Good day my good friend.

Keeping things short today. It’s nothing you’ve done, but lets just say that today (Sunday) has not been a good day.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

Sustainable transport increases property values

Fans of the whole ‘sustainable urbanism gentrifies areas’ debate will love this latest research into the impacts of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on property values in the US. Research that indicates that on-road BRT could increase property values.

Overall model results show a mix of appreciation, depreciation, and no change in residential properties value across different BRT systems. Multi-family properties nearby BRTs with on-street dedicated lanes generally experienced the most appreciation while single-family properties around off-street busway systems experienced depreciation.

We could now be in a conundrum if we are looking to achieve low carbon, sustainable, and just goals. With sustainable transport infrastructure often being charged with gentrifying areas, with varying levels of evidence, could our attempts to achieve net zero have unintended consequences?

Measuring sentiment means that you are measuring noise, not signals. The autonomous car edition

I do like research articles that perform sentiment analysis. They are useful in terms of understanding the current direction of important debates. But they carry a single flaw. All it does in measure noise. It does not derive meaning, nor does it identify the driving forces in debates – merely linked ideas and perspectives. This excellent analysis of autonomous car debates in the European Union is a great example.

To understand the sentiment expressed, you need to dig into the data behind it. In this case, data from Eurobarometer. Then think about undertaking analysis that identifies what is driving the sentiment that is being expressed publicly. Then, you start to understand sentiment, and potentially start to shape it.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope they do just that.

• Road to table: Wyoming’s got a new app for claiming roadkill (ABC News)

• Tax the land (Vox)

• Walk like a Roman in this digital reconstruction of the ancient city (Aeon)

• Bank of Beijing Shanghai Branch became the first “green bank” in Shanghai to achieve carbon neutrality at the operational level in 2021 (What China Reads)

• Ugandan communities battle to benefit from mining on their land (Al Jazeera)

Something interesting

Wild animals and trains. This is a long video, but it is worth every second.

Things for a better world

This is a new, weekly collection of transport strategies, experiments, and cool projects looking to create a better world that you should find out more about. Not only that, you should think about adapting and doing yourself.

Strategies

• Transport for London’s Bus Action Plan (Transport for London)

• West Midlands Local Transport Plan 5 (Transport for West Midlands)

• Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Revenue Strategy (Portland Bureau of Transportation)

• Tallinn 2035 Development Strategy 2035 (City of Tallinn)

• A Transport Strategy for York 2022 (York Civic Trust)

Experiments

• Planting sunflowers by drone (YouTube)

• Camden High Line – Playbook with young residents of the Maiden Lane Estate (Street Space)

• Project Plateau – The Japanese City Digital Twin (Japanese Ministry for Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism)

• Gothenburg Green City Zone (Invest in Gothenburg)

• Pittsburgh Equitable Mobility Pilot (NUMO)

Cool projects

• Alfred Place, London – part of the West End Project (London Borough of Camden)

• Usalama wa Uma – Flone Initiative’s Public Safety Certificate Program for women’s safety on public transport (Flone Initiative)

• 130km of temporary bike lanes to support safe travel in Mexico City (Cycling Mayor’s Office of Mexico City)

• Cycle / Foot Traffic Growth in Northern England (ODI Leeds)

• The International Organization for Standardization formally adopts global parking data specification (Alliance for Parking Data Standards)

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Crissy Ditmore’s Mobility Minute’s have been must-views throughout the pandemic, and this latest one is no exception. When it comes to helping women in transport, talk is cheap. Just do.