To the naysayers, fossil fool and other nuclear useful idiots who say #renewables and the #energytransition are wasteful, expensive and woke unnecessary crap.

Can confirm this based on the last month in Paris: there can be hundred of people biking, walking, chatting on a fairly narrow old street and you can easily have a conversation with your companion. And then 1 car drives through and you have to hold your thought until it passes.

if you read my book you'd already know this cities aren't loud - cars are loud. SUVs are louder. and yes that includes EVs. want quieter cities? replace diesel trucks w/ EVs replace delivery vans w/ e-cargo bikes low traffic neighborhoods and modal filters everywhere

Church -> climbing gym + café is an adaptive reuse strategy I hadn't considered before, but seems to work really well. This is in Paris' 15th, near the Eiffel tower. Cool option for the church at Trent and Alabama in Durham. That parking lot would be a great outdoor patio. buff.ly/I0g06Kf

26 homes + 2 businesses on less than 3k sf. So cool!

More micro retail in France: ~150 square feet and a dream is all you need for an organic juice bar with both table and bar seating. Would love to see more opportunities (spaces!) like this for small-scale entrepreneurs back home.

2 parking spots -> doggie playground + bar patio I love walking by this little spot and seeing the clientele and vibe change throughout the day. These two small businesses are getting a ton of mileage out of this shared street space. Seems like losing a couple of parking spots was well worth it.

Got a new-to-us cargo bike today and I'm excited to bike 5 mins rather than walk 15 to drop the kids off at school. Even better was that I got to experience miles of the left bank Quai ___ bikeway. Granite curbs for protection, dedicated bike signals, and classic Paris views everywhere!

It is powerful to experience Paris' rues aux écoles in person. Not having to deal with cars removes a bunch of stress from the dropoff and pickup and provides more space for impromptu play or conversations between parents. Could imagine something similar in front of E.K. Powe on 9th St.

Build it and they will come! This kind of infrastructure would do so much for giving durhamites an alternative to cars.

South Bend is quietly showing how it should be done. Michael's feed is full of examples of a blue city in a red state actually doing the abundance thing. Wish more cities (ahem, Durham) would follow.

We took a train last last week from Rennes to Paris that was twice as fast as driving. This is TGV technology, over 40 years old. At this same speed, Raleigh to Charlotte would be 1:25 and Durham to Wilmington would be about 1:15 by train. (With Beijing-Shanghai trains these would be under 55 mins!)

This boulevard in a mid-sized French city is the local equivalent of a Fayetteville or N Roxboro in Durham. But look at all the amazing things you get here: grade-separated bike AND pedestrian infrastructure, each with their own dedicated crossings at the intersection. Signals set back...

500 square feet and a dream is all you need for an amazing neighborhood pizza parlor w/ patio! Not that it would be allowed in Durham, NC, but what a cool inspiration for little forgotten corners of a downtown.

I really like these planters that we saw in Avignon: simple + cheap materials, quick to install, allows for stormwater flow, slows traffic, and adds greenery to the streetscape. Would be great to have a bunch of these to cool and calm sun-baked 9th St in Durham.

The American mind cannot comprehend a 24sf kitchen/laundry nook. (From a lovely apartment in a ~200 year old building in Montpellier, France.) Definitely a single-occupancy space!

Wish I could say I was happier with this but I think this corridor presents a lot of issues. First, doing all these different one-directional pairs and loops will dramatically expand the needed right of way and utility relocations - the biggest costs in the project. 🧵

you may not like it, but this 16-plex in zurich by ADP is peak performance single stair 1-3 bedroom homes every unit w/ private outdoor space active solar protection every unit is corner or triple aspect elevator abundant daylight wood 3-pane windows. hot AF www.archdaily.com/900543/apart...

Thank you Jenn Truman for the poetic reflection on capital-A American Freedom and housing I didn't know I needed: citybuildernc.org/p/freedom-li...

Beautiful, too!

Pass HB 765 already!

Some people bristle at the term traffic violence, because "violence" implies intentionality. 40,000+ are killed by car crashes every year in the U.S. 5,000,000+ more are injured. Human bodies mangled & broken, families sundered, dreams shattered. All preventable. I think "violence" is an apt word.

Our favorite was Ted's Most Best when we lived in Athens: right in town, great patio, and sandbox for the kids! We need more of this on the west side of downtown Durham as well.

Interesting article on how climate change is talked about in coastal NC. The disconnect in the second quote here is wild to me. I always learn something worthwhile from @theassemblync.bsky.social's reporting.

