A cement factory by astrid westvang licensed under Creative Commons.

Climate-warming concrete shapes our cities. An $100 billion lesson on how not to build transit. Short-term rentals creating small town problems.

Climate-warming concrete shapes our cities: At a minimum, concrete production processes makes up 6-8% of the world’s carbon emissions. Globally, the concrete industry produces enough concrete every week to build Paris anew. What’s being done to reduce the carbon footprint of an industry that connects us all? (Ted Fishman | Fast Company)

A $100 billion lesson on how not to build transit: Transit construction costs in the United States are out of control. And perhaps the worse example of how it happens is the $100 billion blank check for the Gateway Project on the Northeast Corridor. Not a single project will build new stations or lines to connect people, but will fulfill the wishlists of agencies along a fragmented transit network. (Aaron Gordon | Motherboard)

Short-term rentals are creating small town problems: Short-term rental companies like AirBnB and VRBO are causing problems for small tourist towns across the country. The pandemic saw increases in people who could work anywhere and travel which has increased the value of vacation homes in desirable destinations, but also pushed out long time residents. In Sedona, Arizona, with its picturesque red rocks, up to 15% of the housing stock is used for short-term rentals with no relief in sight for workers who keep the town running. (Rosie Bradbury | Wired Magazine)

Breaking up auto-oriented superblocks in San Diego: San Diego has approved a bold plan in the Mira Mesa area to rezone large car-oriented superblocks for pedestrian-friendly urban village development. Some of the large streets will be redesigned with bus and bike lanes and plans include 24,000 new homes in denser developments and the creation of over 30,000 jobs. (David Garrick | San Diego Union Tribune)

Boston highway decision still resonates: 50 years ago last week, Massachusetts Governor Francis W. Sargent killed a highway plan that would have run eight miles into the South End of Boston. The road would have destroyed neighborhoods and cut up the fabric of the city. But the decision also left space for a now-beloved four-mile long park and set the groundwork for the Ted Williams Tunnel and the Big Dig. At the time, it was a tough decision for Governor Sargent, but one that resonates even today. (Danny McDonald | Boston Globe)

Quote of the Week

“But we don’t need to be subsidizing institutional investors to go buy up housing in working-class neighborhoods and holding them for appreciation and turning them into Airbnbs.”

California Representative Ro Khanna on his bill, “The Stop Wall Street Landlords Act” that would limit tax and other benefits given to institutional housing investors.

This week on the podcast, we sit down with Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon’s Third District at the Rail~Volution conference in Miami.