onepage&q=road%20safety%20and%20speed&f=false

G. Benefits of Urban Greening. Friends of the Urban Forest. https://www.fuf.net/benefits-of-urban-greening/

H. McPherson, Gregory, James Simpson, Paula Peper, Aaron Crowell, and Qingfu Xiao (2010). Northern California Coast Community Tree Guide: Benefits, Costs, and Strategic Planting. United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/2/psw_cufr790_psw_gtr228.pdf

I. Wolf, Kathy (1998). Urban Forest Values: Economic Benefits of Trees in Cities. Center for Urban Horticulture. https://www.naturewithin.info/Policy/EconBens-FS3.pdf

J. Benefits of Urban Greening. Friends of the Urban Forest. https://www.fuf.net/benefits-of-urban-greening/

K. Lovasi, Gina, James Quinn, Kathryn Neckerman, Matthew Perzanowski, and Andrew Rundle (2008). Children living in areas with more street trees have lower asthma prevalence. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2008/05/01/jech.2007.071894

L. New Varieties of Elm Raise Hope of Rebirth for Devastated Tree (1989). The New York Times. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1989/12/05/303289.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=LedeAsset®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=64

M. Turner, Rob (2015). Nightmare on Elm Streets. Sactown Magazine. http://www.sactownmag.com/April-May-2015/Nightmare-on-Elm-Streets/

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Are Elevated or Underground Metro Systems Better?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 11:00:00 -0000

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Chicago is one of the only cities in the world with elevated metro lines running through downtown. Why is that? Are underground lines better than above ground?

Resources on this topic:

https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/buildings-of-chicago/building/the-chicago-l/

https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/much-london-underground-actually-over-23421498#:~:text=That's because most of it,actually runs above the Overground

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0042098013484543?casa_token=gFvZu3aJMGoAAAAA:Kmbz6Es-u6Ns2hjUpf6H_xvAnXQLkqUURBidQI7U5rjGAAfoumoi0c_EZwSaxALfk748Sy63svw

https://australasiantransportresearchforum.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ATRF2016_Full_papers_resubmission_129.pdf

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/higher-and-faster-elevated-transit-isn-t-always-smarter/article_d11bf146-669f-5b7d-bb65-310405deb8f9.html#:~:text=Elevated transit is generally considered,It also avoids traffic delays

https://ny.curbed.com/2018/6/27/17507424/new-york-city-elevated-train-history-transportation

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How planners plan cities (in Star Wars and real life)

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 10:37:30 -0000

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Resources on this topic:

Rational Comprehensive Model: More info here: http://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/en/v/geolearning/watershed_management/introduction_wm/natural_resource_management_planning/how_to_plan/planning_models/rational_planning/index.html

Incrementalism: “The Science of Muddling Through” by Charles Lindblom. http://www.sims.monash.edu.au/subjects/ims5042/stuff/readings/lindblom.pdf

Advocacy Planning: “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning” by Paul Davidoff. http://urbanpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Davidoff_1965_Advocacy-and-pluralism-in-planning.pdf

Images copyright 20th Century Fox/Disney/don't sue me, it's fair use

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Do we need futuristic tunnels? | Elon Musk and The Boring Company

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 10:15:00 -0000

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On Friday, Elon Musk tweeted:

“Adjusting The Boring Company plan. All tunnels and hyper loop will prioritize pedestrians and cyclists over cars. Will still transport cars, but only after all personalized mass transit needs are met. It’s a matter of courtesy and fairness. If someone can’t afford a car, they should go first.”

his is a shift from his original plan, where cars would be the primary vehicle traveling through underground tunnels in urban areas. That plan had received lots of criticism from transit advocates and planners. What does this planner think of Elon’s change of course? Stay tuned to find out.

Sources:

https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/972233079342297088

https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/

Photo and video sources:
- The Boring Company
- Omaha World-Herald
- Corevette
- Mariordo
- Maurizio Pesce

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Is San Francisco's New Transit Center a Waste?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 09:52:30 -0000

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San Francisco opened the Salesforce Transit Center in 2019, and currently serves buses only. It does not connect to local transit trains and will not serve longer-distance trains until at least 2033. Does that make this station a failure? Or maybe it's forward-thinking?

Resources on this topic:
- https://www.tjpa.org/

- https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot/get-involved/hou/real-plan/011223-salesforce.pdf

- https://hal.science/hal-02098131/document

- https://sfocii.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/2022 Transbay Redevelopment Plan Area Basemap for Website (002).pdf

- https://sfocii.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/TB Redevelopment Project Map_current_06.15.22.pdf

- https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/agendaitems/2014/12-2-14 Item 15 T-Third Phase 3 Concept Study.pdf

- https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/report-the-portal-project-advances-in-california/

- https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/transit/san-francisco-high-speed-rail-connection-boosted-by-billions/article_5caf2088-0f23-11ef-91d9-934fe4357d4c.html

- https://blog.bayareametro.gov/posts/portal-project-celebrates-338-billion-federal-transit-administration-funding

- https://www.capitolcorridor.org/route-map/

- https://sfyimby.com/2023/10/ceqa-approval-for-san-francisco-transbay-downtown-rail-extension.html

- https://link21program.org/en/program/concepts

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How London Was Rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 09:30:00 -0000

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The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed central London. Several intrepid designers saw the rebuilding process as an opportunity to fix the old city's problems. None of these plans were ever adopted. Why?

