Mixed-use neighborhoods are an economic cheat code.

Build more of them.

As we roll into 2025, bird flu (H5N1) continues to lurk in the background and norovirus outbreaks are surging.

Both stand as reminders that cities should be preparing for future public health events.

Each of these pictures was made possible by city builders:

Developers.

Engineers.

Planners.

Entrepreneurs.

Marketers.

Accountants.

Architects.

Electricians.

Politicians.

The ways to make an impact on your city through your career are endless.

We need more city builders.

Cars are one of the leading causes of death in America.

The next four years only stand to make them more dangerous.

Local leaders now bear the sole responsibility of building places that constrain the threat of vehicles as much as possible.

Federal laws and resources aren’t coming to save you.

The most American thing ever is being willing to die for our preferences.

The same people that fear monger about cities are the ones that cling to cars like life depends on them.

We're willing to die for the habits that are killing us.

A culture of death if there ever was one.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the threat level bird flu poses.

But as another respiratory virus hits the news, it's a reminder that great urban design is also a hedge for pandemic resiliency.

Tree canopies and outdoor dining spaces are two great, cost-efficient ways to pandemic-proof a city.

Anduril raised $1.5B to build a modular factory that will hyperscale American defense manufacturing.

There's real buzz, energy, and resources out there looking to support American ambition.

Who's building the Anduril of housing production? Of infrastructure? Of mass transit?

"Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people."

- Enrique Penalosa

When done right, stadiums can be a part of great urban neighborhoods.

(📸Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL)

One reason cities are so unfriendly to children is their leaders see children as a problem.

Not everyone needs to have children. And not everyone can.

But cities that are child-friendly are more friendly for everyone.

The opposite is not true.

Build child-friendly cities.

Legalize cool buildings on weird lots.

The next generation of great urban designers are currently killing it on Minecraft.

(Images via d3_cent on Reddit)

Cities always become the best versions of themselves during Christmas time.

Beautiful lights on street lamps. Open pedestrian streets. Markets. Music all around.

We get a taste of what cities should always be.

If we legalize great spaces, we can make every day like Christmas.