Streetbeat, Vol. XIII
Post-pandemic public transit, Black Excellence in cities, and figuring out the last mile.
こんにちは!
And welcome to this newsletter.
As promised last month, you’ll notice a few changes to this February missive. Going forward, I’m dedicating a section of the newsletter to a ‘Solutions corner,’ where I’ll discuss research & reporting on cities (from myself, or elsewhere) that highlights problem-solving, rather than problem-having. (I sort of did this in January, with public transit revenue ideas.) And this is really just a show of love for ‘solutions journalism,’ which, I believe, is integral in this rapidly changing—and immensely challenging—time. In short: we need solutions right now.
Similarly, I’m also adding a ‘Bright side’ section. Even amidst the chaos, I always find myself stumbling (either online, or in-person) upon genuinely positive innovations in the built environment, community organizing, or policymaking that deserve mention here. Because what else more do we need these days than *good* content?
More to come! But for now, let’s get started:
The Great Debate Over 24-Hour Subway Service
As mentioned in January, I now have a regular contributing role at Bloomberg CityLab, where I’ll be writing a monthly story on issues pertaining to mobility, open space and, I’m sure, plenty else. My first installment just premiered—an in-depth look at a question that riles up New Yorkers: does the city really need 24-hour subway service?
I approached this story with a ton of hesitation, after being torched on Twitter for broaching the subject upon return from London, a city with excellent late-night bus service. But then after digging some more, I learned that the question is really this unique window into the enormity of issues facing public transit writ large. And it also might have some answers for what our transit should look like once this godforsaken pandemic finally recedes.
So, all aboard.
Shout-out to…
I’ve spent some recent newsletters talking about the persistent issue around bike parking in cities, or lack thereof. How it deters people from riding more, if at all. Which holds particular relevance as we talk and think more on how cycling is central to combatting carbon emissions and building a more equitable city.
This largely drove my desire to help out the bike parking mobility startup Oonee with editorial content. Stay tuned for what we have in store, but in the meantime, I wanted to send a special congrats this month to the Oonee squad, as they introduced to the world (or at least North America, where these are practically non-existent) renderings of their new curbside unit. Check out the Oonee Mini:
Now the race is on to site them…
Celebrating Black Excellence in Cities
If you haven’t noticed already—through any popular media, like podcasts, news articles or texts; also: what feels like most architectural renderings and panels—the urbanism space is incredibly white. Those who preach it, those who study it, those write about it, those who practice it. In planning school, my classmates and I actually clapped out loud in the fifth or sixth class when our white design professor mentioned the first female urban thinker of the term, let alone a Black urban thinker. (Upon reflection: I don’t even think that ever happened.) And this disparity is fundamental to why cities look and function they do, often designing out the lived experiences of the very people who make them up.
In the States, February is Black History Month, a time to reflect upon the contributions of the Black community. Which feels especially palpable after a year of protest around police killings, a global pandemic that is disproportionally killing communities of color, and, also, the election of a Black woman to be the country’s first female vice president. So, following this newsletter’s intent to inform, I (yet another white guy in this space) want to do just that, by highlighting the Black urbanists out there who I follow and admire each day:
Dr. Destiny Thomas (of Thrivance)
Shabazz Stuart (of Oonee)
Brentin Mock (of CityLab)
Kristin Jeffers (of The Black Urbanist)
Jay Pitter (of UofT)
And an honorable mention to James Baldwin, who, I think, was one of the best writers and commentators of urban spaces and dynamics to ever live.
The future of remote work
Over the last year, the world divided itself into two distinct camps: those who can afford to work remotely, and those who cannot. Although the remote work camp was already growing, the pandemic, of course, has sent the trend into hyper-speed—and what’s looking like some degree of permanence post-COVID begets countless questions for the places and lifestyles millions of people are now choosing to live.
Namely: will all of this sudden migration last? What does this mean for the so-called ‘Zoomtowns’ receiving hordes of new residents? And what about the cities that so many people are supposedly leaving? Also, what happens when the physical office is no longer at the center of everything—our cities, our commutes, our routines?
I tried my very best to answer at least some of these questions in the next issue of HP’s Innovation. Check it out.
Solutions corner
This month, I went ahead and published my dissertation from the UCL’s Transport & City Planning MSc programme on ResearchGate and Academia.edu. And since then, it’s been viewed dozens of times by users in countries as far away as Iran and Côte d'Ivoire—which is neat! The findings are available in tweet form if you want the abridged version (because, yes, it is long), but I’ll explain them more in length here.
The aim: I wanted to understand what influences our travel behaviors; in other words: why do we choose to travel the way we do? For years, that discussion has focused heavily on the built environment (the 3D’s of distance, design & density from Robert Cervero, who helped advise this). Essentially, that our surroundings determine our choices—like how far something is, or what our streets look like along the way. But more recently, two new pressures have arisen: our attitudes, which form self-fulfilling habits (i.e. “I love cars because…” or “I hate bikes because…”); and our travel satisfaction, or emotions felt during our journeys, and, over time, our commuting patterns (think negative road rage or stalled subways, or positive podcast listens on the train).
But specifically, I focused on the suburbs. I grew up in a town that sprouted from the LIRR, and while most commutes to the station aren’t fairly long or arduous, most people arrive by car. I wanted to know why people there do that, while people in cities largely walk, cycle or take the bus for the same journey. This evokes the increasingly popular conversation around ‘the last mile,’ or the trip from a transit hub to your front door, and vice versa. Be it Amazon logistics or e-scooters, the last mile is very in right now, due to the advent of transformative technologies, like the lithium ion battery.
