National links: After 6 months, London’s low-emission rules cut air pollution by a third

London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone has resulted in less air pollution and fewer cars. One year after super typhoon Yutu, residents are still picking up the pieces. Why the New York bodegas may lose their swag.

Positive results from London’s low emission zones: London has published a report on the first six months of its Ultra-Low Emission Zone, showing that nitrogen dioxide pollution has fallen by about a third since it was introduced in April. There are now 13,500 fewer polluting cars in central London each day which has improved traffic flow, and more people are switching to walking, cycling, or transit. (Intelligent Transport, Paolo Zialcita | NPR)

A year after Yutu: When the Category 5 Typhoon Yutu pummeled the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands last year, it was called the worst storm to hit the US since 1935. Now a year later, residents are still trying to find their normal, and low-income residents and kids have found it particularly hard. (Rachel Ramirez | Grist)

What’s the future of the bodega?: Michael Silber, a Brooklyn-based designer and artist, runs a digital archive of New York’s bodegas, capturing memorable features like red awnings and hand-lettered type on windows. But such elements are threatened by the Department of Small Business Services’ design guidelines, which essentially aim to make these unique businesses look more like chain stores. Critics say such efforts are erasing New York’s character. (Ethan Davison | Curbed NY)

MBTA’s ‘Rail Vision’ comes into focus: ‘Rail Vision’ is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority study for the future of greater Boston’s commuter rail. The study analyzed six alternatives, the simplest being adding new trains to the existing system, and the most ambitious being a $29 billion “full transformation” of the system. The analysis found that that electric trains, despite higher upfront costs, would carry significantly lower operational and maintenance costs. (Christian MilNeil | Streetsblog Mass)

Sprawling suburbs cost money: Research shows that public services are less costly to provide in more dense areas. In the average county area, per capita spending would increase by $5.26 if population density increased from the 25th to 50th percentile. However, decreasing the percentage of developed land from the 50th to 25th percentile would decrease per capita expenditures by $60.86. More compact and dense development can therefore pay dividends in lowering public expenditures. (Christopher Goodman | LSE US Centre)

Oligopolies hold back affordable housing: Economists estimate that dwindling competition in the home building industry has cost the nation about 150,000 additional homes a year. From 2013 to 2017, home prices grew more than twice as fast as they would have if the market had not consolidated. Such creeping oligopolies are also symptoms of greater problems, like scarcity of land, cost of labor, restrictive zoning, and NIMBYism. Big real estate firms can hoard land for years and try to time the market, which further restricts new housing supply. (Andrew Van Dam | Washington Post)

Quote of the Week

“The reality is the societal need for this technology and economic need for this technology is in cities, it’s not so much in suburbs.”

Zoox Co-Founder Jesse Levinson in Business Insider on where he believes self-driving vehicles will be most useful.

This week on the podcast, we chat with Bay Area advocates Arielle Fleisher, Adina Levin, and Ian Griffiths about improved fare policy.