Desiree Fields
@desireefields.bsky.social
Critical economic geographer: digital experiments with property, place, financial subjectivity. Opinions are my own.
@ucbgeography.bsky.social
Editor, Environment and Planning A + @housingtheory.bsky.social
@ucbgeography.bsky.social
Editor, Environment and Planning A + @housingtheory.bsky.social
This tired rent-to-own model was rolled out as disruptive innovation during the pandemic real estate boom, only for it to fail once interest rates began to rise.
![By Patrick Clark and Sridhar Natarajan
02/03/2026 10:14:54 [BN]
(Bloomberg) -- Builders are working on a plan for a massive program to develop "Trump Homes" that would address the US affordability crisis while allowing private capital to deploy many billions of dollars.
Lennar Corp. and Taylor Morrison Home Corp. are among the firms that have worked on the proposal, which calls for builders to sell entry-level homes into a pathway-to-ownership program funded by private investors, according to people familiar with the plan.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pnx2fjuannbdpy3337ggthpp/bafkreif4hbjxhrgbimfgyuuh4d63ab4ewb4vis5gkuesewxs7ur6vprslu@jpeg)
February 3, 2026 at 4:04 PM
This tired rent-to-own model was rolled out as disruptive innovation during the pandemic real estate boom, only for it to fail once interest rates began to rise.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
We're recruiting 2 PhD candidates in human geography here in Uppsala, one position focused on urban/housing issues and one in political ecology.
Please spread the word/repost etc. Being a PhD student in Sweden is a good gig.
Please spread the word/repost etc. Being a PhD student in Sweden is a good gig.
2 PhD student positions in Human Geography - Uppsala University
2 PhD student positions in Human Geography, Department of Human Geography, Uppsala University
www.uu.se
February 2, 2026 at 3:23 PM
We're recruiting 2 PhD candidates in human geography here in Uppsala, one position focused on urban/housing issues and one in political ecology.
Please spread the word/repost etc. Being a PhD student in Sweden is a good gig.
Please spread the word/repost etc. Being a PhD student in Sweden is a good gig.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
in general, i actually suspect this means their business case is deteriorating at a rapid clip
The largest Trump superPAC donor so far this cycle is the president of OpenAI
January 26, 2026 at 1:08 AM
in general, i actually suspect this means their business case is deteriorating at a rapid clip
Really incisive analysis of the scale of community defense in Minneapolis. I love how it conveys how unified the city is, the density of defenders as you move through the city, and the basic nature of skills this work takes.
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
January 22, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Really incisive analysis of the scale of community defense in Minneapolis. I love how it conveys how unified the city is, the density of defenders as you move through the city, and the basic nature of skills this work takes.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum.
January 20, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
one unexpected outlook change from being a dad is taking the self care people 10x more seriously when it comes to dealing with weirdly directed anger and rage (including Online). many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers
December 31, 2025 at 9:13 PM
one unexpected outlook change from being a dad is taking the self care people 10x more seriously when it comes to dealing with weirdly directed anger and rage (including Online). many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers
Reposted by Desiree Fields
👉 New on the #USFBlog 🥂
In this guest blog, Naama Blatman, Sage Ponder & Suraya Scheba reflect on "Reparative Urban Futures," a #USF-supported workshop bringing scholars and community organisers together to rethink infrastructure, abolition, and repair from the ground up.
📖 ow.ly/tHov50XMIY2
In this guest blog, Naama Blatman, Sage Ponder & Suraya Scheba reflect on "Reparative Urban Futures," a #USF-supported workshop bringing scholars and community organisers together to rethink infrastructure, abolition, and repair from the ground up.
📖 ow.ly/tHov50XMIY2
December 22, 2025 at 9:45 AM
👉 New on the #USFBlog 🥂
In this guest blog, Naama Blatman, Sage Ponder & Suraya Scheba reflect on "Reparative Urban Futures," a #USF-supported workshop bringing scholars and community organisers together to rethink infrastructure, abolition, and repair from the ground up.
📖 ow.ly/tHov50XMIY2
In this guest blog, Naama Blatman, Sage Ponder & Suraya Scheba reflect on "Reparative Urban Futures," a #USF-supported workshop bringing scholars and community organisers together to rethink infrastructure, abolition, and repair from the ground up.
📖 ow.ly/tHov50XMIY2
Reposted by Desiree Fields
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
Reposted by Desiree Fields
Bank of America first started offering credit cards to women in 1974
"Has feminism failed women brought to you by bank of america" is my MKULTRA sleeper agent activation phrase
December 20, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Bank of America first started offering credit cards to women in 1974
Great funding opportunity from the Urban Studies Foundation!
📢 New USF Funding: Urban Urgencies
The Urban Studies Foundation is launching a major new grant to support rapid-response collaborative research on the world’s most pressing urban challenges.
💷 Up to £35,000
🤝 Requires partnership with a non-academic organisation
🗓️ 23 Mar 2026
🔗 ow.ly/FUIn50XGtgz
The Urban Studies Foundation is launching a major new grant to support rapid-response collaborative research on the world’s most pressing urban challenges.
💷 Up to £35,000
🤝 Requires partnership with a non-academic organisation
🗓️ 23 Mar 2026
🔗 ow.ly/FUIn50XGtgz
December 16, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Great funding opportunity from the Urban Studies Foundation!
