Ben van Loon
@benvanloon.com
Chicagoan. Former professor. Current association leader. Award-winning designer, editor, writer, and comms guy. I care about governance, cities, and forgotten things.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Reposted by Ben van Loon
What happens when you downzone?
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Downzoning Chicago: How Local Land Use Policy Has Reduced Housing Construction and Reinforced Segregation | Published in Findings
By Yonah Freemark, George Kisiel. Downzonings were used by US cities in the postwar period to preserve neighborhood character. These land-use policies were associated with lower housing supply, higher...
findingspress.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
What happens when you downzone?
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Our new open-access research paper in @findingspress.org investigates effects of decades of downzoning in Chicago.
Findings:
—Downzoned areas added 1/7th of the new units as comparable non-downzoned areas;
—Downzoned areas became more white & were more expensive.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Mexico Versus Nazis is a theme that’s really resonating with me of late
October 30, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Mexico Versus Nazis is a theme that’s really resonating with me of late
Reposted by Ben van Loon
New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Purge, Merge, and Surge
Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state
donmoynihan.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org
October 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
"Beneath this show of solidarity, China, North Korea, and Russia remain uneasy partners. What the three countries have is a tactical alignment rooted not in trust or shared values but in overlapping grievances and necessity."
www.foreignaffairs.com/china/dont-o...
www.foreignaffairs.com/china/dont-o...
Don’t Overestimate the Autocratic Alliance
Washington still has significant leverage over China, North Korea, and Russia.
www.foreignaffairs.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:44 PM
"Beneath this show of solidarity, China, North Korea, and Russia remain uneasy partners. What the three countries have is a tactical alignment rooted not in trust or shared values but in overlapping grievances and necessity."
www.foreignaffairs.com/china/dont-o...
www.foreignaffairs.com/china/dont-o...
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Very cool survey experiments on informational treatments to counteract NIMBY attitudes about affordable housing, from @brendannyhan.bsky.social and his students
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Debunking NIMBY Myths Increases Support for Affordable Housing, Especially Near Respondents’ Homes | Journal of Experimental Political Science | Cambridge Core
Debunking NIMBY Myths Increases Support for Affordable Housing, Especially Near Respondents’ Homes
www.cambridge.org
September 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Very cool survey experiments on informational treatments to counteract NIMBY attitudes about affordable housing, from @brendannyhan.bsky.social and his students
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Extremist murders by ideology, 2013 to 2022. www.pbump.net/o/reassessin...
September 13, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Extremist murders by ideology, 2013 to 2022. www.pbump.net/o/reassessin...
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Why is it so expensive to build affordable housing in Chicago?
One recent West Side development clocked in at $884,000 per affordable unit. blockclubchi.co/45nRliO
One recent West Side development clocked in at $884,000 per affordable unit. blockclubchi.co/45nRliO
July 28, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Why is it so expensive to build affordable housing in Chicago?
One recent West Side development clocked in at $884,000 per affordable unit. blockclubchi.co/45nRliO
One recent West Side development clocked in at $884,000 per affordable unit. blockclubchi.co/45nRliO
Reposted by Ben van Loon
This depressing new NBER working paper finds that while the returns to a college education are still clearly positive for everyone, the benefits for students from lower-income families have declined over time due to fewer resources going to regional institutions.
Changes in the College Mobility Pipeline Since 1900
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
May 19, 2025 at 9:28 AM
This depressing new NBER working paper finds that while the returns to a college education are still clearly positive for everyone, the benefits for students from lower-income families have declined over time due to fewer resources going to regional institutions.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Welcome to the public domain, UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929), the surrealist short from Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí that shocked cinema with dream logic, stark imagery & one gruesome eyeball.
More. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomain #InternetArchive
More. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomain #InternetArchive
May 12, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Welcome to the public domain, UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929), the surrealist short from Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí that shocked cinema with dream logic, stark imagery & one gruesome eyeball.
More. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomain #InternetArchive
More. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomain #InternetArchive
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Not a single time in this article glorifying the need for sprawl to address the US's affordable housing crisis is there a mention of the vast transportation costs of sprawling living patterns. Nor is there mention of the fact that sprawl is directly linked to disinvestment in urban cores.
