This is great news, though I hope the stations will not be as isolated from other stuff as this CGI suggests

Just how much impact is the lack of bids from Registered Providers having on housing delivery nationally? With anecdotal reports from members that the issue shows little sign of abating, we undertook an FOI exercise to determine if any progress has been made. Here’s what we found 👇

This is around the corner from me. A few observations: 1. Binding heights haven't changed much in ~100 years 2. Shop awnings are good and we should bring them back 3. Catford had boda-boda motorbike taxis a century ago

RIP Terry Farrell. In addition to his architecture he wrote 'Shaping London', a brilliant analysis of London's development. His explanation of how the flow of the river shaped different patterns of building on its steep and shallow banks has really stuck with me.

Now this is Content

Eagerly awaiting "8 car driving tips that just might prevent you from killing a pedestrian"

Following approval of recovered appeal on Brighton Gasworks by @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social the council has had full costs awarded against them. The letter from PINs is v robust & makes clear that no. of objections is not a planning consideration-it's the substance of the objection that matters

This is a huge step, with Oxford set to join a small but select number of cities which have implemented a congestion charge.

the real glory of world war two was that it involved a warrior cult being ground down and beaten to a pulp by people who would rather have been doing something else.

V sad news, but also a good moment for the BBC to implement my proposal for "In Your Own Time", an AI trained on all 1000+ episodes to generate a new one on any topic of your choice.

🚨 Excited to share that my work w/ @loreneri.bsky.social, “Knocking it Down and Mixing it Up: The Impact of Public Housing Regenerations” found a home at @restatjournal.bsky.social. We study the impact of converting distressed public housing into mixed-income housing on local housing markets. 🧵👇1/9

Guardian editorial repeats mistake about build to rent's impact on rents from the FT: if you build lots of shiny new flats somewhere then of course average rents in those areas will rise. (Does not mean there are not big Qs to ask about BTR and who owns it) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

With the government saying they aren't helping councils use noise cameras to enforce loud vehicle modification, what happens when people report them to police? Answer is, we don't really know open.substack.com/pub/lauralak...

Important to realize that crime will be the next front in the war on data 2/

Last few days to apply for possibly the best job in UK housing, as head of strategy and policy at the Greater London Authority glacareers.engageats.co.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Suburban intensification in London: Farmstead Road is a new Phoenix Community Housing in Bellingham (LB Lewisham), replacing a 3-home terrace with 24 affordable homes built to Passivhaus standards www.phoenixch.org.uk/news/phoenix.... Images by Lourdas Photography.

People think they hate urban canyons, but if you replace all the parked cars without outdoor dining and open streets these blocks become INCREDIBLY charming.

Curious about Lewisham Council's policy on fly-tipping, which is to adorn it with fake "crime scene" tape and then ... leave it there? In this case blocking a path for days on end.

Made it into the new Private Eye @privateeyenews.bsky.social Now I can retire.

China is increasingly banning all govt employees, even low-level employees like kindergarten teachers, from all travel abroad, even confiscating their passports. Meanwhile, Chinese who have studied abroad are increasingly banned from applying for govt jobs.

Chengdu Metro L10 Phase 3 and L17 Phase 2 stations will open this year. L10 Phase 3 and L17 Phase 2 will tunnel deeper into Chengdu city center. L10 uses 6 car type A trains and L17 uses 8 car Type A+ high speed metro trains, both projects average 170 million INT$/km to build.

Research by Jaehee Song just published in the Journal of Urban Economics finds that restrictive single-family zoning in the US increases housing costs and "disproportionately attracts high-income white homeowners, reinforcing patterns of residential segregation" doi.org/10.1016/j.ju...

Very useful analysis from Seattle of the prices charged when one home is replaced with one or more new homes. A 1-for-1 replacement results in a home nearly three times as expensive, but replacing one home with 9+ new ones involves average prices that are around half the original.

Re this piece by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com, perhaps the Anglosphere affordability crunch happened *because* those societies put such a high priority on the interests of homeowners, with policies like tax breaks and restricted supply. Homeownerism may be self-defeating. on.ft.com/4kTUHyA

It was only an “e-bike crash” in the sense that the driver of a Landrover Discovery got upset by the e-bike lights (because he was dealing drugs in his car), chased them ONE MILE and then hit them, killing the woman who was on the back and seriously injuring the cyclist. Come on, BBC.

