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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 13h

We early-voted today in the Vancouver municipal election. Easy, no line. I voted for candidates who champion better walking, biking & public transit; better people-places and smart street transformations; more housing and #DensityDoneWell with amenities & smart design; and budgets that create value.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

To carry 50,000 people per hour in each direction, a city needs a 175m wide road for cars. Even if those cars are electric. And then there’s all the parking. OR a city can move A LOT MORE people in a lot less space, with A LOT LESS public money, emissions, pollution, noise etc. Choices. Simple.

Graphic showing a single lane 9 m wide track for metros, a 35 m wide road for buses with four lanes, and a 175 m wide road for cars with seven lanes, making the point that one single track of Metro replaces seven lanes of car traffic. Mobility in cities is about space.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

What 3 cities do u feel most connected to for whatever reason? Explain your answer. Mine are Vancouver for obvious reasons, and Montreal because it originally defined a city for me & in some key ways still does (French Canadian family on mom’s side). 3rd? Thats tough. New York, Paris or Barcelona.

Vancouver’s downtown peninsula from the air with water and mountains

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

To my public transit friends out there, I’m collecting good/best practices for bus rapid transit #BRT plans/strategies or built systems in the United States in particular, or anywhere, for a new project. In cities of all sizes. If you have links to good examples, please share. Thanks very much!

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

READ: If you haven’t seen this yet, please take a look. Motonormativity ("car brain") is a bias that stops people from making rational judgements about driving. This study co-authored by @ianwalker.bsky.social looks at where this bias comes from & how it works. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Screetshot of study title “Why Do Cars Get A Free Ride?” #CarBrain #Motonormativity

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It’s remarkable how many people can move on a street when those people don’t feel the need to always take a massive car with them. Mobility in cities is about space.

Busy European street with buses filled with people in a long line of people on bikes, waiting for the light to change in a separated, protected bike lane. Imagine if all those people or each in a separate car.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Your city could embrace a patio/street seating culture if it really wanted to. You don’t have to be like Paris to do better, you just have to WANT to do better. Between now and next summer, your city could put in place everything it needs to transform streets as people-places. So do you want to?

Street filled with cafe seating in Paris.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here’s what we really need to focus a lot more discussion on — you don’t need to hate cars in order to want people to have the CHOICE to walk, bike and take public transit in your city. Better cities provide more choices, and work better for EVERYONE. Bad cities offer only dependency. #CarDependency

Picture of a street with public transit (trams), people riding bikes in a bike lane, and people strolling while holding hands on a wide sidewalk, in central Melbourne. #MultiModal

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Paris has been praised in recent years for their visionary, progressive city-building, but they don’t get enough credit for just being really pragmatic! Everything they’ve been doing is common sense. They’re moving a lot more people with less space while cleaning the air and cooling the city.

People riding bikes in a full separated bike-lane in Central Paris.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“Removing or failing to build safe bike-lanes can affect much more than cyclists...” It undermines the success of cities, and the safety of people, in a lot of critical ways. “Lessons on what cities lose by giving in to car culture.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social momentummag.com/ontarios-bik...

People riding bikes in a painted bike-lane…

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We know that mobility in cities is about space. More specifically, more trips in less space. We’ve seen lots of great images reinforcing that point. This one might be my favourite, from #Santiago, because it ALSO shows the inequality of having buses run in mixed traffic. Dedicated bus-only lanes.

Side-by-side comparison of a Santiago Street, on the left with vehicles, and on the right with the people they carry, showing how much space single occupancy cars take up on our streets in cities. Noteworthy is a cluster of people in the middle where the full bus is sitting stuck in traffic among all those cars with just one person each in them.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If somehow you’ve never heard from and learned about Jan Gehl, WATCH this very small taste of his unique career, and his singular contribution to public spaces in particular. Reading “Life Between Buildings” when I was young literally changed the course of my career. share.google/razqbJ0n7T0g...

Jan Gehl on the Copenhagen Stroget pedestrian street.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

One thing we can never do enough is celebrate our heroes while they’re still with us. Today’s the 90th birthday of the great urbanist Jan Gehl, who started as a hero to me and became a mentor & friend. I’m proud to have been asked to contribute to his celebration messages today. Happy birthday, Jan.

