Tesla has just announced “full self-driving hardware” on all of its cars, including the upcoming Model 3, in anticipation of a big software update to be released sometime around December 2016 (hopefully). This will enable fully autonomous driving “in almost all circumstances” – they mention rain,… Read More
I love the way that urban planner Joe Berridge thinks about Toronto and city building. He is constantly considering our position on the global stage and urging us to fight for a top position by executing on real and meaningful projects. Here is a recent… Read More
Tech Toronto recently published a new study called, How Technology Is Changing Toronto Employment. They estimate that there are over 400,000 tech jobs in Toronto, out of a total of 2.7 million people employed. That number includes tech people working for non-tech companies, and tech… Read More
Last week Richard Florida headlined an “Urban Lab” panel at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. It was moderated by Sam Chandan, who is dean of the Shack Institute. Here are 6 takeaways from the discussion, with a few of my own thoughts attached: 1.… Read More
This past summer I wrote about the 8 storey mural (by street artist PHLEGM) that was about to go up on the side of a Slate building at the corner of Yonge + St. Clair in midtown Toronto. Well, that mural is now complete. It’s… Read More
I am in New York right now and I spent the day riding around on a Citi Bike looking at architecture. Atop two wheels is such a fast way to get around. The first stop was the new transportation hub at the World Trade Center.… Read More
The following paragraph is a great way to describe urban cycling and to explain how our built environment can explicitly invite certain behaviors: “If you want people to drive, build more automobile infrastructure. If you want people to bike, build better bike infrastructure. In San… Read More
Back in 2014, Witold Rybczynski (who taught at Penn while I was there) wrote an article in The New York Times Style Magazine called The Franchising of Architecture. In it, he argued against the trend of “starchitecture.” Here’s an excerpt: “Architecture, however, is a social… Read More
8 years ago the Amsterdam-based bicycle company VanMoof started shipping bicycles to its customers. And since that time, they struggled to find a quality shipping partner that wouldn’t damage the bikes in transit. They tried every varietal of shipping company, but the problem persisted. And… Read More
Last week I wrote about the value of urban lighting. Another case study worth looking at is Lumiere London. It was a four day light festival that took place in January, which is normally a pretty quiet and dark month. This past year in London… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 