A slow moving scandal in Canberra at the moment is that we launched a new public transport ticketing system which is *so bad* and unreliable that we no longer have any idea how many people are using transit or how.

Potentially one of the weirdest things about Australian planning culture is how every planning department in the country is hellbent on ensuring that the public and private realm has the least protection from UV rays in the summer possible in the name of preventing "overshadowing"

If you think you have problems, spare a thought for this Rose Bay homeowner that is complaining that zoning changes have made her and her neighbours fantastically wealthy.

Sydney built the political coalition for the most ambitious public transport project in the Anglosphere - not off free public transport, but on public transport so good that everyone would take it. And it worked.

Having automated trains going 100kmph every four minutes, turning crossing the Harbour into a *three minute* journey from Victoria Cross to Barangaroo is a big part of this, but NSW also made the stations utterly gorgeous, cathedrals of public infrastructure that are a joy to travel through.

The Metro has ongoing near universal support in Sydney, despite being a fantastically expensive infrastructure project with cost overruns, precisely because it's by far the fastest form of transport. No matter how rich you are in Sydney, the Metro is your quickest option for getting through the CBD.

This is also why lightweight puffer jackets from Kathmandu and Macpac are a winter staple in Canberra and Melbourne - Australians don't take their jackets off at the door at restaurants, shopping or at home, and so having lightweight, mobile warmth is key, as opposed to long coats.

One of the better examples of post industrial fantasy is the Legend of Korra. The more limited a magic system is, the easier it is to craft a believable fantasy post-industrial setting - Sanderson is also good at this. High powered magic systems are much harder to do this with.

Harry Potter's wizarding and muggle worlds don't touch. In the Dresden Files, wizards literally cause technology to break around them. Cassandra Clare, Twilight etc all follow this same pattern - mundane, high tech society, secret low tech magical society.

There's a deeply rooted opposition in Australia to small homes. This recent support for continue the ban on smaller apartments is a continuation of mid 20th century efforts to ban terraces and "Street life" - with peter Harrison famously saying that Terraces were "unfit for human habitation".

In fact, Canberra's asking rent today, at $658 dollars per week, is $50 dollars in inflation adjusted terms from where it was in December 2011, despite being the fastest growing Australian city over the past decade.

And on a subnational level of course, there's a long standing trend where the states and territories that have the highest population growth are also the ones that have the least in rental cost growth, because these jurisdictions build enough housing for everyone, notably Canberra.

One thing that hasn't been talked about as much is that the nominal surge in rents in most cities in Australia stalled hard in 2024, dropping to around or below inflation everywhere but Adelaide on marginal (asking) rents.