In 1933, the United States Congress created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). With foreclosures rising as a result of The Great Depression, the task of the agency was to provide new low-interest mortgages to both homeowners and private mortgage lenders. Between 1993 and 1936,… Read More
Thanks to my friend Darren Davis, I just recently learned about something called The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize. Named after Singapore’s first Prime Minister, the prize is a biennial award that honors cities who have made, “outstanding achievements and contributions to the creation… Read More
Earlier this month a new restaurant – called Saltz – opened up in Zurich’s historic Dolder Grand Hotel. (The building was originally built in the late 19th century, but an extension was added in 2008 by architecture firm Foster + Partners.) Designed by artist Rolf… Read More
Ontario is looking to pass legislation that would allow municipalities in the province to implement something known as inclusionary zoning. If passed and should municipalities decide to use this tool (Toronto almost certainly would), developers would then be required and/or incentivized to include some percentage… Read More
Road pricing is on the table in Toronto. (Somebody has to fund the expensive Gardiner Expressway East rebuild.) On March 11, 2016, the City issued a Request for Proposal for: “Options for Establishment of Toll Facilities on F.G. Gardiner Expressway/Don Valley Parkway.” As a vocal supporter… Read More
I’m reading a book right now called Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. One of my graduate school buddies recommended it to me on one of our annual ski/snowboard trips and I’m finally getting around to reading it. I’m only about half way through it,… Read More
In 2010, Gal and Tania Adir, aged 23 and 24, respectively, began renovating high-value apartments in central London. Today, they are known as The Adir Group and have about £50m in development under way. But more than just a developer, the group has grown to… Read More
McKinsey recently published a report called Digital globalization: The new era of global flows. The overarching thesis is that we are transitioning to a data-driven global economy: “Flows of physical goods and finance were the hallmarks of the 20th-century global economy, but today those flows… Read More
Keeping with yesterday’s theme of urban density, here is a photo by Andy Yeung that I am embedding via his 500px page: https://500px.com/embed.js The photo is of Hong Kong and it was taken using a drone. Click here for other photos from his “Urban Jungle” drone… Read More
The following diagrams were taken from LSE’s Urban Age website. I’ve sorted them from lowest to highest peak residential population density. In each case I’ve also included the year of the dataset. It’s amazing how much these simple extrusion diagrams can tell you about the… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 