View from a tuk-tuk in busy Delhi (Photo taken by author)
Hey there!
Welcome to this newsletter. It's where I (John Surico) — seasoned journalist and coffee drinker — will share some thoughts and writing each month on cities, and their contents: streets, people, energy, cultures, food, form, etc. Sure, I'll focus a lot on mobility and how we get around, since that's what I spend most of my time thinking about in life and at school (oh yes, I'm a student again, at UCL's The Bartlett in London), but I promise to be universal in interests.
In the meantime: Congratulations! You, my friend or stranger that somehow found me on LinkedIn, have the first-ever edition in your hand. Let it be known: it means the world to me.
Now, let's get started.
Ongoings
This month saw the closure of Guardian Cities, an exemplary and beloved source of reporting on the global urban phenomena. (And a model, really: what other major news organization has a section like it?) It remains to be seen where this type of coverage will live on in the Guardian, but I'm holding out hope that it'll retain prominence. Before that all went down, I was lucky enough to have the editor, Chris Michael, push through this story at the last minute that pitted my old home metro against my new home tube. One issue that I couldn't fit in was equity: something is to be said about New York's flat $2.75 fare, as opposed to London's zones and Tube-bus transfer fees. (But a correction is in order: Andy Byford is no longer New York's saving English grace. Goodbye, Andy! In hindsight, we really didn't deserve you.)
It took me all of two months living in the UK to start scrutinizing London's public transport (also: getting used to not saying transit) landscape. Specifically, for CityLab: the new TfL map! And how crazy it's getting! You might be asking: why does that matter? Because how we perceive transit systems affects our willingness to actually use them. The easier it is to understand, the more appealing it becomes. (It was fun incorporating class material on legibility and competency into this one.)
Speaking of London: I always admired TransportCamp in New York from afar, but now I have the pleasure of helping to organize the first one ever in London this March. A day full of dialogues, debates, and discussions on emerging trends and conversations happening in the transit sphere. There will even be outsiders there, like me! Keep your eyes on the prize for more information, if interested.
FYI: I currently live in Oxford, as my wonderful partner (and email subscriber - hey Ange!) pursues a master's degree as well. (Thankfully not in urban planning.) Living in Oxford has its perks: higher cycling rates than London; centuries-old pubs; immense walkability; constant geese along canal sightings. It also lands me close to folks doing important work, like PEAK Urban, which is a partnership of five global universities that encourages knowledge share around cities. I'm helping to journalize a bit of their work for a larger audience, but check out their wide range of projects in the meantime.
Not to mention Oxford Urbanists! A few months ago, I came on as the regional correspondents editor for this nifty publication, which really just means that I get to publish insightful work from contributors across the globe. This month: the local climate action happening in India; and climate change's effect on the field of architecture.
Last but not least: I can make sentences on camera! Emmett Adler and his team trailed me for years as I reported on the then-shutdown of the L train for VICE, and what it meant for New York's infrastructure. The shutdown may have never happened, but Emmett turned those reels of film into a stinging critique of America's transit crisis, and how it got this bad. Expect history lessons on car culture, urban sprawl, and maintenance backlogs. Now they need help to finish 'End of the Line,' a documentary that I believe (totally unbiased) every American and city lover should watch. Their Kickstarter will go live any day now — contribute if you feel so inclined!
In the News
Every so often, a city consumes everyone's attention for the future it shows off to the world. The mid-2000s: New York, with Times Square's pedestrianization. The early-2010s: Bogotá, for its BRT and then-ambitious mayor. The entire last decade: Scandinavia, for... everything. But right now, that star city is undoubtedly Paris, thanks to the work of Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Her nice profiles in NYT and Curbed have cemented her burgeoning reputation as a leader on urban sustainability. The city has reduced car traffic by 22 percent since 2014 and NO2 emissions by 11 percent through an unprecedented liberalization of its streets. The ongoing transit strike has tested that effort in kind: if you haven't seen the videos already, everyone seems to be biking in Paris. Will it last after service resumes? We'll see - but New Yorkers know what a transit crisis can do for cycling.
Something that stood out to me recently: Madrid's ban on cars in its city center has boosted local retail by 9.5%, according to a recent analysis. Turns out people — actual people! — enjoy shopping on streets when they're not honked at, or unable to hear each other speak. Who would've guessed? When we talk about Amazon destroying small businesses, we often overlook the low-tech basics: what makes an attractive shopping environment, and how can we encourage natural foot traffic? A street in my neighborhood has followed the same playbook with visible success, and London's TfL has known it for some time. Let's see if the same happens in Birmingham, where a similar measure was just announced. Maybe the trend of saving fledgling retail could be the winning rationale for pedestrianizing city centers everywhere.
And finally: it's hard to ignore the waste we create, and how the issue of consumption is directly tied to the climate crisis. In Oxford, it's easy to compost, and recycling is omnipresent (although it still misses a good amount). But in New York, it was tougher, and whether people were participating en masse was always unclear. Now, with Politico's great "Wasted Potential" investigation, we know that the city is greatly overestimating just how much it's actually diverting from the landfill, largely due to governmental failure. Here's a circular solution I came across in a climate change adaptation seminar: in municipalities across Uganda, compost is formally collected and sold cheaply to farmers outside of the city's borders, who then create fertile soul and healthier crops, which are then sold back to residents. And the process continues on and on. If cities everywhere want to lower their emissions from far-flung supply chains and methane-spewing waste, this seems like an obvious fix.
Leftover Food for Thought
Spotted at the Oxford train station (Photo taken by author)
"Addicted to being carried along, he has lost control over the physical, social, and psychic powers that reside in man's feet." - Ivan Illich, Energy & Equity
That's it for this edition. See your inboxes in February!