“We’re all paying heavily for sprawl, whether we live there or not, & we’re all financially benefitting from infill housing, whether we live there or not.” — Our own @brenttoderian.bsky.social A critically important #UrbanTruth is the staggering costs of sprawl, and the huge value of infill growth.

Language matters. #UrbanTruth #StreetsForPeople

“The dividing line between cities that succeed and those that stagnate isn’t geography, wealth, or even size—it’s mindset. Some places embrace experimentation, risk, and what @brenttoderian.bsky.social calls competent failure.” @momentummag.bsky.social profiles us. momentummag.com/urban-truth-...

“Koch brother groups have tried to derail public transit plans in other cities around the country, from Little Rock, Arkansas and central Utah, to Nashville and Michigan. They have frequently called such projects ‘wasteful spending’. The Koch organization is also heavily invested in fossil fuels.”

Point well made, and worth repeating over and over. #UrbanTruth

Remember, if you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan cities for people and places, you get people and places. Via Fred Kent & @ppsplacemaking.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth

In the US, what we do is even sillier than this: every business you patronize, from the hardware store to the hair salon to the bar, is required by law to provide you with a place to keep your cow or refrigerator.

This is worth reading, for excellent communication & story-telling. “I’m driving less. I don’t want to see the world through a driver’s eyes any more. Before I began driving less, I had long had a melancholic sense that the city lifestyle I lived was cut off...” #UrbanTruth From @irishtimes.com

Remember, don’t buy a cow, or a car, and expect your city to give you someplace to park it. #UrbanTruth

Remember, don’t buy a cow, or a car, and expect your city to give you someplace to park it. #UrbanTruth

Still one of the best. “You’re not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic.” Put it on repeat. #UrbanTruth

Turns out “Missing Middle” housing hasn’t been missing. We knew where it was the whole time. We made it illegal. Never forget, housing choice is a leadership challenge. #UrbanTruth #MissingMiddle

i also have long covid and have been born again through my e-bike. this is so real. i first experienced the rapid heart beat and energy crash of long covid after trying to go on a gravel ride on a new bike in 2024, so it is emotionally cathartic to be riding long miles again

Turns out “Missing Middle” housing hasn’t been missing. We knew where it was the whole time. We made it illegal. Never forget, housing choice is a leadership challenge. #UrbanTruth #MissingMiddle

We need to repeat the truth for the same reason liars repeat their lies. #UrbanTruth #Repetition

This is important — Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams, and debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today's information society. That's why curriculum for students in Finland includes media literacy lessons aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth. #UrbanTruth

“When I got home, I sat on the floor, wearing my helmet, and sobbed until I was hoarse with the overwhelm of my joy. I’d just ridden a bike for an hour! A bike! For an hour!” The “greatest feeling in the world” after Long COVID. E-bikes and accessibility, via @heatherhogan.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth

ICYMI: “A lot of us are trapped in 1-Hour Cities right now. The alternative — having a lot more things close by, and a lot more time in our day — isn’t the conspiracy. It’s the cure.” Read all about the #1HourCityCinsoiracy in @usa.streetsblog.org. #UrbanTruth usa.streetsblog.org/2026/04/27/u...

Missing housing. Responds to “Middle.” Last seen over 50 years ago in cities everywhere. Help find it. Please contact your elected officials. 555-456-CITY #UrbanTruth #MissingMiddle

“After analyzing crash data over a 13-year period in areas with separated bike lanes on city streets, researchers estimated that having a protected bike facility in a city would result in 44% fewer deaths and 50% fewer serous injuries than an average city.” Safer for ALL. Via @usa.streetsblog.org

“From climate change to smoking & cancer, this is the story of how doubt has been manufactured. This 10 part series will explore how powerful interests & sharp PR managers engineered doubt about the connection between smoking & cancer & how similar tactics were used to make us doubt climate change.”

I’ve really been enjoying collaborating with @tomflood.bsky.social on our many @urbantruth.bsky.social posters. It’s reinforced my long-held theory that I might have enjoyed marketing if I hadn’t gone into city planning. It also reinforces my opinion that every city planner should learn marketing.

By every measure, 1 hour cities, built for cars, suck when compared to 15 minute cities built for people. @urbantruth.bsky.social #Urbanism #UrbanTruth

"Missing - Last seen over 50 years ago" our latest @urbantruth.bsky.social

“Cities across Europe saw a boom in cycling & bike-friendly infrastructure during the Covid-19 pandemic but have suffered setbacks amid a political shift to the right and the emergence of conspiracy theories that have unexpectedly taken aim at ideas such as having amenities within walking distance.”

