Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st Century

This richly illustrated book is about streetcars and the tremendous private investment they help generate. There are case studies of the most robust new systems and the ways they’ve been used to leverage ambitious public goals like affordability and high-quality public space, and chapters on planning, financing and the more technical aspects of building a system, and also a history of streetcars as a public/private venture. Chapter 1 (Streetcars: Development-Oriented Transit) is available to read online for free. It includes essays on why streetcars make sense now, a case study of the Portland, OR streetcar, why conservatives should want streetcars, and the world context.