One of many times I’ve gotten the chance to spend time with Jan Gehl, talking as much about life as about cities and urbanism. He’s one of the greatest urbanists who’ve ever lived, but he’s also a kind man and a gracious friend. #UrbanistShoutOut

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

With our kids now #BackToSchool, never forget that we ARE the traffic that we’re afraid of. If more kids walked, biked or rode transit to school, it would erase a LOT of car trips each day, and our kids would be safer, healthier and better at school as a result. HT Ian Lockwood. Spread the word.

Cartoon of a mom and dad with a kid in front of a minivan. The parents are saying “there is too much traffic for Billy to walk to school, so we drive him.” The caption at the bottom says “traffic inducing traffic.” Let kids walk and bike to school, and tell your leaders to make that trip safe and enjoyable for kids and families. #LetKidsWalk #LetKidsBike

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is cool— apparently @adamtranter.bsky.social transformed a street parking space into a parklet (mini park/public space), but the municipality removed it because it wasn’t a mother vehicle. So he did this. Nice job. And dumb interpretation by city hall. Via Marco Te BrommelStroet on LinkedIn.

Pictures of a mini trucka-like vehicle with a little park/park bench on the flatbed in the back. So essentially a mini park on top of a vehicle.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Was Vancouver’s Granville Street Pedestrian Zone extention until the end of summer a SUCCESS? I wasnt shy with my answers in this CBc Radio inteview I did this past week, especially around the way we talk about costs vs value. Give it a listen & share, its only 7 minutes. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

People and flower shops and Restaurant booths on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver as part of the pedestrian zone initially put in place during the World Cup and then extend subsequently extended by Vancouver City Council for seven weeks until the end of the summer.

People sitting and enjoying free cartoons, and then later in the day live sports, on Granville Street

Games, chalk and hula hoops on Granville Street. Simple and inexpensive things to enliven the street often work very well.

People walking and playing games like cornhole on the street.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

“Currently about 2/3rds of all Dutch children walk or bike to school, with 75% of secondary school kids cycling to school. By enabling safe and active travel, #Dutch cities prevent an estimated one million car journeys to school each morning.” — @modacitylife.bsky.social in book #CurbingTraffic

Teens riding bikes on Copenhagen bike infrastructure. #LetKidsBike #LetKidsWalk

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

“Applying this type of analysis — known as ‘full-cost accounting’— to transportation is commonplace in Europe, but rarely undertaken in North America…Poulos says the calculator enables voters to consider the broader transportation costs to themselves and to society as a whole.” #CityMakingMath

More details on the math and calculations, from the attached article.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

If walking costs you $1, we all pay $0.01. If biking costs you $1, we all pay $0.08. If bussing costs you $1, we all pay $1.50. If driving costs you $1, we all pay $9.20. Via study that still underestimates climate cost. This isn’t about choice. It’s about who pays for your choice. #citymakingmath

Detailed math as shared in the post. “How much does your commute cost (or save) society? Source is Discourse Media.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I took this in while working in Riga Latvia years ago. A busy arterial road cutting off the downtown from the waterfront, and this is the way to get to the water for pedestrians. On the one hand, at least they have a “connection”…on the other hand it turns pedestrians into mole people. #WarOnWalking

A busy highway/arterial road separating Riga, Latvia’s beautiful historic downtown with its public waterfront. The pedestrian connection is an underground walkway, with stairs downward, and a tight, dark connection under the road, raising issues of safety and comfort and relegating pedestrians to second class citizens with all the priority going to cars and drivers. #UrbanTruth

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

There are so many important elements of successful city-building that we need to get much better at, especially as we increase urban densities. One element we continue to underestimate is the need to create beloved new people-places that support more joyful and successful cities. #DensityDoneWell

A waterfront playground filled with families and kids in downtown Vancouver next to Science World. One of many playgrounds that support families in Vancouver’s high density downtown. Vancouver specifically designs for children and families in high housing density situations.

The “theatre steps” portion of the Highline elevated Park and people place in Manhattan, New York City. Countless people champion this idea eventually, but it was first started by two ordinary New Yorkers with a big vision and boundless energy.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.” “Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath Some costs are savings.

Screenshot of article with same text as post. Photo of Copenhagen bike-lane filled with people riding bikes.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

As cities seek to build the housing and urban density we badly need to address many of our biggest crises, we should never buy into the false choice of urban density OR urban green spaces and people-places. Never forget, the latter are critical for doing urban density successfully. #DensityDoneWell

Families playing in the aaard-winning Hinge Park on Vancouver’s False Creek waterfront, part of the original Olympic Village development built in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Urban density AND green, not OR green.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I’m going to miss this on Granville Street. I hope you will too, so we fight for MORE of it. We need this back EVERY summer, longer and better each year. This summer has been the people-street TURNING POINT we’ve badly needed. We built on the momentum instead of losing it again. We want MORE.

