City Beautiful

In April of 2017, Bertha, the massive tunnel-boring machine successfully completed digging a nearly 2 mile deep-bore tunnel under Seattle. The tunnel will carry traffic from the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which had been damaged and deemed seismically unsafe after an earthquake. The tunnel will be much less intrusive than the wall-like Viaduct structure, which cuts Seattle off from its waterfront, and the tunnel, new surface street, and transit will take care of the Viaduct’s 110,000 vehicles per day.Why did Seattle move the highway from above ground to below ground? What we're the replacement options considered? How did Seattle settle on the deep bore tunnel, one of the most expensive options possible, as a replacement for the Viaduct? What was that process like?

Resources on this topic:

Bloomberg: "Stuck in Seattle": https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-bertha/

Seattle Times: "Bertha's woes grind on":
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/berthas-woes-grind-on-more-delay-higher-cost-for-highway-99-tunnel/

Seattle Times: '8-lane highway' on Seattle's waterfront:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/8-lane-highway-for-seattles-future-alaskan-way-challenged/

A special thanks to the Washington State Department of Transportation for the video and many wonderful photos of the project!

Other photo sources:
- Wikimedia Commons
- Flickr user Brad-514
- Flickr user Eric Fidler
- Flickr user Nic McPhee
- Flickr user Oran Viriyincy
- Flickr user Rene Schwietzke
- Flickr user SounderBruce
- Flickr user Stephen Bruce
- Flickr user tdlucas5000
- Flickr user Victor R Ruiz

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Check out Tom Scott here: https://nebula.tv/tomscott?ref=citybeautiful
Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-what-is-the-best-density-for-cities

Some cities are incredibly dense, filled with towering skyscrapers. Others are spread out, filled with single family homes. Which is better? Is there a best density? Spoiler: it has something to do with transportation.

# Resources mentioned in this video

- A Pattern Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language

- Transit-Supportive Density in Greater Boston: https://www.tbf.org/-/media/indicators/boston-indicators-reports/report-files/transit-supportive-density-report-2025_01_30.pdf

- Transit-Supportive Densities and Land Uses: https://www.psrc.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/tsdluguidancepaper.pdf

- Urban Densities and Transit: A Multi-dimensional Perspective: https://escholarship.org/content/qt3mb598qr/qt3mb598qr.pdf

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Cities have a profound impact on the natural environment due to emissions, sprawling land use, water pollution and more. But people living in dense urban areas also pollute less and are overall better for the environment than people living in the suburbs. How can cities be made more sustainable and attractive for everyone?

his is part of the new "Basics" series. One more video to come!

This video is funded by the Cal Poly Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Grant program. Thanks!

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Co-written by Sullivan Israel
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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-is-san-franciscos-new-transit-center-worth-it

San Francisco opened the Salesforce Transit Center in 2019, and currently serves buses only. It does not connect to local transit trains and will not serve longer-distance trains until at least 2033. Does that make this station a failure? Or maybe it's forward-thinking?

Resources on this topic:
- https://www.tjpa.org/

- https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot/get-involved/hou/real-plan/011223-salesforce.pdf

- https://hal.science/hal-02098131/document

- https://sfocii.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/2022 Transbay Redevelopment Plan Area Basemap for Website (002).pdf

- https://sfocii.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/TB Redevelopment Project Map_current_06.15.22.pdf

- https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/agendaitems/2014/12-2-14 Item 15 T-Third Phase 3 Concept Study.pdf

- https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/report-the-portal-project-advances-in-california/

- https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/transit/san-francisco-high-speed-rail-connection-boosted-by-billions/article_5caf2088-0f23-11ef-91d9-934fe4357d4c.html

- https://blog.bayareametro.gov/posts/portal-project-celebrates-338-billion-federal-transit-administration-funding

- https://www.capitolcorridor.org/route-map/

- https://sfyimby.com/2023/10/ceqa-approval-for-san-francisco-transbay-downtown-rail-extension.html

- https://link21program.org/en/program/concepts

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Check out “Beyond the Bleachers”! https://nebula.tv/videos/maapify-beyond-the-bleachers-part-1-where-stadiums-are-built-europe-vs-north-america
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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-why-can-two-cities-host-the-olympics-now

In recent years, the International Olympic Committee had a difficult time recruiting qualified cities to bid on hosting the Olympics. In response, they changed the rules to allow multiple cities and even regions host. Is this a good thing?

