Brandon Donnelly

Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

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  • Cost of a car

    Every time I bring my car in for service, I’m reminded of how expensive it is to maintain one. Between car payments, insurance, gas, parking in the city and service, owning a car eats into a lot of disposable income.

    So for cities where the residents don’t need a car to get around, there’s potentially a lot of additional income that can get placed in other sectors of the economy.

    Richard Florida, and others, have argued that we’ve historically been overspending on housing and transportation, and that it restricts capital from flowing into other, more productive, areas of the economy.

    I’d be curious to see a study that compares transportation spending versus other local economic measures. How would a driving city compare to a public transit or biking city?

  • Teaser: 505W19 | Dirt.

    The revitalization of New York’s High Line has served as a dramatic catalyst for the surrounding areas. Once a blight, developers are now building projects that abut and straddle the High Line in every which way, leveraging its desirability as a public amenity. The result is some pretty interesting urban conditions.

    Teaser: 505W19 | Dirt.

  • subtilitas:

    Claus en Kaan – Central Judicial Collection Agency, Leeuwarden 2012. Via, photos (C) Christian Richters.

  • Get to know Riverside | Dirt.

    Whatever you do, don’t call it Leslieville. It’s Riverside. Spanning 10 blocks along Queen Street East from the Don Valley Parkway to Degrassi Street, this part of town often gets rolled up into the hyped Leslieville neighbourhood. But they’re not one in the same. Formerly known as Queen Broadview Village, Riverside is a small neighbourhood within the larger South Riverdale precinct. But what it may lack in size, it certainly makes up for in terms of culture and history.

    Get to know Riverside | Dirt.

  • Real Estate: The Most Imperfect Asset — HBS Working Knowledge

    Real estate is the largest asset class in the world—and also the most imperfect, says Harvard Business School professor Arthur Segel . He discusses trends toward institutionalization, environmentalism, and globalization.

    Real Estate: The Most Imperfect Asset — HBS Working Knowledge

  • Coming soon to St Clair West

  • Zillow Prices Follow-On Offering At $82 Per Share To Raise $205M | TechCrunch

    TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.

    Zillow Prices Follow-On Offering At $82 Per Share To Raise $205M | TechCrunch

  • Midrise on St Clair West

  • You can do hard things (at MaRS Discovery District)

  • I Share, Therefore I Am

    “To share” means “to use, occupy or enjoy something jointly with others.” And in many ways, it occurs to me, when a person first makes a move to share an anecdote or a link or an idea or even something wonderful (or terrible) they’ve done on Facebook or Twitter, the intention includes some element of what I was teaching my child last weekend: that many things in life can be savored even more when shared with someone else. But the thing is, sharing on social media is never just about the pure act of sharing — there are so many other factors that go into it, from the construction of one’s self-image to self-promotion and the endless need to be validated by anyone other than ourselves. I’d even go so far as to argue that the true definition of sharing has lately been subsumed by that of social media-driven “sharing.”

    I Share, Therefore I Am