abstreet/project/motivations.html
2020-10-12 01:38:32 +00:00

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<h1><a class="header" href="#project-motivations" id="project-motivations">Project motivations</a></h1>
<p>I thought it'd be helpful to explain what motivates my work in A/B Street. These
are just my personal values; I don't intend to make a careful argument about
these here. In no particular order:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>Transparency and reproducibility</strong>: if city government uses data, modeling,
or simulation to inform a decision affecting the general public, then anybody
ought to be able to repeat that analysis.</p>
<ul>
<li>This means code and data should be open.</li>
<li>Businesses like <a href="https://replicahq.com/">Sidewalk Lab's Replica</a> and
<a href="https://www.remix.com/solutions/streets">Remix</a> still need to generate
income, but it's unclear why governments use taxes to pay for something only
they see.</li>
<li>Decision making should be documented clearly. Why were the
<a href="https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/maintenance-and-paving/current-paving-projects/35th-ave-ne">35th Ave bike lanes</a>
scrapped? Was the amount of on-street parking on nearby residential roads
factored in? Was there analysis of how trip time is impacted by parking in
the neighborhood and walking a few blocks to a business on the arterial?</li>
<li>I'm personally inspired by approaches like
<a href="https://info.vtaiwan.tw/">vTaiwan</a> and
<a href="https://po.pdis.nat.gov.tw/en/opengov/">PDIS</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Accessibility leads to participation</strong>: There's overhead to taking small
ideas to advocacy groups or inconveniently timed public meetings. If the
planning process is easier to interact with, more people will participate.</p>
<ul>
<li>Seattle's
<a href="https://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/your-voice-your-choice">Your Voice, Your Choice</a>
program is maybe an example of this</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Short-term changes</strong>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Transit_3">ST3</a>
is exciting, but 2040 isn't close. There are much cheaper changes that can be
implemented sooner.</p>
<ul>
<li>Most of the edits in A/B Street are inspired by tactical urbanism; they
could be prototyped with signs and paint.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>The US is too dependent on cars</strong>: This has an unacceptable impact on the
environment. Even ignoring that, many cities are out of room to build more
roads. We can't keep scaling population like this.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Autonomous vehicles will NOT save the day</strong>: They can squeeze more
throughput out of existing infrastructure, but only up to a point. They might
encourage people to move and tolerate longer commutes. Mass transit and dense
land-use patterns handle population growth better.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Compromise and trade-offs</strong>: I see lots of rhetoric calling for extreme,
sudden change. I don't want to ban all cars from downtown Seattle, because
that's not realistic. I want to focus on immediate steps forward. I want to
come up with estimates about impacting drivers by a median 3 minutes in order
to save a bus route 1 minute, and to shift public discourse towards that.</p>
</li>
</ul>
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