Federal grants don’t always go to the communities that need them most.
Data for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program shows just that. The grants target low- and moderate-income communities, but a disproportionate share goes to the moderate-income neighborhoods, not the ones suffering the most.
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
Hornsby is the fifth best place to live in Australia, apparently.
At least, according to a study SGS Economics and Planning:
"Sydney's Northern beaches ranks as the highest in the nation for wellbeing, with only one Queensland city making it to the top 10, the annual index revealed today.
"The Australian Capital Territory came in second due to its low gender wage gaps, climate change risks and the division of wealth."
The study assessed 518 local council areas on seven indicators:
Looks like Sydney Trains is going to drop the jargon from its PA announcements.
From the SMH:
"Commuters will soon be told to “get off” the train, rather than “alight”, after Sydney Trains resolved to overhaul its station announcements to favour colloquial language.
"The phrase “this train terminates here” is also being retired, due to concerns the word “terminates” is difficult to understand."
So the RTA's own modelling showed the Rozelle Interchange would be a traffic disaster—but generating more toll road trips for Transurban was more important.
"The [NSW Roads and Traffic Authority] finalised the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.
"[Paul Forward, a former CEO of the RTA] said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle Interchange.
...
"In 2014, an expert review group was formed to assess these plans.
"Mr Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.
"The RTA's former director of traffic Chris Ford told the inquiry that 15 alternative designs were modelled.
"Mr Ford said the modelling found that another motorway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.
"'The issues that we see today were very clearly established in the modelling in 2014,' he said.
"In November 2015, after Mr Forward and Mr Ford were dismissed, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge, despite the congestion concerns raised by the modelling.
"In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case a second time ... creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge."
...
"In 2018, the NSW government sold its 51 per cent stake in the Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.
"Mr Forward said the final design would generate a larger number of toll trips than previous options."
"It's going to be a bloody disaster": Tell me again about how the second road tunnel under Sydney Harbour won't make congestion worse?
"Civil engineer Les Wielinga, a former CEO at the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bungled Rozelle Interchange.
"The Western Harbour Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers travelling between the inner west and the North Shore to bypass the CBD.
"Entries and exits to the tunnel will lie at the Ernest Street interchange in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street interchange at North Sydney.
"'It's going to be a bloody disaster,' Mr Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.
"Paul Forward, another former CEO of the RTA, told the inquiry he was concerned about the project's design.
"'You've now got three motorways coming out into this short area, and whilst I would recognise there are some exit points, some off-ramps, those motorways are now all going into the Lane Cove Tunnel,' he said.
"'A large number of lanes are going into two lanes at the Lane Cove Tunnel. Sounds familiar?'"
Someone posted the following article a week or so ago. It touches on a topic many here might understand. Climate risk includes systemic shocks could trigger a break down in the global and even national economies. Locality is an insurance policy.
“Then there are things that can be done quickly, and locally. Communities that “had been doing some of this work before the pandemic hit were better able to adapt” to the 2020 disruptions…”
The decision to build freeways instead of rail in the post-war years, along with the low-rise single-zoned suburbs it promoted, has been an absolute planning disaster.
But the mistake can be fixed, and freeways can be removed.
City Beautiful's Dave Amos @citybeautiful has an interesting look at some of America's endangered freeways, and how communities can get them removed:
Why is it that some people get so agitated when you suggest that some other people can happily live without their own car?
I mean, sure, some places are extremely car-centric! But not all places where humans live are extremely car-centric, and some of the places that are extremely car-centric could be changed to offer more options to people who want to live without their own cars!
The Space Syntax Lab at the #BartlettSchoolOfArchitecture#UCL is holding a bi-weekly online seminar on zoom to present latest research findings on the relationship between configurations of space and social outcomes, curated by my colleague @kimonkrenz
Previous seminars are on our Youtube channel - they're a treasure trove full of interesting research approaches
The saga of Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!)
A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne.
Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there.
While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre.
