An interesting essay by Philip Howard. Western governments, Havel said, are organized on a flawed premise not far removed from the Soviet system that had just collapsed. “The modern era has been dominated by the culminating belief,” he said, “that the world … is a wholly knowable system governed by finite number of universal laws [...]
Archive for the ‘Human Settlement’ Category
U.S Population
Posted in Human Settlement on August 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The U.S. population grew by 9.7 percent to 308.7 million between 2000 and 2010. Here is a link to an interactive mapping. When I look at the population change statistics, Americans are settling the southeast, the west, and Texas…with some smartly going to Oregon and Washington state. Our environmental decisionmaking is suspect.
Gurgaon, India…1.5 million people and no public services
Posted in Human Settlement, Politics on June 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
An intriguing New York Times Article on the private provision of public goods.
The Amish
Posted in Human Settlement on August 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve always respected many of the ethical and environmental practices of the Amish (and find it strange that their nutritional practices don’t seem to follow their other environmental ethic). A recent Chicago Tribune article finds they are expanding: The Amish are expanding their presence in states far beyond Pennsylvania Dutch country as they search for [...]
What is the Future of Suburbia?
Posted in Human Settlement, Uncategorized on August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A few weeks ago I posted the cost-of-services economic analysis done in Rhode Island. It related the nine-fold increase in the State’s budget since 1950 to the ‘cost of suburbanization’. From an infrastructure perspective, the suburb and the suburban subdivision are socially expensive. They have also used environmental services randomly and, until recently, without much [...]
