There are as many models in the world as there are agendas. This is a particularly difficult lesson for those in the planning and policy fields who like to believe that models – particularly ones that give them the answers they want – can help them make precise predictions. Predictions are tricky, especially about the future.
Read MoreThe megaproject is the least-dumb idea that consensus provides.
Read MoreOur challenge is not bringing order to successful chaos but creating successful chaos within a well-ordered failure.
Read MoreA continued look at a Nassim Nicholas Taleb speech titled Small is Beautiful, but also Less Fragile.
Read MoreThis week Chuck Marohn dissects a speech that Nassim Nicholas Taleb gave recently titled Small is Beautiful, but also Less Fragile. This is part one of two on this subject.
Read MoreAmerica’s cities don’t need more growth. What they desperately need is a different development pattern, one that restores the resiliency and financial productivity of the pre-automobile approach to a modern America.
Read MoreTexting while driving is a very real problem. The cause of the problem, however, isn’t recklessness but an incorrect perception of safety on behalf of drivers who feel little risk in texting. We can write all the anti-distracted driving laws we want but, at best, we will only displace the problem, replacing texting with some other distraction. To really address this problem, we need to be willing to incorporate driver psychology, including risk response, into our engineering approach.
Read MoreWorking from the top down, with efficiency as our greatest value, we can bring about great change in a short time with limited resources. What we give up with that approach is resiliency.
Read MoreThe concept of investing (other people's) money in order to make money is not one that local governments should be pursuing.
Read MoreWe have to stop looking at the stagnation and decline of our blocks and neighborhoods as a normal part of the development process.
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