This is really important. The main thing that makes it hard to achieve integrated nature and green in cities isn’t density of buildings or density of people — it's density of cars. And the more well-designed and integrated density of people & buildings you achieve, the fewer cars you need or want.

As our cities get hotter and hotter, dark coloured buildings make no rational sense, even if you like that aesthetic (I do). The same goes for dark coloured roofs. And dark coloured streets and parking lots with dark coloured asphalt. That really should be obvious.

Whether it’s city cooling, air cleaning, quality-of-life & comfort, storm water management, habitat/biodiversity, or many more reasons, urban greening is one of the smartest “common sense” things a city can do. Paris has been showing cities everywhere how much farther and faster you can go when you really want to, even in a really “tight” city (both above ground and underground). Great to reconnect with Paris Deputy Mayor Christophe Najdovski — that’s his portfolio.

Want greener, cooler cities that are a “breath of fresh air?“ In case you thought Paris wasn’t ambitious enough this weekend, on top of our new exhibition, they opened the wonderful new “Urban Forest” in the square in front of City Hall! Part of Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her great team’s brilliant urban greening strategy.

As a general rule, in every election everywhere, we really might want to consider not supporting the candidates that billionaires like best.

EXPERIMENT: Since Slate has been attacking Bluesky lately, yesterday I tried a simple test. I posted the QUESTION below on Bluesky, X, Mastodon & LinkedIn to test my sense that Bluesky gets the most engagement (replies, reposts) with urbanism content. Guess which came in first? Last?

What’s the MOST IMPORTANT THING you wish your local elected leaders understood about better cities for EVERYONE?

Once again, Montreal is showing the rest of North America how to transform streets for people — 8 commercial streets in Montreal will be “pedestrianized” [turned into great people-places] this summer with 7.3km across 6 boroughs. Plus additional smaller sections.

CityNews Montreal

Montreal unveils list of this summer’s pedestrian streets

The Montreal street that was once named the coolest in the entire world is once again embracing what contributed to its fame: it’s going car free...

How tall is this Downtown Vancouver building? The answer isn’t nearly as important as how well it’s designed. Street-lining shops and restaurants with outdoor seating, wide sidewalks, & a double row of street trees creating a “kissing canopy” overhead. And that height above just means more homes.

BIG NEWS: I’m very honoured to announce that I’ve been collaborating with the CITY OF PARIS under Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s leadership to co-curate a unique exhibition opening this summer at Paris City Hall on BOLD URBAN TRANSFORMATION around the world. Stay tuned for more details soon!