Bio City - POLITICO Magazine. Does Boston Need More Supermarkets? - Real estate news. EVERYTHING -> {lastPubDate=20150331183441, author={picture=, twitter=, source=Boston.com Staff, email=, name=By Julie Xie @julieyinxie}, bodyContent= “We went hard after Whole Foods,” said Ted Tye, a managing partner at National Development. His Newton-based development company oversaw the six-acre Ink Block project in the South End, where a 50,000 square-foot Whole Foods opened in January. Tye and his team did talk to other grocery stores. “But we felt Whole Foods was the closest match to our brand. They’re green, they’re innovative, and they cater to a more upscale market and provide a lot of amenities,” he said. Leasing and sales at Ink Block have been “off the charts,” Tye added. The natural and organic foods supermarket is the first of several grocery stores slated to open in Boston, mirroring one of the city’s biggest development booms.
When completed, Ink Block will have created 398 additional residential units (315 apartments for rent and 83 condos for sale) in the South End. Explicit cookie consent. BUY land, advised Mark Twain; they’re not making it any more. In fact, land is not really scarce: the entire population of America could fit into Texas with more than an acre for each household to enjoy. What drives prices skyward is a collision between rampant demand and limited supply in the great metropolises like London, Mumbai and New York. In the past ten years real prices in Hong Kong have risen by 150%.
Residential property in Mayfair, in central London, can go for as much as £55,000 ($82,000) per square metre. Even in these great cities the scarcity is artificial. The costs of this misfiring property market are huge, mainly because of their effects on individuals. Metro stops Two long-run trends have led to this fractured market. What those cities have not regained is their historical ability to stretch in order to accommodate all those who want to come.
A good thing, too, say many. However well these arguments go down in local planning meetings, they wilt on closer scrutiny. Scientists Show How Too Many Cars Lead to Spontaneous Traffic Jams - News and reviews. You’ve all been there: Crawling through rush hour traffic, surrounded by cars on all sides, when – suddenly – you’re not! You didn’t pass a roadside accident or navigate a congested merging lane, but for no reason at all you’re now clear to floor it. And you’re thinking, what was the deal with that traffic jam, anyway? Turns out it took a group of Japanese physicists to demonstrate the answer. This video from a 2008 study published in the New Journal of Physics shows how traffic jams can spontaneously appear and spread on roads near the limit of their carrying capacity. Researchers from a number of Japanese universities put 22 cars on a circular track and told the drivers to maintain a constant speed. They did for a while, until human error led to tiny differences in speed that caused some drivers to get slightly closer to the cars in front of them.
To quote the scientists, “It takes a period of time for the fluctuations to grow enough to break down the free flow. Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network. Berliner Kinder: Berlin and its playborhoods. You’ve heard my fellow Placeshaker, Scott Doyon, say Smart Growth = Smart Parenting. More than once, actually. As well as how living in a walkable neighbourhood may shape our children. I’ve also talked about how my winter city, Winnipeg, nurtures active kids, as well as put some of those ideas into a TEDxTalk. Last week, walking around Berlin, my 10-year old pointed out the exceptional numbers of downtown kids, and really enjoyed hanging out in some of the neighborhood parks. Our favorite was Kolle 37, which for a kid’s experience truly hit it out of the park.
Project for Public Spaces does a great job of telling why it works, so I’ll just share some of our stash of images and a few back-of-the-envelope thoughts. Much of what we’ve written about walkable urbanism and kids is all about resisting the urge to be helicopter parents that raise fragile, teacup children. This sort of cultural inclination to allow and encourage hands-on building must contribute to German engineering prowess? Meet the Next Waterfront Hot Spot: Seaport Square - Videos. In A Dutch Town, A Glowing Bike Path Inspired By Van Gogh. Artist Dan Roosegaarde pays tribute to Vincent Van Gogh's painting Starry Night by creating this bike path in Van Gogh's hometown of Eindhoven. (Courtesy of Studio Roosegaarde) In the Dutch town of Eindhoven, artist Daan Roosegaarde has paid homage to its most famous resident, Vincent Van Gogh, by creating a glowing bike path that relies on solar-powered LED lights and interprets his classic painting Starry Night.
