The Handbuilt City - Dispatches from the Rust Belt

Infrastructure Works: Returning To My Native East Coast

July 30, 2021July 30, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments dc metro, lyft, transit, Uber

My temporary DC digs are a 40-minute commute from the office. They’re also a 40-minute drive from the office. What is this magical land I’ve arrived in?!

Transit infrastructure Ecology Streetscaping

Greener Streets, Safer Streets: Less Flooding Through Better Transportation Infrastructure

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments albedo, bioretention, bioswale, black locust, buffer, climate, climate adaptation, climate change, climate resilience, detroit flooding, detroit street grid, flooding, floodwater, floodwaters, green stormwater infrastructure, GSI, hardscaping, impervious, mdot, MDOT engineers, pervious, rain, rainwater, rainwater detention, rainwater retention, resilient, resilient infrastructure, riparian buffer, road engineering, safe streets, shade trees, storms, street grid, street grids, street trees, streets, traffic calming, urban heat island, vision zero, water infiltration, water treatment, weather, woonerf

In the aftermath of a catastrophic flooding event a few weeks ago, Detroiters cleaned out their basements of water-damaged and

St. Louis Movements & Organizing

In This Most Righteous Struggle: The St. Louis General Strike of 1877

July 22, 2021July 22, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1877, al-muqanna, general strike, howard zinn, khorassan, KKK, ku klux klan, labor, labor movement, labor movement in the united states, labor movements, lalla rookh, long depression, mardi gras, mistick krewe of comus, new orleans, panic of 1893, shamokin, strike, strike of 1877, striking workers, veiled prophet, veiled prophet organization, workers

Today, St. Louis commemorates 144 years since a violent labor struggle that saw widespread destruction and violence in the city and nearby areas, as part of the 1877 General Strike.

Public Safety Cities & Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

MSP: Seat Belt Use Drops To Lowest in 17 Years

July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments congestion, COVID traffic deaths, helmet laws, highway safety, highway safety planning, michigan, michigan OHSP, michigan state police, mitten, mittentimes, rates of traffic death, seat belt laws, seat belt usage, seat belts, seatbelt, seatbelts, traffic, traffic safety, traffic violence

The Michigan State Police released data from a study today that showed that fatalities are on the rise, while seatbelt usage is on the decline. We look at how this plays out across a few jurisdictions.

Business & Economics Culture & Language Transit infrastructure Travel Infrastructure

The Three-Martini Greyhound: The Future of Corporate Travel?

July 19, 2021July 16, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, amtrak michigan, corporate travel, flying, greyhound, in-flight wifi, intercity buses, intercity trains, new normal, optimization, productivity, reopening, surplus value, the dog, travel, tsa, tsa precheck, wolverine service

In June, my partner took a three-day business trip– her first since before the pandemic hit- to Chicago. I threw

Climate

Throw out your flood-damaged possessions. And your climate models.

July 16, 2021July 16, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments american society of adaptation professionals, ASAP, basement flooding, climate, climate adaptation, climate change, climate change models, climate modeling, climate models, flood, floods, how to fix basement flooding, NOAA, resilience, resiliency, resiliency and adaptation

Throw the climate modeling out the window with your flood-damaged worldly possessions. It’s time to figure out how to adapt.

the sears tower looms beyond the brutalist campus of the university of illinois chicago, where the summer institute on sustainability and energy (SISE) takes place.

Mobility Public transit Transit infrastructure

Best Nerds Podcast No. 2: Innovation and Equity in Transportation

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments argonne national lab, best nerds, best nerds on earth, best nerds podcast, bike lanes, bike lanes and gentrification, bike lanes are white lanes, city planning, DDOT, detroit department of transportation, economic justice, equity, ian edward munroe, ian munroe, JCESR, kelsey zlevor, kunal sahasrabuddhe, lisa nuszkowski, Mikki Taylor-Hendrix, mobility, MoGo, mogo detroit, Nat Zorach, public transit, racial justice, summer institute on sustainability and energy, thomas alaan, transit, transit justice, transit organizing, transportation, transportation justice, university of illinois chicago, university of new orleans, Urban planning, wsp

Our second podcast is finally out. I take responsibility for the delay. There were some technical issues I ran into,

mini-split-air-source-heat-pump-space-conditioning

Energy Efficiency Energy Utilities

The Future Is Electric. Mostly. But It’s Complicated.

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air source heat pump, beneficial electrification, biogas, decarbonisation, decarbonization, e3, electric resistance heating, electrification, electrification with fuel backup, heat pump, high decarbonized methane, high electrification, larry hogan, maryland commission on climate change, mccc, mini-split, power grid, synthetic methane

Decarbonization is the buzzword du jour in the sustainability movement. Will it make everything more expensive? Maybe– but there are a few caveats to that.

Real Estate Policy Urban Planning Law