The Good Law Project's legal campaign against Michael Gove’s new rules blocking energy-efficient homes will reach the High Court on 18 June.
Gove’s planning guidance undermines the power of local communities to build housing that tackles fuel poverty and the climate crisis.
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
Hornsby is the fifth best place to live in Australia, apparently.
At least, according to a study SGS Economics and Planning:
"Sydney's Northern beaches ranks as the highest in the nation for wellbeing, with only one Queensland city making it to the top 10, the annual index revealed today.
"The Australian Capital Territory came in second due to its low gender wage gaps, climate change risks and the division of wealth."
The study assessed 518 local council areas on seven indicators:
Looks like Sydney Trains is going to drop the jargon from its PA announcements.
From the SMH:
"Commuters will soon be told to “get off” the train, rather than “alight”, after Sydney Trains resolved to overhaul its station announcements to favour colloquial language.
"The phrase “this train terminates here” is also being retired, due to concerns the word “terminates” is difficult to understand."
First big group ride this year with local cycling group Charles River Wheelers (CRW).
Rode through some very wealthy suburban towns (Dover is the wealthiest town in Massachusetts with median household income of $250k+)
Very fast paced group. Started with the 2nd group (15-16mph pace) but caught the first group (17-18mph pace) shortly after. I stayed with the first group and average speed of this ride is 17.9mph!
I was curious about these towns (of course) so I looked them up. The wealthiest towns in MA all keep their zoning restrictions on residential properties to be at least 1+ acre, which pushes the property price really high. I saw a lot of humongous houses in Dover and Sherborn today.
This picture (from Reddit) is basically the local politics in MA (Weston is one of the two "W towns" in MA that're 2nd and 3rd wealthiest in the state).
"It's going to be a bloody disaster": Tell me again about how the second road tunnel under Sydney Harbour won't make congestion worse?
"Civil engineer Les Wielinga, a former CEO at the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bungled Rozelle Interchange.
"The Western Harbour Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers travelling between the inner west and the North Shore to bypass the CBD.
"Entries and exits to the tunnel will lie at the Ernest Street interchange in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street interchange at North Sydney.
"'It's going to be a bloody disaster,' Mr Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.
"Paul Forward, another former CEO of the RTA, told the inquiry he was concerned about the project's design.
"'You've now got three motorways coming out into this short area, and whilst I would recognise there are some exit points, some off-ramps, those motorways are now all going into the Lane Cove Tunnel,' he said.
"'A large number of lanes are going into two lanes at the Lane Cove Tunnel. Sounds familiar?'"
"Preparing for the Unthinkable: A Brief Guide to Digital Legacy Planning"
This is valuable, and a relatively easy read. In a nutshell, make sure you've got a plan for someone to get into ALL your accounts if you die suddenly.
“Those are four essential characteristics of human intelligence — also animal intelligence, for that matter — that current #AI systems can’t do,” he said.
You're likely familiar with WalkScore; have you heard of NatureScore? https://wapo.st/4aQ13ue
"Quantifying nature reveals unsettling truths — about how the densest neighborhoods are often bereft of nature, and about how the poorest city dwellers have the least access to the nature’s health benefits. But it could also help pinpoint which parts of our urban landscapes would benefit most from an infusion of nature."
In #CompleteStreets this week, we're talking about the pandemic's impacts on #pedestrian and #bicycle#planning and gearing up for a perennial favorite among students: Stakeholder Speed Dating!
I invite a dozen or so local experts to come provide feedback on students' recommendations for safety and accessibility improvements in a small area. Students get 10 minutes with each set of experts before rotating on to the next set. It's chaos! It's awesome! It's #CarolinaPlanning!
Thanks to everyone who has connected with the Drought Center since we joined Mastodon in January 2023! We recently crossed the 700-follower mark and hope to continue expanding our reach on this platform.
Four times (in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948) Town Planning was an Olympic event....
Now, I'm not saying that reintroducing competitive town planning to eat olympics would solve our housing crisis, but I do wonder want impact it would have on the way we plan our towns & cities.... would it, for instance, rescue the conspiracy theories around the 15 minute city, or just make them worse?
"We don’t have the conspiracy mongers because it is impossible to say in Paris that Moreno wants to create a new Paris lockdown..
“We have created a lot of new districts and they have been popular. The opposition in Paris is not the same that you have in the UK, because nobody can say in Paris we want to create an open jail – this is evident that it is not the case. We have beautiful new green spaces and areas to live”
Carlos Moreno
I mean there are many basic iCal implementations and more project management tools that I can count.
But an app, where I can do stuff like ... remind me to take my meds 1h after my alarm goes off ... I want to meet with these 4 friends, can you find a date for us?
The saga of Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!)
A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne.
Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there.
While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre.
@nictea@philip@fuck_cars Even the 903 SmartBus only runs a 15 minute timetable during the day, which is less than the minimum 10-minute service busses should be running.
And other services in the area, like the 737 (Croydon to Boronia to Knox to Glen Waverley to Monash Uni) is a 40-minute-plus frequency during most of the day.
And people wonder why more residents in the outer suburbs use public transport...
The terrible human toll in Gaza has many causes.
A chilling investigation by +972 highlights efficiency:
An engineer: “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed.”
An AI outputs "100 targets a day". Like a factory with murder delivery:
"According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”"
"The third is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as universities, banks, and government offices."
It was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses.
“We were not interested in killing operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity. On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.”