The Unfinished Metropolis by @benschneider.bsky.social was one of my favorite 2025 urbanism reads, filled with real examples of how the U.S. is relearning how to make cities work for people. islandpress.org/books/unfini...

The best way to upzone is to upzone everywhere. That's how you get organic, bottom-up growth that enriches places where people already live.

Sausalito, California votes for more housing but in a very concentrated area, which means "they are going to have towers in Sausalito. The thing they have tried so hard to avoid is the thing they ended up doing to themselves.” www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

"'Chipotlanes' - drive-thru lanes for digital order pickup - are appearing not only along suburban arterials but also within residential and mixed-use areas." Umm, no - drive-thru lanes are not a 15-minute city strategy. rebusinessonline.com/quick-servic...

New blog post: Emergent Tokyo shows how great cities are built - not from the top down but from the bottom up. www.15minutecity.com/blog/tokyo

Thought-provoking piece on cities and abundance by "Radical Adaptation" author Brian Stone Jr. "We must do more than expedite our permitting processes; we must reimagine urbanization." www.noemamag.com/the-abundanc...

In the U.S., it's #WeekWithoutDriving starting today!

Thanks so much, Dan! Really thrilled to hear you enjoyed the book — you're totally right that the 15-minute city ideal lines up with what I'm calling for.

Paoletta’s antidote is fully consistent with the 15-minute city playbook: "To survive the twenty-first century, we'll have to return to traditions of cohabitation and fellowship, fostering an interdependent community in recognition of the inherent limits of any place we hope to call home." 3/3

"It's ludicrous for developers to build new subdivisions thirty miles from downtown Phoenix while neighborhoods that are little more than fifty years old degenerate into a patchwork of clearings." 2/3

I just finished reading American Oasis and am absorbing Kyle Paoletta's scathing critiques of development patterns in the American Southwest that are STILL ONGOING @kpaoletta.bsky.social 1/3

Less asphalt, more life: an eloquent call for better urban planning in Nigeria by Caroline Bos of UNStudio

"I’ve fallen in love with San Francisco again by riding my bike,” says baseball announcer / bike commuter Dave Flemming. @peterhartlaub.bsky.social @SFchronicle.com www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf/arti...

"Gearheads owe it to themselves to consider the environmental and social costs that their preferred mode exacts on cities."

We need more Matt Farahs who understand the difference between car enthusiasm and car dependence. Another great piece from @davidzipper.bsky.social

"We’re not building cities. We are scaling the power of people to reshape them." A fantastic philosophy articulated by David Miet of urban design firm Villes Vivantes. Check them out.

Gayle King, for example, looks like she'd rather be jumping on a bike than boarding a spacecraft.

@carltonreid.com's mic drop is on point: "Billionaires should jump on bicycles, not spacecraft."

Regular cycling is even better for you than you might think: Scottish study indicates that bike commuting reduces "all-cause mortality" by about half.

Protected bike lanes help everyone, not just cyclists.

Why can’t we have nice things? Aren’t we the greatest, most prosperous nation in history?

I'm neck-deep in the supply-side-focused Abundance world, but @davidzipper.bsky.social is (as usual) 100% right: for transportation, "simply uncorking more construction could be a prescription worse than the disease. The goal should be not just building more, but building smarter."

New blog post: the evidence is clear - demand for homes in walkable neighborhoods in the United States outstrips supply by a factor of 4 or more.

Effective today, we are pivoting to focus our efforts on the #15HourCity, which "represents what we think are all the best qualities of a modern city: a lack of social connections [and] a profound sense of alienation." @mcsweeneys.net #freedom www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/int...

Love this quote from Charles Marohn's "Confessions of a Recovering Engineer": "A culture of walking and biking...is an egalitarian culture, one where the functional gap between social classes shrinks. Rich and poor alike walk on two feet." @clmarohn.bsky.social @strongtowns.org

From the ever-quotable jeffspeck.bsky.social: "I frankly don’t need any more research on what is walkable or on what makes walkability important. It’s all so damn obvious. What we need now are more quick paths to the hoop - replicable successes that can spur action in communities..."

Transforming cities often boils down to governments saying "yes" rather than "no:" Mayor Paul Young has declared this Memphis's "Era of Yes."

I’m featured in the latest episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast, talking about walkable cities and 15-minute city conspiracy theories. Also featured is @lindsaysturman.bsky.social. Have a listen!

Most public opinion surveys find that about half of Americans would prefer to live in a smaller house in a more walkable neighborhood, and according to a Kinder Institute survey in Houston, that desire is strongest in the exurbs.

Bill Fulton: "We simply haven’t built enough 15-minute neighborhoods in the United States." @futureofwhere.bsky.social

The DeepSeek hubbub today reminds me of my favorite Jaime Lerner quote: “If you want creativity, cut one zero from the budget. If you want sustainability, cut two zeros.”

Naturally affordable housing through streamlined approvals and standard plans: lessons for the U.S. from Vienna and Paris from Gerhard Mayer and @lindsaysturman.bsky.social in Common Edge.

Yes, deregulation.

Fantastic closing quote from AnnaZivarts (@nondriver.bsky.social): "We need to get the voices of those who can’t drive – disabled people, seniors, immigrants, poor folks – into the room because the people making decisions drive everywhere."

The key distinction: having a car can make you happier; being dependent on it does not.

A 30-hectare brownfield site in Lisbon - a former gasworks - will be redeveloped consistent with 15-minute city principles. via Portugal Today News

The obvious flip side of walking/biking making you happier and healthier: being car-dependent makes you cranky. From Oliver Milman in @theguardian.com.

A reminder that “density” is not “overcrowding.” More density (even modest density) = less overcrowding.

Still more evidence on the huge health benefits of creating bikeable communities.

233,000 views in 6 days for a YouTube video that deep-dives into academic sociology papers and spends several minutes describing RUCA codes. There is hope for the world! Keep doing your thing, Ray.

Sadly, an evergreen meme.

And just so we aren't just relying on one study in one city, a study of cycle network construction in Oslo found health benefits of $22,000/QALY. Higher than $1,300 but still much lower than most direct health interventions. (Image is from @multimodalexplorer.bsky.social's YouTube channel.)

Let's go Cleveland - bike infrastructure is one of the cheapest ways to make a city better, in ALL kinds of climates. via News 5 Cleveland

At $1,300 per QALY (in econ-speak), bike lakes are an incredibly cheap investment in public health, much cheaper than many direct medical interventions. For example, New York's Medicaid program costs $67,000 per QALY, and dialysis is $129,000 per QALY.

I'll have to return to Copenhagen to experience this!

The Nordhavn district of Copenhagen has been developed as a 5-minute city, aimed at social sustainability as much as environmental. By @steverose7.bsky.social in @theguardian.com.

"Whitty urged policy makers to 'design cities in such a way that they enhance health through decisions on transport, housing, schooling, food policy, licencing and pollution.'”

And this riposte to the conspiracy theorists: “'Those who oppose specific evidence-based solutions should feel a responsibility to say what they would do instead to preserve the health of their fellow citizens,' said Professor Whitty."

England's chief medical officer reports that making walking and cycling more practical "could significantly improve the health of England's increasingly urban population." via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...

Utrecht's "Spatial Strategy 2040" uses something resembling a barcode to illustrate the city's allocation of space to housing, schools, recreation, cycling, and many other uses. In many U.S. cities, "cars and parking" would command 40-50% of the barcode.