Roosegaarde says he wants his work, illuminated by thousands of twinkling blue and green lights, to speak to everyone. "You have people who are interested in technology to make landscapes which are energy neutral," he tells NPR. "You have people interested in cultural history and experiencing it in a contemporary way. And, he adds, "You have an artist like me who wants to create something just incredibly poetic; and all that comes together. As we reported last week, another Dutch town, Krommenie, installed solar panels on a bike commuter path outside Amsterdam. People-oriented Cities: Demystifying transit-oriented development. What's Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse. Stuart Dee/Getty I grew up in Los Angeles, the city by the freeway by the sea. And if there’s one thing I’ve known ever since I could sit up in my car seat, it’s that you should expect to run into traffic at any point of the day.
Yes, commute hours are the worst, but I’ve run into dead-stop bumper-to-bumper cars on the 405 at 2 a.m. As a kid, I used to ask my parents why they couldn’t just build more lanes on the freeway. Maybe transform them all into double-decker highways with cars zooming on the upper and lower levels. Except, as it turns out, that wouldn’t work. Because if there’s anything that traffic engineers have discovered in the last few decades it’s that you can’t build your way out of congestion. What's Up With That Each week, we'll explain the science behind a strange phenomenon that you may be wondering about, or may be hearing about for the first time right here. But before we get to the solutions, we have to take a closer look at the problem.
The Physics of Gridlock - The Atlantic. What causes traffic jams? The depressing answer may be nothing at all. BERTRAND Russell once observed that animal behaviorists studying the problem-solving abilities of chimpanzees consistently seemed to detect in their experimental subjects the "national characteristics" of the scientists themselves. A divergence in the findings of the practical-minded Americans and the theoretically inclined Germans was particularly apparent.
Animals studied by Americans rush about frantically, with an incredible display of hustle and pep, and at last achieve the desired result by chance. Animals observed by Germans sit still and think, and at last evolve the solution out of their inner consciousness. In science, Germans tend to come up with things like the uncertainty principle.
The latest field to host this conflict of national styles is one that seems at first glance to offer little prospect of a sporting contest. Such mathematical discoveries do seem to be borne out in the real world. Mayor Walsh Report Calls For More Affordable Housing - Real estate news. Missing: Developers who want to build middle-class housing in Boston. Last spotted speeding west on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Please contact Mayor Marty Walsh at 617-635-4500 with any information on whereabouts. The middle of the Hub’s housing market has gone missing. Developers are focused on building downtown luxury towers and middle class buyers are slowly squeezed out of the market, the Walsh Administration warns in a new report.
“Boston 2030” calls for enticing developers with tax incentives and favorable deals on land, among other carrots, in the hopes of spurring the construction of thousands of moderately priced condos and apartments over the next decade and half. Mid-priced homes are needed to head off an exodus of middle-class homeowners and buyers to the suburbs. Those middle-class homeowners have been all but priced out of seven of the city’s 15 neighborhoods and struggling in several others, according to a 140-page report by city housing officials released today. This_is_smart_growth. Toronto Urban Sprawl Compared to Other Cities. One of my favourite things to do when I'm on one of my urban research binges (as I imagine all of us on this site tend to be plagued with from time to time) is to look at cities on Google Earth to see what they look like from space, how the city developed, where new development seems to be taking place, etc. I don't know why this fascinates me so much, but it does.It's interesting to look at cities from above, because only then can you truly understand how some cities can boast having 5000 people/km yet not have many highrises, while other cities have world famous skylines, but have an urban density of less than 1000 people/km.
What I haven't done before though is compare cities head-to-head before by taking screen captures at the same scale and viewing them next to each other. From these pictures it becomes much more apparent how each city values urban density. Smart Growth Principles. "Smart growth" is a collection of land use and development principles that aim to enhance our quality of life, preserve the natural environment, and save money over time. Smart growth principles ensure that growth is fiscally, environmentally and socially responsible and recognizes the connections between development and quality of life. Smart growth enhances and completes communities by placing priority on infill, redevelopment, and densification strategies. The smart growth principles are: Mix land uses. Each neighbourhood has a mixture of homes, retail, business, and recreational opportunities.Build well-designed compact neighbourhoods.
Residents can choose to live, work, shop and play in close proximity. People can easily access daily activities, transit is viable, and local businesses are supported.Provide a variety of transportation choices. Our Position on Greenfield Development Alternatives to Greenfields. Urban Planning | Utile, Inc. Architecture + Planning. Visualizing MBTA Data.
