Links for urbanists No. 6

Correlation is not causation

Assorted links to some of the useful, the informative, the interesting, and sometimes even the slightly weird sources I stumble across from time-to-time:

1. There are only one and a half days to go to win a copy of Jarrett Walkers new book, Human Transit. Follow this link (this competition closed 17 Dec 2011)
2. Motoring helmets for car drivers – “Ultimately, motoring helmets will be commonplace”
3. Ted Baillieu’s favourite Melbourne buildings. He’s not likely to annoy anyone – the most recent is Alkira House, built in 1937
4. How to increase capacity on SkyBus? – use “double deckers”
5. Evolution of the London Underground map
6. 16 global cities to watch in the future, according to Edward Glaeser and Saskia Sassen – but where’s Melbourne?
7. Naughty and nice in transport advertising – Waking up in Geelong
8. Correlation or causation. Need to prove something you already believe? Statistics are easy: all you need are two sets of data and a leading question (H/T Human Transit)
9. The importance of place – scientists who are geographically close do better work (especially those within 10 metres of each other)
10. Should speed limits be higher? No, the social costs of speed limit increases are three to ten times larger than the social benefits
11. What does it cost to run a car? RACV’s guide to what it costs to run new cars of all sizes and shapes
12. Barbarians on the Thames – hindsight analysis of the British riots by Theodore Dalrymple
13. Sir Rod Eddington interviewed by Professor Peter Newman – they’re old colleagues!
14. The death and life of great architecture criticism
15. Slowing motorists down is the best way to increase safety for cyclists according to Britain’s Department for Transport
16. Commuting cost analysis: bus vs bicycle vs car
17. All you need to know about Birrarung Marr
18. There was a time when the great political worry was that we’d leave no coal for future generations
19. A review of Steven Pinker’s new book, The better angels of our nature, by Peter Singer
20. A joke about a snail
21. Imagining life in 2076