Nationwide Hyperlinks: The Politics of Air Conditioning

Daily at The Overhead Wire, we gather information about cities and ship the hyperlinks to our e-mail checklist. On the finish of the week we take a few of the hottest tales and publish them to Greater Greater Washington, a bunch weblog much like Streets.mn that focuses on city points within the D.C. area. They’re nationwide hyperlinks, typically entertaining and typically absurd, however hopefully helpful.

Air-con’s position in politics, local weather change: The appearance of air-con helped change the political panorama of the USA by permitting extra individuals to maneuver to scorching sunbelt cities and the south and permitting Congress to work yr spherical in D.C. However because the world warms as a result of local weather change, extra individuals will want air-con. However the air-con is a part of the issue because it permits for spread-out land use patterns and will increase native warmth by way of higher power use. (Joseph M. Siry | Washington Post)

Nonprofit launches housing fund to dam buyers: To make reasonably priced housing out there for longtime residents, a Milwaukee nonprofit is buying homes earlier than institutional buyers seize them. Knowledge present that 40 % of houses valued at $125,000 or much less are owned by buyers, leaving little or no out there for employees on low wages. The fund is anticipated to lift $11 million initially, which can enable this system to get began and seed future program wants. (Jeramey Jannene | Urban Milwaukee)

APA releases 2022 State of Transportation Planning: The American Planning Affiliation has launched a 324-page report on the State of Transportation Planning with an introduction by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and items on fairness, public engagement and new concepts. It’s rather a lot to digest, however there probably is one thing in there for everybody. (Various authors | American Planning Association)

E-bike credit nonetheless doable: Energetic transportation advocates are pissed off that electrical automobiles acquired enormous tax credit in the newest reconciliation invoice whereas e-bike credit had been left on the slicing room flooring. However the e-bike tax credit score that was disregarded would possibly come again later this yr in one other tax bundle. It might value $4.1 billion to offer $900 in refundable credit. (Andrew Hawkins | The Verge)

Workplace buildings on verge of midlife disaster: Practically one-third of at this time’s workplace constructing provide was produced within the Nineteen Eighties, when many cities across the nation doubled their workplace house. Lots of these buildings are getting near their 60-year helpful life and can want full renovations. Nevertheless, the slowdown in workplace leasing would possibly require full reimagining, particularly for older buildings which can be much less engaging for companies. (Patrick Sisson | Commercial Observer)

NIMBY billionaires: An article by Jerusalem Demsas reveals the “do as I say not as I do” angle towards housing development that the billionaire class holds. He shares a letter that enterprise capitalist Marc Andreessen and his spouse, Laura, wrote opposing all new multifamily housing of their metropolis of Atherton, California, even after Andreessen argued in 2020 that Silicon Valley wanted extra housing. (Jerusalem Demsas | The Atlantic)

Quote of the Week

“The sooner you go, the extra all bets are off. There’s a pace restrict for a cause, and the sooner you go, the extra issues occur which can be all dangerous.”

UCLA emergency room physician Mark Morocco within the Los Angeles Times after a high-speed crash in Los Angeles left six individuals useless

This week on the podcast, architecture journalist Alexandra Lange joins us to speak about her ebook, Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside Historical past of the Mall.

Photograph at prime courtesy of Sergei A on Unsplash

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