Concern over low birth rates was what the theocracy in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale used to come to power.
Global advisor on better cities, city planning, transportation & urban change. City planner + urbanist leading @ToderianUW.bsky.social. Past Chief Planner for Vancouver BC. Past/founding President of @CanUrbanism.bsky.social. International speaker & media.
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Concern over low birth rates was what the theocracy in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale used to come to power.
Can we please stop giving clearly awful people so much power?
Oh dear god when you lay it all out like that . . .
Liked Graham Greene in everything I ever saw him in, which was a lot. Stole almost every scene he was ever in. Great humour and gravitas. Game-changing career. RIP. #GrahamGreene
CANU is in it! Check it out!#UrbanistShoutout
MY FIRST OG STARTER PACK on cities, urbanism and better city-building! Some excellent folks have joined since I first filled this one up, but everyone here is still worth following & have been part of growing the community here on @bsky.app! Please check it out & share with your audiences. Thanks!
Definitely this. Fox News should be an object lesson, a slow poison that nevertheless killed us because we never sought treatment.
Look at all those fantastic voices, what an honor to be included, thank you Brent!
❤️ Brent is the king of starter packs. Hell it is how I got started on Bluesky following his recommendations!
This is a painful read. I mean seriously painful. But it’s also a must-read, and must-share, for everyone.
As right-wing oligarchs were buying up mainstream and social media, the mistake everyone else made was thinking that these purchases were based on a normal assessment of value. Remember when Elon Musk “overpayed” for Twitter? They understood that controlling the message and narrative is priceless.
Canada needs a federal minister responsible for the prevention of violent crime, supported by a deputy minister with no other responsibilities. The successes in other countries suggest this approach could reduce serious crime by 50 per cent in the next five years, write two experts.
Getting yelled at on the internet is not what turns people into fascists.
The Gilded Rage
Don’t trust the experts”? That’s not democracy, that’s recklessness. On a plane, I want a pilot. In a hospital, I want doctors and scientists who understand the evidence. Expertise isn’t religion or authoritarianism — it’s training, accountability, and data. Ignore it and we all pay the price.
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
“The change shows how ambitious policymaking can directly improve health in large cities. Air pollution is often described by health experts as a silent killer. Both PM 2.5 and nitrogen dioxide have been linked to major health problems, including heart attacks, lung cancer, bronchitis and asthma.”
Honestly I still think about this bit. So true! And it gets deeper, the more I think about it! www.thebeaverton.com/2019/02/repo...
Let’s say it again: Improved safety FOR ALL ROAD USERS
"you'll just displace the air pollution to other roads" look on here, even the air quality on the Boulevard Peripherique is vastly improved
To those not familiar with the situation & geography, this isn’t as a result of the Canadian Government. This is as a result of the Provincial Minister of Education in the Province of Alberta (where Edmonton is located), which has Canada’s most right-wing (extreme right-wing in my observation) Govt.
Seeing Modi and Putin get cozy sent Trump into a rage, fuming over America’s “one sided disaster” of a relationship with India.
GOOD THREAD: One more consequence of too many parked cars in cities (and one more reason to replace surface parking with trees and people-places). All those parked cars are making hot cities even hotter. (at a minimum, choose a white car.) #UrbanHeat
It finally happened, they broke Pitchbot.
Someone please kill me right now.
All the haters who are constantly accusing us of not changing the conversation about better cities must feel pretty stupid right about now.
These people’s incompetence is exhausting. Only silver lining is if Tr*mp is posting about this, we may actually have a chance at getting RFK Jr removed.
Re-upping an article from last year about the billionaires funding the dark money network that is ravaging US politics, media, and our daily lives.
Prop 50 is about defending democracy. Republicans already stole seats in Texas without voters having any say. California is doing it differently: we get a one-time shot to fight back, then it reverts to our independent redistricting commission.
Not today, Satan‼️ Got this garbage in the mail a few days ago. Republicans trying to trick California voters into voting NO on Prop 50. Suddenly they care about “democracy”? Please. Vote YES on Prop 50. Don’t let the cheaters write the rules.
This is a painful read. I mean seriously painful. But it’s also a must-read, and must-share, for everyone.
Hey, Trump actually said something nice about Canada… “Thank you very much, Canada, we appreciate it.” Wait, scratch that, it was wrong and moronic as usual.
"I can be very critical of the city planning profession. We should be leaders. Too often city planners have the rap of being a bureaucrat, a technocrat, or the profession gets portrayed as just mind numbingly boring. Cities are inherently interesting, fascinating, sexy & exciting things!" #Urbanism
"My biggest faith is in cities as they're more pragmatic & common sense & have the ability, like #Paris Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social did, to say yes we're going to address #ClimateChange in our #CityBuilding & address these really obvious problems like air pollution." - @brenttoderian.bsky.social
Same thing's happening on this windswept island. Even the Beeb are giving Farage a platform all the time.
