Lindsay Loves Cities

I love cities. Let’s create beautiful cities by urban planning them. Livable Communities @LCI_LA Co-host Bike Talk @biketalkpfk Full of joy.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

People are drained - their money and their time. They want the government to help.

The most overlooked policy for affordability + prosperity is building walkable neighborhoods.

[Mike Madrid @madrid_mike]

James Talarico and John Ossoff caught fire weeks before Election Day when they drew the connection between corruption and affordability.

It worked spectacularly.

The key to moving an immigration reform agenda is the same and always has been - Immigration is the economy.

That’s it. That’s the fix. 1/4 🧵

[Mobility Behaviour 👨‍🎓 @davidlois_uned]

Para cambiar nuestras calles por completo solo se necesita una firme voluntad política.

📷 @EmmanuelSPV

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @Car_Free_USA]

Let the earth heal.

[Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard]

2027 is going to be a great year for courtyard urbanism.

There will be major first projects announced

There will be code changes in major US cities designed to encourage courtyard urbanism

Saying it now so it’s on the record

[Innatraea @Kurokojin]

Support Max the Cat, he's been wrongly accused and needs your help.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

Standard Plans can act more like a Pattern Book - pre approved building systems with an original facade and layout.

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

I can't figure out if measles vaccines work or not.

Tough one

I can see why RFK Jr is hesistant

Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him?

[Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard]

I forget if I posted this Helsinki-inpsired courtyard scheme I did for Carlton County, MN last month. They have substantial Finnish ancestry there, which inspired the scheme.

[Hayden @the_transit_guy]

We decided to build a country around a single consumer good that makes our built environment look like this:

[Julie Chang @JulieChangRE]

Gorgeous. Can we get back to building this in America

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

Someone should open Brooklyn Techs and Bronx Sciences and Stuyvesants in every neighborhood — and for every kid who wants 3 hours of homework / day and can do the work. The mission of education is not to hoard knowledge — it’s to spread it. Kids who want to push themselves should get to.

[Livable Communities Initiative @LCI_LA]

If Dallas, TX can do Courtyard Urbanism -- on water no less -- LA should be able to.

[Amy Quispe @amyquispe]

I seriously thought I would want to move out of Manhattan once we had kids. And now I have a 4yo and a 2yo and I love living in Manhattan so much more. Multiple parks, libraries, synagogues, schools, grocery stores, etc all in walking distance. It’s incredible.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

@Dsilkotch @smo841603557184 @GigureRobert @zanyfen Yup -

[City A.M. @CityAM]

Oxford Street pedestrianisation brings ‘staggering’ shopping boost https://t.co/Ozyu8wevgL

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

The walkable neighborhood discourse is based on a misbelief from the 60% of people who WANT a car-lifestyle that they somehow are awful and don’t work. I grew up in a walkable neighborhood- they are magical, safe and functional. My siblings raised their kids in one - it was convenient and awesome.

Fact: 40% of people WANT one, 6.8% get to live in one. So prices are insane. Forcing the people with the least amount of money to own cars. It’s insane when you think about it. Forcing urbanites to live in the suburbs, pay for cars, commute to every cup of coffee, and create traffic. It’s terrible public policy.

All urbanists are saying is: YOU don’t have to live in a walkable urban core - but can we?

[Zany🥕 @zanyfen]

can you imagine herding three children under 8 years old through a crowded subway or on the bus when you need to go somewhere? just the logistical challenge, forget about how neurotic about safety that makes people

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

@SingleTax @zanyfen The awful truth is mathematically cars + density don’t physically fit. Suburbs and cars fit. Walkable neighborhoods should be people, transit and bikes and golf carts.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

@zanyfen It’s a really fair point ❤️

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

By the way, here’s your proof it’s possible. We plowed through beautiful cities. If we can take down a city, we can take down a crappy unused freeway stub and replace it with beautiful courtyard urbanism.

[big_pedestrian @big_pedestrian]

In the last century, we demolished entire neighborhoods to make way for freeways and cut through population centers with highways that remain sources of division, pollution, injury and death. The war, such as it is, has always been on people.

It’s time to reclaim that space.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

@JMGregorchuk Working on it!

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

Livable Communities worked with LA architect John Kaliski to imagine what a Standard Plan for LAs most common under-developed parcel size - 50’ wide —could look like. We unveiled it several events to the public - a got applause and a few “where do I get one?”

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

@JMGregorchuk @LA__Jordan The beauty of a Standard Plan is you negotiate it once.

[Lindsay Loves Cities @LindsayJS]

Respectfully, our laws are designed around car-dependent cities (outside of a few places like Manhattan) – parking minimums, streets prioritizing fast cars, buses stuck in traffic, unsafe bike lanes.

But we know the roadmap to change it. Urbanist are totally fine with the suburbs. We’re just asking can we please have safe car-light neighborhoods.