China is moving to a Two-Child Policy

 Chris Buckley, reporting for the NYT.

China will allow all couples to have two children, a Communist Party leadership meeting decided on Thursday, bringing an end to decades of restrictive policies that limited most urban families to one child.

The announcement came after the party’s Central Committee concluded a four-day meeting in a heavily guarded hotel in western Beijing where it approved proposals for China’s next five-year development plan, which starts next year. The terse announcement from Xinhua, the state news agency, about the sharp shift in family planning policy gave no details.

Related Links:

• China and US populations compared 
• Has ChinaReached the Lewis Turning Point? more here.
• Demographies of China

Clarifying the philosophy of science

By Eric Jarosinski.

[image credit: Sohomjit Ray on FB]

Growth and Decline of Urban Agglomerations in Germany

Ben Hennig has posted an interesting analysis on the changing geographies of city regions in Germany.

Annual Population change, 2008-2013

[image credit: Ben Hennig]

Related Links

• The Growing and shrinking populations of Europe, 2001-2011
• Seven drivers to population growth in US
• Cities with the fastest growing populations
• Urbanization and Growth: A review of the past 500 years 

Message of the Day

Can the Pope alleviate congestion ?

Apparently, yes. Not because of a miracle, though. (via The Overhead Wire and Robert Thomson)

A report prepared by staffer Wenjing Pu finds that “overall, a modest reduction in traffic volumes led to a significant reduction in congestion and an even larger improvement in travel time reliability on freeways, and transit ridership notably declined for the week” of the papal visit to the District, highlighted by many events on Sept. 23 and 24.

Traffic flow before the Pope's visit and on the day of his visit

[image credit: TPB]

Assorted Links

1. Using Google Street View to map where sidewalks aren't good for wheelchairs
   
   
2. Interactive Dot map visualizing the spatial distribution of jobs in the United States via Maps Mania
   
   
3. 'A simple agent-based spatial model of the economy: tools for policy', by Bernardo Furtado
   
   
4. Depth of field
   
   
5. Planning a Metropolitan area for 130 million people (via MR)
   
   
6. Tim Riffe is building a unified model of demographic time . Stay tuned.
   
   
7. A camera that shoots 1 trillion frames per second
   
   
8. Visualizing Algorithms Great link to loose you day learning some cool stuff
   
   
9. The Equal Population Mapper (old link, but still pretty neat)

Build and they will come, or The Black Hole Theory of Highway Investment

These incredible scenes reminded me of a quote by Plane (1995) about the Black Hole Theory of Highway Investment:

"Initial investments in improved highway facilities result in greater ease of travel and hence altered travel patterns, including an increase in average trip length and in the number of trips being made. Over time, as shown in Figure 18.1, this increased demand stimulated by the initial investment in increased transport supply fuels the need for even more facilities, and the feedback process repeat itself. This familiar phenomenon has been called the black-hole theory because some people claim that investing in highways is like throwing money into a black hole" (Plane, 1995 p.439)

photo credit: Rafael Pereira

Reference:

• Plane, D. A. (1995). Urban transportation: policy alternatives. In Hanson & Giuliano (Eds.) The geography of urban transportation. (2nd ed.) New York ; London: Guilford Press.

Urban Picture

Solar Farm in Spain

[image credit: Google Maps]

Compare the subway systems of Rio and Shanghai between 1979 and 2014

A nice GIF comparing the expansion of the subway systems in Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai between 1979 and 2014.

[image credit: ? via Lucas Gaspar on FB]

We've seen this before, but I couldn't resist posting this GIF (it covers a wider time span, it is quite straightforward and I love gifs

The hidden inequality of who dies in car crashes

Emily Badger has written an interesting piece on The Washington Post covering a recent study that discuss socioeconomic inequalities in car crashes in the US between 1995 and 2010.

off-topic: feeling of the day

When you're arguing with someone online

source: somewhere on facebook