Atlanta’s Battle of the Gulch Heats Up
This week, spending $2 billion to develop the downtown Gulch isn’t sitting well with the Atlanta city council, at least for now. Plus, someone has finally made a useful 3-D map showing the steepness of streets. And Ben Carson and HUD may do the unthinkable: attempt to restrict exclusionary zoning to promote affordable housing.
The Best Maps of the Year Might Be the Most Boring
Weekly Links: We all love colorful, striking maps. Unfortunately, our brains aren’t great at quickly decoding lots of colors, so scientists and cartographers would like us to stop asking for colors and just embrace duller, more informative imagery. Also, a new study shows that pollution leads to cognitive decline, particularly among older men. And coastal homes prices are taking a hit due to rising sea levels.
Urban Design by Corporation
From Facebook to Uber to electric scooters, corporations are demanding we change our behavior to adapt to their profit-driven technology. This is nothing new, but why do we continue to let it happen?
Why Are so Many Young People Not Sure If the Earth Is Round?
This week, what’s the deal with the recent poll showing that only 66% of young people firmly believe the Earth is round? And, when are we getting our long promised glow-in-the-dark trees to replace city street lamps? Plus, leave it to this EPA to propose a regulation that it admits will result in 1,400 more deaths.
Defying The Georgia Senate, Kroger Eliminates Plastic Bags
Three years after Tybee Island business owners objected to a proposed plastic bag ban and the Georgia Senate passed a bill prohibiting cities from adopting such bans, the nation’s largest grocer said it will eliminate plastic bags from all its stores.
Atlanta’s Livability Score Plummets Due to Riots
This week, a global livability study says Atlanta fell in the rankings due to riots. Ah…okay. Also, as part of the ongoing Amazon charade, Atlanta will apparently offer the company $1 billion in incentives to locate their HQ2 campus in the downtown gulch. And Atlanta officials are finally treating public signs like works of art that actually try to inform people of rules.
Forty Percent of Land in America is Dedicated to Cows
Weekly Links: America dedicates 40% of its land to raising and feeding livestock, California’s Carr Fire may have produced an actual fire tornado with winds of 150 mph, and an intriguing map shows that the land that now comprises modern day Atlanta was a nexus point for three major Native American communities.
So You Want to Mine an Asteroid?
Much like harvesting natural resources on Earth, mining asteroids presents a number of socioeconomic and normal destruction-of-Earth issues, though we do have a good set of rules and regulations designed to address those issues. Oh wait, we meant *don’t have.