We’re getting lapped by our neighbors on climate, among other things. What a huge opportunity for both of these countries to become richer and more powerful globally.

Inspiring to learn about Bruno Shickel and Boiceville, outside Ithaca, NY. He built a 140-home cottage court long before they were cool outside of town where there wasn't any zoning. Now NIMBY'd and zoned out of the realm of possibility for future builders. www.fastcompany.com/91321980/can...

sprawl is an unmitigated environmental, social, and economic disaster it is no longer affordable (especially when you add in transportation and time) sprawl is driving climate change. literally. and it is a ponzi scheme - unable to fund maintenance and replacement costs

Very ambitious single-stair bill just introduced in the North Carolina Senate – up to 8 stories with 4 units per story, or up to 3 stories with 6 per story (current limit for 3-story bldgs is 6 per story). Bipartisan sponsors from the Asheville metro area www.centerforbuilding.org/trackers

Whoa! This would be huge! Dreaming of point access blocks in Durham! @holz-bau.bsky.social

This podcast on advanced geothermal with @timlatimer.bsky.social from @volts.wtf is one of the most hopeful things I've heard/read in awhile: www.volts.wtf/p/catching-u... Distributed, non-polluting, proven tech, appeals to right- and left-leaning politicians, and room to run. Super cool stuff.

😮 @jasoncoxnc.bsky.social

Great to see some action towards changing @recklessroxboro.bsky.social to two-way! Awesome job, Chris. 9thstreetjournal.org/2025/03/07/m...

The way out of this isn't the NIMBY scarcity mindset; it's YIMBY abundance mindset.

where wold be a good spot for this in Durham?

@emmanuelspv.bsky.social posts these daily and they never fail to blow me away. Can you imagine cycling paths across the countryside here in the US? How lovely it would be to visit Chapel Hill or Hillsborough from Durham via a country path on an e-bike. Instead we get to enjoy 15/501 and I-85.

This snow day I’m struck by how quiet the streets are. The falling snow absorb sound, and even more importantly, very few people are driving around. Cities aren’t loud; cars and trucks are.

This is beautiful and offers another alternative for 147 as it cuts through downtown Durham. Imagine how much housing we could build there and what it would do to connect neighborhoods that the expressway and train currently bisect!

This is rich

"Hey, hey, Mayor, said the way we move Gonna shape our streets, gonna make them groove" - Black Dog in Paris

Point access blocks (+ eliminating front and side setbacks) allow a better outcome in every way. We can't legalize them soon enough! The math here is really compelling.

@jasoncoxnc.bsky.social is right on the money here: Boring can be pretty good, actually. Seems like things will be less boring in many ways in the near term...

Case in point: our elevator industry is based on the desire of a Glendale AZ firefighter. The net outcome is elevators that cost 3x those in the EU and a LOT less elevators. Rent-seeking & added cost, less ~real~ accessibility for those who need it. (Sniper via @stephenjacobsmith.com)

Great to see @culdesac.bsky.social having success! Can we try again to get them to Durham? Maybe take over the Northgate Mall project.

Thanks @indyweek.bsky.social for featuring our local bike train. There's a solid crew out there every Wednesday (and a much larger number arriving at Powe via bike everyday... just not all at the same time from the same location!)

An acre of land can power a car to go 13,000 miles per year using biofuel (corn ethanol), or 900,000 miles per year using solar.

🆕 🏘️ The 'Missing Middle Housing Act' has been filed in Illinois to legalize middle housing on all residential-zoned land in cities with >25,000 population! This would mean the following types housing would be allowed by-right 2️⃣ Duplexes 3️⃣ Three flats 4️⃣ Four flats! #twill ilga.gov/legislation/...

Some good news out of Illinois: Bill just introduced to allow 2-4 plexes on any residential lot in cities with population >25,000. ilga.gov/legislation/...

1000% Durham can't grow up and become a real city (walkable, bikeable with all things we need close by or easily accessible) soon enough. Would love for my kids to have the freedom to get to school/activities/friends on their own before they are 16.

The same land that fits 67 homes in suburban Loudoun County houses 2,200 residents in Georgetown. With Silver Line construction at $165M per mile, that means $139,372 per potential rider (left) versus just $1,279 (right). Land use is major for transit success.

Anyone who genuinely thinks density inherently means traffic or congestion should visit Tokyo. I mean it. 38,000,000 people in one city, and somehow the streets are so empty of vehicles that people walk or cycle right in the middle of them. All you need is good public transit and walkability.