Professors Shouldn't Live in Apartments?, Absurd Student Housing Fights, & More
Around the College Towns: Links and commentary related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of Dec. 29 - Jan. 2.
Note: A light week of links due to the New Year and holiday season. I did manage to find a few links out there related to urbanism and higher education.
Learning to Love Not Hate Robotaxis
To close out the year, Joe Burn at The San Francisco Standard penned a mea culpa on Waymo and self-driving cars. He admits that he had a bias against the technology because his father was a taxi driver, but that couldn’t stop his appreciation for the robotaxis once he actually tried them out.
I’ve obviously staked my claim as an optimist for this innovation, so I’m glad to see someone admit they were wrong here. But there is a lot of hate right now for self-driving technology, especially within the urbanist community. San Francisco, too, seems to be the epicenter of distrust and dislike, which I can understand as they have long been Silicon Valley’s guinea pigs.
DUI Capital of the World
One reason I am bullish about self-driving cars is the epidemic of drunk driving in the US. It happens all the time and makes our roads incredibly unsafe. I recently found out that the epicenter for DUIs in the country is just down the road from me in Laguna Beach.
It is a beautiful little beach town isolated by a mountain canyon where people go to celebrate and watch the sunset. There is no public transportation, and the locals who live there are wildly against building anything (plus, they are very wealthy, so they have deep pockets for fights). Places like this where I know there will never be good public transit could be safer with self-driving cars.
Professors Who Live in Apartments? Gross.
On the college front, I spotted this funny anecdote over at r/academia. According to the story, an Associate Dean said, "You still rent, like a student? You need to fix that... living in an apartment as a professor sends the wrong message."
I’ve covered the plight of academic jobs that don’t pay well, especially in the current housing market. An apartment is better than homeless! Sometimes more senior faculty may not even be aware of these issues faced by their more junior colleagues, a sentiment echoed in response to the story.
Clemson Student Housing Finally Happening
Speaking of student housing, like most top colleges around the country, there is a housing crunch for students at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. So it should be seen as good news that a new large housing development was just approved.
Unfortunately, what we see over and over again is that locals who live around universities have antipathy for the institutions and the kids. Angry residents have been protesting the development since it was first announced. A recent comment even invoked the mythical Manhattan comparison that often accompanies these complaints.
“…that would not fit on one entire city block in midtown Manhattan that houses the Empire State Building. Nor would it fit on one entire city block inside the loop in Chicago that houses the old Sears Tower… Two of the biggest buildings in the United States and this is a town of 17,000 people.”
This is a development that will be within walking distance of the main university campus. Founded over 130 years ago and now with over 28,000 students (yes, the town seems to have more students than non-students), Clemson the town certainly grew up around Clemson the university. That hasn’t stopped people from complaining about the area’s anchor and founding institution.
Embarrassing Reaction to Student Housing
Sometimes I wonder if I am too harsh on those opposing student housing, but then I am reminded of the absurdities in these cases. One such case comes from St John's, Worcester, UK, where locals are protesting a proposal for student housing. Let’s look at some of the comments:
“impact on creaking local infrastructure, parking etc.”
“This application will massively impact on those living in the local area.”
“it will be lost forever”
“destroying St John's.”
Wow, this sounds like a truly horrifying project. What exactly is it? Well, it’s reportedly a plan to convert a home from “six to eight bedrooms.” Yep, a fairly small incremental change is bringing this kind of protest and ire. We see it across the Anglo-West. No wonder our countries are in the midst of housing crises.
I did not know that about Laguna….