Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦
@glasscity.bsky.social
Urban planner focused on people-first cities (read: reducing car dominance).
Gonna be some Vancouver homeowners with increased property taxes despite the 0% budget increase who are gonna be real ticked off
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Gonna be some Vancouver homeowners with increased property taxes despite the 0% budget increase who are gonna be real ticked off
Writing pet peeve: the use of "innovative" as a synonym for "good/unique"
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Writing pet peeve: the use of "innovative" as a synonym for "good/unique"
We should consider falling back every night, maybe even by a couple of hours
November 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
We should consider falling back every night, maybe even by a couple of hours
A theory I have is a fair share of people grants candidates their vote based on worthiness rather than policy alignment. I.e. choosing not who represents them and will make the decisions they'd make, but who's been the right kind of person who deserves to be elected as a kind of reward.
The existence of this photograph (which is a real photo of a real person at a Mamdani campaign event) is enough to establish for me that voters writ large have absolutely no grasp of what policy is or how any given policy impacts their lives. It's all vibes.
October 30, 2025 at 12:32 AM
A theory I have is a fair share of people grants candidates their vote based on worthiness rather than policy alignment. I.e. choosing not who represents them and will make the decisions they'd make, but who's been the right kind of person who deserves to be elected as a kind of reward.
The government should enable European imports and get Stellantis to build electric Peugeot 3008s in Brampton.
October 29, 2025 at 5:58 AM
The government should enable European imports and get Stellantis to build electric Peugeot 3008s in Brampton.
Seems pretty clear Carney's Keystone XL push is another grand bargain to get Alberta to settle down with Northern Gateway, right?
October 10, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Seems pretty clear Carney's Keystone XL push is another grand bargain to get Alberta to settle down with Northern Gateway, right?
There's something kind of interesting about LinkedIn seemingly being one of the leading providers of AI sludge
October 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
There's something kind of interesting about LinkedIn seemingly being one of the leading providers of AI sludge
I like the new time clock, neutral about the field shortening, goal post moving, and rouge(!), but hate the end zone shortening. If the idea is to encourage touchdowns over field goals, why give less space to run and bring the posts that much closer? #CFL
September 22, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I like the new time clock, neutral about the field shortening, goal post moving, and rouge(!), but hate the end zone shortening. If the idea is to encourage touchdowns over field goals, why give less space to run and bring the posts that much closer? #CFL
The only (speaking) portrayal of urban planners on-screen I'm aware of is Parks & Rec. We definitely don't work at a drafting table but the part about being irresistible to women is obviously 100000% accurate
an interesting subtopic! which shows/movies are beloved by the profession for Getting It Right! Lawyers famously love MY COUSIN VINNIE, doctors I believe love SCRUBS, apparently Aussie barristers are surprisingly fond of RAKE's depiction of some aspects of the law.
Oh god I remember watching HOUSE with some doctors, it was a the usual mix of “you would get fired instantly and never practice medicine again no matter how good u are” and “that case actually isn’t hard to solve at all”
August 29, 2025 at 12:32 AM
The only (speaking) portrayal of urban planners on-screen I'm aware of is Parks & Rec. We definitely don't work at a drafting table but the part about being irresistible to women is obviously 100000% accurate
YouTube has always outpaced other platforms for the most unhinged and sketchy ads, but I've just now watched a deepfake ad "showing" Mark Carney encouraging viewers to sign up for some AI thing. Is there just literally zero review/scrutiny of ads there?
August 27, 2025 at 6:34 PM
YouTube has always outpaced other platforms for the most unhinged and sketchy ads, but I've just now watched a deepfake ad "showing" Mark Carney encouraging viewers to sign up for some AI thing. Is there just literally zero review/scrutiny of ads there?
Saw Jordan Eberle at Pearson. Without pause, my friend walked right up to him and asked if he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He just said "no".
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
June 14, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Saw Jordan Eberle at Pearson. Without pause, my friend walked right up to him and asked if he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He just said "no".
The Liberals hitting 172 seats would be interesting but would change very little in practice - that's still a real precarious majority that crumbles with any absence/dissent. The BC NDP won just the right amount of seats for a majority and still made a deal with the Greens.
May 11, 2025 at 12:30 AM
The Liberals hitting 172 seats would be interesting but would change very little in practice - that's still a real precarious majority that crumbles with any absence/dissent. The BC NDP won just the right amount of seats for a majority and still made a deal with the Greens.
Students seeing AI as a skill for the workforce speaks to what my greatest AI worry is: not that it'll take my job, but that Zoomers who are more familiar with it will.
Most (Canadian) universities have no rules against AI. In fact, admin tends to encourage it by telling professors to learn to work with it. Universities are participating in atrophying reading and writing. Students don’t see it as cheating but as gaining skills for the workforce.
