Laurence Aurbach
@laurbach.bsky.social
Writer and editor specializing in walkable urbanism and sustainable transportation. Author of A History of Street Networks (2020).
https://www.pedshedpress.com
https://www.pedshedpress.com
Many histories make vague references to the blistering growth of US streetcar systems. But until now, a nationwide quantitative accounting of system growth has not been available. It also includes peak year of system extent by state and city, along with analysis of temporal patterns. Well done!
ICYMI: Streetcar and Interurban Deployment in the United States: 1894-1926
Streetcar and Interurban Deployment in the United States: 1894-1926
Recently published: We compile operating track lengths for US streetcar and interurban systems from the McGraw American Street Railway Investments Directories for 1894–1926, aggregated by state and by metro area, with a national total. The United States network reaches an observed maximum of 80{,}660 km (50,120 miles) in 1918, with a logistic asymptote of 84,208 […]
dlvr.it
February 5, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Many histories make vague references to the blistering growth of US streetcar systems. But until now, a nationwide quantitative accounting of system growth has not been available. It also includes peak year of system extent by state and city, along with analysis of temporal patterns. Well done!
Reposted by Laurence Aurbach
Breaking news on Public Square: "HOPE VI reduced intergenerational poverty."
A remarkable new Harvard study shows the benefits of mixed-income housing in high-poverty areas, using design based on New Urbanist principles. #HOPEVI #NewUrbanism #Housing
www.cnu.org/publicsquare...
A remarkable new Harvard study shows the benefits of mixed-income housing in high-poverty areas, using design based on New Urbanist principles. #HOPEVI #NewUrbanism #Housing
www.cnu.org/publicsquare...
HOPE VI reduced intergenerational poverty
A remarkable new Harvard study shows the benefits of mixed-income housing in high-poverty areas, using design based on New Urbanist principles.
www.cnu.org
January 29, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Breaking news on Public Square: "HOPE VI reduced intergenerational poverty."
A remarkable new Harvard study shows the benefits of mixed-income housing in high-poverty areas, using design based on New Urbanist principles. #HOPEVI #NewUrbanism #Housing
www.cnu.org/publicsquare...
A remarkable new Harvard study shows the benefits of mixed-income housing in high-poverty areas, using design based on New Urbanist principles. #HOPEVI #NewUrbanism #Housing
www.cnu.org/publicsquare...
An excellent essay that makes several strong points.
I was familiar with the deadheading point, but I hadn't considered it in terms of safety.
The final point about local and federal policy is vital. Alternatives are quicker and cheaper to accomplish, and localities should be enabled to use them.
I was familiar with the deadheading point, but I hadn't considered it in terms of safety.
The final point about local and federal policy is vital. Alternatives are quicker and cheaper to accomplish, and localities should be enabled to use them.
Sorry, but triumphant claims about autonomous vehicle safety are wildly exaggerated.
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
We Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers
And even if self-driving technology proves to be less dangerous, there are many better ways to improve traffic safety and prevent fatal crashes.
www.bloomberg.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:55 PM
An excellent essay that makes several strong points.
I was familiar with the deadheading point, but I hadn't considered it in terms of safety.
The final point about local and federal policy is vital. Alternatives are quicker and cheaper to accomplish, and localities should be enabled to use them.
I was familiar with the deadheading point, but I hadn't considered it in terms of safety.
The final point about local and federal policy is vital. Alternatives are quicker and cheaper to accomplish, and localities should be enabled to use them.
Congratulations to participants and winners of CNU Mid-Atlantic's Single-Stair Design Competition. All entries are now online for free download. The excellent entries show some of the features that single-stair buildings can offer more easily than "double-loaded corridor" buildings. 1/2
Single Stair Competition | cnu-dc-chapter
www.cnudc.org
May 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Congratulations to participants and winners of CNU Mid-Atlantic's Single-Stair Design Competition. All entries are now online for free download. The excellent entries show some of the features that single-stair buildings can offer more easily than "double-loaded corridor" buildings. 1/2
Reminder that registration for this design competition opens today -- 3 March 2025.
CNU's Mid-Atlantic Chapter is sponsoring a Single-Stair Building Design Competition for infill sites in Baltimore. All mid-Atlantic residents and students may participate. Registration is open from March 3 to April 11. Winners will get cash prizes and publicity at the awards ceremony.
Single Stair Competition | cnu-dc-chapter
www.cnudc.org
March 3, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reminder that registration for this design competition opens today -- 3 March 2025.
CNU's Mid-Atlantic Chapter is sponsoring a Single-Stair Building Design Competition for infill sites in Baltimore. All mid-Atlantic residents and students may participate. Registration is open from March 3 to April 11. Winners will get cash prizes and publicity at the awards ceremony.
Single Stair Competition | cnu-dc-chapter
www.cnudc.org
February 28, 2025 at 11:11 PM
CNU's Mid-Atlantic Chapter is sponsoring a Single-Stair Building Design Competition for infill sites in Baltimore. All mid-Atlantic residents and students may participate. Registration is open from March 3 to April 11. Winners will get cash prizes and publicity at the awards ceremony.