Kids and parents joyously playing with hula hoops on Granville Street and having fun today on the last day of the 7-week pedestrian zone pilot extension in Downtown Vancouver. Some of the best programming involved simple things like chalk, games and play.

Kids playing cornhole and other games. Simple, flexible games.

Searing and space for gathering and hanging out for people of all ages.

Busy street filled with food, flowers, festivals.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I love seeing our pedestrianized Granville Street people-place thru new eyes. Tonight it was my old friend @jeffreytumlin.bsky.social. It’s indeed sad that the extended pilot is ending after tomorrow, but we’re “leaving ‘em wanting more,” strategically positioned for full summer openings EVERY year.

People watching cartoons on Granville Street Pedestrian Zone early Sunday evening in downtown Vancouver

Taiwan Festival on Granville Street has been busy all weekend

Kids and families in a hula hoop workshop among street chalk and games on Granville Street

A busy Sunday night on Granville Street taking in Taiwanese food, crafts etc.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I asked my younger boy what he wanted to do today while his older brother was occupied. He asked “what’s up on Granville Street today?” When he heard they were showing cartoons and had free ice cream, he was sold! He later asked to go into 4 stores and have lunch there. Pedestrian streets can work.

People on comfy blowup chairs and foldable chairs on Granville Street watching a classic Superman cartoon on a big screen.

A pop-up flower shop and other tent stations with food, goods being sold, etc. during a street festival on the pedestrianized Granville Street in downtown Vancouver.

Kids sliding on the “guitar slide” that also cranks music on the bus pedestrian street.

People enjoying food at the Taiwanese street festival on the pedestrianized Granville Street, on the last weekend of the seven week extension after the initial pedestrian zone during the World Cup.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

The famous Copenhagen shopping street where it opens up into a triangular public place and gathering place, filled with people.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I’ve revealed before that I’ve been a comic book fan since I was 5 years old, and never stopped. But I think even if that wasn’t the case, I’d think that the new show Lanterns is outstanding. Emmy worthy for sure. That 3rd episode that just dropped was particularly extraordinary. Have you watched?

Show poster with the two main actors. #Lanterns #DCU #GreenLanterns #HBO

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Given the unusual timing & challenges, Vancouver’s Granville Street pedestrian zone 7-Week extension since the World Cup ended is one of the most important street transformation pilots in North America. The public support for the street has been remarkable. This week/weekend is the last. Come see.

People walking along the pedestrian Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver this past weekend during the Dutch Street Market.

All sorts of activities on Granville Street, including simple games like cornhole toss. Constantly in use. Simple things like games and chalk work very well, especially with kids and families, but also with adults!

Area assigned for kids to play mini-soccer on the street.

The ability of the street to attract kids and families was a specific goal for the extension, and a specific success that we’ve seen realized.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Here are some ways to “De-Google” your life. Other suggestions welcome. If this latest corrupt capitulation to Trump isn’t enough for you, read @doctorow.pluralistic.net’s Enshittification chapter on how Google killed competition and then deliberately made their products worse to increase revenue.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Posts like this about biking in Dutch cities are routinely replied to with comments like “well, they have the big advantage of being relatively flat.” The Dutch also have the big advantage of not constantly making excuses about why they can’t make clearly smarter city-making decisions. #Leadership

People riding bikes along a Dutch canal in Utrecht, Netherlands.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Does replacing parking with bike-lanes hurt restaurant business? Of course not, as this new peer-reviewed STUDY of 15 years of Montreal data showed. ACTUALLY, downtown experienced significant restaurant growth after bike lanes were installed. @momentummag.bsky.social momentummag.com/do-bike-lane...

Separated bike-lane with people riding in Montreal.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

One of the most subtly insane aspects of the unrelenting car dependency we’ve deliberately built across North America is the incredible reluctance we have to remove the driving privilege, even from those who clearly are a danger to themselves & others, because “people have to drive.” #CarDependency

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

“When Silicon Valley says it is ‘moving fast and breaking things,’ the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. @gilduran.com reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.” Seems like a REALLY important book.

Cover of the new best-selling book “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.” By Gil Duran.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Remember, there’s infrastructure, and then there’s Dutch infrastructure.

