National links: Is this what a housing bubble looks like?

The housing affordability crisis has a lot of people wondering if we’re seeing a repeat of the aughts. Design can make cities less stressful. Electric vehicles are heavy, and that has consequences.

Is there a housing bubble?: Around the country there is a growing sense of unease about housing as we start to come out of the pandemic. Bidding wars that never end for some buyers and stress over rising rents represent an unsustainable, unstable, and unhealthy market. And that stress, similar to what was last felt during the Great Recession, is making some wonder if we are in another bubble. (Jerusalem Demsas | Vox)

Connecting built environments to our mental and physical health: The built environment is directly linked to our health and happiness, and urban environments often are detrimental for people because they fail to put people in calm or balanced states. Urban planning professor Justin Hollander points out that humans are programmed to look for faces, and buildings with anthropormophic features and places with good design are less likely to cause cognitive stress on pedestrians. (Justin Hollander | ASLA Dirt)

The electric vehicle weight problem: Electric vehicles are heavier than their gas powered counterparts because of the weight of their batteries. The new electric Hummer, for example, weighs three times a Honda Civic, and that extra weight could mean greater potential for death when people walking or biking are hit by drivers. It also means more road wear and tear, which could lead to new road design issues and maintenance concerns. (Peter Valdes-Dapena | CNN)

All eyes on Austin’s I-35: Austin is refocusing attention on its Palm District in order to try and sort out the mess of streets proximate to I-35, the city’s “gnarliest” highway, and several redevelopment projects. At the same time, the highway is being reimagined in an attempt to try and undo and prevent further social and economic damage underlying its creation. (Mike Clark Madison | Austin Chronicle)

Infrastructure at the community scale: Steven Baumgartner discusses 15-minute cities and the need for “de-infrastructuring,” breaking down the large scale infrastructure system in favor of smaller-scale links. The process could allow for a more collaborative, cooperative infrastructure system. (Steven Baumgartner | Urban Land Institute)

Quote of the Week

“The most important thing is that these places are not driven by one agenda. They can’t be owned solely by the council or just by developers, who often see them as an easy way to tick the public consultation box. One really has to resist that.”

Diane Denver, Chair of the Urban Rooms Network in The Guardian, discussing the idea of creating storefront spaces where people can go and discuss local plans and development.

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by L’erin Jensen and Josh Cohen, hosts of The Movement Podcast at TransLoc.