March Madness Elite Eight: Will It Be Bike Lanes vs. Car Share?

This year, for the first time, The Atlantic Cities hosts the Urbanist Toolkit Bracket Challenge, pitting “the hottest trends in urbanism” against each other in a NCAA-style tournament. Think you can’t enjoy this contest because you don’t know enough about urbanism trends? Not so. Unlike college basketball, whose arcana is limited to regular spectators and fans, trends in urbanism are all around us–and highly unspecialized. For instance, the top four seeds in this tourney are car share, farmers markets, bike lanes and the waterfront promenade. Get it?

Image: TheAtlanticCities.com

Now the Urbanist Toolkit Bracket Challenge is down to the Sweet 16, and rather famous people–urban planners, that is; not Kim Kardashian or anything–have weighed in. Even if you don’t keep a bracket yourself, you can vote for what you want your city to do–and there’s one contest right now that seems especially relevant to Philadelphia: streetcar vs. bike lanes. Don’t take away our 34 trolley! Please!

• The Urbanist Toolkit Bracket Challenge
• Urbanist Bracket Challenge: Sweet 16