Mike Lydon

The Bronx: Rescued by Dave.

bsky.app/profile/dave...

200 years of architectural style vie for space in downtown Rochester!

Putnam and Fulton: 2009 vs 2025

✅ More places to live

✅ More public space

✅ More trees

📍 Brooklyn

The last time I was in Dublin was 2007! I’ve been told the pandemic served as an accelerant for pedestrian and cycling upgrades in the city center. Here are a few:

📍 Liffey Street Lower
📍 Ormand Quay
📍 Capel Street
📍 Suffolk Street

Trump seems to back off Portland military plan: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?'

This is an actual headline

www.kgw.com/article/news...

They are not a serious people. 😑

Tour de Europe continues. Now in Belfast City to lead a workshop tomorrow for re-thinking the delivery of a better Shaftesbury Square. Spent the late afternoon and early evening exploring.

For years, GOP has been campaigning against cities, rooting against their success, accusing their residents of not being “real Americans,” lying about their crime rates, denigrating their diversity.

The campaign’s is logical conclusion: the GOP uses the federal government to attack those cities.

Thousands efficiently access / depart Manchester City’s Ethihad Stadium ⚽️ via the Ashton Canal Towpath. Per square foot, this moves more people than any highway could. I’d love to see more American cities improve trail access to / from large event venues.

Just learning about Manchester, but it appears the city bought into the modal filter approach to liberate active transport.

The city’s (first?) tram line is also underway.

The porticoes, dating to 1041 and codified in 1288, are a climate responsive revelation (Sun, Heat, Rain) from 700+ years ago.

I had a few hours to explore Bologna today. I’ve visited a lot of medieval city quarters but_none_compare to the monumentality of this city; I found it really difficult to photograph the squares, towers, and cathedrals because the scale to sight line ratio is overwhelming. 🤯

Something I didn’t expect is that Reggio Emilia is a great bike city! 🇮🇹 🚲

Architects need to bring excellence to the ground plane and this now seems to be the design factor they understand or are directed to focus on the least.

The Disappointment of Downtown Brooklyn Twenty years after it was upzoned, it’s become a showcase of millennial architectural mediocrity.

Davidson’s critiques are harsh but are valid. I’m very supportive of upzoning but the city’s regs direct architects and developers who get handed opportunities to move forward while remaining ignorant to what makes a walkable street.

www.curbed.com/article/down...

One of these units exists at the *entrance* to the Holland Tunnel and I thought it would be sparsely used… but every time I pass by I’m impressed by the number of bikes parked.

Delighted to be in Reggio Emilia, Italy for European Placemaking Week. 🤩

Jersey City’s Exchange Place upgrade applied relatively subtle design moves and simple materials to achieve a huge difference in how the public space is used.

Popped out at the Danforth LRT station in Jersey City today and enjoyed seeing the 8:1 capacity flex of the Oonee Mini vs the typical 8’x20’ SUV corral.

Transit agencies often groan when we push travel lanes < 12’. But here are 9’ travel lanes that I see negotiated on my daily 🚲 commute.

There are standards, and then there is reality. Hat tip to the bus drivers who skillfully figure this out all day, everyday.

@shabazzstuart.bsky.social

Goodbye parking, goodbye piles of trash. Win, win.

Kate Slevin at RPA
Sarah Kauffman, at NYU’s Rudin Center

lol, no.

Opinion | Kathy Hochul: Why I Am Endorsing Zohran Mamdani

Finally.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...

We had a law passed several years ago in NYC that accomplishes the same for people walking and cycling and it has been a game changer. 👍🏻

There is no “devastating impact” when a house is adjacent to a taller building. Glad to see California moving past the hysteria. That said, density for density sake can yield poor urban design outcomes. Form-based codes are a great tool to manage the transition between higher/lower density areas.

Halifax, NS is known for its world-class, engaging and inclusive waterfront. Verified! @tjhfx.bsky.social 🤩

So bat shit. EVERYONE is a disposable asset…