The last mile conversation in the suburbs is important for two major reasons. First off, studies show that barriers along your last mile journey can either encourage or discourage transit use. So folks with worse last mile journeys are more likely to ditch transit use altogether, and take a car. And secondly, the climate impact is profound: the gas you give off from a very inefficient short trip to the train station actually outweighs any green savings you get from taking the train. (Plus, it makes up a good amount of local traffic in the morning, causing congestion.)
The approach: I chose two train stations to examine: Oxford and Oxford Parkway (which is where I was living at the time). The former is near an urban center; the latter is much more suburban, and also, the standard for new commuter train stations these days, in the UK and beyond. The former sees riders arrive by a high percentage of sustainable modes; the latter does not.
The full methodology is available online, but in short: in lieu of Covid-19 restrictions, I surveyed over 100 riders online, and did follow-up interviews with 10, asking questions getting at those three themes: built environment, attitudes and travel satisfaction. I crunched numbers on traffic fatalities near the stations, and also on roundabouts (very popular in the UK) nearby. And did a few other fun equations.
The findings:
Our last mile choices are often indicative of our regular travel patterns. So folks who bike to their train station likely bike everywhere else, too. And folks who drive likely drive everywhere else, too. But I found that car users pull to use their car for other activities is actually stronger than any other mode’s pull. Once a user starts driving for one activity, it starts to immediately leak into other activities.
Why this matters: If more attention is paid to encouraging sustainable last mile journeys, it could trickle up the ladder of regular patterns. Get person to change one trip, and maybe they’ll start changing others as well.
We all don’t view ‘sustainability’ the same. I found a huge element of cognitive dissonance in my surveys/interviews; we think one thing, and do another that could be considered contrary. Our beliefs and behaviors are detached. So folks may say they want to live green, but don’t view travel choices as being part of that. (Even though they, of course, very much are.)
Why this matters: It shows that society writ large—and even media, to a certain extent—hasn’t done a good job connecting people’s perceptions of sustainability to their travel choices. (Thankfully, that’s starting to change.) And also, that policy solutions need to serve a diverse set of views. (Think e-scooters and EVs.)
There’s a range of push-pull factors that drive our decisions. So it’s not just one thing; it’s a much more complex web of interplay between built environment, attitudes and travel satisfaction. So, for example: in Dutch culture, children start cycling at a very young age—but, also, the cycling infrastructure is in place to encourage it, and the ride itself is remarkably calm. So what came first? Did their attitudes towards bikes push public opinion to create more bike lanes? Or did the bike lanes change attitudes? And what about the experience itself while riding?
I think all these different factors are unfolding simultaneously, often invisible to us (like cost and proximity). And in this conversation, that unfolds at three places: home, journey and station. Here’s an overview of the factors at play:
Why this matters: It indicates that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for this. Often, planners or advocates may think that a single bike lane, or a new bus route, will change behaviors, but I believe modal shift happens by tweaking numerous nudges that happen the minute we step out of our door. But addressing these entails a variety of different stakeholders, from real estate developers and transit authorities, to municipal governments and new mobility startups. So a more holistic approach—viewing transportation as less network-based, and more trip-based—is clearly needed.
We can start with equalizing modes in the suburbs. Right now, it is substantially more difficult to ride a bike to a train station there than drive, in terms of user experience and cost. (I mean, where do you feel comfortable parking it the whole day?) Let’s tip the scales a bit, which the post-pandemic recovery could be ideal for: restricted mobility has made us all reassess how we get around—hence still sky-high cycle sales, and the seemingly unstoppable inertia around ‘micro-mobility.’ But the rapid return of traffic demonstrates the exponential power of habit.
Now’s the time to create lasting change.
Bright side
In September 2019, right before Angela and I moved to the UK, I sat down (figuratively speaking; we spoke over the phone) with Aaron Greiner. Aaron reached out to me after I wrote a few stories on what was then a burgeoning legislative topic in NYC: the epidemic of empty storefronts, and what to do with them. He proposed CultureHouse, a nonprofit-driven pop-up, based in Boston, that activates vacant commercial storefronts with programming and space open to all. (And convinces the landlord to do it for free!) It invoked talk of ‘social infrastructure’—libraries, parks, civic spaces, community centers, etc.—that was increasingly being discussed before COVID. (That conversation on CityLab can be found here.)
Honestly, a year and a half later, that conversation feels more important than ever, with an economic crisis that has strangled small businesses, left even more storefronts empty, and made us think about space in totally new ways. So I was heartened to hear back from Greiner this last month about his group’s newest endeavor: an all-weather reading space, outfitted with free WiFi 24/7, built outside of the Somerville Public Library in just three days. See here:
Ladies and gentlemen: the inaugural ‘Bright side’ of the month.
Food for thought
As my colleagues at Center for an Urban Future point out, a public arts work program—harkening back to Depression-age ideas—should be a key strategy for urban recovery post-pandemic. The equation is simple: cities hire artists to revitalize spaces, stimulating economic activity and local areas. There are models of this everywhere, from Montreal’s green alleyways to Medellín’s street art.
So why not focus our attention on beautifying walking and cycling infrastructure, like pavements, crosswalks and bike lanes? It could encourage usage by alleviating stress and making drivers more aware, all the while cementing their status on our streets.
And finally, a parting quote:
“Home is everything you can walk to.” - Rebecca Solnit, “Wanderlust”
See you next month! And R.I.P. Daft Punk.