Reposted by Desiree Fields
Stunning admission from Trump in his Politico interview. He confesses he knows almost nothing about the drug trafficking of the guy he pardoned even though he helped bring 500 tons of cocaine into US. Trump also reveals his narcissism makes him easy to manipulate:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
December 9, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Stunning admission from Trump in his Politico interview. He confesses he knows almost nothing about the drug trafficking of the guy he pardoned even though he helped bring 500 tons of cocaine into US. Trump also reveals his narcissism makes him easy to manipulate:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Working my way through Ken Burns's "The American Revolution" and wasn't aware that VACCINATION WAS KEY TO WINNING THE REVOLUTION!?! This point feels...relevant to the present day.
December 9, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Working my way through Ken Burns's "The American Revolution" and wasn't aware that VACCINATION WAS KEY TO WINNING THE REVOLUTION!?! This point feels...relevant to the present day.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
This is the conclusion that I hope we will draw from the Zillow drama... that we need a gold-standard national data source for property-level risk to climate hazards that is transparent, accessible, and legally defensible. Private companies can help build it but the public needs to own it.
Zillow’s climate risk reversal looks like a setback. It’s really a wake‑up call.
When private models sow confusion, it’s a flashing warning sign that Washington needs to fix federal flood maps,
susanpcrawford.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
This is the conclusion that I hope we will draw from the Zillow drama... that we need a gold-standard national data source for property-level risk to climate hazards that is transparent, accessible, and legally defensible. Private companies can help build it but the public needs to own it.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
We are about to discover the far right equivalent of "everyone at the leftist commune wants to design the ideal society and no one wants to do laundry"
your fair share of taxes: an unconscionable ripoff at best, and theft at worst
$1,500/month to live in a Singapore hotel with the most unfuckable greedheads imaginable: an exciting opportunity to experience true freedom (with Singaporean characteristics)
$1,500/month to live in a Singapore hotel with the most unfuckable greedheads imaginable: an exciting opportunity to experience true freedom (with Singaporean characteristics)
December 7, 2025 at 5:31 PM
We are about to discover the far right equivalent of "everyone at the leftist commune wants to design the ideal society and no one wants to do laundry"
Reposted by Desiree Fields
why it’s good for scientists, engineers, administrators, diplomats and jurists to be artistically literate
December 2, 2025 at 4:32 PM
why it’s good for scientists, engineers, administrators, diplomats and jurists to be artistically literate
Reposted by Desiree Fields
“we failed a veteran” is the ultimate story here and if I were a soldier currently being asked to do war crimes on Trump’s behalf I would consider this instructive
Suspect in National Guard attack struggled with 'dark isolation' as community raised concerns
Emails obtained by the Associated Press show that the Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House had been unraveling for years.
www.latimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
“we failed a veteran” is the ultimate story here and if I were a soldier currently being asked to do war crimes on Trump’s behalf I would consider this instructive
Reposted by Desiree Fields
if you steal a cell phone or wallet in paris they kick you out of the french thieve's guild for insufficient whimsy
Thieves have stolen €90,000 worth of fine French snails destined for some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants
Thieves take €90,000 of snails meant for Michelin-starred restaurants
French police are on the trail of ‘experienced’ criminals who stole a whole year’s worth of produce from Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne’s L’Escargot des Grands Crus
www.thetimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:45 PM
if you steal a cell phone or wallet in paris they kick you out of the french thieve's guild for insufficient whimsy
Reposted by Desiree Fields
"Authoritarian gov'ts view culture as a threat bc in [art] you can 👀 alternatives to the current reality. We live in a timeline that says AI domination is inevitable [+] the ppl with the most 💰 will get to decide who + what survives. The arts remind us that none of the current truisms are absolutes"
The Artist Who Reminds Us that Another Way Is Possible
The late artist Abigail McGrath cultivated a creative life for herself filled with freedom, joy, and a commitment to beauty. In an age of authoritarianism and algorithms, it’s a kind of life worth pro...
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:53 AM
"Authoritarian gov'ts view culture as a threat bc in [art] you can 👀 alternatives to the current reality. We live in a timeline that says AI domination is inevitable [+] the ppl with the most 💰 will get to decide who + what survives. The arts remind us that none of the current truisms are absolutes"
Reposted by Desiree Fields
One of the big tidal forces of the coming years is that the baseline reliability of things you see on a screen is going to decline.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
One of the big tidal forces of the coming years is that the baseline reliability of things you see on a screen is going to decline.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
I think this has not been adequately metabolized.
This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
can anyone who understands finance lingo tell me if this is a good or bad sign??
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates on.ft.com/4ij0yh8
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates
A burning platform
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
can anyone who understands finance lingo tell me if this is a good or bad sign??
Reposted by Desiree Fields
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
Reposted by Desiree Fields
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Huh. Something about this story feels familiar…
They're offloading all the debt onto special purpose vehicles (SPV) that are legally distinct entities propped up by promises from meta for decades of demand in compute. The banks take all the risk, Nvidia gets the equity and revenue, Meta gets the stock bump without the downside.
"It seems like a marvel of financial engineering: Meta is building a $27 billion data center in Louisiana, financed with debt, and neither the data center nor the debt will be on its own balance sheet."
November 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Huh. Something about this story feels familiar…