In Tel Aviv, which is just as hot in the summer, this is common as well, in the more walkable parts of town. Some streets – e.g. Sheinkin, Basel, Dizengoff – have even managed to preserve walkable old urbanism.

It’s not how Barcelona’s subway is configured – for a start, the average interstation in Barcelona is less than half that in Singapore and Moscow. And it’s telling that the Singaporean/Muscovite way of building subways evolved in an environment of strict controls on car ownership, both in the Soviet Union and in modern Singapore. But it’s one way of building subways.

This is appropriate as their CBDs hold jobs (i.e. actual number of jobs is steady or grows more slowly than the outlying districts), but lose relative share of jobs to the suburbs/exurbs. Thus, a web: multiple crosstown linkages across the radials enable commutes that do not involve the central node.

Alas, such a distributed system has a price: the whole metro would have to be far more walkable or bikable, so that people could make 5-10 minute walks at each end of their commute. This is anathema in a nation where walks to the front door from parking is usually measured in feet.

I’m glad someone brought up the port city point, because that’s what was going through my mind when I read of your comparisons of the two cities. Another interesting comparison would be Barcelona-Rotterdam and/or Rotterdam to other cities in the Netherlands.

Also I just wanted to say that the Art Deco buildings in Chicago are some of my favorite architecture there. I believe it’s the Carson Pirie Scott building, with the amazing arch over the door??

In a place like my hometown of St. Louis, I wonder how much sense this makes with downtown continuing to decline in importance with respect to jobs relative to the rest of the region. Are we building transportation systems based on a 19th/early 20th century idea of the American city? Namely workers commuting into a “downtown” core where most of the jobs are located? With jobs continuing to migrate out of downtown despite a highway system centered on it, how much sense does it make to invest in fixed infrastructure centered on this particular part of the metro area?

In short, are we too fixated on an antiquated, 19th century view of the American city, which looking back may actually have been an anomaly with regard to commuting patterns and job concentration? And is the future one of overall more density, but with jobs and destinations spread out more evenly, more like the Barcelona model? Considering the resources invested in these systems, it seems rather important to have a clear idea of which direction our cities are heading. Any thoughts from the author or other commenters would be welcome.