“The infamous Koch brothers have bankrolled climate deniers, propped up polluting industries, and even tried to turn the black community pro-fossil fuel. But, as a recent New York Times story shows, the billionaire conservatives have been steadily exerting pressure against public transit as well.”

What if these posters started appearing around your neighborhood? #MissingMiddle #UrbanTruth

Your latest dose of TRUTH, straight up as usual from the good folks at #UrbanTruthCollective. "Their profit, your cost." #urbanism #CityBuilding #StopTheSprawl #ClimateChange

LOST: Missing Middle Housing. Please help. Last seen 50+ years ago in cities everywhere. Please contact your elected officials to help find this housing. 555-456-CITY #UrbanTruth #MissingMiddle

They spend millions to make sure you stay car dependent, and to make sure you think that’s normal. So normal in fact, that you’ll actually fight to protect that dependency, in the name of “freedom.” Their profit depends on it.

Remember, if we don’t build housing to solve homelessness, we don’t really want to solve homelessness. #UrbanTruth #HousingFirst

LISTEN: How to achieve better cities IN PRACTICE, and why it’s so important to communicate better and actively call out lies & disinformation about better city-building. @brenttoderian.bsky.social recorded this popular podcast episode with Jason from #NotJustBikes just a few weeks before our launch.

Vested interests manipulating public perceptions and government to invest in things that make cities worse, cost billions and defer better solutions just to ensure they make huge profits? Who would have thought it.

Car-dependent sprawl is sold to us as inevitable, and quintessentially American. In reality, corporations benefiting from highway sprawl use their money and political influence to maintain the status quo and block alternatives.

Two organizations doing important work, both worth following — the Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org, and the Urban Truth Collective @urbantruth.bsky.social.

Remember, speed is ALWAYS a factor. #UrbanTruth #VisionZero #SpeedKills

The new slogan for more housing choice — “Are we kinda bein’ pricks?” #UrbanTruth

“The Highway Lobby spends millions to make sure we spend billions.” — Union of Concerned Scientists. Their profit, your cost. Pleased to support @ucs.org in sharing/boosting their important new article below, with our newest @urbantruth.bsky.social poster. #UrbanTruth

“Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.” “Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as ‘we can’t bail out the Earth like we did the banks’.” #ClimateCrisis #UrbanTruth

Better cars are like better cigarettes. We stay dependent, they sell more. #UrbanTruth

It’s a big deal that the Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org is going directly after the Highway Lobby for the unprecedented damage they’ve done to cities and transportation. Spread the word. #UrbanTruth

Paris urban biking investment helps cut pollution in half: “Between 2005 & 2024, levels of nitrogen dioxide & fine particulate matter — 2 of the most harmful pollutants to health — have been slashed by 50% & 55%, respectively.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social Bike-lanes make better cities. #UrbanTruth

I think it's telling how many people would see this and criticize the parents for letting a kid ride where it's dangerous instead of criticizing the leaders who created such unsafe roads. As a society we have accepted a system that creates danger for everyone not in a car.

"AVs almost by definition lower the friction and costs associated with driving ... And we already know, from the last century-plus of experience in the US, what happens when we make driving easier: We will get more of it. And more concrete and asphalt infrastructure to accommodate it." #UrbanTruth

STUDY: “Motonormativity is a shared bias whereby people judge motorised mobility differently to other comparable topics. This works against societies addressing climate and public health crises effectively.” Via @ianwalker.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Why don't we have better public transit, and more safe routes to walk, roll and cycle? "It’s the fossil fuel industry that wants you to burn more gasoline. It’s auto manufacturers who want to keep you buying more cars." #UrbanTruth #climatesky

“The road lobby is the most powerful political lobby … today. It is immensely rich and is backed by some of the biggest businesses ... Its target is to control the country's transport policy.“ @urbantruth.bsky.social @carlosmorenofr.bsky.social @brenttoderian.bsky.social @davidzipper.bsky.social

STUDY: “Motonormativity is a shared bias whereby people judge motorised mobility differently to other comparable topics. This works against societies addressing climate and public health crises effectively.” Via @ianwalker.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The classic wrong response: we have budget issues so we’re going to cut investment in an efficient, safe and sustainable form of transport so we can spend more on the least efficient use of space for transport aka the car. @urbantruth.bsky.social one for you to myth bust please!

NEW STUDY: Who is the Highway Lobby? “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.