I've published a new briefing bringing together the stats on leasehold housing in England (and a bit in Wales). Featuring: - MHCLG data on leasehold stock - Trends in transactions over time and for constituencies - Experiences of leaseholders commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

An AI slop factory apparently tried to rewrite our article about AI not replacing workers en masse, but hit the paywall... so just summarised the paywall. If this is the robot that takes my job I'll be v embarrassed

Big things happening in Vietnam. "Starting next summer, the major downtown areas of Hanoi will ban all gasoline-powered motorcycles as part of a program to cut down on emissions." "City officials have confirmed that it will extend to gasoline-powered cars in later phases."

Fewer cars --> Safer streets In London, Low Traffic Neighborhoods saw a 35% drop in all traffic injuries and a 37% drop in deaths/serious injuries. injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/earl...

New data for 2024 are in. A long-term view on the meteoric rise and unabated dramatic fall of China's wine consumption and production. China's wine consumption peaked in 2017 and fell by 71%. China's wine production peaked in 2012 (!) and fell by 84%

🥵 Hot in #London? Find cool spaces 🥶 and water fountains 💧near you, with our interactive map: apps.london.gov.uk/cool-spaces/ 👍

NEW RESEARCH: new car bonnets are trending higher every year and drivers of high fronted cars unable to see children as old as nine 😱🚙🚸❗ #Carspreading is out of control. What’s the latest? 🧵1/8 @transenv.bsky.social @cleancitiescampaign.org

I 100% guarantee you that absolutely no-one crossing one of the world's busiest shipping routes in order to seek asylum was doing it based on the timing of the spending review.

Combining capital and revenue for these figures would be bad at any time. Including the pandemic years when the government banned travel yet demanded a full tube service be run (the biggest peak) just leads to unusable data.

If this @ipprnorth.bsky.social chart includes both capital and revenue spending, then presumably it includes things like the costs of running existing services like the London Underground, rather than only the "investment" in new infra that the press release talks about? www.ippr.org/articles/on-...

we ran a really large RCT to evaluate whether media literacy in the classroom works against misinformation. some preliminary results via @ssrc.org :)

'Show genocide the red card' - women's football final with @dulwichhamletfc.bsky.social and @claptoncfc.co.uk abandoned over Palestine banners row transpont.blogspot.com/2025/05/show...

When we say cycling is at its highest level in london “since records began”, we should ask ourselves what the old records show! The start of a fun project: alexinthecities.co.uk/2025/05/cycl...

If you were told you had been secretly surveilled by a dictatorship and some of your best friends had been reporting on you, would you want to read the file? Would you trust anyone again if you did? Riveting piece on Taiwan's reckoning with newly unearthed archives www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...

Let this be a warning to you all: nobody steals my charts and gets to be Prime Minister of Canada

Very interesting new paper by Tatsuya Tsubaki on the ‘houses versus flats’ controversy in English town planning during the 1930s www.chukyo-u.ac.jp/research_2/c.... Includes the TCPA opposing flats being built in cities on the grounds that it would make it harder to decentralise industry.

The City of London (the financial centre) has seen a massive change in how its streets are used. Since 2019: • - 24% private motors (exc buses + coaches) • - 15% freight vehicles • + 60% cycling • - 30% walking + wheeling www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/assets/Servi... via @lastnotlost.bsky.social

Really interesting air quality study from University of Bath which finds London's LEZ in 2008 reduced instances of sick leave by nearly a fifth, while the ULEZ has contributed to improved life satisfaction and wellbeing. Vindication for London's approach. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Sad news about the Happy Heat Pump Podcast. Sorry to say, that after about 20 episodes, we’re drawing it to a close at the request of the BBC which worries it may be seen as steering into areas of public controversy. 1/2 youtu.be/RJPKgngqoX0?...

Motorist charged with causing cyclist’s death ‘had been driving at 53mph on 20mph road’ www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/d...

Interesting report by Chris Katkowski KC for Public First on what the government could do with National Development Management Policies www.publicfirst.co.uk/how-national...

As promised to OnLondon supporters earlier today, here's @richardbrown.bsky.social, who helped set up the London mayoralty, on the @londoncouncils.bsky.social plans for a new devolution deal: www.onlondon.co.uk/richard-brow... @stephenkb.bsky.social @jim.londoncentric.media @antbreach.bsky.social

Fascinating post by Jon Neale about the housebuilding boom of the 1930s and why the period is misunderstood jonneale.substack.com/p/planning-1...

A tragedy. Witness “describing seeing the van briefly airborne before striking the woman who had been sitting on a bench”. Hoping we can tackle the scourge of vehicles being driven so thoughtlessly that people in the street get killed randomly and suddenly. www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/stra...