Pinned
Dan Keshet
@dankeshet.bsky.social
· Nov 21
#atxurbanists, I've built a starter pack! Please use it to pad out your follows and invite new friends! Also LMK if you are an Austin urbanist not on here, even if urbanism isn't your main bleat area!
With Waymo's safety record being so far ahead of human drivers, at what point do we just ban human-driven cars from pedestrian-heavy areas as too dangerous?
Not only would it improve safety dramatically, but it would make those areas cleaner, quieter, and easier to traverse by bus, bike, or on foot
Not only would it improve safety dramatically, but it would make those areas cleaner, quieter, and easier to traverse by bus, bike, or on foot
December 28, 2025 at 3:34 AM
With Waymo's safety record being so far ahead of human drivers, at what point do we just ban human-driven cars from pedestrian-heavy areas as too dangerous?
Not only would it improve safety dramatically, but it would make those areas cleaner, quieter, and easier to traverse by bus, bike, or on foot
Not only would it improve safety dramatically, but it would make those areas cleaner, quieter, and easier to traverse by bus, bike, or on foot
Some arbitrary cutoffs are needed. 5 year olds can't sign a lease anywhere and 25s always can, but whether that cutoff is 18 or 19 is a bit arbitrary.
Parking mandates' arbitratiness, by contrast, is a cover for the fact that there's nothing behind it. Zero is always the ideal parking mandate.
Parking mandates' arbitratiness, by contrast, is a cover for the fact that there's nothing behind it. Zero is always the ideal parking mandate.
billions of dollars of land use decisions around the world made on the basis of utter nonsense
December 28, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Some arbitrary cutoffs are needed. 5 year olds can't sign a lease anywhere and 25s always can, but whether that cutoff is 18 or 19 is a bit arbitrary.
Parking mandates' arbitratiness, by contrast, is a cover for the fact that there's nothing behind it. Zero is always the ideal parking mandate.
Parking mandates' arbitratiness, by contrast, is a cover for the fact that there's nothing behind it. Zero is always the ideal parking mandate.
Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical NIMBYist Blowhards, the Highway Warriors, the Parking Worshipers, and do-nothing public engagement fetishists. We have Residential in Commercial Zoning, we have rents falling. We'll have cities that are walkable again, perhaps like never before. DJK
December 26, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical NIMBYist Blowhards, the Highway Warriors, the Parking Worshipers, and do-nothing public engagement fetishists. We have Residential in Commercial Zoning, we have rents falling. We'll have cities that are walkable again, perhaps like never before. DJK
I get a lot of information about Russia's war on Ukraine from @noelreports.com. If you're interested in the fight for the Democratic world, follow Noel.
Dear community, last time you helped us reach lots of new BlueSky followers. Now that we see that there is an exodus on X, it is important that these people can also find us on BlueSky for all necessary updates about Ukraine.
Would you like to share this message, preferably with a quote? Thanks!
Would you like to share this message, preferably with a quote? Thanks!
December 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
I get a lot of information about Russia's war on Ukraine from @noelreports.com. If you're interested in the fight for the Democratic world, follow Noel.
Reposted by Dan Keshet
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
South Texas homebuilders say ICE arrests have slowed work
More than 380 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.
www.texastribune.org
December 25, 2025 at 5:45 AM
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
My most neoliberal trait is a skepticism of anti-poverty policies that that narrowly target housing (both housing vouchers/affordable housing) as opposed to straight cash that people can use for anything.
Housing with wraparound services is different as the market won't provide social workers.
Housing with wraparound services is different as the market won't provide social workers.
December 24, 2025 at 2:42 PM
My most neoliberal trait is a skepticism of anti-poverty policies that that narrowly target housing (both housing vouchers/affordable housing) as opposed to straight cash that people can use for anything.
Housing with wraparound services is different as the market won't provide social workers.
Housing with wraparound services is different as the market won't provide social workers.
Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers made an interesting case that Austin's planning department is too large and has too much time on its hands.
citizenportal.ai/articles/595...
citizenportal.ai/articles/595...
City official urges early local planning for eVTOL air taxis, warns against repeating freeway‑era harms
Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers briefed the Mobility Committee on Oct. 16 about electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs), urging early local land‑use planning, safety standards, grid...
citizenportal.ai
December 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers made an interesting case that Austin's planning department is too large and has too much time on its hands.
citizenportal.ai/articles/595...
citizenportal.ai/articles/595...
