There’s scarcely any evidence that proximity to jobs matters for escaping poverty. One of the most popular and persistent theories of urban poverty is that the poor are poor because they don’t live particularly close to jobs. John Kain popularized…
Too much economic development policy is based on a naive analogy to portfolio theory Cities looking to strengthen their economies should concentrate on building upon and extending current specializations One of the most widely agreed upon bits of folk wisdom…
What City Observatory did this week 1. What super-commuters really mean. Media coverage of super-commuters–people who travel more than 90 minutes each way to and from work–is invariably sympathetic, treating these folks as hapless victims, and lamenting the congestion on…
Carbon emissions from transportation in Portland increased 6 percent last year In the one are where city policy can make the most difference, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing Portland has long prided itself in being one of the first cities…
Super-commuting is a really a plea for more housing and better transit If long distance commutes are up, its probably because gas prices are so low If you’re covering the transportation beat, the plight of the poor super-commuter is a…