America Needs More Sprawl to Fix Its Housing Crisis
The word has become an epithet for garish, reckless growth — but to fix the housing crisis, the country needs more of it.
www.nytimes.com
April 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Not a single time in this article glorifying the need for sprawl to address the US's affordable housing crisis is there a mention of the vast transportation costs of sprawling living patterns. Nor is there mention of the fact that sprawl is directly linked to disinvestment in urban cores.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
We need more pedestrian plazas in Chicago, especially around the mixed-use turret buildings.
Pilsen, with a little bit of courage:
Pilsen, with a little bit of courage:
April 3, 2025 at 9:22 PM
We need more pedestrian plazas in Chicago, especially around the mixed-use turret buildings.
Pilsen, with a little bit of courage:
Pilsen, with a little bit of courage:
Reposted by Ben van Loon
It is 2002. I am 18 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—
It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—
April 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
It is 2002. I am 18 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—
It is 2008. I am 24 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2020. I am 36 years old. We are in a once-in-a-generation economic crisis.
It is 2025. I am 41 years old. We are in a—
Reposted by Ben van Loon
For several years, technologists had warned about the potential for advanced AI to cause catastrophic damage to the human race. But in 2024, those warnings were drowned out by a “prosperous vision of generative AI promoted by the tech industry — a vision that also benefited their wallets.” 1/
Silicon Valley stifled the AI doom movement in 2024 | TechCrunch
For several years now, technologists have rung alarm bells about the potential for advanced AI systems to cause catastrophic damage to the human race. But
techcrunch.com
March 15, 2025 at 5:49 PM
For several years, technologists had warned about the potential for advanced AI to cause catastrophic damage to the human race. But in 2024, those warnings were drowned out by a “prosperous vision of generative AI promoted by the tech industry — a vision that also benefited their wallets.” 1/
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Check out these anti-Trump protest banners.
NO KINGS!
NO SLAVES!
NO NAZIS!
PDFs below for those looking to print as a protest sign.
Huge thanks to @luizhcp.bsky.social for his thoughtful & efficient design work.
NO KINGS!
NO SLAVES!
NO NAZIS!
PDFs below for those looking to print as a protest sign.
Huge thanks to @luizhcp.bsky.social for his thoughtful & efficient design work.
March 6, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Check out these anti-Trump protest banners.
NO KINGS!
NO SLAVES!
NO NAZIS!
PDFs below for those looking to print as a protest sign.
Huge thanks to @luizhcp.bsky.social for his thoughtful & efficient design work.
NO KINGS!
NO SLAVES!
NO NAZIS!
PDFs below for those looking to print as a protest sign.
Huge thanks to @luizhcp.bsky.social for his thoughtful & efficient design work.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
March 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Reposted by Ben van Loon
Welcome to the public domain, HELL’S BELLS (1929). If you ❤️ THE SKELETON DANCE, you’ll 💕 this Silly Symphony’s animated underworld #PublicDomainDaye#InternetArchiveky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">of musical devils & demons. 🎞️🎶🔥
Learn more. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomainDay #InternetArchive <a href="/hashtag/Disney" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#Disney
Learn more. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomainDay #InternetArchive <a href="/hashtag/Disney" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#Disney
March 2, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Welcome to the public domain, HELL’S BELLS (1929). If you ❤️ THE SKELETON DANCE, you’ll 💕 this Silly Symphony’s animated underworld #PublicDomainDaye#InternetArchiveky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">of musical devils & demons. 🎞️🎶🔥
Learn more. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomainDay #InternetArchive <a href="/hashtag/Disney" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#Disney
Learn more. ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/w...
#PublicDomainDay #InternetArchive <a href="/hashtag/Disney" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#Disney
"Of all man's miseries, the bitterest is this: to know so much, and to have control over nothing."
- Herodotus
- Herodotus
February 20, 2025 at 4:31 PM
"Of all man's miseries, the bitterest is this: to know so much, and to have control over nothing."
- Herodotus
- Herodotus
Eventually, it will be: To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.
February 19, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Eventually, it will be: To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.
Reposted by Ben van Loon
The rightward drift of Silicon Valley didn’t come out of nowhere. In 2014, Corey Pein detailed the then emerging connections between tech elites and neo-fascist thinkers like Curtis Yarvin and Nick Land.
Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream of a Silicon Reich | Corey Pein
Meet the neoreactionaries who influenced the rightward drift of Silicon Valley.
thebaffler.com
February 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
The rightward drift of Silicon Valley didn’t come out of nowhere. In 2014, Corey Pein detailed the then emerging connections between tech elites and neo-fascist thinkers like Curtis Yarvin and Nick Land.