It has become fairly common to blame Uber (and ridesharing in general) for increased traffic congestion. I hear it all the time: “If only there weren’t so many Ubers on the road, traffic would flow more freely.” While there are studies suggesting that “deadheading” miles do have a negative impact and that Uber can draw people away from public transit (that’s bad), I think it’s important to consider the bigger picture here. So let’s try and do that today. Firstly, let’s think about who traffic congestion directly impacts (indirectly it’s everyone). If you’re a pedestrian, you don’t care about t ..read more

Grocery shopping is one of those things that — despite a lot of people really trying — has remained a stubbornly in-person activity. However, the pandemic did give online grocery shopping a significant boost, and lot of that has stuck, even if it has been trending slightly downward from its peak. Here are a few slides from Dan Frommer’s Consumer Trends: 2024 Food & Wellness Special report: Part of the challenge may be that the majority of people say they actually like grocery shopping, and doing so in a physical store: So it is very possible that, for the foreseeable future, there will a ..read more

This morning, I went cycling with my good friend Austin Kjorven up in Milton. And it was a stark reminder that he is an athlete and holds a Guinness World Record, and that I spend the vast majority of my days sitting at a desk. I’m excited for more riding this summer. Happy May long weekend, everyone ..read more

Last year, I wrote about how Salt Lake City wants to build a new linear park around its downtown. That post can be found, here. Fast forward to today, and the city’s Department of Economic Development has just published a new comprehensive 215-page study that supports turning Main Street into a pedestrian promenade. Specifically, the area running from South Temple to 400 South, and including 100 South from Main to West Temple: As part of the study, they highlight a number of successful case studies from around the world, including 16th Street Mall in Denver, Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne, a ..read more

As of November 2023, it was estimated that there were 988,000 homes under construction in multi-family buildings containing 5 or more units. This is in comparison to 680,000 single-family homes, according to US Census data. (Looking at the below graph, it’s also interesting to see how the supply of single-family homes dropped off after the global financial crisis and multi-family apartments took off.) All of this means that in 2024, the US is on track to complete more apartments than it has in many many decades. In fact, exactly similar to what we experienced here in Toronto, if you want to f ..read more

I had a dinner in the suburbs this evening. And so in the afternoon today, I opened up Google Maps to figure out how I was going to get there. I didn’t have my car with me — because I hate driving into the office — so in my mind, I was either going to take transit or take an Uber. These are the time estimates that Google gave me: It was going to take me over 4 hours to walk there. Over an hour to drive there. And 47 minutes to take the train there. Interestingly enough, cycling was also going to be faster than driving. As soon as I saw this, I shut down the app and decided I would take the tr ..read more

Seun Sangga is Seoul’s first mixed-use complex. Constructed between 1967 and 1972, the elaborate structure sits atop a strip of land measuring 50 m x 1.2 km, which had been flatted during the Second World War as a way to contain the spread of fire in the event of an air raid and to act as an evacuation corridor. It’s a modernist development that is very much of this period. It’s massive, complicated in section and, in many ways, completely disconnected from its surrounding urban context. Flanking the various buildings are elevated and covered walkways. So it is perhaps not surprising that this ..read more

In other words, are tall buildings a prerequisite to competing in today’s global economy? It’s an interesting question. And Jason Barr — professor of economics at Rutgers University-Newark — does think they are an important ingredient. So much so that he wrote a book on the topic called, Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers. While Jason does acknowledge that not every city needs them, he does suggest that not having them could hinder a global city: If you look at Paris’ global ranking in terms of its importance in the world economy, as measured by the siz ..read more

A few days ago, Waymo announced (on X) that its robotaxis are now doing more than 50,000 paid trips every week across Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. This means that the company is getting an average of 300 bookings every hour or five bookings every minute. And if you add in Austin, where it’s currently offering a limited number of rides, the company has completed a total of over one million rider-only trips. In the announcement, Waymo also went on to say that “fully autonomous ride-hailing is a reality and a preferred mobility option for people navigating their cities every day.” All ..read more

Oftentimes, it feels like there is a perception that developers price new housing with the fattest of margins. Meaning, if only developers were less greedy, housing could be more affordable. But as we have spoken about many times before, real estate development is a competitive industry; therefore, projects happen on the margin. Ordinarily, the prices you see are the result of a cost-plus pricing strategy. Developers figure out what it will cost to build and develop, they add on a margin that they think their investors will accept, and then they determine what sticker prices they need to make ..read more