Cars on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC by angela n. licensed under Creative Commons.

Anemic progress on self-driving cars. Anthropologist questions how we think about housing. The benefits of reimagining parking spaces.

Anemic progress on self-driving cars: Even after $100 billion in investment and six years of transporting passengers, automobile and technology companies are still nowhere near making a profit from releasing “self-driving” vehicles onto the road. Even once evangelical supporters of the movement have resigned themselves to working with vehicles in constrained environments. Supporters still believe that autonomous vehicles will be ready eventually, but it may take decades. (Max Chafkin | Bloomberg Businessweek)

Anthropologist questions how we think about housing: Why do we build housing but neglect to maintain it? When we demolish buildings, how do their waste products continue to impact us? Catherine Fennell takes an anthropological dive into the ideas that underpin these questions in an interview about her new book project Ends of the House: Racism and Remediation in the Late Industrial Midwest. (Eve Glasberg | Columbia News)

The benefits of reimagining parking spaces: Researchers for a local business association in Toronto found that parking that was replaced by outdoor restaurant seating and other uses during the pandemic generated $181 million in sales. The parking spaces would have generated $3.7 million in revenue in the same time frame if they were dedicated to cars. The results show the negative economic and social effects of incentives that prioritize car parking over public space for people. (Oliver Moore | Globe and Mail)

A curbless street in Ann Arbor, Mich.: Ann Arbor has completed the first segment of the city’s first curbless street. When finished, the street will be three blocks long and give flexibility to merchants for outdoor dining and deliveries. A northbound travel lane will be removed to widen sidewalks. (Ryan Stanton | MLive)

Recycling a 14-story building: In Amsterdam, the Dutch are recycling all of the materials from a 14-story office tower in what could be a model blueprint for waste reduction around the world. The idea comes from the regenerative economy and cradle-to-grave thinking about materials. Given that 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from the raw materials needed for construction, integrating reuse into the lifecycle of these materials could aid the effort to reduce global emissions. (Jessica Camille Aguirre | New York Times)

Quote of the Week

“You can always feel the pollution. Even when you get home, you smell like pollution.”

Ines Galan in Bloomberg CityLab discussing London’s car pollution.

This week on the podcast, journalist Megan Kimble talks about housing and highway fights in Texas: TXDOT’s political pressure, the organizations fighting back, and why throughput remains king in the Lone Star State.