A Perfect City

David Byrne (founding member of the Talking Heads) wrote an excellent essay about what makes a good city.

There's a certain attractiveness to New Orleans, Mexico City or Naples—where you get the sense that though some order exists, it's an order of a fluid and flexible nature. Sometimes too flexible, but a little bit of that sense of excitement and possibility is something I'd wish for in a city. A little touch of chaos and danger makes a city sexy.

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Via Amy U.

Imaginary Suburbs

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Via Planetizen

How Much do Densification Efforts Help the Environment?

Tyler Cowen, one of my favorite economists online, spots a study that quantifies the environmental gains that result from land use policies that curb urban sprawl. Interesting conclusion:

The environmental benefits of checking pro-suburb subsidies are real, but they are smaller than many people think. That's from the National Academy of Sciences and the authors are no haters of the environment. If you check out p.59, you'll see that a forty percent increase in population density decreases vehicle miles traveled by less than five percent.

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Via Marginal Revolution