Public transportation ridership rose 37 percent from 1995 to 2013. That’s a good thing, right?

The conventional logic says that public transportation will rise as gas prices rise (basic economic situation there). That seemed to be the case in the 1950s in some cities, but now — via data from the American Public Transportation Association… Continue Reading

Fun with labor, maps, and statistics: if you want to find a job, move to North Dakota, Nebraska, or Dallas

I love data on jobs and job searching, probably because my own life is a wreck with that stuff right now. I started out looking at unemployment rate by state — to a coastal-bias person, it would seem crazy that the… Continue Reading

I-81 runs 855 miles from Knoxville to Canada. But one 1.4-mile stretch in Syracuse, NY could be a window to the future.

Fun fact: Dwight Eisenhower’s vision for the interstate system actually came from some roads he saw in Germany while a general. Communication lines got a bit crossed, though, and he didn’t actually realize interstates would run through cities until a few years… Continue Reading

If you have $340,000 and can move to Sri Lanka by 2016, you could basically live in a 46-story-tall forest

Milroy Perera was previously the architect of note on the Kandalama Hotel in Sri Lanka (video profile above), which is carved into a rock face and faces out towards an ancient jungle. (“You’re not a guest; you’re part of nature.”) Now he’s… Continue Reading

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The U.S. needs more bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. A good example of why would be Buffalo, NY.

Let’s start with an understanding of what “Bus Rapid Transit,” or BRT, is. This article gives a good summary; essentially, it’s like giving a bus its own lane and having stations at each stop. Overall, it’s like turning bus travel… Continue Reading

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In 2022, you probably want to be working in health care, and you may want to be living in New Mexico or Greenville, NC

Cool article — fun with maps! — on The Atlantic Cities by way of Richard Florida recently, which details, essentially, job growth in the U.S. in the next 10 years. Here’s what you basically need to understand about all this. 1. You would… Continue Reading

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Across America’s 50 largest cities, the lowest inequality is in Virginia Beach

Here’s a new paper from the Brookings Institution looking at inequality — what the 20th percentile of earners in that city made in 2012 vs. what the 95th percentile made, and then calculating a ratio — in the 50 largest United… Continue Reading

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Cities go with low taxes to attract entrepreneurs and new companies; the entrepreneurs want talent and livability

Fact: San Francisco and Boston — two innovation hubs based on coasts, universities, etc. — are becoming more expensive. Fact: cities like Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, right there in the heartland/Rust Belt, are beginning to attract new start-ups and incubators and… Continue Reading