Top 5 Stories from the Week (Aug 13-Aug 17, 2018)

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1. "I Don't Give a (Bleep) About Akron!"

by Charles Marohn | August 13, 2018

Akron, Ohio’s subsidies for redevelopment of the failed Rolling Acres mall are a textbook case of the sunk cost fallacy: the tendency to examine new opportunities not on their own merit, but in the context of past investments.

2. The Activation Energy of a Walkable Place

by Daniel Herriges | August 14, 2018

Is it magical thinking to expect the transition from car-dependent to walkable places to happen organically? When, and how, do we need a catalyst to jump-start that process?

3. Why Drivers Should Support Bike Lanes

by Rachel Quednau | August 15, 2018

Here are 3 reasons why drivers should be celebrating and championing bike lanes, not lamenting them.

4. A LOSing Proposition

by Sarah Kobos | August 14, 2018

By overemphasizing vehicle Level of Service (LOS) we justify expensive, overbuilt streets that are dangerously inhospitable to people—just so drivers won’t be inconvenienced during peak travel times.

5. Learning to Love a Humble Neighborhood

by Nolan Gray | August 13, 2018

Perhaps we should spend more time trying to understand and appreciate the humble, marginally better neighborhoods that are already tucked away in our cities. Here’s one such neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky.

(Top photo source: Nicholas Eckhart via Flickr. Creative Commons license.)

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