Image from the air of a Dutch water passageway between bodies of water with a sailboat sailing in between, and a 4-lane highway running underneath with separated/protected bike-lanes.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

IMPORTANT: The Dutch invested €595 million annually on urban biking, resulting in €19 BILLION saved in public health care costs alone. That’s how smart governments do the math on investing in better mobility. Let’s be clear— it WASTES public money to NOT do it. #CityMakingMath HT @modacitylife.com

Images of striking Dutch bike infrastructure

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Up next on my reading pile, “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It” by @doctorow.pluralistic.net. A fun & important read, but also an infuriating read… like the part about how Google destroyed the search engine competition & then deliberately made theirs worse.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This iconic Fabian Todorovic cartoon is still one of the best I’ve seen at illustrating the remarkable amount of space we surrender to cars, leaving little space left for everyone and everything else. The text added later makes the bonus point that many drivers still manage to complain about it.

Cartoon image of a street with much of the space taken up by a car with a single driver, while the rest of the street has people tightly packed in a bus, a bus shelter and riding bikes in a bike lane. Adding insult to injury, the driver says “damn those bike paths and bike lanes taking all the space.”

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

You can find all kinds of things day and night on a great pedestrianized street. Like a Pop-UP Felix Cartal DJ show on a Wednesday night with only 2 hours notice on social media. Family friendly people-street during the day, fun entertainment street at night. This is a different Granville Street.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

“This is a f**king fun city!” And a very different Granville Street. Granville Pedestrian Street pop-up Felix Cartal DJ show, downtown Vancouver. Part of the 7-week pedestrianization extension following the huge success of the World Cup. Families during the day, fun at night. New People-place.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Pop-up Felix Cartal DJ show on the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone tonight in downtown Vancouver. The excited crowd is still gathering on the pedestrian street after being given just 2 hours notice! Just 1 more way the brand/perception of Granville Street is being permanently changed this summer.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Finland is still successfully fighting homelessness— despite new political developments (a right wing party taking power). “We currently have a government that wants to cut social benefits & build less affordable housing in the future…But we’re not despairing, we are working with the tools we have.”

Screenshot of follow-up article title “Finland is successfully fighting homelessness — despite new political developments.”

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Another successful Sunday for the pedestrianized Water Street in Gastown today. It’s only been on Sundays again this summer. Next year it should be all week over the full summer again, building on what we’ve learned about successful people-streets this year.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Bike-lanes don’t cause traffic congestion. Car dependency, land-use sprawl, too many cars driving too much taking up too much space, highly subsidized driving costs, and not enough choices in how to get around, ALL cause traffic congestion. Think about it. THAT’S common sense.

Wide, busy road at night filled with cars.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

One of these two candidates for UK public office is a complete joke. The other has a bin for a face.

Image of Count Binface and Nigel Farage, who are running against each other in a UK by-election.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Walking around downtown Vancouver with an out-of-town urbanist friend, I can’t help pointing out the many high density streets with generous street trees creating “kissing canopies” above sidewalks, greening, cooling & cleaning the street. Even 5+ rows of trees on many streets. His mind was blown.

Inner yard trees, outer yard trees, and street trees all on a downtown Vancouver street. The most surprising thing is that there’s a full-size urban Costco store underneath that.

5 rows of trees plus extra yard trees on this Yaletown street.

Look at that tree canopy over the sidewalk. Plus a bike lane separation where trees, and extra yard trees and plantings, all on just that side of the street.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The Granville Street Pedestrian Zone extension is already achieving many successes, attracting people at new times (especially daytime), attracting families/kids, & changing the public perception of the street beyond the World Cup. Everyone who is enjoying the street is contributing to that success!

People, including lots of kids, doing activities and people-watching on Granville Street in Central/downtown Vancouver.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Vancouver’s Water Street in Gastown is still the most obvious pedestrian street in the city. Ideal scale & character, the right businesses to benefit, great synergy with cruise ships and hotels, & more. But businesses fought the 2024 open street summer pilot, so now it’s just on sundays, like today.

People filling Water Street in Gastown on the summer Sunday street opening. They did an entire summer opening in 2004, but businesses opposed the idea.

Kids and adults alike using chalk on the street, playing games like jenga, and a bit further along, a LOT of people playing street chess.

Street filled with people approaching Maple Tree Square.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

“OneCity Vancouver is promising to make it cheaper to install heat pumps, provide cooling systems to hundreds of vulnerable residents, and reverse building-related climate policy changes made under Mayor Ken Sim...” Vancouver must be a climate action leader again. dailyhive.com/vancouver/on...

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