The Price for Concrete
What streets cost when people aren't the point.
- Systems Design
- Visual Narrative
- Research
Systems deck on car-first design, pedestrian blame, and the leverage points that could flip the goal from throughput to safe human access.
The Price for Concrete asks what we actually pay when streets are engineered for cars first and people second. Not the asphalt invoice. The human one.
A systems-thinking deck: iceberg models, mental models, and leverage points. Boards first. The argument is in the sequence.
Project Overview
Client
IXD · Systems Thinking (Academic)
Industry
Urban Systems · Mobility · Policy Design
Timeline
Unit 4 · Solo · May 2026
My role
Systems research · visual narrative
Spark
Raquel Nelson's case: a family crossing after dark, and a system that criminalized the pedestrian.
Lens
Pattern → structure → mental model. Cars as 'normal' is the deepest layer.
Leverage
Rewrite the rules: safe human access over maximum throughput.
Work
Visual overview
Full board sequence from The Price for Concrete. Scroll the argument before you skim the labels.
Reflection
If pedestrians stay 'criminals' in the mental model, concrete keeps getting poured for the wrong stakeholder. Change the goal, and the budget follows.