{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Collin Donnell", "home_page_url": "http://www.collindonnell.com", "feed_url": "https://feedpress.me/collindonnell", "items": [ { "id": "https://collindonnell.com/implementing-a-personal-transportation-hierarchy", "url": "https://feedpress.me/link/950/16194791/implementing-a-personal-transportation-hierarchy", "title": "Implementing a Personal Transportation Hierarchy", "content_html": "
There\u2019s a concept in urbanism and sustainability that I recently learned about from the CityNerd YouTube channel called the green transportation hierarchy, which looks like this:
\n\n\n\nThe idea is that things lower on the pyramid should defer to the things above them and that our environments should be designed to make more sustainable forms of transportation easier than less. It\u2019s the difference between a pedestrian hostile strode and the kind of environment you might see in a place like Barcelona.
\n\nTo me, this idea makes sense in a couple of ways. If you want people to make sustainable choices that make cities more livable, you need to make those choices more convenient than the alternatives. If getting across town on a bus takes ninety minutes and driving takes ten, it\u2019s not hard to understand why people choose to drive.
\n\nSo what\u2019s the personal part of this? The thing is, between 2009 and 2017, I didn\u2019t own a car at all. During that time, I moved from Portland, where it was kind of annoying but doable, to San Francisco, where having a car seemed like a burden more than anything else, to Seattle. I could have continued in Seattle, but it would have been more difficult than in other places I\u2019d lived, and so I got a car a few months after moving there. I still took the train when it was more convenient but less than before.
\n\nThe next place I lived was Silicon Valley, specifically Cupertino and Campbell. I\u2019d walk or ride my bike when it made sense, but that area was not designed to get around without a car. At this point, I was driving more than anything else. After the pandemic started, riding a bus or on a train became something I wouldn\u2019t do.
\n\nSince then, I\u2019ve come back to Portland, and the options to get around without a car are better again. Portland has a pretty good bike share program, an above average light rail system, and an okay bus network. Plus, my neighborhood is pretty walkable, with a 73 walk score. I\u2019m lucky to live in a place with all these things available and accessible to me, but after getting used to driving as a default, I haven\u2019t used them as much as the last time I lived here (without a car).
\n\nHere\u2019s my plan. If where I\u2019m going can be walked to in under 20 minutes or so, I\u2019m going to do that. I\u2019ll bike if it\u2019s further or I\u2019m in a hurry. If it\u2019s further than I\u2019d like to cycle to, I\u2019ll take the bus. Portland still has a lot of sprawl, so cutting out driving 100% would be hard. The goal is to reserve driving for when I need to get something I couldn\u2019t otherwise take back or when taking public transit would take a lot longer than I have. I really want to break the habit of driving being my default mode of transportation.
\n\nI\u2019ll let you know how it goes.
\n", "date_published": "2023-06-17T00:15:36+00:00", "attachments": [], "image": "https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/green-hierarchy.jpg" }, { "id": "https://collindonnell.com/vision-pro-is-the-make-or-break-moment-for-vr", "url": "https://feedpress.me/link/950/16192518/vision-pro-is-the-make-or-break-moment-for-vr", "title": "Vision Pro Is the Make-or-Break Moment for VR", "content_html": "I\u2019ve been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and I think Vision Pro is the make-or-break moment for VR and AR. Smartphones weren\u2019t mainstream until the iPhone. Smartwatches weren\u2019t mainstream until the Apple Watch.
\n\nThe market for headsets like the Vision Pro feels like the market for smartphones and watches before Apple entered those markets. There are lots of headsets out there, but they\u2019re really niche. They all suck in different ways and aren\u2019t useful for much. This is the first one that runs what I\u2019d call a \u201creal\u201d OS, by which I mean a headset that runs apps and is useful for things other than games \u2014 assuming you don\u2019t get sick from playing them, which many people do.
\n\nLike the iPhone and Apple Watch, it will take a few years for the Vision Pro to go mainstream, and like those, people will probably make fun of it for the first couple. My thinking is still that if Apple isn\u2019t going to be the one to do it after some number of years, the mainstream appeal of putting a thing on your face just isn\u2019t there, or at least not until the technology of projecting things into someone\u2019s eyes gets a lot better.
\n", "date_published": "2023-06-16T00:43:32+00:00", "attachments": [] } ] }