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 DonnellyJust put up a sign
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Brandon DonnellyJust put up a sign
Back before the 2008 financial crisis, I did a short stint working for a real estate developer in Dublin, Ireland.
Most of our projects were in Ireland, but our consultant teams were sometimes from all over.
One day we were having a meeting with our architect from Germany and we started talking about a particular project’s green space.
But this wasn’t the sort of green space that was supposed to be actively used. It was a green space that, I guess, you were just supposed to look at and admire for its greenness.
So one of my Irish colleagues asked, while referencing the proposed design: “How are we going to keep people off the grass?”
Our German friends didn’t immediately appreciate the concern and responded with: “What do you mean?”
Irish: “How will we stop people from walking and hanging out on the grass?”
German with serious face: “Oh. We will put up a sign.”
At that point, every Irish person in the room just started laughing and more or less said: “Yeah, that’ll never work.”
Cultural differences can be subtle.
Back before the 2008 financial crisis, I did a short stint working for a real estate developer in Dublin, Ireland.
Most of our projects were in Ireland, but our consultant teams were sometimes from all over.
One day we were having a meeting with our architect from Germany and we started talking about a particular project’s green space.
But this wasn’t the sort of green space that was supposed to be actively used. It was a green space that, I guess, you were just supposed to look at and admire for its greenness.
So one of my Irish colleagues asked, while referencing the proposed design: “How are we going to keep people off the grass?”
Our German friends didn’t immediately appreciate the concern and responded with: “What do you mean?”
Irish: “How will we stop people from walking and hanging out on the grass?”
German with serious face: “Oh. We will put up a sign.”
At that point, every Irish person in the room just started laughing and more or less said: “Yeah, that’ll never work.”
Cultural differences can be subtle.
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