The award-winning Climate Inspirations Festival 2026, a landmark celebration of creativity, innovation, and community action in response to the climate crisis, will take place from 24-28 June 2026 in various venues throughout Galway City www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...

Bigger cars are costing Irish motorists parking spaces and threatening lives, study finds www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

Too many people are dying on Irish roads. Road deaths are not inevitable. Stop referring to them as ‘accidents’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

Not complicated

Galway, Ireland had a streetcar over 100 years ago. An early version of the proposed Gluas Light Rail?

READ THIS: “The Highway Lobby has been shaping transportation policy conversations for decades in its interests.” And they spend MILLIONS buying car dependency, to make sure all of us have to spend BILLIONS. #UrbanTruth Via the Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org. blog.ucs.org/kshen/the-hi...

IMPORTANT: The Dutch invested €595 million annually on urban biking, resulting in €19 BILLION saved in public health care costs alone. That’s how smart governments do the math on investing in better mobility. Let’s be clear— it WASTES public money to NOT do it. #CityMakingMath HT @modacitylife.com

Galway's very latest contribution to the public realm. All of a sudden! What shall we name it?

ICYMI: The One-Hour City Conspiracy! “Here's the REAL conspiracy: Too many people forced into car-dependent lives, with more health harms, crashes, noise, air pollution, social isolation —and less space for everything our streets should be giving us.” Thanks @usa.streetsblog.org #1HourCityConspiracy

Every day I surprise my patients. By telling them their disease is not from poor personal choices, but rather from poor land-use decisions by their city. No access to safe walking & biking, more diabetes and kidney disease. They get it. @urbantruth.bsky.social #UrbanTruth

Safe, protected bike-lanes are: Better for business Better for emissions Better for air quality Better for space Better for public health Better for noise Better for equity Better for affordability Better for public costs Better for safety for EVERYONE Better for oil independence Better.

STUDY: “We found that the way neighborhoods are planned and maintained mattered for happiness, health, and trust. Our findings suggest that mixed-use neighborhood designs that enable residents to shop and socialize within walking distance to their homes have direct & indirect effects on happiness.”

“…persons living in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods have higher levels of social capital compared with those living in car-oriented suburbs. Respondents living in walkable neighborhoods were more likely to know their neighbors, participate politically, trust others, and be socially engaged.”

"be safe, be seen" as a national strategy for road safety is an absolute joke

Finding out I was considered "radical" for wanting kids to be able to get school safely and independently was shocking and what motivated me to try and help change that perspective. Culture Shift developed with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social

“A newly released manifesto from the @ecf.com European Cyclists Federation & its partners lays out a 10-point plan to dramatically scale up cycling across the continent—positioning it not as a niche lifestyle choice but as critical infrastructure in a time of crisis.” momentummag.com/the-energy-c...

Pollution levels in Paris after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.

Amazing job by www.urbantruthcollective.com 🙌 👍🏼 The real “urban conspiracy” isn’t proximity, it’s distance. The “One-Hour City” traps millions in long commutes, car dependence and lost time. We need cities of proximity, time, and quality of life 🙏🏻 @brenttoderian.bsky.social @urbantruth.bsky.social

Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tonnes of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by normal driving, account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally. Heavy vehicles eg SUVs/EVs especially. Via @us.theconversation.com

"Waymo has told advocates that expecting it to respect bike lanes is 'too high a bar' because customers expect to be dropped off in them." To be crystal clear, it's illegal for a car to be in a bike lane. It doesn't matter what Waymo's customers expect; the company shouldn't be doing it.

"What robot cars are promising is the next generation of car dependency." Excellent read here! www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Seeing as we're back to discussing the ringroad, I wrote a blog about my own thoughts on this, and other planned projects in the city a few months back. I remain of the opinion that the road will not make a significant impact on congestion. open.substack.com/pub/cllralan...

My thoughts about how the Galway Ring Road will affect Galway's future, and how we might grow as a city. With John Morley at GalwayTalks. Playing from 1:32:09 open.spotify.com/episode/6Qw1...