Resources on this topic:
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10099694/3/Hebbert_The long after-life of Christopher Wren's short-lived London plan of 1666_AAM.pdf

The Making of Urban America, John Reps. (https://www.amazon.com/Making-America-History-Planning-United/dp/0691006180)

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/abs/quantitative-reasoning-and-commercial-logic-in-rebuilding-plans-after-the-great-fire-of-london-1666/405A86E7219756014D3F9F836DF5CCB3

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Can Churches End the Housing Crisis? (YIGBY)

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 09:07:30 -0000

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-churches-end-the-housing-crisis-yigby

Faith-based organizations often have more land than they need. They also may want to build housing on that land to further their mission. But they aren't always allowed to. But if they could build housing, it could help end the housing crisis.

Donate to St. John's (if you like): https://www.moreformadison.org

Resources on this topic:

About the amount of church-owned land:

https://ltams.org/what-to-know-when-handling-transactions-involving-church-owned-property/

YIGBY article in Christianity Today:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2023/09/church-buildings-size-sale-development-multiuse-empty/

Terner Center report on California's YIGBY law:

https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Faith-Based-Housing-Updated-October-2023.pdf

Florida's YIGBY law:

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2025/08/04/yes-in-gods-back-yard-law-churches-could-address-housing-crunch/85411086007/

Cities and YIGBY:

https://stateline.org/2025/10/14/can-states-and-a-little-bit-of-faith-convert-church-land-into-affordable-housing/

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
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Why Can Two Cities Host the Olympics Now?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 08:45:00 -0000

Check out “Beyond the Bleachers”! https://nebula.tv/videos/maapify-beyond-the-bleachers-part-1-where-stadiums-are-built-europe-vs-north-america
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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-why-can-two-cities-host-the-olympics-now

In recent years, the International Olympic Committee had a difficult time recruiting qualified cities to bid on hosting the Olympics. In response, they changed the rules to allow multiple cities and even regions host. Is this a good thing?

Resources on this topic:

Information on how the bidding changed: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1081246/significant-changes-to-olympic-bid-process-approved-by-ioc-session

Data about the number of Olympic athletes: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1480062/number-athletes-summer-olympics/?srsltid=AfmBOornz_3Cdl1Wp5uRFOHWisN8wYmsRwibICTmHVaC89AredrFgl0-

How much Milan-Cortina costs: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1153223/milano-cortina-2026-increases-budget

Italian infrastructure: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1154427/infrastructure-transforming-italy

Study about opposition to the games: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257/jep.30.2.201?TB_iframe=true&width=370.8&height=658.8

The relationship between public opinion and the Olympics: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1078087416684036?casa_token=Qv22Np7a0AYAAAAA:ive5jd4qDa9PMBXgUZOaGvaaRnjZRDPxYmcpKE-MfwOVBY0jf9NfTLROkTvL4hs65UZyQMaNWj-EeA

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Trans rights.

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Are cities like organisms?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 08:22:30 -0000

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Or text, “citybeautiful” to 500 500.

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Sources:
A. West, G. B. (2017). Scale: the universal laws of growth, innovation, sustainability, and the pace of life in organisms, cities, economies, and companies. Penguin.

B. Samaniego, H., & Moses, M. E. (2008). Cities as organisms: Allometric scaling of urban road networks. Journal of Transport and Land use, 1(1), 21-39.

C. Solesbury, W. (2013). World cities, city worlds: explorations with metaphors, icons and perspectives. Leicestershire: Matador.

D. Solesbury, W. (2013). World cities, city worlds: explorations with metaphors, icons and perspectives. Leicestershire: Matador.

E. Solesbury, W. (2013). World cities, city worlds: explorations with metaphors, icons and perspectives. Leicestershire: Matador.

F. MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub: https://cshub.mit.edu

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny Sacramento, California.
Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

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Let's Make Mass Transit Free*

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 08:00:00 -0000

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This idea of free mass transit is not as crazy as you might think. Plenty of cities offer free transit to students and seniors. Some systems offer free transit in designated zones or on certain routes. Others, like Seoul (2), offer free transit on days where the air is too smoggy. Only a few cities have gone all the way and done what I’m proposing: free transit for everyone, everywhere, at all times.

Sources:

A. https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/01/seoul-takes-on-air-pollution-with-free-public-transit/550829/
B. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/05/estonia-will-roll-out-free-public-transit-nationwide/560648/
C. https://web.archive.org/web/20081020214003/http://www.hasselt.be/content/content/record.php?ID=4418
D. http://www.fdot.gov/research/completed_proj/summary_pto/fdot_bc137_38_ff_rpt.pdf
E. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/27ad/af099f77cee5a1643c896c9ce0cd89647edd.pdf

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.
Audio and video editing by: Eric Schneider

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