Misc

The Evolution of Urban Planning

Published

5 years ago

January 20, 2018

Nick Routley

Urban planning has been around for as long as cities have existed, but the 20th century saw a number of bold ideas that radically changed the make-up of our urban centers.

From garden cities to psychogeography, today’s infographic by Konstantin von der Schulenburg is an informative overview of the modern movements and ideas that shaped urban planning.

The Evolution of Urban Planning

Urban planning has changed a lot over the centuries. Early city layouts revolved around key elements such as prominent buildings (e.g. cathedrals, monuments) and fortification (e.g. city walls, castles).

As cities grew larger, they also became more unpleasant. Here are some key ideas from architects and planners who sought tame the unruly urban beast.

Garden City

At the dawn of the 20th century, cities were experiencing big population growth.

The Garden City concept – devised by the English planner Ebenezer Howard – sought to solve urban overcrowding and poor quality of life by creating smaller, master-planned communities on the outskirts of the larger city. The city would be structured around concentric circles of land use and include a sizeable park and greenbelt. Greenbelts were a revolutionary idea at the time and are still widely appreciated to this day.

garden city concept

Setback Principle

Early 1900s Manhattan had a population density of nearly 600 people per hectare and the skyscraper boom was in full swing. As buildings grew taller, the already crowded city was becoming a dark and claustrophobic place. To combat this, New York enacted the first citywide zoning code ever in the U.S. to help preserve some daylight on city streets. Setbacks had an immediate and lasting impact on Manhattan’s skyline, as seen today in landmarks such as the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.

Broadacre City

If there is a true antithesis for today’s urbanism, then the suburban brainchild of Frank Lloyd Wright is surely it. Broadacre City was a thought experiment that envisioned decentralized communities that would sprawl across a lush, bucolic landscape. That vision stood in stark contrast to frenetic, exhaust-choked cities of the 1940s, which resembled “fibrous tumor(s)” according to Wright.

Though Broadacre City was never built verbatim, Wright’s rejection of the American city came to life in the form of suburbs and strip malls from sea to shining sea.

La Cité Radieuse

In the wake of World War II, France was searching for solutions to house its population – nearly 20% of all French buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged – and world renowned architect, Le Corbusier, was one of the architects selected by the French government to construct new, high-density housing.

When La Cité Radieuse (Radiant City) was completed in 1952, it kicked off a media frenzy. Indeed, Le Corbusier is credited with pioneering the Modernist style of architecture that became wildly popular around the world during that time.

While Le Corbusier’s thoughtful residential buildings have stood the test of time, not all projects inspired by the style shared the same fate. For example, when governments in Europe and the United States looked to provide cheap, high-density housing to low income families, the stark tower blocks they built often had the unintentional effect of ghettoizing their inhabitants.

The Megaregion

As cities within close proximity grow and merge together, finding a way to make them work as a connected economic and social unit is a key strategy for becoming more competitive on the global stage.

Jean Gottman, a French geographer, recognized this megaregion trend early on in the Northeast region of the United States. His seminal 1961 study, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, outlined the extraordinary dynamics that shaped America’s largest urban corridor.

The Transect

In North America, many cities have a stark divide between urban and suburban areas – a gap known as “the missing middle”. New urbanists seek to create more dense residential development, particularly in walkable, transit-accessible areas.

missing middle

This new form of city planning isn’t just cosmetic, it may help save cities from bloated infrastructure costs. Recent research into the tax efficiency (property tax revenues vs. infrastructure maintenance costs) of a variety of American cities and found that walkable urban districts tended to be revenue-positive – in effect, subsidizing surrounding low-density areas.

tax efficiency lafayette

Next Stop: Smart Cities

In the era of big data, the future of our physical spaces may be defined more by bytes than bricks.

City governments have been collecting big picture data for planning in transportation and zoning for some time, but new technology allows for the capture of even more granular data. Cities can now measure everything from noise pollution to wastewater volume, and this can have a big impact on spending efficiency and overall quality of urban spaces.

It’s almost like a FitBit for the city.

– Stuart Cowan, chief scientist, Smart Cities Council

A prominent section of waterfront in Toronto, Canada, is about to become a testing ground for this concept. The partnership between a government agency and Sidewalk Labs, a division of Alphabet, will produce an urban district that fully integrates technology and data collection into its design.

