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June 21, 2006
Paving paradise for cars?
I came across an article by planning prof. Donald Shoup in UCLA Magazine (sorry no link or date) titled “Paradise Paved.”
He explaines how he tried to track down the source of this tidbit he read in a book written by two Berkeley professors: “In the United States, the automobile consumes close to half of the land area of cities; in Los Angeles, the figure approaches two-thirds.”
Turns out the tidbit was probably made up, but Shoup did find another interesting bit from an Australian researcher who writes:
- “Many years ago as a planning student, I tried to calculate the figure for Melbourne. In older areas the figure was approaching one-third—but that was largely because of the generous, colonial, pre-auto allocation of space to ‘streets.’ We discovered that the figure for the modern suburbs was well below 25 percent, suggesting, paradoxically, that urban areas designed for car use in fact devoted less land to roads and streets.”
Shoup notes that streets existed long before cars and that “the share of urban land devoted to streets may even have declined since cars arrived."
And now for the bigger picture: If you grabbed 100 people off the street and asked the how much of our nation has been developed, what do you think they'd say?
This study (pdf) by Ed Glaeser and Matthew Kahn points out that only about 5 percent of America is developed (see p. 36).
Posted by tedb at June 21, 2006 02:56 PM
I haven't been up to anything recently, but so it goes. Such is life. What can I say? Pretty much not much exciting going on to speak of. I haven't gotten much done lately, but I don't care.
Comment by: Sten74845 at January 26, 2007 03:45 PM
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Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.
Comment by: Sten28494 at January 26, 2007 08:15 PM
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retty much nothing seems worth thinking about. My life's been completely dull , not that it matters. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen.
Comment by: Sten45744 at January 27, 2007 06:40 PM
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Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't been up to much these days. I just don't have much to say right now. I can't be bothered with anything , but whatever.
Comment by: Sten39169 at January 28, 2007 05:00 PM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten53275 at January 29, 2007 05:12 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten86768 at January 29, 2007 03:35 PM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten36446 at January 29, 2007 06:47 PM
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Not much on my mind. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me , but shrug. Whatever. I feel like a void.
Comment by: Sten69395 at January 30, 2007 07:47 AM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten77085 at January 30, 2007 10:04 PM
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retty much nothing seems worth thinking about. My life's been completely dull , not that it matters. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen.
Comment by: Sten23087 at January 31, 2007 09:47 AM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten36995 at February 1, 2007 12:31 PM
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I feel like a complete blank, but I don't care. Pfft. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten27491 at February 2, 2007 02:51 PM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten1625 at February 3, 2007 12:30 AM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. Whatever. Not much on my mind lately. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten69741 at February 3, 2007 01:16 AM
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retty much nothing seems worth thinking about. My life's been completely dull , not that it matters. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen.
Comment by: Sten13701 at February 3, 2007 07:39 AM
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I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten40973 at February 3, 2007 09:37 PM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten36267 at February 5, 2007 03:13 PM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten9892 at February 5, 2007 04:33 PM
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Not much on my mind. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me , but shrug. Whatever. I feel like a void.
Comment by: Sten28199 at February 5, 2007 07:10 PM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. Whatever. Not much on my mind lately. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten28731 at February 5, 2007 09:21 PM
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I feel like an empty room, but eh. Nothing seems worth doing. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten52909 at February 6, 2007 08:13 AM
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I feel like an empty room, but eh. Nothing seems worth doing. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten52909 at February 6, 2007 08:13 AM
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