American cities are haunted by too many parking spaces. (Photo: Thinkstock | Photodisc) American car culture may be declining, but much of our urban infrastructure remains steadfastly centered around the automobile. Planning choices made in the heyday of car ownership may prove incompatible with a rising generation of consumers who seem remarkably disinterested in driving. “In the ’50s and ’60s, cities did things like subsidize garage parking, and they condemned buildings so the lots could be used for parking,” says Norman Garrick, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Connecticut. Many, he adds, still require a minimal number of parking spots to be added for each new development. But it turns out that all the parking doesn’t pay off. Related gallery: 10 U.S. cities with the worst traffic jams A pair of forthcoming studies by Garrick and several of his UConn colleagues examine the economic and sociological impacts of parking trends in six U.S. cities from 1960 to 2000.
A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue. WASHINGTON — As America's road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see a solution in a little black box that fits neatly by the dashboard of your car. The devices, which track every mile a motorist drives and transmit that information to bureaucrats, are at the center of a controversial attempt in Washington and state planning offices to overhaul the outdated system for funding America's major roads.
The usually dull arena of highway planning has suddenly spawned intense debate and colorful alliances. Libertarians have joined environmental groups in lobbying to allow government to use the little boxes to keep track of the miles you drive, and possibly where you drive them — then use the information to draw up a tax bill. PHOTOS: Kelley Blue Book's 10 best 'green' cars The tea party is aghast. And while Congress can't agree on whether to proceed, several states are not waiting. "This really is a must for our nation. The U.S. Project to build apartment complex at One Canal St. moves forward - Business news.
Boston-based real estate developer Trinity Financial Inc. and Apartment Investment and Management Co., or AIMCO, said that they have entered into an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to build a $190 Million, 12-story building at One Canal St. in the historic Bulfinch Triangle neighborhood of downtown Boston. Located near TD Garden, one block from North Station and near the North End, the project, known as One Canal, will include 310 units of housing, 147 parking spaces, and ground-floor retail that is designed to accommodate a supermarket, the developers said in a press release. The project will be built on Department of Transportation parcels under a 99-year ground lease. Aimco, a large owner and operator of apartment communities, will own and operate One Canal after its completion. The project involves construction spanning the MBTA Orange and Green Lines and the Central Artery. What Causes Sprawl?
Urban sprawl is generally defined as low-density residential and commercial development on previously undeveloped land. Those who oppose sprawl seek to preserve open space by concentrating future construction in already developed areas. At least 19 states have established either state growth-management laws or task forces to protect farmland and open space. Dozens of cities and counties have adopted urban growth boundaries to contain development in existing areas and prevent the spread of urbanization to outlying and rural areas. Despite the apparent popularity of antisprawl initiatives, the United States is in no danger of running out of open space.
Only 5 percent of all land in the United States is developed, according to the U.S. Furthermore, antisprawl policies seldom take into account the extent to which government policies have exacerbated the problems created by development and the failure of previous attempts to limit growth. What Causes Sprawl? Does Government Cause Sprawl? Meet the Mayoral Candidates: How would you curb congestion? - Boston.comment.
Mayor Thomas Menino pushes plan to boost Boston housing production - Real estate news. This is a summary. To read the whole story subscribe to BostonGlobe.com Mayor Thomas M. Menino is proposing to reach his ambitious goal of building 30,000 homes in Boston by allowing taller building with smaller units, selling public land to developers at a discount, and using subsidies to spur development of more affordable housing, according to a blueprint to be released Monday. The plan begins with quick steps that could significantly alter the landscape before Menino’s term ends.
Those steps include selling large chunks of city property, and increasing fees on developers to help fund affordable housing. Although 25,000 of the new units would be priced at market rates, Menino is proposing to increase subsidies and other assistance to make homes more affordable to middle-income households. “We don’t want to be a city of the rich and poor,” Menino said. Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers. Get the full story with unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com.
Just 99 cents for four weeks. State to begin innovative rail service between Seaport District and Back Bay - Business news. Study: America will soon see Labor Day-like traffic, all year long. UN-HABITAT .:. Improving Cities. Greenbelt Ontario - Urban Sprawl. Whoa! 1.7 billion cars on the road by 2035. Two projects to revitalize Roxbury boulevardDevelopment planned along Melnea Cass.