Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyA comparative analysis of global cities
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Brandon DonnellyA comparative analysis of global cities
Since 2005, LSE Cities (London School of Economics) has been collecting comparative data on how global cities perform in terms of key spatial, socioeconomic, and environmental indicators.
This is their latest data matrix:
To be clear, it is not a ranking of cities. It is intended to help us better understand how different cities around the world are performing.
Depending on how you're consuming this post, the text may be difficult to read. So here's what each column represents, moving from left to right:
Current population in the administrative city (millions)
Current population in the urban agglomeration (millions)
Average hourly population growth of urban agglomeration 2015 to 2030 (people per hour)
Administrative city area (km2)
Average density of built-up administrative area (people/km2)
GDP per capita in urban area ($, PPP)
Percentage of country's GDP produced by the metro region
Population under 20 (%)
Murder rate (homicides per 100,000 inhabitants)
Percentage of daily trips made by public transport
Percentage of daily trips made by walking & cycling
Car ownership rate (per 1,000 inhabitants)
CO2 emissions (tonnes per capita)
If you'd prefer to download a full PDF of the chart, click here.
Since 2005, LSE Cities (London School of Economics) has been collecting comparative data on how global cities perform in terms of key spatial, socioeconomic, and environmental indicators.
This is their latest data matrix:
To be clear, it is not a ranking of cities. It is intended to help us better understand how different cities around the world are performing.
Depending on how you're consuming this post, the text may be difficult to read. So here's what each column represents, moving from left to right:
Current population in the administrative city (millions)
Current population in the urban agglomeration (millions)
Average hourly population growth of urban agglomeration 2015 to 2030 (people per hour)
Administrative city area (km2)
Average density of built-up administrative area (people/km2)
GDP per capita in urban area ($, PPP)
Percentage of country's GDP produced by the metro region
Population under 20 (%)
Murder rate (homicides per 100,000 inhabitants)
Percentage of daily trips made by public transport
Percentage of daily trips made by walking & cycling
Car ownership rate (per 1,000 inhabitants)
CO2 emissions (tonnes per capita)
If you'd prefer to download a full PDF of the chart, click here.
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