BART trains running in Oakland, California by Jim Maurer licensed under Creative Commons.

Oakland, California, expands its universal basic mobility program. How cities can innovate to keep cool during the summer. Revisiting early light rail successes in the US and Canada.

Oakland expands universal basic mobility pilot: After the success of an initial universal mobility pilot in East Oakland in 2021, the program is being extended to 1,000 residents in West Oakland who make less than $103,000, the area’s median income. The program provides participants with a $320 pre-paid debit card that can be used for transit and shared micromobility services. The pilot program in East Oakland led 40% of participants to change the way they travel and 23% drove alone less often. (This article may be behind a paywall). (Terry Castleman | Los Angeles Times)

Creating cool corridors: In the heat of the summer, cities tend to be hotter than less urbanized areas because of the urban heat island effect. To counter this, cities like Stuttgart, Germany, have created “cold air corridors” to pull air from the countryside into the city using green strips, railway lines, and wide, tree-lined streets. Cold air stays low to the ground so it’s important to have spaces without buildings to allow unfettered air flow. (Gero Reuter | Duetsche Welle)

Forgotten light rail history: Early light rail lines in the United States were built as lower-cost alternatives to subways. But they also came with greater connectivity in their system planning than more recent system expansions by using timed transfers, high-capacity trains, and high-speed service. Uday Schultz underscores the importance of thinking of transit as a networked system, not as individual lines on a map. (Uday Schultz | Home Signal)

Shrinking homes and hallways: A new survey indicates that homes will continue to get smaller as housing prices increase. Single-family homes constructed in 2024 are an average of 116 square feet smaller than those built in 2023. The reduction is attributed to designers eliminating hallways to create more living space. But it’s also true that residents don’t need as much space as televisions take less floor space and other household items like stereos have shrunk. (Julie Taylor | Realtor.com)

Roommate matching online: A resident of Durango, Colorado, wants to match people looking for a place to live with homeowners looking to share their space using online programs similar to dating apps. The hope is that they can find housing for people with those they are compatible with to reduce social friction. More homeowners need to participate before the app can launch. (Christian Burney | Durango Herald)

Quote of the Week

“All weekend long folks were coming up to me, expressing their love of the map and the progression of events. Enabling walking from event to event increased the social nature of the weekend. I’m honestly blown away that it worked so well. It was a hypothesis I had, and this was a successful experiment.”

Los Angeles Design Weekend (LADW) founder Holland Denvir in Dezeen discusses the benefits of a walkable LADW tour program.

This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re chatting with Tracy Hadden Loh of the Brookings Institute (and secretary of the GGWash Board of Directors) about the impacts of the pandemic on downtowns, activity centers, and transit usage. We chat about creating activity center cluster maps and a recent report entitled “Building Better on Philadelphia.”