Housing construction in Frederick, Md. by Chris & Karen Highland licensed under Creative Commons.

Growth in metropolitan areas around the US is looking a whole lot like sprawl. See what’s included in the new Senate infrastructure bill. Is there a better way to think about economic growth in cities?

America’s metros are sprawling: Most major development in the US is happening on the fringes of major metro areas. In this interactive piece, maps show where US cities have expanded from their original footprints, making up a total 14,000 square mile area of growth roughly the size of Delaware. Analysts say this growth is happening as coastal cities become more expensive and people look for affordable places to live. (Zach Levitt and Jess Eng | Washington Post)

Taking stock of the infrastructure bill: The infrastructure bill that just passed the Senate has changed significantly from earlier discussions. As bipartisanship ramped up to cut transit and focus only on roads, bridges, broadband, and the electric grid, many components of the bill were shifted to the coming budget reconciliation. This piece shows in detail what was cut and by how much in colorful graphics. (Aatish Bhatia and Quoctrung Bui | New York Times)

An economic model that will make you hungry: Models of infinite growth are unsustainable from an environmental and economic standpoint. To address this issue, cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen have embraced a new model called “doughnut economics,” making the goal meeting human need without overextracting resources. Following in their footsteps, the City of Barcelona is starting the process of planning for a system that realizes social benefits while protecting the planet’s ecological ceiling. (Doughnut Economics Action Lab)

Multimodal transportation gets its own department: Nashville has established a new department focused on multimodal transportation. The department was a campaign promise of the mayor and will be working on active transportation. It will work on traffic management, bikeway planning, sidewalks and many other right of way management strategies. (Smart Cities World and City of Nashville)

Self storage laws are an equity issue: Self storage companies in many cases have the ability to confiscate belongings if customers are late on payments. A run of bad luck means some customers can’t retrieve items such as those needed for health care reasons. A new law in Minnesota protects vulnerable people from losing important belongings at a time when they are most in need. (Peter Callaghan | MinnPost)

Quote of the week:

“There are three reasons why tiny houses are really a huge problem for society: they cost too much and help too few; they don’t end homelessness, they sustain it; and they advance the idea that homeless people are subhuman.”

Josh Kruger, a former Philadelphia City staffer who has experienced homelessness, in the Philadelphia Citizen.

This week on the podcast, Andrew Salzberg of the app based trip planner Transit discusses their report, “Guide to Open Mobility as a Service.”

Tagged: links

Jeff Wood is the Principal of The Overhead Wire, a consulting firm focused on sharing information about cities around the world. He hosts a weekly podcast called Talking Headways at Streetsblog USA and operates the daily news site The Overhead Wire.