“The majority of Americans are open to living car-free even after decades of car-centric planning, a new survey finds…A stunning 18% of car-owning U.S. residents indicated that they were ‘strongly interested’ in living car-free, and another 40% said that they were ‘open’ to it.” @usa.streetsblog.org

“The term ‘third place’ was coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place, which explored the role of places like cafes, parks, & libraries in societies. He argued such places were not only important for mental health, but were essential to democracy & a sense of community.”

“Even as the cost of infrastructure for active transportation is being used as a reason for inaction, evidence is accumulating that when the full economic cost is considered, driving costs society more, while cycling and other forms of active transportation save society money.”— @sflkirk.bsky.social

My thoughts about how the Galway Ring Road will affect Galway's future, and how we might grow as a city. With John Morley at GalwayTalks. Playing from 1:32:09 open.spotify.com/episode/6Qw1...

Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users. ALL ROAD USERS. What about painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all. For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them. Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org

In this weekend's @irishtimes.com, I've written about the incredible plan by Dublin City Council to relocate from Wood Quay to Lower Kevin Street, demolishing the purpose-built Civic Offices that they fought so hard to build and replacing them with social and "affordable cost-rental" apartments ...

NYT editorial board issues a full-throated endorsement of congestion pricing: "Over its first 14 months, the [NYC] congestion pricing system has exceeded even the high hopes of many supporters. It has reduced traffic, improved the quality of life and even provided a boost for businesses."

When it comes to the likelihood of car crashes, or the deadly consequences of car crashes, speed is ALWAYS a factor. Speed kills. #UrbanTruth

"...nearly 40,000 people killed on US roads in 2024 works out to almost 12 roadway deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, more than twice as many as peer nations including Australia, the Czech Republic, Israel and South Korea." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"In order to reduce climate emissions to meet a 1.5°C warming scenario, cities need to focus on increasing urban density, mass transit, cycling, and walking, while also encouraging electric vehicle use. itdp.org/2021/12/09/w...

"A federal court shot down President Trump’s attempt to kill New York City’s congestion pricing program on Tuesday, allowing the city’s $9 toll on cars entering downtown Manhattan during peak hours to remain in effect." heatmap.news/sparks/conge...

The American planning system has created a society that requires most people to own a car. And for most people those cars are becoming unaffordable! #UrbanTruth @urbantruth.blsy.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/b...

Fascinating work from Rafael Prieto-Curiel and Juan P. Ospina

Halvemaansteeg & Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam in 1979 and today. From car-choked streets with little space for people to a lively car-free area with only trams, pedestrians & bikes permitted. Cafes and outdoor seating dominate the area. A reminder to politicians: design streets for the city you want.

They really want us to love cars. But why would we love being car dependent? Dependency is never freedom. Mobility freedom comes from mobility choices. #UrbanTruth

Feels tacky. We can do better. @galwaycity.ie @cosaingalway.bsky.social

Suburban Sprawl may seem cheap, but even the costs we CAN count are far too high, and we ALL pay them. HT Smart Prosperity Institute #UrbanTruth institute.smartprosperity.ca/library/publ...

New York City is a city of walkers. More trips are made on foot than by car (41% versus 28%)... MIT researchers just mapped New York City foot traffic for the first time ever

This park and ride appears to have very little to do with getting people out of their cars. How much will this additional car park for the park cost? Why are families not walking to the park? Is it possible? Is it safe from cars?

Learning from Vienna. commonedge.org/a-radical-an...

Galway City Council approved a €45.5m loan in 2022 to buy Crown Square, with the public being informed just three days before the vote. Months later, it emerged that extra borrowing was needed for fit-out works. The final cost of all this is still to be determined. connachttribune.ie/media-minist...

Speaking of "narcissistic dipshittery", the RSA has been asked more than once for evidence that high vis, or its promotion, has made the roads safer. They acknowledged that they had no such information in their possession. On one occasion they offered the "if it saves one life" justification.

So Ireland doesn't even know how many houses are being built? The numbers are unreliable, apparently. If 36,000 new houses were built last year, why were only 58 sold to buyers in Dublin? www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

Excellent news! @GalwayCityCo The EU grant will help revitalise the city's historic canals as a source of clean energy and better public engagement for pedestrians and cyclists. www.rte.ie/news/regiona...