Resources on this topic:

Information on how the bidding changed: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1081246/significant-changes-to-olympic-bid-process-approved-by-ioc-session

Data about the number of Olympic athletes: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1480062/number-athletes-summer-olympics/?srsltid=AfmBOornz_3Cdl1Wp5uRFOHWisN8wYmsRwibICTmHVaC89AredrFgl0-

How much Milan-Cortina costs: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1153223/milano-cortina-2026-increases-budget

Italian infrastructure: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1154427/infrastructure-transforming-italy

Study about opposition to the games: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257/jep.30.2.201?TB_iframe=true&width=370.8&height=658.8

The relationship between public opinion and the Olympics: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1078087416684036?casa_token=Qv22Np7a0AYAAAAA:ive5jd4qDa9PMBXgUZOaGvaaRnjZRDPxYmcpKE-MfwOVBY0jf9NfTLROkTvL4hs65UZyQMaNWj-EeA

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-how-can-cities-fix-big-box-stores

Big box stores like Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco dominate the suburban retail landscape. What impact do they have on cities, and are there ways local governments can reduce their negative impacts?

Resources on this topic:

- Growth of Target, 1962-2008 | FlowingData​

- https://www.statista.com/statistics/255965/total-number-of-target-stores-in-north-america/https://www.statista.com/statistics/256172/total-number-of-walmart-stores-worldwide/

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r_q50XPRY

- https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2024/09/target-small-format-data.html?page=all

- https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/costco-housing-apartments-south-la-19541521.php

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQqbXbUrP34

- https://www.sightline.org/2021/12/16/yes-even-walmart-wants-to-build-smaller-parking-lots/

- https://www.sightline.org/2022/01/11/to-stop-building-heat-islands-stop-overbuilding-parking-lots/

- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/business/ev-chargers-store-parking-lots.html

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204601001967?casa_token=mTNICLDzaiIAAAAA:TpMxknWL7wiGFA7qWmp79m04q8MPBS7msfdWXvixmb7VpjwRyl-y7Z-iE8HzjnKm8U5BRc3H

- https://lawreview.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/9.-Schindler-FINAL_s.pdf

- https://inhabitat.com/big-box-supermarket-transformed-into-gorgeous-eden-prairie-library-in-minnesota/

- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26202645.pdf?casa_token=fB4tCcvYh9cAAAAA:ZhoZQrHJZ_1LfkM-mA-xxpA7Bic56mMsrYzAK4Vp400NhHhTI-D8g4QLsw4RBZ7Ccd91b4-E316yvBLQGqpM2cLkl-f6HSCPp0YQE9PSH3Ux_e3kcA

- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26202645.pdf?casa_token=fB4tCcvYh9cAAAAA:ZhoZQrHJZ_1LfkM-mA-xxpA7Bic56mMsrYzAK4Vp400NhHhTI-D8g4QLsw4RBZ7Ccd91b4-E316yvBLQGqpM2cLkl-f6HSCPp0YQE9PSH3Ux_e3kcA

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How do you create a memorial that speaks to the victims families, but also to those who didn’t experience the event at all? How do you design a memorial that will carry on the significance of what happened to people 50 or 100 years from now? And how do you do all of that while also creating a functional public space in the heart of Lower Manhattan?

Sources:

A. Fainstein, Susan S. "Ground Zero’s Landlord: The Role of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the Reconstruction of the World Trade Center Site." Contentious City: The Politics of Recovery in New York City (2005): 73-94.

B. “How Security Concerns And Developers Undermined The Design Of 1 World Trade Center” by Karrie Jacobs. Fast Company. 2014. https://www.fastcompany.com/3035461/how-cops-and-developers-compromised-the-design-of-1-world-trade-center

C. Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Jacques Carré, and Romain Garbaye, eds. A city of one's own: blurring the boundaries between private and public. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008.

D. Low, Setha M. "The memorialization of September 11: Dominant and local discourses on the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site." American Ethnologist 31.3 (2004): 326-339.

E. “Daniel Libeskind’s World Trade Center Change of Heart” by Elizabeth Greenspan. The New Yorker. 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/daniel-libeskinds-world-trade-center-change-of-heart

F. Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Jacques Carré, and Romain Garbaye, eds. A city of one's own: blurring the boundaries between private and public. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008.

G. “Architect for 9/11 memorial tells the story of its creation” by Susan Gonzalez. YaleNews. 2012. https://news.yale.edu/2012/11/28/architect-911-memorial-tells-story-its-creation

H. Watts, Linda S. "Reflecting absence or presence? Public space and historical memory at Ground Zero." Space and Culture 12.4 (2009): 412-418.

