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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦

@glasscity.bsky.social
356 followers 2.4K following 116 posts

Urban planner focused on people-first cities (read: reducing car dominance).

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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A lot of people also struggle with the concept that all properties are redevelopable. They might think that if only you refuse the donut site's townhome rezoning, they'll keep operating. But the city can't legally stop them from redeveloping into anything else under their existing C-x zoning.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The number of Metro Vancouver politicians who seem to be running against the MVRD (a body recognized as regional best practice across Canada) while the average voter is at best loosely aware of it, let alone motivated by its scope or governance structure, was not something I'd have expected.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As a tennis guy, I've come around to pickleball as a very accessible way for people to get into sports and fitness and play it all the time too, but its community can really be toxic
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I'll be sitting this provincial election out. I'll still vote. But the whole thing feels like such a slow motion trainwreck I can't bear to read the news stories, check on polls, etc like I normally love doing. I'll see where we end up October 25
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
In 2019, I was actively hoping for a Liberal minority because I still thought they were the best option but wanted their airport privatization plan at the time to be scuttled
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This does come up from both the public and politicians (and it's obviously good!) but I worry it'll put an early stop to the momentum we've only started to build on creating more homes. Better than "terrible" is far from "mission accomplished".
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I was chatting with a developer recently who complained that the federal and provincial governments have done too much on housing too quickly and didn't think through the effects on development. Developers, like all people, vary, but the worst can be really myopic
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Not bad numbers for the NDP at all considering how many have already been treating them like a lame duck government for some time
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Disappointed in my neighbours with census reminder notices taped to their mailboxes
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Landing in Paris makes you realize it's really just a big old Prairie city
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
All our politicians dressing up like cowboys/girls once a year has to be up there as far worldwide silly political traditions go, right?
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wearing a cowboy hat in front of a Meta backdrop as part of announcement of a Meta data centre proposal.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Whether you blame capitalism, full employment, generalist big box stores, or whatever, there's also the matter that we've collectively lost trust that the sales assistants know any more about the products than we do.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Google search is asking me to confirm I'm not a robot, as if no one could possibly be interested in both Wimbledon scores and dogbone roundabouts
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I sometimes think the way to square Carney's past environmental positions with his current actions is yes, it helps keep Alberta in the fold, but also that the free market will keep these projects from getting off the ground (or really shortening their lifespan) anyway
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I think the empty condos purchase is good, actually. I get the optics issue of "bailing out" developers, and execution still matters, but if this creates a couple thousand below-market units, even at-cost, immediately vs 5 years from now, looks to be in the public interest to me.
cbc.ca
ANALYSIS | Why local governments aren’t cheering on the provincial and federal 'bailout' of the housing sector | CBC News
A week after the federal and provincial governments announced new subsidies for the development sector, mayors in British Columbia say the details are as empty as the province's thousands of unsold co...
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I'll admit the headline, which turned out to be tongue-in-cheek, triggered me but I'm glad I read on this article by @acoyne.bsky.social. A well-written piece on not just falling into separatist framing, but on respecting Canada as a genuine polity and power, not just an inter-Provincial referee.
theglobeandmail.com
Opinion: It’s not the separatists who are the real threat to the country. It’s the federalists
When Smith and Poilievre talk about fighting for Canada, they are endorsing secessionist premises
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
As a progressive, I used to get offended by the horseshoe theory but the Trump/post-COVID era has convinced me the ends are more in line on control, hostility, and anti-intellectualism than they're separated by ideology.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Why have a regular season at all #CFL
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This episode of the Pitt with ICE is probably the most emotional I've gotten watching the whole show so far.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Swiping my unzipped jacket to the side to get my phone out my pocket like a cowboy reaching for his pistol
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
The far right is definitely looking to shift the Overton window, not expand it. Obviously the standard position is anything that's anti-MAGA is far left. But I'd be genuinely curious to hear one of the movement's intellectual types outline what level of liberalism they'd still consider legitimate.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Under-discussed in the Greenland discourse is what American occupation could mean for the fragile accord of Hans Island
