congestion

Jonas Eliasson gives an excellent TEDx talk on Congestion pricing.[read more]

  We have long known that residents of smart-growth neighborhoods – those with central locations, walkable streets, nonsprawling densities, and a good mix of shops and amenities – drive significantly less than do residents of spread-out suburban subdivisions.  But, writing in his blog hosted by Planetizen, Todd Litman reports...[read more]

Big cities have lots of congestion. Big cities have lots of accessibility. Does this mean that accessibility causes congestion? Or vice-versa?[read more]

The way we get around our cities is a critical factor in their sustainability. Here are 5 of the best blog posts we’ve featured on This Big City in 2011 exploring that very topic: Is the Supervia Highway a Wrong Turn for Mexico City? ‘While urban highways are being destroyed around the world, Mexico City is preparing to build another one...[read more]

A sustainable city requires more than just a sustainable built environment. Social sustainability is critical, something This Big City often focuses on. Here’s 5 of our best blog posts on social sustainability published in 2011: True Love & Congestion: The Social Effects of Congested Cities Referencing a 1966 Argentinian novel and...[read more]

Having exceeded air safety limits 56 times in 2011, Rome is limiting vehicle use in hopes of pushing pollution levels down. Photo by zenra. With climate talks taking place in Durban this week, all eyes have been on South Africa. But whether climate discussions yield binding targets or not, cities around the world are suffering the very...[read more]

As former mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, said, "Trying to solve traffic problems by building more roads is like putting out a fire with gasoline." Photo by Joe Wolf. Congestion is not an easy beast to tame for cities around the world. Building more roads and increasing the capacity of public transport does little to improve...[read more]

What will it take to strike a balance between all road users? Photo by Will Vanlue. A recent study out of the London School of Medicine found that in comparing walking to cycling on London’s congested roads, bicyclists tend to have a higher concentration of carbon deposit in their lungs. We previously covered this story as part of our...[read more]

With a dismal 2% of all trips made by bicycle in London, now seems like a good time to change our approach to cycling in the British capital. Earlier this year, Gordon Macrae wrote a piece for This Big City tackling that very subject. Calling it ‘time to reach beyond the young, macho or ultra-fit typically associated with urban...[read more]

Last week, officials in Los Angeles unveiled the city’s newest bike lane, reports the Los Angeles Times. The 2.2-mile bike lane along 7th Street from Catalina Avenue in Koreatown to Figueroa Street in downtown eliminates an entire car lane and instead dedicates the space to the approximately 27,000 bicyclists who ride in Los Angeles every day.[read more]

The number of cars on the world’s roads surpassed one billion last year, according to a study that has spurred debate on what the rapidly-growing car population will mean for the world’s economy and environment. According to a report from Ward’s Auto released last week, the global number of cars exceeded 1.015 billion in 2010, jumping from from 980 million the year before.[read more]

Congestion problems are different in every city, as are the solutions. Here are five cities with five different congestion innovations, each of which has been featured on This Big City in the last two years: Amsterdam – Congestion in Amsterdam is not only caused by cars. With the average Amsterdammer owning 1.5 bicycles, it’s...[read more]