Staying cool in #Zürich during the European heat wave. The shade of pedestrian walkway through the old moat and sitting with your feet in the cool water goes a long way towards staying cool.

It’s summertime in Minnesota — which means quirky local events are plentiful like one of  Minneapolis' favorites: The Wedge LIVE! cat tour. The premise is simple: you meet, you walk and you admire Minneapolis cats in window sills or the ones brave enough to be on porches or even strollers.

ROAD to Housing just passed the House 355 to 30, after passing the Senate 90 to 5. Incredible! Heroic work from folks like Up for Growth & Institute for Progress, and local advocates around the country. And congrats to the bipartisan state coalitions that created the context for this federal win.

Staying cool in #Zürich during the European heat wave. The shade of pedestrian walkway through the old moat and sitting with your feet in the cool water goes a long way towards staying cool.

happening now: summer being enjoyed in Minneapolis

Falling overall murder rates and a sharp uptick in killings by police officers means that 1 in 10 Americans who are murdered are murdered *by police.* www.economist.com/united-state...

Trail on #Zürich 's Uetliberg

22 June 1882 | Swedish Jewish woman, Jenny Schidorsky, was born in Karlstad. Her family emigrated to Norway. She arrived at #Auschwitz on 3 March 1943 and was murdered in a gas chamber after arrival selection.

I got to watch the building next door getting stuccoed. The result is flawless.

Hold the line. This is good, actually.

When a train is canceled in Switzerland, they create an alternative - and communicate it audibly, in transit apps and on station signage. Just as gridded streets handle surprises better than a few connector streets serving cul-de-sacs, the dense network accommodates disruptions.

Ich muss mir die ganze Folge noch anhören, aber dieser Ausschnitt ist wichtig für #Zürich und fehlt völlig in der lokalen Diskussion über sozialen Wohnungsbau.

Zurich celebrates Pride tomorrow, Minnesota the whole month of June. Do you need a MN pride flag or stickers, designed and sold by Pine (they/them)? mnprogresspride.shop

Jeg er #sykkelaktivist og tar min første tur til #Oslo på 15 år. Vil noen vise meg hva som har blitt bedre siden sist jeg var i byen? Jeg er der i midten av juli.

This totally new apt building in the Zurich suburbs shouts 1970s to me. Am I alone?

I love this little neighbor, always checking out what's happening from the second floor window. #Zürich

The canton of #Zürich presents election results impeccably. Here's today's results of the infamous national referendum (link to source). A 🧵 of what makes it so great. app.statistik.zh.ch/wahlen_absti...

Tom's explanation is great. Here's a parallel TIF explainer I wrote around a TIF tiff in Minneapolis. streets.mn/2019/04/25/f...

Like this, in the part of #Zürich called Oerlikon?

When #Strasbourg needed to expand the train station, they added a sleek glass facade, enclosing the needef space hardly touching the original.

Some of the efforts being made in Belfast right now to protect people, because the government can't or won't, will be familiar to Minnesotans.

The metal work in #Strasbourg is everywhere and top-notch.

Check out the kinds #Mpls2040 made possible. Great work by staff, advocates, & electeds. Our groundbreaking plan didn't get everything right. We compromised to get it passed, other places built on it & surpassed us. Let's use the 2050 plan to fix oversights, catch up, & make Mpls even more livable.

This is correct! Minneapolis' drastic zoning code overhaul is good, as I said here and in many interviews. Jason also names one of many compromises made to pass the plan. They were political compromises, and the 2050 plan is the time to reconsider and revise them.

Is the roof tile pattern functional or decorative? #Strasbourg

This is a problem with US federal housing policy, one that began roughly 4 decades ago. Today, it's essentially THE affordable housing funding option. The affordable housing industry built around its very complex rules - non-profits, law expertise, investors - is not to blame.

What happens when an affordable housing program is designed around political buy-in? It benefits the people with political power (here, investors, developers, and politicians) better than the people who need affordable homes. www.opb.org/article/2026...

This beautiful stair in a #single-stair building was added by mounting a glass cylinder on the courtyard-facing wall.

Let the debate over the Minneapolis 2050 plan commence! Time flies. Feels like it was just yesterday we were still lawsuiting over the 2040 plan.

We made many unfortunate compromises to get the plan passed. Now that we've proven the supposedly controversial policies are not only no problem but in fact make communities more livable, let's include fixing those mistakes as part of the minor policy updates.

Random hotel window view in Strasbourg.

Switzerland's far right SVP is following the messaging+policy path blazed by USA Republicans.

Strasbourg doesn't save its announcement everyone is welcome for Pride month. This is outside the train station guiding all newcomers into the city.

Basel's train station has a real time video of the tram station down a flight of stairs and outside.

Here's what one finished in-river temp construction platform looks like. They appear to be installing three. #Zürich

Solidarity. Thanks @dbrauer.net

What do we know about how to leverage upzonings to generate substantial new housing supply? 1—Large increases in zoned capacity are needed 2—Upzoning needs to be in strong housing markets 3—Be patient: Change takes time That's our conclusion in a new research roundup @urbaninstitute.bsky.social

«Both places take the status quo as a given: a high-mortality situation in one domain that they’d never accept in another.» hannahritchie.substack.com/p/heat-guns-...

A building I find stylistically confusing in #Zürich - the ornate and swoopy stone eaves have a very different feel from the the pixilated primary color subway tile siding.

I don’t exactly know what this mural is saying about housing affordability. But I prefer to interpret it as a statement about how migration chains enable new housing to lower prices for homes across the price spectrum

After wondering about the hanging goals for 3 years, I finally got to watch a kayak polo team practicing on #Schanzengraben in #Zürich

30 May 1889 | A Jewish man Israel Steinfeld was born in Jönköping, Sweden. At the age of 3 his family emigrated to Norway. He was deported to #Auschwitz on 26 November 1942. He was registered & perished in the camp on 15 May 1943.

Arriving at HB #Zürich at dusk.

Arriving at HB #Zürich at dusk.

Uncut grass keeps the ground at around 19.5°C Grass cut to 10 cm raises the ground temperature to about 24.5°C. Bare ground in the middle of summer rises to over 40°C.

A detail from a Bellinzona fortress showing the physics of drawbridges. Check out the massive counterweights that, when released, pull up the bridge.

Took a train across Switzerland to see three fortress castles today. I didn't learn much about the history or how they worked, but hiking up and down the mountainsides and towers and city walls was both fun and interesting.

Construction in #Zürich 's Limmat River, drilling in supports that will be a temp construction platform.

The gilt on this #Zürich building always catches my eye from the tram, and it's gone before I can appreciate it.

San Diego fell from 5th to 12th most expensive rental market by building more multifamily housing per capita than any other California city. This is what happens when you actually build. The lesson isn't complicated. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/05/13/s...