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Good quip from James Moore on Peter Mansbridge's podcast the other day: a developer is someone who builds a house in a forest, an environmentalist is someone who already lives in a house in a forest
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
How is this guy just so completely unserious
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Feels like there are a lot more people driving around without front plates recently
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Very satisfying to see a black Canada flag sticker pickup truck get pulled over
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Gonna be some Vancouver homeowners with increased property taxes despite the 0% budget increase who are gonna be real ticked off
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Writing pet peeve: the use of "innovative" as a synonym for "good/unique"
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
We should consider falling back every night, maybe even by a couple of hours
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
A theory I have is a fair share of people grants candidates their vote based on worthiness rather than policy alignment. I.e. choosing not who represents them and will make the decisions they'd make, but who's been the right kind of person who deserves to be elected as a kind of reward.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The government should enable European imports and get Stellantis to build electric Peugeot 3008s in Brampton.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Seems pretty clear Carney's Keystone XL push is another grand bargain to get Alberta to settle down with Northern Gateway, right?
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
There's something kind of interesting about LinkedIn seemingly being one of the leading providers of AI sludge
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
I like the new time clock, neutral about the field shortening, goal post moving, and rouge(!), but hate the end zone shortening. If the idea is to encourage touchdowns over field goals, why give less space to run and bring the posts that much closer? #CFL
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
The only (speaking) portrayal of urban planners on-screen I'm aware of is Parks & Rec. We definitely don't work at a drafting table but the part about being irresistible to women is obviously 100000% accurate
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
YouTube has always outpaced other platforms for the most unhinged and sketchy ads, but I've just now watched a deepfake ad "showing" Mark Carney encouraging viewers to sign up for some AI thing. Is there just literally zero review/scrutiny of ads there?
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Saw Jordan Eberle at Pearson. Without pause, my friend walked right up to him and asked if he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He just said "no".
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
The Liberals hitting 172 seats would be interesting but would change very little in practice - that's still a real precarious majority that crumbles with any absence/dissent. The BC NDP won just the right amount of seats for a majority and still made a deal with the Greens.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Students seeing AI as a skill for the workforce speaks to what my greatest AI worry is: not that it'll take my job, but that Zoomers who are more familiar with it will.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
I became an urbanist because of how frustrated I felt growing up in a suburban area where stores, the bus - everything - was far away. The first time I moved to an urban neighbourhood, it was everything I thought it would be, and it's awesome seeing others experience that same feeling.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
AI chatbots still have a long way to go but absolutely have their uses, such as a sounding board, doing short-form generic writing, tech assistance (e.g. Excel formulas), and as an interactive search engine you can ask follow-up questions of.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
This instantly took me to Trump as a committee or public hearing and Japanese negotiators as planners trying to eloquently respond to questions like "How well would the building's floors handle a bowling ball drop"
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Love that the Conservatives made sure to wait for advance voting to finish before releasing the platform, despite it apparently being ready to go last Friday
Screenshot of the Conservative platform URL showing "20250418" in the file name.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
What could possibly go wrong
Still image from the Bioshock videogame
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Never felt so much Canadian patriotism buying Mexican raspberries
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
As a transit nerd, on my first full day visiting Toronto I went up to Richmond Hill to ride around on Viva BRT
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Nice to have the BC assessments come out and provide another example that widespread increases in housing development capacity don't automatically translate to inflated property values.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
I prefer multiplexes over small lot subdivision for this reason. Even with single stair buildings as an option, parking (even if not govt mandated) makes them impractical in far more cases, and max density still falls below those that larger sites can achieve.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I miss the early COVID clean air. Winter-like visibility in the summer. Hopeful we'll get there again with emissions reductions in the future.
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Rational Urbanist 🚇🌇🇺🇦 @glasscity.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
In a thriving and healthy CFL fandom, the bombers should be universally hated, with the exceptions being Manitobans and contrarians #goargos
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