Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of CarsBy Samuel I. Schwartz

Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of CarsBy Samuel I. Schwartz

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Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of CarsBy Samuel I. Schwartz

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On a Saturday morning in December 1973, a section of New York’s West Side Highway collapsed under the weight of a truck full of asphalt. The road was closed, seemingly for good, and the 80,000 cars that traveled it each day had to find a new way to their destinations. It ought to have produced traffic chaos, but it didn’t. The cars simply vanished. It was a moment of revelation: the highway had induced the demand for car travel. It was a classic case of “build it and they will come,” but for the first time the opposite had been shown to be true: knock it down and they will go away. Samuel I. Schwartz was inspired by the lesson. He started to reimagine cities, most of all his beloved New York, freed from their obligation to cars. Eventually, he found, he was not alone.Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a surreptitious revolution has taken place: every year Americans are driving fewer miles. And the generation named for this new century—the Millennials—are driving least of all. Not because they can’t afford to; they don’t want to. They have better ideas for how to use their streets. An urban transformation is underway, and smart streets are at the heart of it. They will boost property prices and personal fitness, roll back years of congestion and smog, and offer a transformative experience of American urban life. From San Francisco to Salt Lake, Charleston to Houston, the American city is becoming a better and better place to be. Schwartz’s Street Smart is a dazzling and affectionate history of the struggle for control of American cities, and an inspiring off-road map to a more vibrant, active, and vigorous urban future.

Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of CarsBy Samuel I. Schwartz

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58184 in Books
• Published on: 2015-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.30" h x 1.30" w x 6.30" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of CarsBy Samuel I. Schwartz

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Most helpful customer reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. A very accessible look at transit history, especially NYC, through the eyes of one of the world's top transportation engineers. By Jake N. A very accessible, easily-readable account of the past, present, and future of transit throughout the US and the rest of the world. I especially enjoyed the anecdotes surrounding New York City, an area which Schwartz, also known as "Gridlock Sam," has much personal experience as Traffic Commissioner.The first half of the book is historical: expect to learn about the great engineering marvel and transportation failure of Robert Moses' Cross-Bronx Expressway, the political and economic reasons (as opposed to the oft-cited social reasons) behind the 50s white flight phenomenon, and other fascinating stories concerning the past 100 years of transit development. Schwartz's magic in this section is the "behind the scenes" perspective, prompting the casual reader (such as myself) to think about the issues like a transportation engineer rather than like a consumer.The second half of the book concerns the future, and does so by describing unique aspects of transit systems and traffic planning in other cities throughout the country, peppered with anecdotes from Schwartz's work as a consultant. Although I found this portion a little weaker than the NYC historical review (though I admit I am a biased reader who purchased the book out of interest in NYC's infrastructure), it was interesting to learn about the transit systems in other cities. The section about self-driving cars was especially insightful, for the same reasons as the historical portion -- it approached the topic from the perspective of a transportation engineer rather than the perspective of a technologist or consumer.The reasons I didn't rate the book 5 stars were: I found the section on Millenials and the benefits of walking a little bit unnecessarily long, although I understand why Schwartz would include it assuming an older target audience. I also would have appreciated more details, both historical and technical, in some sections, even if those details risk boring or alienating a more casual reader.If you're looking for a very easy to read introduction to the broad world of transportation and its political, social, and economic state within the country (or specifically NYC), then I highly recommend this book. If you're looking for a detailed introduction to transportation engineering, this might not be the right place to begin, although it might serve as motivational material to dig deeper.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great lessons from one of the nation's most prominant traffic ... By Kevin Cronin Great lessons from one of the nation's most prominant traffic engineers on congestion, sprawl and why we need to do something about them. As a Cleveland, Ohio cyclist, I found it insightful, but as a taxpayer I found it compelling. We can't afford unbridled highway expansion, when we can't maintain and repair what we already have.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. An encouraging book for smart citizens By Stefanie Lemcke During our research on traffic and the effects for cities I came across Samuel Schwartzes book Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars. I was hesitant at first to purchase the book as I felt it really exceeded my needs – 292 pages - on smart streets only?The title turned out to be a bit deceptive, as this book is about so much more than street design: It is an explanation of American Culture, and its obsession with roads and cars, and beyond this a deep dive into the movement created by the millennials who - for the first generation of Americans - seem willing to drive less and to share more resources.Schwartz, one of the leading transportation experts in the US and a constant proponent for intelligent transportation systems, is thrilled by the combination of a change in citizens’ mentality and the smart use of data. In probably the most eye- opening chapter “What makes a smart city?”, Schwartz dives deep into what the potential for cities are. With examples ranging from the obvious European ‘stars smart cities’ like Copenhagen, Zurich and Amsterdam, Schwartz makes us understand, that functioning cities, which do not condemn its resident to sitting behind a steering wheel for hours at a time, are also real possible in the US:• L.A. has become the most promising mega city to build a smart public transportation system• Salt Lake City, with its’ Envision Utah initiative has bet on walking and transit solutions back in 1997 and is now being seen as the best large public transportation system in the US• New initiatives in many smaller US cities like Boston, Austin and San Francisco show the potential for aMobility apps ranging from CityMapper, TransitAPP to Google Maps are connecting the dots for cities and citizens alike. And Schwartz puts emphasis on the seemingly unlimited opportunities brought by technologies to make living in urban areas more attractive and healthier.Reading the book, I came to admire Samuel Schwartz’s amazing - probably excruciating difficult - efforts over the past 40 + years to change the way Americans (and New York mayors) think about transportation as centered solely around the car and its every growing need for more and bigger streets. He made me lough when he talks about his ‘many acts of municipal sabotage’ erasing an existing road that cut through a New York park from a map. And I was astonished to learn that he had the first bike lanes of New York build in the early '80s (on 5th Avenue) and that Mayor Ed Koch ultimately ordered that they be taken away.The book left me encouraged to continue to help find solutions to eliminate traffic. Even in a city like New York, arguably the most walkable U.S. city with an amazing public transportation system, the unbelievable number of 300,000 school children is being driven to school there are small ways every citizen can help to make a difference.

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