Cities From Scratch

Cities for people.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Many scratch cities are built on land reclaimed from the sea. But should they be? 🧵

[Coby @Cobylefko]

Masterplanned urban developments carried out by one or a few firms are a tricky case study to analyze, but deserve our scrutiny given their rising number.

They can deliver much needed homes, public amenities, & green space at scale. But too often they lack a humanity or grace.

[Ava @noampomsky]

can’t believe I never heard of kowloon walled city until today. 50,000 people living in 6.4 acres, demolished in 1993

[Hayden @the_transit_guy]

Barstool coming out as anti-car dependency was not on my BINGO card.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Australia’s New City Tackles Climate Change From the Ground Up https://t.co/Wy8zQ6mnlH

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@Fred_Mills @TheB1M Not good, it’s great. Modern but still very New York

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@the_transit_guy Food🍔: Austin (bbq and tex mex)
Weather🌡: San Diego
Culture 🎭: NYC
Transit 🚌: DC
Architecture🏛: NYC
Parks 🏞: San Fran
Economy 💰: NYC
Location📍: DC
Sports Teams ⚽️: Philly

[kasey @kaseyklimes]

Midjourney V5 is out, let’s imagine better cities.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@Cobylefko Honestly would throw DC on this list as well. A lot of people just think of politics when they think DC but there’s so much more to the city: world class food, diverse cultural experiences, and a variety of neighborhoods to pick from.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Hadn’t thought of it like this and couldn’t agree more

[valleyheretic @deprogramtheyts]

I'm seeing a trend of people moving to tier 2 cities like Austin, Nashville, and San Diego and away from tier 1 cities like LA and NYC.

You move to tier 2 cities to live a better life.

You move to tier 1 cities to learn and grow.

But you don't have to choose between the two 👇🏼

Pros of tier 2 cities are pretty apparent: More affordable, less crowded, friendlier people, and great weather.

The cons of tier 2 cities?

Less talent density. Less diversity. Less good ideas.

Tier 1 cities like LA, SF, and New York are hubs of talented, smart, educated people.

There's maybe a dozen cities in the world that has tens of billion-dollar companies, multiple top Universities, and thousands of artists.

They are also crowded, really expensive, and just overall harder places to live.

The ideal living situation is to split time between the hotbed of ideas and talent in a tier 1 city and the quiet high quality life of a tier 2 city.

Between coffee mode (hustle and grind) and beer mode (thought and creativity).

You gotta move, but you also gotta take time to sit and reflect.

A healthy mix between the two is the most ideal.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@Boenau Has to be Charleston!

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

3D printing promises to deliver more energy-efficient homes that can be built faster and with less waste. Watch how one subdivision is rising in Texas https://t.co/m75SF6ste8 via @climate

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

The Austin skyscraper boom is crazy.

What city should I do next?

[The B1M @TheB1M]

Egypt is building a supertall skyscraper in the desert - https://t.co/ofsjiIEybf #construction #architecture #skyscraper #engineering

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@TheB1M Groundhog.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

@drorpoleg Agreed. Building will probably be the last to the party due to high risk and politicization.

[Brad Hargreaves @bhargreaves]

The most impressive new city built in the US in the past 50 years is Kiryas Joel, change my mind

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Zero to 35K people in a generation or so
🏙️ Density of 22K people per square mile on par with NYC
📈 3.6% annualized population growth rate
🚌 Robust bus transit system

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Great piece about Restoration 2.0 which seeks to go beyond simply restoring distressed areas to their natural pre-development condition. Instead, Restoration 2.0 creates natural areas that are still accessible for compatible human uses while crushing biodiversity targets.

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Restoring an ancient lake from the rubble of an unfinished airport in Mexico City https://t.co/f8IzjxIKBE

[Cities From Scratch @CitiesFrom]

Restoring an ancient lake from the rubble of an unfinished airport in Mexico City https://t.co/f8IzjxIKBE