Advocates of sustainable transportation are sometimes charged with elitism and criticized for being out of touch with the mainstream of America. A new exhibit of photographs showing in Los Angeles, "Without a Car in the World: 100 Car-Less Angelenos Tell Stories of Living in LA," graphically makes the point that the people who have the […]

Chain stores. A lot of people hate them because they often muscle out local businesses that give a neighborhood character (the excellent film Twilight Becomes Night documents this painful loss in New York City). But clearly a lot of people vote with their pocketbooks by spending money in chains. And the question of the effects […]

Today on the Streetsblog Network, a couple of very thought-provoking posts. First, Living Car-Free in BigD calls jaywalking an indicator of livability, connected to the idea of the woonerf, or shared street space. Car-Free’s author notes how in his city — where jaywalking is not the norm — a good traffic day for pedestrians is […]

Today on the Streetsblog Network, Portlandize is talking about freedom — the freedom to move about your community without fear, the liberty to make use of public spaces as a human being, not as the operator of a motor vehicle. It’s a post that gets to the heart of the issues we talk about on […]

From Michigan’s M-Bike.org, a story of misplaced priorities. Apparently the Michigan State Senate unanimously voted this week to strike down a law that prohibited drivers from hanging possibly distracting objects from their rear-view mirrors. The measure is popularly know as "the fuzzy dice bill." As M-Bike.org points out, the same lawmakers can’t seem to find […]

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we’re looking at a post from Kaid Benfield on NRDC Switchboard about smart growth and how to make it more affordable. The answer, in a nutshell, is to build more of it — and the market tells us the demand is there. Benfield writes about a recent paper by Todd […]

Today from Biking in LA, some thoughts on how to sell the idea of bicycle boulevards to non-cycling homeowners: Wouldn’t this street look nicer as a bike boulevard? The simple fact is, not many people want a bike boulevard on their street. At least, not until they understand what it actually means. And that’s our […]

Today, a bit of a Transatlantic love on the Streetsblog Network, as Copenhagenize posts about a new paper on how to increase bicycling rates from Rutgers urban planning prof John Pucher. Copenhagenize’s Mikael Colville-Andersen writes: Rutgers urban planning professor John Pucher’s new paper talks about ways to increase the use of bicycles. The newest paper […]

Anyone who regularly uses a bicycle for transportation in the United States knows the feeling — the nagging anxiety about what will happen when you arrive at your destination, especially if it’s a place you’ve never been on your bike before. Will there be a place to lock up? Will security guards be helpful or […]

A few exciting technology-related items have come over the transom in the past couple of days.  First, courtesy of Streetsblog Network member Living Car-Free in Big D, news of Walkshed, a prototype web application to measure walkability. Building on the concept embodied by the popular Walk Score app — which allows users to see what […]

In honor of International Walk to School Day, we’re going to look at a post from Minnesota’s Twin Cities about what you might call Wouldn’t It Be Great If You Could Walk Your Kid to Preschool Day. Streetsblog Network member Net Density makes the excellent point that for parents of preschool-age children, having child care […]