Category Archives: Rail infrastructure

Over the last thirty or so years, most of the urban areas of the Mountain West and Sunbelt have been taking some tentative steps to mitigate the less attractive aspects of their dependence on automobiles. They’ve built hiking and biking … Continue reading →

I made a brief trip in early July to Reykjavík. If you don’t count a couple of stops at Keflavík Airport many years ago, this was my first visit to Iceland. Reykjavík is a smallish city in a country with … Continue reading →

I spent a few days in the Dallas area earlier this month. It was my first time in Dallas since February 1997. On that earlier trip, I’d found the city deeply depressing. Dallas’s downtown, once apparently a lively place, had … Continue reading →

I took my first post-vaccination trips in April and May, traveling twice to New Orleans. I’d been in New Orleans quite a number of times over the years but, for one reason or another, hadn’t been there since 1983. The … Continue reading →

I spent the third week of January in Doha, Qatar. I’d been there only once before, on a one-day trip from Dubai in 2010. On the earlier trip, I’d been extremely impressed by the Corniche—and wasn’t much taken by anything … Continue reading →

I recently spent nearly a week in Bordeaux, a city I had previously been in only briefly. I was particularly interested in looking at all the ways that Bordeaux has been attempting to push back against the hegemony of the … Continue reading →

Many—and probably most—French cities have engaged in large-scale urban renewal projects over the last thirty years or so. Obsolete industrial and port facilities have been replaced by offices and housing. Research centers, museums, and concert halls have been squeezed into … Continue reading →

Dubai is known as a very car-oriented place. Exhibit number one is Sheikh Zayed Road, a 16-to-24-lane limited-access highway that extends through nearly the whole length of Dubai’s post-1990s neighborhoods including those containing most of the city’s famous skyscrapers. Pedestrian … Continue reading →