Conversely high-capacity housing and high-capacity transportation are also analogous and complementary.
The housing equivalent of "just one more lane, bro" is "just one more suburb, bro". They're complimentary in fact.
December 23, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Conversely high-capacity housing and high-capacity transportation are also analogous and complementary.
The housing equivalent of "just one more lane, bro" is "just one more suburb, bro". They're complimentary in fact.
December 23, 2025 at 2:18 AM
The housing equivalent of "just one more lane, bro" is "just one more suburb, bro". They're complimentary in fact.
The primary weapons for both sides in Ukraine are small flying vehicles packed with explosives, tethered to a human operator by a very long fiber optic cable. When the vehicle explodes, the cable remains. This video shows a spider web of fiber optic cables strung through a forest.
December 21, 2025 at 5:56 PM
The primary weapons for both sides in Ukraine are small flying vehicles packed with explosives, tethered to a human operator by a very long fiber optic cable. When the vehicle explodes, the cable remains. This video shows a spider web of fiber optic cables strung through a forest.
Reposted by Dan Keshet
the tallest mass timber building in oregon is holst's julia west house, built by walsh.
it sits on a 5,000 sf parcel.
no, that's not missing a zero.
archello.com/project/juli...
it sits on a 5,000 sf parcel.
no, that's not missing a zero.
archello.com/project/juli...
Julia West House | Holst Architecture | Archello
Julia West House is a twelve-storey mass-timber residential building in Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Developed by Community Development Partners...
archello.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:26 PM
the tallest mass timber building in oregon is holst's julia west house, built by walsh.
it sits on a 5,000 sf parcel.
no, that's not missing a zero.
archello.com/project/juli...
it sits on a 5,000 sf parcel.
no, that's not missing a zero.
archello.com/project/juli...
What are y'all doing for your New Year's OKRs?
December 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
What are y'all doing for your New Year's OKRs?
Texas has ~776k manufactured homes or 6.2% of the state’s housing stock. In 2024, the average manufactured home sold for ~$122.5K, compared to ~$313K for the state’s broader housing market.
U.S. Capitals Of Manufactured Housing: Mesa, AZ, Leads The Way
Manufactured housing is gaining traction in the U.S., lead by cities such as Mesa, AZ, Largo, FL, and others in the Sunbelt.
www.storagecafe.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Texas has ~776k manufactured homes or 6.2% of the state’s housing stock. In 2024, the average manufactured home sold for ~$122.5K, compared to ~$313K for the state’s broader housing market.
My ridiculous but maybe true marker for a negative labor environment: a greater percentage of my Lyft drivers have been native English speakers in the last few months than the year before.
Channeling my inner Thomas Friedman, my Lyft driver says that all the major casinos are buying up land around Texas in anticipation of the lege legalizing gambling.
December 18, 2025 at 4:42 PM
My ridiculous but maybe true marker for a negative labor environment: a greater percentage of my Lyft drivers have been native English speakers in the last few months than the year before.
Channeling my inner Thomas Friedman, my Lyft driver says that all the major casinos are buying up land around Texas in anticipation of the lege legalizing gambling.
December 18, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Channeling my inner Thomas Friedman, my Lyft driver says that all the major casinos are buying up land around Texas in anticipation of the lege legalizing gambling.
It's annoying when the state of Texas hamstrings cities from raising the revenue they need and spending it approximately.
It's even more annoying when Texas cities hamstring themselves.
It's even more annoying when Texas cities hamstring themselves.
Interesting thoughts from @kevinerdmann.bsky.social in this post, but I want to highlight one point that someone raised at a recent forum: if Kevin is right that the US is short 15-20 million homes, what does that mean for *property tax revenue*? kevinerdmann.substack.com/p/quick-note...
Quick note on housing and family formation
Scott Winship at the American Enterprise Institute recently posted on substack, “Has Marriage Fallen Because Young Adults Can’t Afford Homes?...Or Are Homes Unaffordable to Young Adults Because They M...
kevinerdmann.substack.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:26 PM
It's annoying when the state of Texas hamstrings cities from raising the revenue they need and spending it approximately.
It's even more annoying when Texas cities hamstring themselves.
It's even more annoying when Texas cities hamstring themselves.