@nictea@philip@fuck_cars Pretty much the whole City of Knox (a large chunk of outer-eastern Melbourne) is 1970s and 1980s car-centric suburbia at its worst.
The only rail in the whole area is basically Bayswater and Boronia stations on the Belgrave line. And trains only run every 30 minutes, aside from the morning and evening peak.
Other than that, you have the SmartBus from Ringwood to Frankston, the Rowville SmartBus, and a bunch of infrequent suburban busses.
And the stroads! There's literally a stroad called High Street Road (which is quite possibly the stroadiest name ever invented).
And all of them — Boronia Rd, Stud Rd, Wellington Rd, Burwood Hwy, Wellington Rd, Dorset Rd — are a nightmare during peak hour.
There's whole housing estates with detached residential homes where the only practical way to get anything is to drive.
If anyone says Melbourne does planning well, take them out to Knox (you'll need to drive) and they'll come away with a different opinion.
@nictea@philip@fuck_cars Even the 903 SmartBus only runs a 15 minute timetable during the day, which is less than the minimum 10-minute service busses should be running.
And other services in the area, like the 737 (Croydon to Boronia to Knox to Glen Waverley to Monash Uni) is a 40-minute-plus frequency during most of the day.
And people wonder why more residents in the outer suburbs use public transport...
So WestConnex was totally going to solve traffic in Sydney by adding more lanes for cars. Just a few teething problems on the Rozelle Interchange and it'll all clear up, they said.
I wonder how it's going?
"Gladesville and Drummoyne locals say gridlock is worsening in their suburbs following changes to improve traffic flow through the notorious Rozelle Interchange, with drivers using local streets as “rat runs” to dodge congestion."
The one-year MSc / MRes programme I teach on at the #BartlettSchoolOfArchitecture#UCL called 'Space Syntax: Architecture and Cities' is holding an online open event for prospective students on 27 March, 1-2pm UK time.
Students from a non-architectural background are very welcome!
The tree cover in Sydney's Hyde Park is so lush and cool on a hot day.
(And yes, to everyone reading this from interstate or overseas: I know naming the big park in the Sydney CBD "Hyde Park" was not exactly a creative choice.)
(I'll also refrain from making me obvious jokes about Sydney's asbestos crisis.)
Some good news for anyone who loves RMTransit's public transport explainer videos, but doesn't like Google and YouTube.
Looks like @RM_Transit now has an account on PeerTube here, which you can follow from Mastodon: @reece
(If you're the first to follow the account from your instance it will initially appear empty. Videos will start appearing in your feed after you follow.)
Finding out there's a not insignificant amount of people think that a #15MinuteCity means creating little isolated island prisons is a whole new level of human idiocy that I wasn't expecting to ruin my day today.
Alright fuckers listen up. 15 minute cities are simply a city designed around the basic fucking principles of #urbanplanning and having actual walkable streets so that wherever you are in the city, or wherever your neighborhood is, you have all the basics necessities you need to go about your day within a 15 minute trip. This isn't isolated to singular neighborhoods or "zones". It's an interconnected network accross the entire city, in any place you are, in the city as a whole.
This isn't some new agenda, or just about #ClimateChange or the #environment, it's about designing our cities around human needs and #Community. It's how we used to have our cities before cars took over. If you need to go further, or prefer to go further, you can easily do so by #walking#publictransit or #biking. It's just going to take longer than 15 minutes. That's it. Shocking I know.
Why are people like this? Just take the train you fuckwits.
#introduction
New instance new intro!!
I'm somcak, a #librarian currently in #Ohio. I have 2 mini #dachshunds & 2 #cats.
I've been on Mastodon since October 2022, this is my 4th server.
I use content warnings for all sorts of stuff! I always make sure there's #AltText & #CamelCase for my own posts as well as those I boost. #Accessibility matters.
I enjoy learning about #history and #archeology, particularly the #neolithic.
I'm also interested in #UrbanPlanning & making communities greener.