BigMediaMatt notes in A Spectrum of Places that the there is a huge difference in the way we organize our cities, noting Ben Adler’s article A Tale of Two Exurbs:

Leesburg, Virginia, is the archetypal American exurb. Named after an ancestor of Robert E. Lee, it is the seat of Loudoun County, 35 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. — the farthest true suburb west of Washington.
…
Much of Kentlands is taken up with large, expensive-looking, single-family homes. But they are close together, so that the town has sufficient density to support walking and transit use. The houses vary in architectural style, but they have one common quality: They are not hidden behind a giant garage. Many of the homes have ample parking, but it is set either behind the house in an alleyway or alongside the house down a narrow path. Likewise, every tree-lined block has a sidewalk on both sides. There are cars parked along the road, creating a buffer between people and the moving cars and helping to slow traffic.

Adler notes that many exurbs don’t fully understand that they have the power to create walkable urbanism. Walkable urbanism, according to Christopher Leinberger, requires a minimum FAR of 0.8. I’ve noted before that the prized small town centers exurban residents love are not legal under existing zoning rules meet or exceed this minimum FAR. But as Leesburg’s Mayor Kristen Umstattd explains:

“I think the downtown is very charming, so if you were to have new development that is what I’d want to see,” Umstattd says. But she, like every Leesburg and Loudoun County planning official that I interviewed, seems to be waiting for private developers to propose this type of development — she doesn’t believe the Town Council should make it mandatory.

This is insane. Of course you have the political right to make it mandatory and of course private development will not build what you want when you make it both illegal (through zoning rules) and unprofitable. That is what zoning rules are about.
I often wonder if exurban mayors and administrators would be more receptive to walkable urbanity if they were better educated on this subject matter.

F Line, originally uploaded by plemeljr

Geary Street in San Francisco runs from Market Street in the east through the western suburbs to the Ocean and is a vital east-west corridor. So A Tale of Geary Street is a great concise history of the unique transit issues on Geary Street:

As was true all over San Francisco, transit on Geary Street began not with the streetcar, but with the cable car. In 1880, the Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railroad commenced cable car service.
…
We simply do not have the luxury of waiting decades to fix Geary. An outbound 38-Geary bus begins its westward journey at the Transbay Terminal, but a mere three or four stops later, the long, articulated bus may already be standing room only.
…
Whatever you want to call it: Geary and Van Ness are both in the midst of study and review — not for subways this time around, but for bus rapid transit. Coupled with the amenities that typify modern light rail construction, BRT’s dedicated bus lanes would capture some of the benefits of rail at reduced cost, freeing up money that could then be applied to other transit corridors in need of improvement. The possibility of building light rail in a future phase is kept on the books; but what’s more likely is that Geary and Van Ness, two of the highest ridership corridors in the City, will become centerpieces of a citywide network of rapid buses, functioning as a complement to the Muni Metro light rail system that the B-Geary was not lucky enough to have already become part of.

Nine years ago I lived on Geary and Van Ness and regularly took the 38 Geary home until I got tired of being a sardine and began taking the California Cable Car to and from work. Where the 38 (and 1 California) were sad, claustrophobic tin cans, the cable car was a joy to ride daily; trundling up and down the hills, in and out of morning fog, the wood carriage groaned with every start and stop.
Even back then, Geary needed a dedicated transit right of way – namely a subway (be it light or heavy rail). San Francisco being San Francisco, nothing moves quickly. So nearly a decade later, the problem persists.

Bus Stop in Curitiba, originally uploaded by llvsboston

Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, originally uploaded by GIAN.F

One of the hundreds of feeds in my feedreader is the Archinect Job Board, a super-condensed job board for architects (by architects). So today, I had to laugh when I saw Kiernan Quinn’s posting as a Cheif (sic) Designer. Not only is Quinn not an employer looking for a future employee, but his job posting (since deleted) is a work of art. Note, below is a verbatim copy of the since-removed posting at Archinect:

I am a cheif designer who graduate some years ago from MIT. As a result of graduating from MIT #1 in my class I have discovered that IVY Leagures and State Schoolers are paid to prevent me from reaching the right firm for work. To date I have passed the Architecture License exam and designed and built over 10,000 buildings world wide. However, NCARB and local states due to my extensive talent adn skill are not allowing my rights as an architect to pass through the US registration router. Locally in MA it is a stronghold in Woburn MA underneath the Charette Facility managed by Harvard National Guard stooges given positions for attending and paid to hack the computers where I work and interfere in all product purchases, my wages, banking and clients lives. Due to their effort I have become extremely talented at custom design with typically available construction products to allow the contractor to visit home depot rather than get stalled by EPA harvard graduates pulling over truck shipments for a love favor at the Fort Meade assembly of Delta Farce(National Guard) meeting home for Williams and Ivy grads in the play of router life.
This skill and talent is hard to market. So, I offer myself as the job and leave it to anyone to contact me and find out how to profit.
My needs are a straight wage under 1099 rules and a design fee for each design paid at the outset in 50% and at the end in the remainder 50% as a typical contract reads. Up to date the design fees have been impossible to collect due to IVY and Williams and Michigan graduates occupy the halls of Justice with brovado from mead bathrooms that smell of illegal activity of the love origin of similar sexes. Thi is my other condition, I am only interested in females for love and life, so keep the pardon me in your private life if you are that way.
Feel free to contact me if you want architecture and design that meets need, beauty, budget and scope in atimely and legal manner.
Kiernan Quinn

I so hope this is for real.

• The Catacombs of Rome in 3D
• Where Are You in the Movie?
• Selgas Cano Architecture Office by Iwan Baan
• There’s a Cap in Cap & Trade
• Fifty Cars Equals One Bus
• How Google’s book-scanner cleverly corrects for the curvature of an open book
• Bendy map of Manhattan
• Climate and Obstruction