Reposted by Dan Keshet
In Portland, they're putting six 850 sf townhome units with no parking on 50'x100' lots
December 16, 2025 at 10:47 PM
In Portland, they're putting six 850 sf townhome units with no parking on 50'x100' lots
Social science is validating Jane Jacobs' "eyes on the street" insights on crime prevention. Simple urban design solutions like better lighting and fixing up abandoned lots can lead to dramatically fewer murders. youtu.be/F-9RCKKvoJw?...
How scientists radically reduced violence in America (no gun ban)
YouTube video by Money & Macro
youtu.be
December 16, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Social science is validating Jane Jacobs' "eyes on the street" insights on crime prevention. Simple urban design solutions like better lighting and fixing up abandoned lots can lead to dramatically fewer murders. youtu.be/F-9RCKKvoJw?...
Random LLM usage non-parents likely don't know: most parents I know have generated coloring sheets for their kids using an LLM. Many have used pictures of their kids or family as the prompt.
December 16, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Random LLM usage non-parents likely don't know: most parents I know have generated coloring sheets for their kids using an LLM. Many have used pictures of their kids or family as the prompt.
Already stressed by habitat loss and pesticides, monarch butterflies lose a significant chunk of their migratory population each year to carstrike. www.greensourcetexas.org/articles/tex...
Texas cars are colliding with monarch migration | Green Source Texas
Texas cars are colliding with monarch migration, with millions of windshields killing monarchs on highways, impacting 4% of their population. Entomologist Dr. Robert Coulson studies this threat, seeki...
www.greensourcetexas.org
December 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Already stressed by habitat loss and pesticides, monarch butterflies lose a significant chunk of their migratory population each year to carstrike. www.greensourcetexas.org/articles/tex...
There's a medium-sized message here on the safety of buildings based on the size of their floorplates and number of stairwells.
There's an enormous message here on how important it is for our safety rules to be evidence-based.
There's an enormous message here on how important it is for our safety rules to be evidence-based.
Consultants contracted by Minnesota found that an eight-story single-stair building with 6,000 sq. ft. per floor (building 4) has dramatically lower fire risk than a same-height code-compliant two-stair building with a larger floor plate (building 1) www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...
December 12, 2025 at 10:32 PM
There's a medium-sized message here on the safety of buildings based on the size of their floorplates and number of stairwells.
There's an enormous message here on how important it is for our safety rules to be evidence-based.
There's an enormous message here on how important it is for our safety rules to be evidence-based.
Reposted by Dan Keshet
Consultants contracted by Minnesota found that an eight-story single-stair building with 6,000 sq. ft. per floor (building 4) has dramatically lower fire risk than a same-height code-compliant two-stair building with a larger floor plate (building 1) www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...
December 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Consultants contracted by Minnesota found that an eight-story single-stair building with 6,000 sq. ft. per floor (building 4) has dramatically lower fire risk than a same-height code-compliant two-stair building with a larger floor plate (building 1) www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...
Urbanist movie reviews: What the film lacks in plot and acting, it more than makes up for in strong point access blocks and a number of scenes in which the characters take long walks. The second half of the movie is dominated by characters struggling with the effects of automobile violence. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
December 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Urbanist movie reviews: What the film lacks in plot and acting, it more than makes up for in strong point access blocks and a number of scenes in which the characters take long walks. The second half of the movie is dominated by characters struggling with the effects of automobile violence. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
When every house on the street decides to put up an 8' concrete/cinder-block fence rather than engage with the street, do the traffic engineers never ask themselves how they effed up so badly?
December 12, 2025 at 7:29 PM
When every house on the street decides to put up an 8' concrete/cinder-block fence rather than engage with the street, do the traffic engineers never ask themselves how they effed up so badly?
This is fantastic to see and I strongly hope Texas will do our own version. We have a lot of great construction engineers who could research cost-benefit to ensure our housing is safe AND affordable.
California won’t solve its housing crisis unless we reduce construction costs. Our new Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation will explore the tools and technologies that can help us build more homes, faster and more affordably.
🔗 Press release: a14.asmdc.org/press-releas...
🔗 Press release: a14.asmdc.org/press-releas...
December 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
This is fantastic to see and I strongly hope Texas will do our own version. We have a lot of great construction engineers who could research cost-benefit to ensure our housing is safe AND affordable.