ICYMI, some useful advice to us in Australia on tackling big tech, from @mariaressa.bsky.social - but has broader relevance. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We're seeing the same playbook applied in France, most notably with Bolloré buying up TV stations, newspapers and publishing houses left and right.
That's it👆and now,the propaganda is instantly available virtually world wide,spreading as fast as a deadly virus,people dont know who or what to trust or believe,so choose the narrative that most fits them,it becomes tribal, them V us,once the division has been set,then next comes the fall
I can’t believe how close he was to winning when his platform was “let’s sell our media outlets to a country that’s becoming increasingly hostile towards us.”
The U.S. should be a cautionary tale, of imbalance in economic power higely in favor of corporations, with fear & hatred spread by corporate media (esp. a particular one that infiltrated many households becoming THEIR main source of "news" but marred with omissions, exaggerations & outright lies).
Even if the EU market for US spec vehicles remains small, our wider fear is that all non-US manufacturers will put enormous pressure to level EU standards down, with devastating results for road safety. Briefing: etsc.eu/briefing-on-...
RAM sales were up 40% in the EU between 2023 and 2024. 7000 sold last year via a loophole whereby each imported vehicle needs to be certified independently. Sold through specialist importers, not main dealers. If they can be imported freely and without tariffs, sales will surely increase.
we need to do much more than protect what we have 2.5M Canadians have almost no local news we need to renew the sector from the ground up this report on News Deprivation @policyalternatives.ca was released this March. its an essential and sobering read / www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Possibly you meant to link a different one of BT's starter packs? He has several. First one is focused on public comms really.... go.bsky.app/MBL7PrE
Anyone interested in helping to fix this kind of stupidity, here is a starter pack with lots of great accounts that are changing how we talk about better towns and cities:
I'm for protected bike lanes.
Please democratic nations, take notice of what is happening now in the United States and use it as a warning to strengthen your own systems of governance and economics. Let our pain serve as your lesson.
GOOD THREAD: One more consequence of too many parked cars in cities (and one more reason to replace surface parking with trees and people-places). All those parked cars are making hot cities even hotter. (at a minimum, choose a white car.) #UrbanHeat
THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social. The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
I turn on my TV and a TV presenter is asking a Govt minister why they are talking about rolling out free childcare when the big issue is asylum hotels. This is objectively insane.
Basically all cycle paths in Ireland have no impact on safety.
Too late for UK whose oligarchic media is seeking to impose our own racist fascist party in govt.
Seeing the media boost and legitimize Farage in the UK is like watching a slow moving train wreck
As the schools go back, the additional traffic from the school run will be obvious. For a substantial proportion, especially primary, the distance to school is less than a mile so walking, wheeling or cycling would be feasible if it felt safer to do so #SchoolStreets @solveschoolrun.bsky.social
Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users. ALL ROAD USERS. And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all. For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them. Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org
Whether or not these people are actual foreign agents is almost irrelevant. Their actions are observationally equivalent to & indistinguishable from the actions actual foreign agents would be taking. The consequences of our total Article I constitutional crisis, right here:
"Moscow is actively conducting operations against Germany, including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and sabotage. All of this is aimed at sowing fear and uncertainty in German society, as well as portraying democracy as a weak and decaying system." odessa-journal.com/german-intel...
Same in the UK. News cycle stuck on immigration merry-go-round with usual suspects pumping up the volume.
I know this is a bit of a water is wet type study, but, as always, these studies are important bc you can bring them up in the mainstream to try and bullying your council/government into a something good that actually improves lives for once
Trump did this
It is 5+ years old and our year-round, 26-block long @34ave.bsky.social open street in Jackson Heights, Queens - one of the most diverse places on the planet (160 languages spoken at our hospital) thrives every day, but especially on Sunday Farmer's Market Day! @openplans.org @nyc.streetsblog.org
A survey by the Financial Times found that economists based in the US and Europe believe the president’s attacks on the US central bank have caused long-term damage to the institution as well as to the economy on.ft.com/47V6KZz
In Australia, the first time I saw a stencilled bike on a line, I thought it was crime scene.
Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users. ALL ROAD USERS. And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all. For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them. Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org
Bike lanes allow regular stop n shop by people who live a short-median distance away as well as commuters on their way home. Street parking is for irregular distant suburban tourists. During rush hour their parking is restricted. So no buying/dining on the way home from work.
Trump's trade adviser dehumanizing a Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board. Pure racism.
Trump putting his toddler-level ego way way WAY ahead of the interests of the United States, example number 10,000.
It's not too late to make a difference! This school year I'm starting a bike bus with a few other families who live nearby, hoping to coordinate more soon.
I liked Chicago back in the day. What stops me returning? The moron in charge of the US currently.