I. “Daniel Libeskind’s World Trade Center Change of Heart” by Elizabeth Greenspan. The New Yorker. 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/daniel-libeskinds-world-trade-center-change-of-heart

Produced in sunny Sacramento, California

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Watch this video on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-can-adus-solve-the-housing-crisis

ADUs are small backyard cottages that can provide affordable housing in underused areas of the suburbs. Their numbers have been growing on the west coast of the U.S., and this video discusses the reasons why.

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/7Fgyjx52B3

Resources on this topic:

- Decker, N. (2023). How landlords of small rental properties decide who gets housed and who gets evicted. Urban Affairs Review, 59(1), 170-199. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10780874211041513

- Pilkauskas, N. V., Amorim, M., & Dunifon, R. E. (2020). Historical trends in children living in multigenerational households in the United States: 1870–2018. Demography, 57, 2269-2296.

- https://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/2018/10/01/Build_Small_Coalition_2018_ADU_code_audit_report_final.pdf

- https://www.buildinganadu.com/adu-blog/thebigwestcoastdataset

- https://architecturaltherapy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/portland-adus-permitted-and-not-2009-10-13.pdf

- https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/accessory-dwelling-units-adus-in-california/

- https://www.ocregister.com/2024/01/12/californias-7-year-housing-push-has-yet-to-boost-building-experts-say/

- https://www.santamariasun.com/news/santa-maria-amends-adu-ordinance-amid-lingering-frustrations-15567323

- https://www.smartsharehousingsolutions.org/demo-cottage/

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Highways are noisy and full of polluting cars. How bad is it to live near one? And why do we keep building new housing next to them?

# Resources mentioned in this video
- LA Times: L.A. keeps building near freeways, even though living there makes people sick
- Great book: City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways
- My video on highway removal: How to Remove a Highway
# Resources on this topic
- Mitigating air and noise pollution through highway capping: The Bundang-Suseo Highway Cap Project case study
- [Combined impacts of highways and light rail transit on residential
property values: a spatial hedonic price model for Phoenix, Arizona](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692314001653)
- [Health Effects caused by Noise:
Evidence in the Literature from the Past 25 Years](file:///Users/daveamos/Downloads/health_effects_caused_by_noise__evidence_in_the.3.pdf)
- [Urban Elevated Highways in Residential Districts: New Developed Elevated Highways from Residents’ Perspectives](https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000800?casa_token=yX5EaM94gTMAAAAA:_lXVYsO94VK9u-8khX8_LuLkUIwU4_zmXPSE9-e5fX44-DFhI2Tlqo68qvgKNJaUJNB8-cH3Ctg)
- Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks
- Characterization of winter air pollutant gradients near a major highway
- Reduction of air pollution levels downwind of a road with an upwind noise barrier
- Spatial and temporal differences in traffic-related air pollution in three urban neighborhoods near an interstate highway
- Effective Noise Barrier Solutions for TxDOT

# Other stuff!
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
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Learn more about Eastern Washington University's programs here: https://www.ewu.edu/cahss/political-science-public-policy/urban-regional-planning/

The housing crisis: how did we get into this mess? This video looks at the last 100 years of housing policy to try to understand how.

Resources on this topic:

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18852/w18852.pdf
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/research/files/harvard_jchs_homeownership_rate_layton_2021.pdf
https://journals-sagepub-com.calpoly.idm.oclc.org/doi/epdf/10.1177/1538513205278372
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/03/18/the-return-of-the-multi-generational-family-household/
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/the-demographics-of-multigenerational-households/
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/dl-transcript/m00-1_alexander.pdf
https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/31/why-do-we-have-30-year-mortgage-anyway/
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18821/w18821.pdf
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS
https://shelterforce.org/2022/08/08/what-is-the-financialization-of-housing/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02673037.2020.1762847
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/rental-housing-unaffordability-how-did-we-get-here
https://calmatters.org/housing/2024/03/institutional-investors-corporate-landlords/_
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/4/93
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/09516298211044852?casa_token=_ETy6ZWc0YMAAAAA:Be2fsf2Y6KPNBb2bIxAaPXe-NzcmaLoHo0dyDOlw9s5Tm9BF3DvQN0RUoRgBwVLD-AFmjw0imnV7gQ
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26895803.pdf?casa_token=hxb25C-6iegAAAAA:tVWP2e_FoXhGNTgl7XT4dltFxzpC9Z9VOVBO3MvssvxN5vLAOWGBHzBqXV7MwOV9PWa-yyVQg9ir1qJku_SgctaeAr4gfoIszEsbrb4t_Vrx0nCRwdKQ

Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
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