Why is living in an urban neighbourhood like Beltline so great? Because after a dentist appointment this morning, I stopped at an electronics store, grocery store, liquor store, bank and coffee shop, all within 2 blocks. All those errands took me less than an hour. #urbanlife

The private jets and yachts part is valid. But saying investments generate carbon emissions is a weird accounting strategy. If they didn’t invest their money, would emissions drop? Am I responsible for the emissions from my pension investments?

Calgary continues to be a leader in housing starts, but still needs to do more. Our population is growing at record levels and more housing will help slow the increase to prices and rents.

I love streetcars. But I HATE streetcars that operate in mixed traffic. Dedicated lanes or nothing.

NEW PUBLICATION: “Understanding the Drivers of Transit Construction Costs in Canada” in School of Cities Canadian Urban Institute The first from me, Balthazar Crane, @ChittiMarco, and Amer Shalaby So why are transit projects so expensive in Canada? Here’s what we found: 1/🧵 stateofcitiessummit.ca/files/041224_U…

The Boring Company’s network of car tunnels under Las Vegas is based on a simple mistake about scale. Many things are great in demonstration projects but fail when you scale them up. 1/.

Something many cities can learn from. Repeatability, pragmatism, in-house expertise, reducing red-tape and continual learning drive down infrastructure costs. Not every project should be a unique process or unique design.

This is the truth. Vaccines are a way of training your body to recognize a foreign pathogen and training your immune system to fight it. Without them, your body can’t respond fast enough to an infection. It’s like trying to run a marathon without ever training.

This is good messaging. Just like Sightline Institute ‘s “cruel musical chairs” about housing, this conveys the concept of passenger capacity in a clear and effective way. Cities need more of this. Clear, concise and effective messaging to convey *why* they make the choices they do.

Dear Academics. When you use social media, non-academics are reading. To avoid feeding negative stereotypes about academia, try to make sense to them. Most people don’t know the verb “to historicize.” … 1/

From the brilliant Jerusalem on why we can’t build green energy projects (excerpt from “On the Housing Crisis”). On point. Modern environmentalism was built to stop projects, not advocate for them - a large reason why housing, transit, green energy is so difficult.

People had several extra kids and then watched them die.

There’s still time to view and provide input on the 52 St E Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Functional Planning Study, from Saddletowne Circle in the N to Seton in the S, including: 🚍Upgrading Route 23 to a BRT 🚍Exploring a MAX Teal extension from Douglas Glen to 52 St E More info⬇️

This should be standard for all politicians: Blind trusts. A politician shouldn’t have to give up their investments, but they shouldn’t be able to influence them. Blind trusts are the way to ensure this.

This is a terrible take. Just because expenditure doesn’t yield direct returns doesn’t mean it isn’t investment. Education, pure research, healthcare, infrastructure all create returns. Those returns are dispersed, so the private sector doesn’t invest in them.

Affordable housing and affordable commercial rents boost economies. Low barriers to entry and the ability to take risks is what business needs to innovate and thrive. More housing and more opportunities for small commercial spaces is a economic driver.

The problem that many homeowners find is that when they sell their house, they also have to *buy* a new house. And that house is also now expensive. The problem with high housing prices is you don’t actually get to cash out, unless you leave the country. Cc Max Fawcett 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

This project will provide very valuable rental housing supply on top of one of the region's busiest transit hubs. There was a lot of discussion at the public hearing on whether new rental (sometimes suggested that this is 'luxury') can help our housing situation. A few things...