Urban Trends We Hope Die in 2013

Keeping track of emerging trends across the world's major cities is pretty much our job here at Atlantic Cities, but not every new idea or enthusiasm is worth repeating. Many, in fact, have already outlived their usefulness. Below, our collective plea to stop the (urbanism) madness and start getting real in 2013.

Pedestrians fighting bikers. Bikers fighting drivers. Bus riders fighting train commuters. Our transportation landscape is increasingly fragmented into single-mode interest groups who behave as if transportation infrastructure is a zero-sum game that can only be won by one form of locomotion at the expense of all the others. Los Angeles' transportation referendum failed in November, for instance, because bus riders worried that the additional tax receipts would benefit only rail commuters. Most of us, however, use a combination of all of these modes (even cars!), and we're getting tired of talking about drivers and bikers and pedestrians as if they were warring Balkan tribes. -Emily Badger