Greg Vann

It’s grandkids time!

Today’s incidental urban wildlife spotting was this tawny frogmouth who decided to sit on the road for a while.

Great to meet up with @uytaelee.bsky.social and show him around Brisbane today. What a great contribution he makes to making city
planning meaningful to the average punter!

Mind you, I did see this large water dragon so that’s something!

Got out to my alma mater University of Queensland where the Brisbane signature jacaranda trees usually put on a brilliant purple show in October.
It was a sign that you had to study for end of year exams. The dry spring meant this year’s showing was ordinary. See this year’s and last year’s below.

It's really quite simple: We need hope, not more of the same Politics is not complicated. And anyone who pretends it is, has the luxury of not having spent their lives beholden to it.

It's quite simple: We need hope, not more of the same:
“It truly isn’t complicated and never has been. If governments ensure people’s basic needs are guaranteed and affordable – then hope doesn’t seem so hopeless.”

www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...

SUVs: safer for people with them, way more dangerous to everyone else: youtu.be/nYyutqP48ok?...

Just spent a week with family at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. It is really special, tucked away from main roads, with surf & still beaches, parks, playgrounds, cafes & restaurants a short stroll away.

Didn’t wear shoes or use car for a week!

I’m very grateful to live at Rosalie in Brisbane, a short, easy walk from Rosalie village where I visit my local cafe and lots of other places regularly. Often accompanied by my dog Peanut.

I reckon people don’t quite get walkability till they have it, then they love it.

This map of the incidence of diabetes type 2 in greater Sydney a few years ago demonstrates what some medical people call “walking deficit order” - where unevenly distributed walkability contributes to poor community health.
(Via Tim Williams on LinkedIn)

Today’s test for ChatGPT was 5-8 actions to address the housing crisis. It gave me a useful list but missed anything on improving our building capacity to deliver housing. So I asked about that & it said the shortage of building capacity is a major bottleneck in responding to the housing crisis!

You can just tap the link and then hit the follow all button. Is that what you’re after?

Today I asked ChatGPT about the long touted concept of trickle down economics.

It was spot on again:

Since 2015, I’ve spoken often about the need for fairer cities & society due to the corrosive effects of rising inequality.

I asked ChatGPT what the impacts of rising inequality are in western countries.

I’d say it did a good job of it. Urbanists, note the urban & spatial impacts it identifies.

YouTube video by TED How to Speak So That People Want to Listen | Julian Treasure | TED

Wanna know how to speak so people will want to listen?

Invest 10 minutes watching this excellent TED talk by Julian Treasure, to learn the 7 deadly sins to avoid & the 4 key aspects to focus on.

You won’t regret it!

youtu.be/eIho2S0ZahI?...

Really useful of @brenttoderian.bsky.social to put together this starter urbanism pack. And chuffed to be on the list. Let’s make Bluesky to go to platform for constructive conversations about cities!
go.bsky.app/UG85GL8

Here’s today’s Andy Singer classic:

Anyone bidding higher than 22 benefits of urban street trees? Feel free to add to this list!

sustainablect.org/fileadmin/me...

Some classic Andy Singer commentary!

Agreed. Taming cars and their drivers would be much more effective all round.

Our family has long gone to Moffat Beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for our beach holidays. We call it our magic beach after the wonderful children’s book by Alison Lester. We used to take our kids here, now I take them and their kids here!

So good for the soul!

A few recent attempts at drawing…

Did a little sketch brush pen yesterday. Enjoying the challenge of simplicity…

YouTube video by PTV Mobility Simulating Traffic-Mode Efficiency | PTV Vissim & Viswalk | Product Demo

Great video simulation by PTV Group demonstrating just how inefficient cars are at moving people.
Urban transport is not about modes, it’s about how best to use urban space to move people around, not cars.

youtu.be/0dyk6Kp6eUM

We went through this last election in Australia, when the then leader of the opposition (conservative) championed this as just about his only real policy. Not only did the government romp back in, the leader of the opposition lost his seat. Hopefully that’ll be an end to it here.

Some years ago, a good mate gave me this old commuter style bike he’d found being found on the footpath during a hard rubbish collection & gave it a once over so it’s in good working order.
Been using it a lot lately, wonderful sense of freedom doing trips around the city is otherwise so in a car!

Hmmm now let’s see, how can we move a lot of people around our city by efficient using the space needed to do so?

Well, as this ad showed, using private vehicles isn’t the answer.

Brilliant, but not for what they thought it would show!

Taking some time out at a mate’s place at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast this weekend. It’s one of the best views I’ve seen anywhere. Contrast between nature writ large and the high rise spine is quite a scene, heaps of people just sitting watching it.