National links: Paris plans to limit pass-through traffic in the city center

Paris: drive to it, but not through it. Denver trains don’t go where people need them. A gas tax could spark a trade dispute.

Paris plans to limit through traffic by 2024: Paris will ban non-essential traffic through the city center over the next two years in time for the 2024 Olympics. The low traffic area will cover 5.4 square miles and exempt residents, transit vehicles, and people with disabilities. Drivers cutting through the city center will be fined if they are caught by cameras or police checkpoints. (Feargus O’Sullivan | Bloomberg CityLab) (Florent Helaine | Le Parisien)

Why Denver’s rail lines don’t go to neighborhoods: In 2004 the Denver region voted to build a network of rail lines to connect the region. Many residents were excited about the project, but almost two decades later those that supported the expansion are not using the system, which serves hard-to-reach suburban locations rather than neighborhoods. (Nathaniel Minor | Denverite)

A gas tax trade conflict: A Washington State proposal to tax refined gasoline sent to other states in order to fund a state infrastructure bill is getting pushback. States that would be affected, including Oregon and Alaska, are already drawing up ways to retaliate with other taxes on goods such as fresh fish and could start a northwestern state trade dispute. The governor argues that because the state bears the climate impacts of the refining, other places should share the social cost. (Daniel C. Vock | Route Fifty)

The psychology of place: Dr. Mindy Fullilove discusses how neighborhoods and external forces impact the health of communities. She learned early in her residency at medical school that a singular biomedical model that only focuses on what happens in the body is reductive — instead, she suggests a biopsychosocial model that considers the body and everything that happens outside, including geographic and sociological considerations. (Dr. Mindy Fullilove | Nonprofit Quarterly)

The science of bookstore design: For independent book stores, certain designs allow for discovery and are inviting to readers. This is something the larger book chains often missed. If you know what you want you can find it online easily, but if you aren’t sure, there’s nothing like a well designed independent bookstore with fun shelves, good lighting, and staff recommendations. (Lyndsie Manusos | Book Riot)

Quote of the week:

“The narrative is that highways that were built ruined cities. But no, it’s that highways that were planned ruined cities. There is no highway, but there certainly is a scar.”

Emily Lieb, a Seattle-based historian in the Los Angeles Times discussing the legacy of the scars left by planned highways.

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Asal Bidarmaghz, a lecturer in geotechnical engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney ,who discusses underground infrastructure and its importance for the future of cities, including underground climate change, coordination among long-term projects, and appropriate land use.