michigan Archives - The Handbuilt City

Urban Planning Housing

Pattern Zoning: What Is It? Is It Good?

October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments cookie-cutter housing, development policy, housing, land use policy, michigan, michigan municipal league, missing middle, missing middle housing, pattern housing, pattern zoning, real estate development, residential development, Sprawl, suburb, suburban, suburban development, suburbs, tract housing, Zoning

The Michigan Municipal League thinks that a modern take on pattern zoning might actually help encourage better infill and planned development.

Detroit Book Reviews Mobility Sustainability Climate Michigan

Book Review: Women Driven Mobility by Katelyn Davis and Kristin Shaw

April 26, 2022April 25, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments climate change, decarbonization, Detroit, Electric cars, electric vehicles, electrification, emily wasley, fisker, Gretchen Whitmer, jessica robinson, karma, katelyn davis, kristin shaw, lordstown, michigan, mobility, nikola, Tesla, transportation decarbonization, transportation electrification, TSLA, women-driven mobility, wsp

Nat looks at a new book by Katelyn Davis and Kristin Shaw about women in the mobility and transportation space, and asks whether a politics of benevolent incrementalism is going to help us solve the climate crisis.

ddot-buses-downtown-detroit-ally-detroit-center-transit

Detroit Labor Public transit

Recharging the Aquifer Underneath Detroit’s Transit Desert

January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 Martha Connell 0 Comments DDOT, ddot cuts, ddot detroit, ddot driver shortage, ddot funding, ddot routes, Detroit, duggan, duggan administration, economic development, labor, metro detroit, michigan, QLINE, regional transit authority, regioonal transit authority, RTA, rta michigan, rta millage, SMART, transit, transit service, wages

Martha Connell looks at some hard questions about the future of Detroit’s transit.

Mobility Public transit Michigan Transit infrastructure Government

MDOT: Rebrand And Replace. Some Ideas From The MAP Conference.

October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments aicp, ambassador bridge, american planning association, auto industry, automotive, car culture, cars, chrysler, dan gilbert, dan gilbert industrial complex, EGLE, f150 super duty state of mind, Ford, ford motor company, fossil fuel subsidies, fossil fuels, green stormwater infrastructure, GSI, highways, land of the rising f150 super duty, mami, MAP, matty moroun, MDEQ, mdot, MEDC, MEGA tax breaks, michigan, michigan association of planning, mike duggan, moroun, public transit, rick snyder, road, stellantis, transit, vehicle miles traveled, vmt, vmt reduction, wendy rampson

Nat is attending the Michigan Association of Planning’s annual conference. It’s going great– especially with regard to figuring out new ways to refashion state agencies that aren’t doing their jobs.

coal-ship-dock-fossil-fuels-energy

Energy Efficiency Urban Planning Poverty Affordable housing Energy

MDHHS and LIHEAP: We’ll Pay For Fossil Fuels. Weatherization, Not So Much.

September 2, 2021September 2, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments Brad Banks, cardi b, CMS energy, coal, coal power, Consumers Energy, DTE, DTE Energy, EE&C, energy efficiency, energy efficiency & conservation, energy waste reduction, fossil fuels, fossil gas, Gretchen Whitmer, LIHEAP, LMI, low to moderate income, low-income, maddy kamalay, michigan, michigan department of health and human services, michigan public service commission, MPSC, Nat Zorach, natural gas, the war on coal, WAP, weatherization assistance program, why is DTE so bad

At an MPSC workgroup meeting this morning on Energy Waste Reduction specifically for the low to moderate income (LMI) market

Policy Mobility Sustainability Transit infrastructure Government

MDOT: “Making VMT Reduction A Mobility Goal Is Punitive, Combative, And Might Hurt People’s Feelings”

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments AASHTO, aashto green book, brad sharlow, carbon footprint, climate change, congestion, department of transportation, green book, highway design standards, infrastructure, judd herzer, level-of-service, LoS, mdot, MEDC, michigan, michigan department of transportation, Michigan DOT, michigan economic development corporation, mobility, niles annelin, public transit, state law, state policy, toll roads, traffic, transit, transportation, transportation engineering, transportation planning, trevor pawl, vehicle hours traveled, vehicle miles traveled, VHT, vmt, vmt reduction

Representatives of Michigan’s Department of Transportation have, at two recent public meetings, firmly pushed back on the proposal that the agency must tie a reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to funding considerations for new projects– using a dubious rationale.

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.

Mobility Transit infrastructure

Decarbonizing Transportation With… More Fossil Fuels?

May 13, 2021May 12, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments biodiesel, canadian oil, car, clean cities, CMAQ, colonial pipeline, community multiscale air quality modeling system, congestion mitigation and air quality, corn ethanol, diesel, diesel fuel, driving, enbridge line 5, environment great lakes and energy, ethanol, F-150 Super Duty State of Mind, Gretchen Whitmer, judd herzer, matt galbraith, michigan, Michigan DNR, Michigan EGLE, office of future cars, panicum, panicum at the disco, petroleum, switchgrass, trevor pawl, vmt, vmt reduction

I just want clean air and buses. Is that so much to ask?

Business & Economics Urban Planning Transit infrastructure Infrastructure

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

April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1837 border war, add lane miles, aging population, big two and a half, chaldeans, chrysler, Congress, congressional seats, fca, fiat chrysler, Ford, ford motor company, funding infrastructure, general motors, GM, Gretchen Whitmer, growth, infrastructure, infrastructure and economic growth, infrastructure investment, japan, level-of-service, matt maddock, mdot, meshawn maddock, michigan, michigan legislature, ohio, population decline, population growth, rail, rail infrastructure, refugees, rightsizing, rightsizing cities, rightsizing infrastructure, shrinking cities, stellantis, tokyo, toledo border war, transit, trucks, trump, US Congress, vmt, vmt reduction, whitmer

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

Energy Efficiency Policy Energy Utilities

“Electrification Is Not Enough For Decarbonization” – Consumers Energy

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments building decarbonization, carbon transition, decarbonization, demand response, demand-response, distributed generation, electrical grid, electrification, energy efficiency, energy policy, energy transition, energy waste reduction, EWR, Gretchen Whitmer, just transition, michigan, michigan public service commission, MPSC, photovoltaics, policies, policy, pv, rooftop solar, solar panels, state of michigan, utilities, utility, utility infrastructure, utility policy

A new workgroup seeks to address some questions about the future of infrastructure in a state that continues to lag in regulatory and technical innovation.

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