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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Tag: video

  • Mobility at CES

    CES is underway right now in Las Vegas. About 200,000 people are in attendance. 

    Since tech and mobility are today closely intertwined, the show has become an important platform for the automative industry.

    Here is a video showcasing BMW’s new iNext concept (expected by 2021):

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-f3cALABk&w=560&h=315]

    It is based on level 3 autonomy, which means the car will do mostly everything, but you need to be ready to take over at any time.

    The video is interesting because it begins to show you what becomes possible when you no longer need to pay attention to the road. It is a bit like flying (but hopefully more enjoyable). 

    And here is a video of Bell’s new urban air taxi, which is called Nexus (expected by the mid-2020s):

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4d8N-A1G8&w=560&h=315]

    This is the company’s first concept. But they’ve been working with Uber since 2017 to develop a network of flying taxis for cities.

    Finally, flying cars.

  • Embracing our cities

    This is a great TED talk by Edward Glaeser about why it is time to embrace our cities. If you can’t see it below, click here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILDwnzQNlGc&w=560&h=315]

    The talk was filmed in 2012 – right around the time that Triumph of the City was released – but the video was published at the beginning of this year.

    It is also a good add-on to yesterday’s post about transportation costs and cities. I love how passionate Glaeser gets about these topics.

  • The next 20 years

    image

    Above is a screenshot from a presentation about the future of tech that Benedict Evans gave last week at venture capital firm a16z’s annual conference. And below is a video of the talk. If you can’t see it, click here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF5VIwDYIJk&w=560&h=315]

    The talk is positioned as “the end of the beginning.” In other words, here is where the internet and smartphones have taken us, but that’s just the beginning. Quote: “We used to do apartment listings [online] and now Opendoor will buy your home.”

    It’s only 24 minutes and well worth a watch.

  • Leica Store Kyoto

    Yesterday I sent out this tweet about the, relatively new, Apple store in Kyoto. 

    It is the first in the city and I like what they did with the facade of the building. It is decidedly modern and yet there are hints of a local vernacular.

    Photographer Jonathan Castellino responded and suggested that I check out the new(ish) Leica store, which is also in Kyoto. 

    So here is that store (if you can’t see the video below, click here):

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouckkaj3XVc&w=560&h=315]

    I shoot on the Fujifilm X-T3, but Leica certainly makes some exquisite (and expensive) cameras. The Leica Store Kyoto does not deviate from that recipe.

  • A video and some art

    We made a video for our Junction House project. If you can’t see it embedded below, click here. You may have already seen some of the cut-downs on my socials, but this is the full version.

    [vimeo 293178524 w=640 h=300]

    The stickers under our projecting Junction House sign box irk me, but otherwise we’re all really happy with the way the video turned out. We wanted it to feel real and authentic.

    I am also thrilled to announce that we have partnered with a few local artists for this project. 

    The first is Leeay Aikawa. She is a multidisciplinary artist who moved to Toronto from Japan in 2003 and now works and resides in the Junction. We’re excited to have the opportunity to exhibit her work. You’ll find it in our “sales gallery” when that space opens.

    The next artist will remain a secret for now (though that’s a hint). Stay tuned to the blog and the socials.

  • Amazon and retail

    This is an excellent talk by NYU professor Scott Galloway about Amazon, online grocery, and many other aspects of the retail landscape. The bits about Amazon’s scale and reach are fascinating. There is about 30 minutes of him speaking quickly and then another 15 minutes of Q&A. If you can’t see it below, click here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HyiY_m_YxI&w=560&h=315]

  • Building a better São Paulo

    São Paulo, and Brazil more broadly, are near the top of my list of places that I want to visit. 

    Starting in the 1930s, Brazil became an early adopter of modern architecture with projects like the Ministry of Education and Health Building. It was one of the first countries outside of Europe to push modernism.

    So I am overdue for a tour of Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa’s work.

    Here is a short 7 minute video from Monocle about some of the ways in which São Paulo is reinventing its city center.

    It is for the launch of their new book, The Monocle Guide to Building Better Cities, and it got me excited about visiting the city (and country) sometime soon.

  • How Singapore fixed its housing problem

    There are a number of affordable housing plans being thrown around in Toronto right now given that we have a municipal election coming up this fall. 

    From what I have read, the plans are largely centered around surplus and/or available public land and possibly some subsidies. 

    These subsidies are very important because the money has to come from somewhere. This is often overlooked.

    In light of these debates, I thought I would share a short Bloomberg video that my friend Evgeny shared with me this morning all the way from Tokyo.

    The video is about how Singapore fixed its housing problem. If you can’t see it embedded below, click here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cjPgNBNeLU?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

    It strikes me as being very Singaporean.

  • Detroit. Move here. Move the world.

    As part of the Amazon HQ2 bid process, a number of cities produced videos. I only discovered them today and so maybe some of you also missed them when they were released last fall. There are videos from Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Louisville, Atlanta, and maybe others that I am still missing. 

    Some of the videos are bad. (I’ll let you make your own judgement calls.) I like the idea behind Atlanta’s video, which is the journey of someone named Georgia physically delivering their bid to Seattle. And Philadelphia’s video made me feel really nostalgic about my time there. Those were some great years. 

    But my favorite video is Detroit’s video. It feels authentic. The footage is outstanding. And it feels powerful. Though it is probably too long. It was a good reminder that I’m overdue for a visit. So here is Detroit’s video. If you can’t see it below, click over to YouTube.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO4J_PC1b5M&w=560&h=315]

  • Economies of scale in the car and housing industries

    Over the weekend I watched this interview discussion between Elon Musk and Marques Brownlee. If it doesn’t show up below, you can find the video here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MevKTPN4ozw&w=560&h=315]

    Elon figures that if Tesla works really hard they could probably come out with a USD 25,000 car in about three years. The key to that affordability is twofold: (1) design & technology improvements and (2) scale. 

    So part of the answer is just time. As design and engineering iterations continue to take place, the components will become better and cheaper, just as they have for things like cell phones. Elon estimates that we’re in the 30th iteration of the cell phone today.

    But the second factor is simply volume. And that got me thinking about housing production and the similar importance of scale and density. We do a lot to limit volume, despite saying we want more affordable housing.