BrentToderian

BrentToderian , 3 days ago to random

“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/helsinki-no-traffic-death-roads-eu-accident-finland-driving-transport/

BrentToderian , 10 days ago to random

A good thing to remember every time you’re thinking about supporting US businesses or tourism, Canada.

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BrentToderian , 10 days ago to random

“The effort to quiet Paris complements the wider campaign to make Paris greener, cleaner & less car-dependent, which include vehicle restrictions in the center, crackdowns on polluting vehicles, & an ambitious expansion of bike networks. Those have cut the city’s average noise level by 2 decibels.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-27/how-paris-is-waging-a-war-on-noise-pollution

BrentToderian , 1 month ago to random

I’m still not sure if enough Americans fully understand how hard it is for the rest of us to continually see polls showing “how unpopular Trump is” when he’s still ridiculously and shockingly more popular than he should be in any sane nation.

BrentToderian , 1 month ago to random

RE: https://mastodon.online/@BrentToderian/115928915237895493

City planners, take note!

BrentToderian , 1 month ago to random

IMPORTANT CITY PLANNING JOB NOTICE! I’ve been advising the City of Kingston, Canada since early 2018, & they’ve been one of my favourite clients ever. Great people! The work has been truly transformative, in both professional content, & culture!

Now they’re hiring a new Director of City Planning!
https://www.municipalworld.com/careers/director-planning-services-2/

BrentToderian , 1 month ago to random

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/

BrentToderian , 2 months ago to random

“Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor & strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.”

Understood well by any REAL Christian. #MerryChristmas
https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-leo-christmas-eve-says-denying-help-poor-is-rejecting-god-2025-12-24/

BrentToderian , 2 months ago to random

“Electric cars are no more dangerous for pedestrians than petrol and diesel models, researchers find.”

They’re also no safer. Which reminds us that “better cars” aren’t the main answer to the consequences of cars. The main answer is fewer (and smaller) cars driven less frequently in better cities.
https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-32/news/article/5900/evs-just-as-safe-for-pedestrians

BrentToderian , 4 months ago to random

It's a goal of mine to help make this the most famous, well-known and UNDERSTOOD quote about cities in history. Please share it as much as you can.

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BrentToderian , 4 months ago to random

NEW: “Toderian says it’s easy to be distracted by futuristic innovations like electric cars, drone delivery networks & hyperloops. ‘The real solutions are a lot less sexy and a lot more common sense… Tech won’t save us if we get the fundamentals wrong.”

I was 1 of 3 urban experts asked to weigh in.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-a-world-without-traffic-three-urban-experts-rethink-how-cities-move/

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BrentToderian , 6 months ago to random

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

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BrentToderian , 6 months ago to random

NEW: 1km of Montreal’s Ste-Catherine Street will become permanently “pedestrian only” (less than perfect term since it will be a people-place for a LOT more than walking). 225+ new trees, vegetation-covered pits for rain drainage, more seating, illuminated canopy, financial help for businesses, etc. https://bsky.app/profile/brenttoderian.bsky.social/post/3lx3l6uzmgs2v
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ste-catherine-east-pedestrian-street-1.7615675

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BrentToderian , 7 months ago to random

“Helsinki has not recorded a single traffic fatality in the past 12 months, city and police officials confirmed this week.”

City engineer credits lower speed limits and smart design.

I agree. #Helsinki #VisionZero
https://yle.fi/a/74-20174831

BrentToderian , 8 months ago to random

Want greener, cooler cities that are a “breath of fresh air?“ In case you thought Paris wasn’t ambitious enough this weekend, on top of our new exhibition, they opened the wonderful new “Urban Forest” in the square in front of City Hall! Part of Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her great team’s brilliant urban greening strategy.

In hot cities, people seek out shade and coolness
They’ve been popular even in the days before their official opening, already filled with people
Each of the two forests now frames the very big square, which is still big, but has an entirely different field now with the forests on either side

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BrentToderian , 10 months ago to random

Polls don’t win elections.

TURNOUT wins elections.

Vote early on 1 of 4 advanced voting days.

Bring friends and family.

Don’t assume anything or take anything for granted.

The consequences of getting this wrong are way too high for Canada.

Just ask the United States.

#VoteCarney #CanadaStrong

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BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tonnes of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by normal driving, account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally.

Heavy vehicles eg SUVs/EVs especially.
https://theconversation.com/car-tyres-shed-a-quarter-of-all-microplastics-in-the-environment-urgent-action-is-needed-244132

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

Valencia, Spain.

Tell us again how the actions that would allow us to avoid the #ClimateCrisis were “too expensive.”

None of the record-breaking, historic or “100 year” events we’ve been seeing a lot of lately are the “new normal.” Because it’s actually going to keep getting exponentially worse.

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

WATCH: Seriously, if you’re following ANY bike-lane debate, you HAVE TO WATCH this news story. You actually can’t make this up. Ford claims without evidence that bike-lanes are bad for small business, and THE ACTUAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION obliterates him with data.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2024/10/24/annex-businesses-tell-ford-to-back-off-bloor-bike-lanes/

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

IMPORTANT: According to the City of Paris, in the last 10 years 150,000 trees have been planted and 45 hectares of parks created in the city, all intended to not only improve quality-of-life today, but also help the city adapt to and manage summer heatwaves of 50℃ (122F) by 2050.

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

IMPORTANT STUDY: “On average, the implementation of 30 km/h speed limits in European cities demonstrated a 23%, 37%, and 38% reduction in road crashes, fatalities, and injuries respectively. Lower speed limits also yielded environmental benefits, with emissions decreasing on average by 18%, and fuel consumption by 7%, indicating enhanced fuel efficiency and reduced environmental impact.”
https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/review-of-city-wide-30-kmh-speed-limit-benefits-in-europe-may-2024/

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1k/month. A year later, nearly half had housing.

They also had fewer ER visits, nights spent in a hospital, and jail stays.

The report estimates that this reduction in public service use SAVED the city $589k.
https://www.businessinsider.com/denver-basic-income-reduces-homelessness-food-insecurity-housing-ubi-gbi-2024-6

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

“To use a technical term, it blew my mind,” said Vancouver’s former chief planner Brent Toderian…”They weren’t lazy about it—they didn’t just throw up barriers and ban cars. It might be the best bargain I’ve ever heard,” Toderian said. #Montreal
https://www.theenergymix.com/montreal-adds-nine-more-car-free-streets-after-mind-blowing-success/

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

This Vienna street isn’t “closed” because cars have been removed. It has successfully been “opened” to everything else, to a diverse and invigorated civic life, because cars have been replaced by a multitude of wonderful things.

Language matters.

HT @dmoser for pic
#urbanism #OpenStreets #Vienna

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

“They cut speed limits, changed street design, removed space for cars…Now it appears that work is paying off. #Oslo and #Helsinki are reaping the rewards of committed action on making their roads safer, reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero last year.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/how-helsinki-and-oslo-cut-pedestrian-deaths-to-zero

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

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 safer to NOT have them.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/05/29/protect-yourself-separated-bike-lanes-means-safer-streets-study-says

BrentToderian , 1 year ago to random

This is really important.

The main thing that makes it hard to achieve nature and green in cities isn’t density of buildings or density of people — it's density of cars. And the more well-designed density of people and buildings you achieve, the fewer cars you need or want.

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