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My family had Slide Show Night when I was growing up. Not every Saturday, but a whole bunch of Saturdays. Either my sister or I would be in charge of setting up the projector, the screen, and loading the carousel. During the show, there’d be a few landscapes or skylines taken during vacations, but almost all the shots were up close. Like most dads, mine wasn’t a professional photographer, but he did a good job of capturing memory triggers: faces, gestures, and decorations. Before we were driving age, my sister and I were given our own cameras as Christmas gifts. We’d spend our own money buying and developing film. We basically documented our Gen X life: playing in the woods, sledding, beach trips, birthday parties, and even selfies. (I shot a 24-exposure roll of me stupidly rock climbing in regular clothes and treadless high-tops on Pikes Peak in Colorado.) Years later, when I graduated college and started working on transportation studies, that same camera came with me. It seemed natural to shoot study areas before and after team meetings. When I’d put together slide shows to document the work we did, I kept noticing two distinct types of picture: the charming local ingredient (e.g. historic train caboose), and the oppressive transportation ingredient (e.g. wide arterial with turn lanes on all corners). {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/\u0022\u003Eurbanismspeakeasy.com.\u003C\/a\u003E","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91453933,"imageMobileId":91453932,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} Documenting improvements I’d look at those pictures and recall how dangerous it felt getting those shots to document the transportation “improvements.” My industry of highly educated professional planners and engineers was defining success in ways that didn’t make sense when you looked at the pictures I took of the study areas. Infrastructure projects were being executed in ways that prevented residents and visitors from taking a comfortable walk around town. What is it about a place that makes people reach for a camera, hang out, spend money, and keep coming back? The status quo experts arent asking questions like that. Instead, theyre focused on technical requirements and processes that dont consider what the average person is looking for: a bench in the shade, a fountain, or a plaza for people-watching. Professionals create infrastructure that makes or breaks bonds between friends, families, and strangers. It’s paramount to understand the context of our work. Town planners and engineers have the opportunity to turn ordinary studies into recipes for creating places that are loveable, enticing, and even irresistible. Memorable human experiences If you make decisions according to industry norms, your downtown will be easy to resist, because itll be entirely oriented around motor vehicle traffic rather than memorable human experiences. Regulations and permitting are anchored to car-oriented engineering, and that anchor weighs down our communities. People across generations want walkable, bikeable downtowns. Millennials want them. Baby Boomers want them. Surveys consistently show communities of all types have an appetite for walkable, bikeable places. These are the places we see on family Slide Show Night or the modern social media equivalent. Encourage your local leaders to plan infrastructure for slideshow-worthy human experiences. Consider how people of all ages are going to interact with each other and with their environment, and then (only then!) design the infrastructure. The internet is loaded with friendly people who would love to exchange ideas with you about irresistible places. As legendary musician Frank Zappa said, progress requires deviation from the norm. That absolutely applies to planners and engineers working to create lovable, enticing downtowns. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. 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E-Commerce
The Supreme Court struck down President Trumps sweeping tariffs on Friday, ruling that he overstepped his authority in imposing them on global imports. In a 6-3 ruling, the court wrote that Trumps actions were unprecedented, noting that Trumps attempt to use his power to unilaterally impose unbounded tariffs and change them at will overstepped the law, and that his administrations view would represent a transformative expansion of the Presidents authority over tariff policy. The ruling continued: It is also telling that in IEEPAs [International Emergency Economic Powers Act’s] half century of existence, no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope. In effect, the Supreme Court ruled that, despite Trumps assertions otherwise, the President lacks the authority to impose tariffs, and that he improperly used the premise of an emergency to impose them, most of which came during Liberation Day early last year. The government had collected somewhere in the neighborhood of $230 billion in tariff revenue between January and December 2025. Critically, not all tariffs have been struck downonly the ones that Trump has imposed as an emergency under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariff laws from the 1970s. Will consumers get refunds for the tariffs? Also critically, the Supreme Court did not indicate whether tariffs already paid would need to be refunded. So as it stands, its unclear whether anyone is due a refund for dues paid. It could be a messy situation in terms of sorting it all out, and it appears that many legislators are trying to get ahead of that. Several questions remain unanswered, including what happens to the revenue already collected and how the Administration may use alternative authorities to impose tariffs, said Senator John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, in a statement following the ruling. Looking ahead, it is critical that we provide the clarity and predictability businesses need. That could result in individuals and companies looking to shipping and logistics companies for guidance and refunds. A spokesperson at DHL Express Americas tells Fast Company that the company is closely monitoring the legal developments regarding IEEPA tariffs to ensure our customers are positioned to exercise their full rights under the law.” “We would play a technical role in the process, leveraging our customs brokerage technology to track filings to ensure that if refunds are authorized, our clients receive their capital back accurately and efficiently,” the DHL spokesperson added. Fast Company has also reached out to UPS and FedEx for comment as well. Additionally, businesses can try to request a refund on imports (assuming they qualify), or take legal action. For instance, they can file a formal protest with the U.S. Customers and Border Protection (CBP), or file a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade. The ruling blows a hole in Trumps economic agenda. Administration officials have said, however, that they were prepared to respond. Last month, Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, told The New York Times that the administration would start the next day to find ways to reimpose tariffs if the Supreme Court ended up striking them down. In response, the markets increased slightly; as of midday Friday, the S&P 500 was up about 0.5%. President Trump, meeting with the nations governors on Friday, called the decision a disgrace.
Category:
E-Commerce
A federal judge has ruled that Tesla is still required to pay $243 million over a 2019 crash involving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot, despite the companys efforts to overturn the verdict. In August 2025, a jury found Tesla liable for the death of Naibel Benavides Leon, a 22-year-old woman who was killed when George McGee, who was driving a Tesla Model S, drove through an intersection while he bent to look for his dropped phone. The crash occurred in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019. McGees vehicle, which was equipped with Teslas Autopilot technology, crashed into an SUV that was parked on the shoulder, killing Leon and injuring Dillon Angulo. I trusted the technology too much, McGee said in 2025. I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes. That jury assigned Tesla 33% of the fault for the collision, and awarded $200 million in punitive damages, and $43 million in compensatory damages. A courtroom first The 2025 verdict was a first from a federal jury over a fatal Autopilot accident, though there have been multiple incidents of Tesla vehicles in Autopilot mode that were involved in vehicle collisions. Soon after that case, Tesla challenged the verdict, filing a motion asking the court to throw it out, or grant a new trial. The company argued that the Model S was not defective, and that there wasnt evidence that the company failed to provide warnings or instructions concerning Autopilot. This week, however, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami disagreed with Teslas arguments. Bloom ruled that the evidence from the 2025 trial more than supported the verdict, and that the company did not present any additional arguments. That means Tesla is on the hook for the $243 million in damages. “The grounds for relief that Tesla relies upon are virtually the same as those Tesla put forth previously during the course of trial and in their briefings on summary judgment-arguments that were already considered and rejected,” the decision said, according to MarketWatch. Fast Company reached out to Tesla for comment. Prior to the 2025 trial, Tesla had rejected a $60 million settlement offer for the case. Tesla has “indicated” that it will appeal the ruling, Electrek reports, but even if that appeal is successful, the judgement is still likely to be more than that settlement offer.
Category:
E-Commerce
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