If the project is successful, it may influence the way future “smart” neighborhoods are constructed.

Related Topics:cities megacities urbanism urban planning

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Misc

Charted: Gender-Neutral Names in America

In the last three decades, gender-neutral names have become more common across the U.S., particularly for boys.

Creator Program

Published

18 hours ago

October 27, 2022

Omri Wallach

Charted: Gender-Neutral Names in America

Over the course of the last three decades, gender-neutral names have become more common across the United States.

This graphic by Georgios Karamanis uses data from the U.S. Social Security Administration to show over 168,000 names, and how the ratio of boys versus girls with each of those names has changed since 1880.

The data examines names that have been given to both genders, so any gender-specific names have been excluded from the dataset.

And it looks like after initially becoming more common in the early 20th century, gender-neutral names became more common after 1990. As an example, here’s a look at the top gender-neutral names in the U.S. in 2017:

U.S. Baby Names (2017)	Female	Male
Gentry	109	110
Ryen	31	31
Kayce	23	23
Kyri	19	19
Cashmere	17	17
Safari	15	15
Gemini	14	14
Munachimso	14	14
Elis	12	12
Iremide	12	12
Ziyan	12	12
Yarel	11	11
Kimoni	10	10
Roe	10	10
Autry	9	9
Kelyn	9	9
Kitt	9	9
Romie	9	9
Ekko	8	8
Jojo	8	8
Majestic	8	8
Bevin	7	7
Jerzey	7	7
Victorious	7	7
Aidynn	6	6
Biak	6	6
Cobie	6	6
Dhani	6	6
Jayln	6	6
Jem	6	6
Jessee	6	6
Kastyn	6	6
Maxie	6	6
Shaden	6	6
Tobie	6	6
Ase	5	5
Azeriah	5	5
Cameo	5	5
Choice	5	5
Chosyn	5	5
Ellyot	5	5
Hyland	5	5
Iretomiwa	5	5
Jeylani	5	5
Kahri	5	5
Kaysyn	5	5
Kharsyn	5	5
Kiko	5	5
Kindred	5	5
Landy	5	5
Lyrix	5	5
Ngozi	5	5
Yohanan	5	5
Zaryn	5	5
Zhen	5	5

If you’re interested in articles about gender and society, check out Gender Diversity in Corporate America.

Green

Interactive: EV Charging Stations Across the U.S. Mapped

Looking for an EV charging station in the states? This interactive map contains every EV charging station in America.

Published

3 days ago

October 25, 2022

Niccolo Conte

cropped image of map of EV chargers in America

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Across America: Mapped

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.

As the electric vehicle market continues to expand, having enough EV charging stations is essential to enable longer driving ranges and lower wait times at chargers.

Currently, the U.S. has about 140,000 public EV chargers distributed across almost 53,000 charging stations, which are still far outnumbered by the 145,000 gas fueling stations in the country.

This graphic maps out EV charging stations across the U.S. using data from the National Renewable Energy Lab. The map has interactive features when viewed on desktop, showing pricing structures and the connector types when hovering over a charging station, along with filtering options.

Which States Lead in EV Charging Infrastructure?

As seen in the map above, most electric vehicle charging stations in the U.S. are located on the west and east coasts of the nation, while the Midwest strip is fairly barren aside from the state of Colorado.

California has the highest number of EV charging stations at 15,182, making up an impressive 29% of all charging stations in America. In fact, the Golden State has nearly double the chargers of the following three states, New York (3,085), Florida (2,858), and Texas (2,419) combined.

Rank	State	Number of charging stations	Share of U.S. charging stations
1	California	15,182	28.7%
2	New York	3,085	5.8%
3	Florida	2,858	5.4%
4	Texas	2,419	4.6%
5	Massachusetts	2,328	4.4%
6	Washington	1,810	3.4%
7	Colorado	1,718	3.2%
8	Georgia	1,596	3.0%
9	Maryland	1,358	2.6%
10	Pennsylvania	1,260	2.4%
	U.S. Total	52,889	100.0%

It’s no surprise the four top states by GDP have the highest number of EV chargers, and California’s significant lead is also unsurprising considering its ambition to completely phase out the sale of new gas vehicles by 2035.