The lies' laughable implausibility is a feature, not a bug. They're not trying to convince discerning, skeptical, fact-based people. They're trying to give supporters a fantasy that validates their feelings and creates a sort of loyalty test, while flaunting the absurdity in everyone else's faces.
Leadership transforms cities. #Paris
STARTER PACK: I’ve got packs with different approaches, but ICYMI this one is specifically about those accounts that are good at changing the commmunication & conversation about better cities. Obvious people like @tomflood.bsky.social & less obvious like @dieworkwear.bsky.social. go.bsky.app/7iNmiCU
This point is NOT being made enough.
As right-wing oligarchs were buying up mainstream and social media, the mistake everyone else made was thinking that these purchases were based on a normal assessment of value. Remember when Elon Musk “overpayed” for Twitter? They understood that controlling the message and narrative is priceless.
This is the truth. Canadians: Speaking as a deeply ashamed and terrified American: Let the downfall of my country be a warning. Don't do what the US has done. We've provided a masterclass in how to destroy a country. Do better than us. Tell PP to shove it. bsky.app/profile/bren...
STARTER PACK: I’ve got packs with different approaches, but ICYMI this one is specifically about those accounts that are good at changing the commmunication & conversation about better cities. Obvious people like @tomflood.bsky.social & less obvious like @dieworkwear.bsky.social. go.bsky.app/7iNmiCU
The more kids are invited to bike, walk and take public transit to school, the safer, healthier and smarter it is for EVERYONE. It’s shocking how much vehicle congestion in cities is actually “driven” by trips to and from schools. #BackToSchool #LetKidsBike #LetKidsWalk cartoon by Yehuda Moon
Also CTV and Global. All the newspapers. The Government of Canada should legislate the sale of compromised media outlets back into Canadian hands, at fair market value. That means breaking up huge mega corps so smaller Canadian orgs can purchase them.
Every time I hear somebody from abroad ask how it’s possible Americans don’t see what’s happening, the first thing I say is that any attempted answer to that question that doesn’t include millions of people being lobotomized by right wing media ever since dead Rush Limbaugh got famous …
A study of “whether and how public media systems contribute to the health of democracies in 33 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, the Middle East, Latin America, and South America” showed that secure funding for public media supports democracy. www.niemanlab.org/2022/01/do-c... #CBC
Well, here in Edmonton we’re trying not to choke (or giggle) over the Booster Juice Recreation Centre (aka Terwillegar Rec Centre). The result of a provincial govt cutting funding to municipalities.
What we name things in cities matters. Especially things that were built with a lot of public money and should be helping define the city. We sell names too often, and too cheaply, and too often to the same damn companies (yes you Rogers). Good article by @shawnmicallef.bsky.social, give it a read.
More than that. We need to take action to undo that capture and prevent it from extending into LLM's. That oligarch Musk is obviously trying to configure Grok to embrace his hard right ideology should be a wake up call.
Canada take note!
This is absolutely the most important federal government resignation in history, done in opposition to the Trump-Kennedy health care policy that will result in the death and disability of vulnerable children and adults ... www.axios.com/2025/08/28/k...
Well this alone should be enough to keep ICE out. They would be like a hoodless Klan.
"The straw man being put forward is that it's either we have the military or we're going to get our throats cut at night in DC. Is there no middle ground? Do local law enforcement account for nothing? We've got the National Guard GARDENING right now in DC. Is that an efficient use of our resources?"
Make no mistake, everything that’s happening in the United States is being significantly enabled by the right wing oligarch capture of media. Every other country needs to do everything possible to keep that from happening where they are. Including protecting the CBC from Poilievre here in Canada.
A great question. #nyc #nyclife #newyorkcity
The DeSantis regime will do more to protect sidewalks from chalk than children from bullets.
This “explicit” is a weird editorial choice. The constitution gives the president no power over this at all. It’s not ambiguous.
Leadership transforms cities. #Paris
A local columnist seriously misunderstands why climate legislation fails in the California legislature — it's not that we have weak evidence or bad arguments — it's that the oil companies are major campaign funders decade after decade, which buys them real power. www.mercurynews.com/2025/08/29/e...
Especially rude since people VOTED for the (original) name, from over 150,000 entries. I will ALWAYS call it the #SkyDome. 😉
I still call it the SkyDome and probably always will.
Not just an attack on “experts” or science. It’s an attack on facts, knowledge, education or anything that could support someone questioning their iron rule. The bedrock of totalitarian, authoritarian regimes and dictatorships. That’s what RFK Jr is calling for. Only the dictator knows “the truth.”
Mayor Brandon of Chicago responds to a question from a reporter if pushing back will make things harder? “Can you imagine if my ancestors would have had the same rationale? Let’s not fight against the Confederacy. Let’s just try to get along, and maybe one day they’ll give us our freedom?”