Yonah Freemark

Writing: Journalism & Op-Eds

I have worked as a journalist and op-ed contributor on hundreds of articles for more than a dozen outlets, including The New York TimesCity Lab, and Planning. My work is primarily concerned with issues related to city planning, transportation, and housing. For my work, I conduct interviews, perform quantitative analysis of Census and related data, and generate maps through GIS. My clips are below. In addition, I have been quoted extensively in the media about my research.

Jump to a specific outlet: The Appeal | San Francisco Chronicle | The New York Times | Streetsblog | CNN | Planning | Global Planning Educators Interest Group | Grist | Dissent | Crain’s Chicago BusinessTravel + Leisure | City Lab | Urban Affairs Forum | The Frisc | Urban Land | Living Cities | American Planning Association | International Finance Corporation | Freakonomics | Next City | The Infrastructurist | The News and Observer


Slate


Shelterforce


The Hill


The Appeal


San Francisco Chronicle


The New York Times


Streetsblog

I wrote the Getting Transit Right series, an effort to catalogue best practices among transit systems in the U.S. through analytical and interview-based articles. The series is funded by TransitCenter. Recent articles include the following:

I have also written the following articles for Streetsblog:


CNN


Planning


Global Planning Educators Interest Group


Grist


Dissent


Crain’s Chicago Business


Travel + Leisure


City Lab (formerly The Atlantic Cities)


Urban Affairs Forum


The Frisc


Urban Land: The Magazine of the Urban Land Institute


Living Cities


American Planning Association


International Finance Corporation (IFC) Handshake


Freakonomics


Next City (formerly Next American City)

I was employed as the writer of the Grassroutes series throughout 2010, in which I traveled from city to city throughout the U.S. to understand what smaller cities were doing to improve their transportation systems from the ground-up.

In addition, I have written the following major pieces. The latter three were published as headline pieces in the magazine.

  • Will they or won’t they? The romance between Obama & high-speed rail,” on Next City online, February 26, 2013
  • “Driving in Circles: Downtown Providence Got Rid of its Highway. Can it Lose its Dependence on Cars?” in Next City Forefront, June 2012
  • “Is Bike Sharing Doomed in America?,” in Next American City Magazine (print), Winter 2010
  • “Minding the Gaps,” in Next American City Magazine (print), Fall 2010

The Infrastructurist

  •  “Alaska Plans 2,000-Mile Natural Gas Pipeline,” 15 April 2010
  • “Are Urban Farms the Best Hope for Struggling American Cities?” 14 April 2010
  • “The Lab that Could Create an Earthquake-Proof Building,” 3 March 2010
  • “The Sidewalks of Today and Tomorrow: Is Concrete Our Only Option?” 22 February 2010
  • “Who Will Clear the Seabeds of WWII Mines for Gas Pipelines? Robots,” 16 February 2010
  • “What’s Being Built in Vancouver? A Sneak Peak at the Olympic Construction,” 11 February 2010
  • “Is Indonesia Making a Potentially Disastrous Gamble with High-Speed Rail?” 8 January 2010
  • “The Four Highway Projects that Would be the Biggest Waste of Money,” 16 December 2009
  • “The Future of American Streetcars: Are they Coming to Your City?” 7 December 2009
  • “Meet the Train Makers: Alstom, Bombardier, Talgo, Japanese companies, and Siemens” 26 October-16 November 2009
  • “What’s Up with Maglev? 6 Current Proposals to Build Floating Trains,” 24 September 2009
  • “9 Fascinating and Futuristic Bus Stops,” 16 September 2009
  • “Why Glaeser Got it Wrong: Re-Running the Numbers on High-Speed Rail,” 25 August 2009
  • “Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell to the Wrecking Ball,” 22 June 2009
  • “Four Innovations That Could Make Long-Distance Air Travel Greener,” 2 June 2009
  • “The World’s 5 Most Ambitious Megaprojects,” 28 May 2009
  • “Does Mysterious Math Law Really Predict the Size of Our Cities,” 27 May 2009
  • “Department of Demographics: Who Rides Transit?” 22 May 2009
  • “A Vibrant US Train Industry Would Employ More People than Car Markers Do Now,” 19 May 2009
  • “Comparison Shopping for Transit Systems,” 13 May 2009
  • “America’s Streetcar Renaissance,” 4 May 2009
  • “The Future of Streetlights: 6 Brilliant New Concepts,” 28 April 2009
  • “A Few Thoughts on Obama’s Rail Plan,” 16 April 2009
  • “New High Speed Rail Projects Around the World,” 6 April 2009
  • “Buses of the Future,” 1 April 2009
  • “The World’s 7 Best High Speed Rail Networks,” 26 March 2009
  • “Will There Ever be Vertical Farms in Manhattan?” 23 March 2009
  • “Could New York City Run Entirely on Green Power?” 18 March 2009
  • “Highways to Nowhere: The 7 Most Ridiculous New Roads Being Built in America,” 16 March 2009

The News and Observer

  • “RTP must be reworked,” 6 September 2005