The Best States for EV Charging Speeds and Cost

While having many charging stations distributed across a state is important, two other factors determine charging convenience: cost and charger level availability.

EV charger pricing structures and charger level availability across the nation are a Wild West with no set rules and few clear expectations.

Finding Free Electric Vehicle Chargers Across States

Generous electric vehicle charging locations will offer unlimited free charging or a time cap between 30 minutes and 4 hours of free charging before payment is required. Some EV charging stations located in parking structures simply require a parking fee, while others might have a flat charging fee per session, charge by kWh consumed, or have an hourly rate.

While California leads in terms of the raw amount of free chargers available in the state, it’s actually the second-worst in the top 10 states when it comes to the share of chargers, at only 11% of them free for 30 minutes or more.

Rank	State name	Number of free charging stations	Share of free charging stations in the state
1	California	1,717	11.3%
2	Florida	673	23.6%
3	New York	662	21.5%
4	Texas	606	25.1%
5	Maryland	399	29.4%
6	Georgia	360	22.6%
7	Washington	358	19.8%
8	Pennsylvania	318	25.2%
9	Colorado	273	15.9%
10	Massachusetts	150	6.4%
	U.S. Total	10,295	19.5%

Meanwhile, Maryland leads with almost 30% of the chargers in the state that offer a minimum of 30 minutes of free charging. On the other hand, Massachusetts is the stingiest state of the top 10, with only 6% of charging stations (150 total) in the state offering free charging for electric vehicle drivers.

The States with the Best DC Fast Charger Availability

While free EV chargers are great, having access to fast chargers can matter just as much, depending on how much you value your time. Most EV drivers across the U.S. will have access to level 2 chargers, with more than 86% of charging stations in the country having level 2 chargers available.

Although level 2 charging (4-10 hours from empty to full charge) beats the snail’s pace of level 1 charging (40-50 hours from empty to full charge), between busy schedules and many charging stations that are only free for the first 30 minutes, DC fast charger availability is almost a necessity.

Direct current fast chargers can charge an electric vehicle from empty to 80% in 20-60 minutes but are only available at 12% of America’s EV charging stations today.

Rank	State	Number of stations with DC fast charger available	Share of DC fast charger available stations in state	Share of free and DC fast charger available stations in state
1	California	1,756	11.6%	0.7%
2	Florida	360	12.6%	1.1%
3	Texas	276	11.4%	1.2%
4	Colorado	243	14.1%	1.1%
5	New York	234	7.6%	0.8%
6	Washington	232	12.8%	1.1%
7	Georgia	228	14.3%	1.4%
8	Maryland	223	16.4%	2.7%
9	Pennsylvania	134	10.6%	1.0%
10	Massachusetts	134	5.8%	0.2%
	U.S. Total	6,540	12.4%	0.9%

Just like free stations, Maryland leads the top 10 states in having the highest share of DC fast chargers at 16%. While Massachusetts was the worst state for DC charger availability at 6%, the state of New York was second worst at 8% despite its large number of chargers overall. All other states in the top 10 have DC chargers available in at least one in 10 charging stations.

As for the holy grail of charging stations, with free charging and DC fast charger availability, almost 1% of the country’s charging stations are there. So if you’re hoping for free and DC fast charging, the chances in most states are around one in 100.

The Future of America’s EV Charging Infrastructure

As America works towards Biden’s goal of having half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 be zero-emissions vehicles (battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric), charging infrastructure across the nation is essential in improving accessibility and convenience for drivers.

The Biden administration has given early approval to 35 states’ EV infrastructure plans, granting them access to $900 million in funding as part of the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program set to be distributed over the next five years.

Along with this program, a $2.5 billion Discretionary Grant Program aims to increase EV charging access in rural, undeserved, and overburdened communities, along with the Inflation Reduction Act’s $3 billion dedicated to supporting access to EV charging for economically disadvantaged communities.

With more than $10 billion being invested into EV charging infrastructure over the next five years and more than half the sum focused on communities with poor current access, charger availability across America is set to continue improving in the coming years.