How would you map the impact of light rail expansion on income inequality and cost of housing? more
“The grounded city is neither an insoluble city problem in the 1970s sense, nor a city black box in the 2000s sense delivering pleasant surprises. The grounded city is instead a site of diverse experiments and learning which could and should be publicly led.” – How to build a fairer city
“Middle-income residents — already a smaller percentage of the population here than the national average — are seeing incomes shrink and opportunities decline. Even as New York’s GDP increased by nearly 50% between 1990 and 2007, the average wage stayed flat, at about $16 an hour. And the share of income received by the middle 45% of New Yorkers, defined as those drawing incomes between $29,000 and $167,000, plunged by 19%.” – Why I got out of New York City
“the proliferation of anti-discrimination policies since the 1970s has been accompanied by sharply increasing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth” – How to build a fairer city
“The centre-left’s nostalgic attachment to redistributive taxation has faded, and all parties now increasingly problematise fairness as a matter of managing internal competition: the result is standard packages of policy remedies whose reach exceeds their grasp.” – How to build a fairer city
“The global obsession of our age is competing everywhere with everyone for everything. In the mainstream imaginary, every city has to chase competitive success in a league table where it secures prosperity by getting ahead of others.
Our premise is that competition is the wrong kind of imaginary; that we are trapped by an idea of the externally competitive city as a basis for economic success. The content and meaning of that success then goes largely unexamined until somebody notices that prosperity is manifestly failing to trickle down and the tax system actually reinforces income inequality.” – How to build a fairer city
“The success of a city should not be measured externally by relative size and the ability to come first ahead of equals; rather, the measure should be a city’s internal ability to distribute mundane goods and services which ensure the civilised life of the largest number of its people.” – How to build a fairer city
“After Medicare was introduced in 1965 as a social safety net for the elderly, doctors’ salaries actually increased as more people sought medical care. In 1940, in inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars, the mean income for U.S. physicians was about $50,000. By 1970, it was close to $250,000—nearly six times the median household income.” – Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession
“Industry estimates suggest that 20 to 60 percent of garment production is sewn at home by informal workers” – 5 Truths the Fast Fashion Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know