May 7, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Students seeing AI as a skill for the workforce speaks to what my greatest AI worry is: not that it'll take my job, but that Zoomers who are more familiar with it will.
I became an urbanist because of how frustrated I felt growing up in a suburban area where stores, the bus - everything - was far away. The first time I moved to an urban neighbourhood, it was everything I thought it would be, and it's awesome seeing others experience that same feeling.
I think this is the first time I've lived walking distance from a grocery store and I'm out of my mind about it. I'll walk there several times a day. Oh did I forget to grab something? No big deal I'll simply Walk To The Store
May 4, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I became an urbanist because of how frustrated I felt growing up in a suburban area where stores, the bus - everything - was far away. The first time I moved to an urban neighbourhood, it was everything I thought it would be, and it's awesome seeing others experience that same feeling.
AI chatbots still have a long way to go but absolutely have their uses, such as a sounding board, doing short-form generic writing, tech assistance (e.g. Excel formulas), and as an interactive search engine you can ask follow-up questions of.
April 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
AI chatbots still have a long way to go but absolutely have their uses, such as a sounding board, doing short-form generic writing, tech assistance (e.g. Excel formulas), and as an interactive search engine you can ask follow-up questions of.
This instantly took me to Trump as a committee or public hearing and Japanese negotiators as planners trying to eloquently respond to questions like "How well would the building's floors handle a bowling ball drop"
FT: Trump “has puzzled trade negotiators in Tokyo after complaining about a test where he claims a bowling ball is dropped on a car ..
“.. Japan does not carry out such tests ..”
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/b545...
“.. Japan does not carry out such tests ..”
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/b545...
April 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
This instantly took me to Trump as a committee or public hearing and Japanese negotiators as planners trying to eloquently respond to questions like "How well would the building's floors handle a bowling ball drop"
Love that the Conservatives made sure to wait for advance voting to finish before releasing the platform, despite it apparently being ready to go last Friday
April 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Love that the Conservatives made sure to wait for advance voting to finish before releasing the platform, despite it apparently being ready to go last Friday
What could possibly go wrong
April 15, 2025 at 3:06 PM
What could possibly go wrong
Never felt so much Canadian patriotism buying Mexican raspberries
January 30, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Never felt so much Canadian patriotism buying Mexican raspberries
As a transit nerd, on my first full day visiting Toronto I went up to Richmond Hill to ride around on Viva BRT
We've just added this "Architects on Holiday" mug to our Humor collection architectural-icons.com/products/arc...
January 7, 2025 at 5:19 AM
As a transit nerd, on my first full day visiting Toronto I went up to Richmond Hill to ride around on Viva BRT
Nice to have the BC assessments come out and provide another example that widespread increases in housing development capacity don't automatically translate to inflated property values.
January 3, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Nice to have the BC assessments come out and provide another example that widespread increases in housing development capacity don't automatically translate to inflated property values.
I prefer multiplexes over small lot subdivision for this reason. Even with single stair buildings as an option, parking (even if not govt mandated) makes them impractical in far more cases, and max density still falls below those that larger sites can achieve.
Reading about 19th C urban collective action problems, I wonder if the recent move to smaller lot sizes (eg, in Austin) might be sowing the seeds of future problems. Small lots have positives, but they generate a fragmented ownership structure that complicates land assembly, and thus densification.
January 1, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I prefer multiplexes over small lot subdivision for this reason. Even with single stair buildings as an option, parking (even if not govt mandated) makes them impractical in far more cases, and max density still falls below those that larger sites can achieve.
I miss the early COVID clean air. Winter-like visibility in the summer. Hopeful we'll get there again with emissions reductions in the future.
Is it bad that I want the pandemic quiet back?
NOT the pandemic, just the quiet.
NOT the pandemic, just the quiet.
November 23, 2024 at 12:41 AM
I miss the early COVID clean air. Winter-like visibility in the summer. Hopeful we'll get there again with emissions reductions in the future.
In a thriving and healthy CFL fandom, the bombers should be universally hated, with the exceptions being Manitobans and contrarians #goargos
November 18, 2024 at 1:02 AM
In a thriving and healthy CFL fandom, the bombers should be universally hated, with the exceptions being Manitobans and contrarians #goargos
Deodorant can smell good and definitely do its job, but any claims of lasting 24, let alone 48, hours are a load of crock
Deodorants/antiperspirants can either be pleasant-smelling OR effective.
Discuss.
Discuss.
November 14, 2024 at 3:19 AM
Deodorant can smell good and definitely do its job, but any claims of lasting 24, let alone 48, hours are a load of crock