Nat M. Zorach, Author at The Handbuilt City

Building envelope retrofits aren’t very flashy. But they’re a crucial way to address the climate crisis.

April 30, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Dark Angel: The Dystopian 2010’s, When You And I Were Young

Jessica Alba’s breakout role in Dark Angel, which has largely been forgotten amid our current golden age of high-quality TV series, surrounded some prophetic visions of a dystopian near-future.

Business & Economics Infrastructure Transit infrastructure Urban Planning

April 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Michigan Population Numbers: How Long Before We Just Admit That This Strategy Isn’t Working?

The census numbers are in, and we’re unsurprised to learn that population growth is stagnant in parts of the great,

Policy Real Estate

April 26, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Study: Detroit CBO Is Not Quite There Yet

An academic paper looks at the Detroit Community Benefits Ordinance, or CBO. Conclusions? It’s had mixed success. We can get beyond this if we stop thinking about public policy in the simplistic terms of “pro” or “anti” development.

Infrastructure Mobility Tech Urban Planning

April 26, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Webinar: Tech To Reduce Guesswork for Safer Streets

Traffic technology has improved by leaps and bounds in recent decades. While the ultimate solutions to ending traffic violence must come with better street designs and a reduced reliance on single-occupant automobiles, there are some interesting developments in technology that are allowing better modeling to understand driver behavior, intersection safety, and more. We learned about it from a webinar co-hosted by Canadian tech company Miovision.

Policy Public Safety

April 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Police Reform: Imagining New Roles For A Safer, More Functional Society

We expect police to respond to, well, everything. And they’re not suited for it. Rethinking policing in the United States will require us to figure out alternatives for who is responding to what issue.

Culture & Language Energy Infrastructure

April 20, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

American Meltdown: The Popular Imagination of Energy Disasters

Disasters plague systems that are designed or lauded as “too big to fail.” And, according to the wealth of cinema on the subject, we love to see it.

Public Health Public Safety Transit infrastructure

April 19, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Lethal Projectiles: Car Culture, Gun Violence, and Police Shootings

Matthew Lewis points out that departments of transportation and police departments are two of the least democratic institutions in American society right now– and are two of the biggest threats to public health.