I was very impressed by Bordeaux's tramway network. It felt like no matter where you were in the city, there was a tram gracefully passing you by. Here's a high-level summary of the system:

• The network has 4 lines and a total route length of 77.5 km.

• The first line opened in 2003.

• The network has 130 stops, which crudely results in an average stop spacing of around 600 m.

• The system pioneered ground-level power supply for the trains, which means no overhead wires. Supposedly this caused some issues upfront, but now it seems to be working just fine.

• Most of the network runs on a dedicated right-of-way (en site propre). Meaning, the trains don't compete with car traffic. Many of the lines are quite beautiful too - see above video.

• In 2018, the network carried close to 100 million people. This is in a city of ~260k people and a metro area of ~1.4 million people (2020).

The key differentiators for me are (1) the stop spacing and (2) the fact that most of the system runs on its own dedicated right-of-way. These are two reasons why Toronto's streetcars perform so poorly. They stop too frequently. And most of the lines have to compete with traffic.

So why bother? Walking can be faster.

Bordeaux shows that -- if you implement light rail correctly -- you can actually move a ton people efficiently. With surface rail, you can also build out a robust network in a relatively short period of time.

Twenty years isn't that long in city-building years. It has already been 10 years since Toronto was first promised SmartTrack.

The 2021 Pritzker Prize was just awarded to French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal. One of the most notable aspects of their work is their appreciation for and reuse of existing structures, which, as many of you will know, is far more sustainable than building new. A good example of this approach is their Grand Parc project in Bordeaux, where they transformed three existing tower blocks and 530 dwellings.

What's fascinating about this project is how they added balconies and winter gardens to structures that previously didn't have any. I also like how there are two layers of outdoors spaces. There's the more enclosed winter garden portion and then there's an open air balcony-type component, which also happens to be a more public-facing space where you might actually run into some of your neighbors.

If you can't see the video above, click here. Once you've had a chance to watch the video, I would be curious to know: Are these spaces that you would like to live in?