Last Saturday during a march against white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia, a man drove a Dodge Challenger into the crowd, killing at least one and injuring dozens more. The vehicle was traveling at 40 mph, a speed that has a 90% fatality rate when hitting pedestrians. It’s a miracle more didn’t die. The suspect is… Continue reading Dodge Markets Their Cars to Sociopaths, It’s No Wonder Nazis Love Them
Tag: livable streets
Should City Driving Be Considered Terrorism?
[UPDATES: See below] When an allegedly intoxicated driver plowed into crowds of pedestrians in the heart of Times Square today, you’d be forgiven for thinking this isn’t something that happens all the time in New York. Alas, you’d be wrong. Even in the densest city in America cars are allowed to race around at lethal… Continue reading Should City Driving Be Considered Terrorism?
AirBNB, Displacement, and Freezing the Homeless to Death
On Martin Luther King Day it was reported an infant, possibly only hours old, had died in a homeless camp near a bus stop in downtown Portland, Oregon. First responders rushed the baby to OHSU, but it was too late. Reports were inconclusive as to whether the child was in fact stillborn, or died shortly after… Continue reading AirBNB, Displacement, and Freezing the Homeless to Death
36 Collision GIFs to Make the Car Lobby Cringe
For wanting to ban cars – even from just dense city centers – I’ve been called an extremist. Of course, I’ve been called a number of things with little basis in fact. Studying cities going back thousands of years, it’s impossible to ignore the damage cars have done to our lives. We can go farther, faster, but at the loss of… Continue reading 36 Collision GIFs to Make the Car Lobby Cringe
Revisiting ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’
William H. Whyte was ‘an American urbanist, organizational analyst, journalist and people-watcher.’ You’ve likely heard the oft quoted line, “It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.” That was William H. Whyte. In the 1970’s, Whyte assembled a group of researchers… Continue reading Revisiting ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’
Photographing Metropolitan Topography
“Forget the damned motor car, build the cities for lovers and friends.” ~ Lewis Mumford Similar to a piece I wrote recently highlighting the ongoing photographic documentation of bicycle culture, it seemed appropriate to also compile a collection of images detailing the various textures and surfaces of urban landscapes. So often as we traverse our… Continue reading Photographing Metropolitan Topography
PARK(ing) Day PDX Reclaims the Streets: VIDEO
Last Friday was a day in Portland a little unlike any other. PARK(ing) Day grew out of the actions of Rebar in San Francisco almost a decade ago as a way to inform and inspire what our urban streetscape can look and function like through direct action of engaged citizens. Each year on September 20th,… Continue reading PARK(ing) Day PDX Reclaims the Streets: VIDEO
PARK(ing) Day to Liberate PDX Streetscape
Cars kill. We all know this. Whether you’re a capital-driven transit oriented developer or an anarchist despising motor vehicles as technology raping the planet, the automobile is the most lethal killer outside of diet-induced illness in the United States. Even the NRA rightfully will agree on this point. Beyond the lethality of the automobile, cars kill… Continue reading PARK(ing) Day to Liberate PDX Streetscape
Slaughter the Freeways: A Radical Livable Streets Movement
This article was originally published on Mismanaging Perception. Where Are the Slayers of the Mt. Hood Freeway Today? In the 1960s in Portland, Oregon the proposed Mt Hood Freeway was a done deal. By 1972 the plan for the freeway had perished. In 1967 the city proposed making the Harbor Drive highway even wider. Several… Continue reading Slaughter the Freeways: A Radical Livable Streets Movement