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The Car Crashes That Go Undetected

Laura Bliss

July 15, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

The Vision Zero program many cities use to reduce traffic deaths depends on data to inform where to target safety measures like redesigned streets and speed limits. But, when significant numbers of crashes, particularly involving pedestrians and bicycles, go missing in the data, the interventions miss the problems. Racial disparities in unreported crashes or unresponsive police mean that the problems are compounded in under-served areas. Data improvements in D.C., San Francisco, and other cities aim to fill the gaps so that the benefits of Vision Zero can extend to places where they're needed most.

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‘Slow Streets' Disrupted City Planning. What Comes Next?

Laura Bliss

January 06, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

When city planners rushed early in the pandemic to close streets to automobile traffic in order to give residents a safe space to roam outdoors, they ended up learning lessons entirely apart from their original goals rooted in public health and traffic safety. In Durham, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Oakland, community groups pushed back at the cities' initial failures to consider the opinions of communities of color whose neighborhoods were affected by the changes. The pushback led to collaborations and modified plans that redefined the problems at issue and the ways to address them.

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A Lesson in Learning to Live With Fire, and Each Other

Laura Bliss

November 05, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Shaver Lake, California

A collaboration between former adversaries over forest management and preservation in the Sierra National Forest led to a $9 million investment into making 154,000 acres healthier, and able to withstand destruction in one of the largest wildfires in California history. The Creek Fire largely spared land in the Dinkey Landscape Restoration Project, despite severe damage in hundreds of thousands of adjacent acres. Years of strategic tree-thinning and intentionally set small fires proved effective.

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To Combat Coronavirus, Scientists Are Also Breaking Down Barriers

Laura Bliss

April 23, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The research field has often been siloed, with each discipline focusing on its own lane, but in the wake of COVID0-19 the shift toward interdisciplinary research is happening – and proving necessary. Often incentivized by grant funding for siloed work, now, researchers are seeing urgent calls to work together against the pandemic. While there have been great strides made across disciplines in the past, the complex issues of our time – climate change, systemic racism, economic inequity – are causing a shift across fields.

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Mapping How Cities Are Reclaiming Street Space

Laura Bliss

April 03, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

Some of the strategies urban sustainability proponents have promoted for years are now being used to manage traffic patterns during the coronavirus outbreak and ensure that essential workers can safely get to work. Could these temporary measures lead to a less car-dependent future?

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Why Kansas City's Free Transit Experiment Matters

Laura Bliss

December 13, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the first major U.S. city to offer free bus rides city-wide, hoping to expand access and boost the local economy. The city emulates free public transportation plans around the world, which have seen success - and struggles - with increasing equity and economic stimulation through no-cost transportation plans.

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What Happens When a City Tries to End Traffic Deaths

Laura Bliss

November 21, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

An extensive investigation that, despite implementing an initiative called "Vision Zero" that aims to eliminate traffic and pedestrian fatalities, many cities still struggle to reduce the number of fatalities, year-over-year. Now, cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. are analyzing their failures - from lack of budget planning to missing coordination between government departments - in order to get on track to eliminating traffic deaths within a decade.

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San Francisco's Market Street Car Ban Is Overdue

Laura Bliss

October 17, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

A plan to redesign Market Street in San Francisco uses a controversial approach used by cities around the world: eliminating personal cars entirely. This bicycle, pedestrian and bus-oriented layout approach reduces traffic accidents and fatalities; San Francisco plans to move forward with their plan in 2020.

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How to Build a New Park So Its Neighbors Benefit

Laura Bliss

September 11, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Several projects across the U.S. are emerging as models for how parks and green spaces can be developed in low-income neighborhoods without spurring the displacement of current residents ("greening without gentrification"). Some successful tools include community land trusts, local construction and operations workforces, and affordable housing preservation provisions.

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Here's a Pothole Stunt for the Ages in New Orleans

Laura Bliss

August 30, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Often citizens have to go to great lengths to get their problems noticed by city governments. One New Orleans resident concerned with a pothole in his neighborhood did just that when he converted a large pothole in "Homer's Hideout" and listed it on AirBnB. The media frenzy made the city take notice and fix the problem.

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