Boston has announced it will upgrade traffic signals throughout the city to give priority to buses. The system tracks and anticipates bus positions, and adjusts traffic signals in real time, to minimize delay at intersections.
Faster bus commutes in Boston? That’s the goal with coming traffic signal upgrades. - The Boston Globe
Buses traveling through the experimental intersections along the Allston corridor spent, on average, 21 percent less time waiting at red lights, according to the T.
www.bostonglobe.com
February 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Boston has announced it will upgrade traffic signals throughout the city to give priority to buses. The system tracks and anticipates bus positions, and adjusts traffic signals in real time, to minimize delay at intersections.
And the answer is: not much. Increasing a zoning limit from 7 dwellings per acre to 12 du/ac would not cause parking demand to exceed supply. On all the blocks that were studied, a majority of parking spaces were unused.
@citybeautiful.nebula.tv
@citybeautiful.nebula.tv
Amos, Dave. 2025. “Will Increasing Residential Density Decrease Parking Availability? A Method for Practitioners.” Findings, January. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.128202
Will Increasing Residential Density Decrease Parking Availability? A Method for Practitioners. | Published in Findings
By Dave Amos. How can practitioners easily estimate whether upzoning will make parking scarce? We demonstrate a method in California and find parking is scarce in neither R1 nor not R2 zones.
doi.org
January 29, 2025 at 2:20 PM
And the answer is: not much. Increasing a zoning limit from 7 dwellings per acre to 12 du/ac would not cause parking demand to exceed supply. On all the blocks that were studied, a majority of parking spaces were unused.
@citybeautiful.nebula.tv
@citybeautiful.nebula.tv
Reposted by Laurence Aurbach
Today Adam Millard-Ball and I are releasing a massive dataset, detailing our work over a number of years to characterize local street network connectivity around the planet. (1/4)
Open article, open data, open source.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Open article, open data, open source.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
January 14, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Today Adam Millard-Ball and I are releasing a massive dataset, detailing our work over a number of years to characterize local street network connectivity around the planet. (1/4)
Open article, open data, open source.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Open article, open data, open source.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Science-fiction author and industrial-design theorist Bruce Sterling writes about the YouTube maker Laura Kampf. His essay is part fan letter, part theoretical grappling, and part aimless philosophical musing. It intersects with urban design where it discusses interventions in the public realm.
Some Public Limits of Everyday Weirdness (2025)
A year ago, here on Medium, I resolved to do more repair work around the family house. If my results seemed rather “weird,” I decided not…
bruces.medium.com
January 1, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Science-fiction author and industrial-design theorist Bruce Sterling writes about the YouTube maker Laura Kampf. His essay is part fan letter, part theoretical grappling, and part aimless philosophical musing. It intersects with urban design where it discusses interventions in the public realm.
This paper blends historical narrative and quantitative analysis to reveal how Tokyo became "a paragon of street-network connectivity." Authors were Felix Vazquez, Adam Millard-Ball, Christopher Barrington-Leigh (profcpbl.bsky.social) 1/6
Urban development & street-network sprawl in Tokyo
This paper uses Tokyo, Japan as a case study to explore the processes of urban development and sprawl through the lenses of street connectivity and historical development. Tokyo is a highly connect...
www.tandfonline.com
December 17, 2024 at 2:44 PM
This paper blends historical narrative and quantitative analysis to reveal how Tokyo became "a paragon of street-network connectivity." Authors were Felix Vazquez, Adam Millard-Ball, Christopher Barrington-Leigh (profcpbl.bsky.social) 1/6
This study analyzes street-network patterns in all the world's urban areas. It investigates the design and development factors that affect transport CO2 emissions. Better-connected street networks, and street networks with straighter travel routes, are generally linked to lower CO2 emissions. 1/6
Urban street network design and transport-related greenhouse gas emissions around the world
This study estimates the relationships between street network characteristics and transport-sector CO2 emissions across every urban area in the world …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 4, 2024 at 3:06 PM
This study analyzes street-network patterns in all the world's urban areas. It investigates the design and development factors that affect transport CO2 emissions. Better-connected street networks, and street networks with straighter travel routes, are generally linked to lower CO2 emissions. 1/6
The overall width of roadways has a major effect on crash risk, but that effect is too often overlooked or dismissed in safety research. This study is the largest analysis of the topic to date, covering 49,000 pedestrian crossings in Paris, San Francisco, and Irvine, California. 1/
Multiscale Analysis of Pedestrian Crossing Distance
Crossing distance is considered a factor in both pedestrian safety and behavior. However, it has seldom been quantified within or across entire cities or related to walking outcomes. Combining data...
www.tandfonline.com
November 21, 2024 at 1:34 PM
The overall width of roadways has a major effect on crash risk, but that effect is too often overlooked or dismissed in safety research. This study is the largest analysis of the topic to date, covering 49,000 pedestrian crossings in Paris, San Francisco, and Irvine, California. 1/