The most underappreciated issue in urbanism is the Anglosphere’s transit construction cost problem. It’s not just that we’re spending too much money on any particular project. It’s that we could be getting *much more transit* for the *same amount of money we’re currently spending*.

New Mentour Pilot video by me! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK_7...

Join me for this *free* webinar to explore new research mapping community sentiment about a controversial cycleway, after the 'bikelash' dust settles: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/6c8065...

I have a major piece in Bloomberg Citylab today. Should the US let transit fail, as Pennsylvania is already doing? And if not, what are the arguments we need to let it succeed? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Police “terminated” my call because “it wasn’t important”. I said “until a kid is killed”. At the local police station I was told they would tow it “if it’s blocking traffic.” I left it with him. As I left I saw a poster thanking the community for the well wishes after 2 officers were killed.

Oh they've discovered 4chan

Ethereal night shots of almost complete new public school in Green Square, designed by BVN architects. Fabulous model of an urban primary school, land transfer by City of Sydney for public use of ground floor spaces & facilities, which face outward to the streets. Such a positive for #publicsydney

Argentina spends $1bn to defend peso as Milei’s crisis spirals on.ft.com/4gtNFzW

Sydney: A long-term rail transport plan has leaked. Prof. David Levinson is on it: transportist.org/2025/09/15/o...

TIL parking restrictions date back to 700 BCE. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking...

Bring it on! www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...

Amidst all of the fear-mongering media FUD in Australia about 'pedestrian risks' and fire-outbreaks' from e-bikes, this major review of usage in the UK by real users running e-cargobikes is very insightful. youtu.be/KJ0Ki9pTzLQ

🚴 Note the message near the end that you’re building a *network* of things – not just cycling paths – not individual sections of cycle paths.

Betteridge's law of headlines* strikes again. * Any headline framed as a question can very confidently be answered with the word "No".

Replacing Australia’s youth social media ban with a new system: 0-14: dialup only 15+: ADSL fast enough to tolerably download mp3s but uploading is hell so you never do it 18+: proper high-speed Internet but only on a desktop computer 21+: you are finally allowed a smartphone

The concept of an “urban village” is a falsehood, and a linguistic sleight of hand. There are cities and there are villages, but there are no urban villages.

A flagrant violation of what it means to live in a city.

Remember, we’ll never get a good sense of what people will do under safe conditions, by watching what some are willing to do under unsafe conditions. Building smart mobility is about supporting the choices we need more people to make, by providing smart, safe, enjoyable infrastructure for them.

Victoria allows more homes, www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

🧵 BOOK REVIEW: 'The Box' by Marc Levinson is all about shipping containers.🚢 No joke; it's the most interesting book about logistics that I have ever read. Its tagline is: 'How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger'. Here are ten takeaways from The Box: 1/n

Hands down one of my favourite books

Side street bike lanes have the potential to be good, but main street bike lanes have more potential to be *great*.

The Embankment cycleway (CS3) in London was purposefully built to be wider than was usual in order to future proof it. Some said it would hardly be used. Now there’s a decent case for widening it further. Induced demand is real.

I wrote a rant that addresses EVERY Seattle anti-housing "tree advocate" talking point I have ever seen. It's long but honestly not THAT long lol. I will be very, VERY happy if 5 people read it. Come be one of them :) blog.moreparksmoreneighbors.org/page/anti-ho...

Attention fellow AUSTRALIANS! 🇦🇺 We now have an official petition to parliament to STOP MASTERCARD and VISA from its campaign of censorship, restricting what legal products we can buy. Please sign it now, and if you're not an Aussie, spread the word! www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...

New blog post! Should we be advocating for High Speed Rail, or just high-er speed? the-iron-road.blogspot.com/2025/09/high...

Ooops, here: www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

LINDEN, 87km from Central, is a strangely located station that seems to serve basically nothing? It's similar to other stations on the line with two platforms and the usual heritage brick building housing a ticket office and waiting room. The platform has grass along the middle. (1/2)

Here is my starter pack of @bluesky people across urbanism/architecture/climate/culture/environment… with a bit of humour & art thrown in. Would be good if people became more active here, & avoided other XXXX 🙏 @brenttoderian.bsky.social go.bsky.app/LJyi6W8

Planning documents love talking about the transport hierarchy of users. Implementing it in practice: not so much...

New #FOI Bill an assault on Government transparency. With Scott Morrison at least you knew he was being secret. With Anthony Albanese, it’s worse, because he likes to portray himself as transparent, but he’s not. #auspol

“We can’t all be expected to bike.” Fair. But that’s not the point. “Not everyone can or wants to bike. But some people can & do—and they deserve a safe, efficient, affordable way to move through the city. It’s about freedom of choice.” This & other useful comebacks, in @momentummag.bsky.social.

The lowest cost EV, both upfront and for network costs are e-bikes. Yet they never rate a mention in any discussion by government and media in weaning Australia off petrol and diesel... www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

True across the rest of the Anglosphere

New podcast on my experience covering the March for Australia on the ground, how the media fuelled the protests, and the political reaction: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/l...

Listen here for an honest critique of our media’s coverage of the nazi led protests against Australians last weekend #AusPol podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/l...

8 story single stair zweispaenner in milano by ebpc architettura e urbanistica 40' deep building all homes dual aspect solar protection open space divisare.com/projects/538...

It would be a massive mistake for progressive folk to convince themselves the March for Australia was a bust, or can safely be ridiculed. It was an alarming escalation of far-right action, and we need to reckon with it. More thoughts (un-paywalled) here: www.lamestream.com.au/how-mainstre...

"The first thing that stood out to me was the number of attendees. For nearly 30 minutes, Australian-flag clad protestors streamed up the road. It was already quite clear this protest was significantly larger than the counter-demonstration" @osmanfaruqi.bsky.social on the nazi rallies in Aus:

Today we @yimby.melbourne drop our new research note, demonstrating the bias of opt-in community consultation. It will shock no one who’s paying attention, but our sample of 15 consults across six councils found a massive overrepresentation of homeowners and older folk.

Like lots of people, I grumble & complain when a bus I’m waiting for is late. Unlike many people, I know that the reason it’s late is the bad traffic it’s stuck in that’s filled with cars, mostly with just 1 person in each. And that the answer is bus-only lanes that will help EVERYONE move better.

realistic Star Trek

“Smart cities also know that quality of bike-lanes is just as important as quantity, especially if what’s being built (or let’s be honest–what’s being painted) isn’t really safe, or comfortable.” — @brenttoderian.bsky.social in @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/90361034/if-...

Build more of em!

Walking alongside the newly completed Oxford Street Cycleway while reading your post

If this won't solve it, well, we might as well not bother. Not doing anything different has worked so well for the last 30 years (provided you already owned a property then)

When you fly over metropolitan Sydney, expanses of single houses dominate city’s sprawling footprint. Even along railway corridors, low density housing everywhere, with small pockets of mid-rise apartments. So much potential for sensible city building. From Marrickville to Merrylands & beyond

The mairie in my sister-in-law's village is being renovated, so the French flag (and its EU friend) has been appropriately placed over the entrance to the portacabin that is currently cosplaying as the mairie

Interestingly, it's almost entirely people driving cars that kill people *in* cars as well. I'm beginning to think that people that drive cars are psychopaths. :)