#gentledensity — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #gentledensity, aggregated by home.social.
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Are you around Metro Vancouver and interested in how to actually get more “Missing Middle” housing (or as I called it, #GentleDensity) built? There’s a full day conference on it happening this Friday, and I’ll be speaking on this panel at it. Use code MMC25 for a 25% discount. www.themmc.ca
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Many urbanists, myself included, call out all the boring technical jargon (& 3-letter acronyms…the worst) we use in the various city-buildings professions. But I’m also clearly a fan of “branding” good ideas so they’re memorable (eg my #GentleDensity term). What are your fav urbanism idea “brands?”
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1. Wrongheaded sounding move by a city councillor in Edmonton, a city that’s generally been making good strategic moves around doing density better. 2. #GentleDensity is meant to support raising density that’s too low, not lowering density that’s smart and strategic (I coined the term in 2006).
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5epcbclnwnvbc4jyj7w4erkz/post/3lrtcmxdms22c -
“Branding” good city-building ideas isn’t about attention—that usually fails. It’s best when it’s trying to solve a communication problem. For example, I came up with #GentleDensity in 2006 in Vancouver because we needed to talk about needed change in neighbourhoods that WASN’T about tall buildings.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ny5w2k6brb2kdubxnevke6li/post/3lbl6zfnyak2p -
Everyone who so wishes should be able to live in a gentle density urban neighbourhood on a single working class income. This has to be our goal.
And by gentle density I mean e.g. 7-8 floor perimeter blocks, mixed use, complete streets with cars as the lowest priority: the 15 minute city. That's gentle.
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This has big Onion energy.
(1) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/two-years-after-allowing-four-unit-multiplexes-in-residential-neighbourhoods-a-new-toronto-area-pilot/article_5e222914-d4ef-11ef-ae9f-3743ac761081.html?source=newsletter&utm_email=1B3C39ACA2AAAC6DB12B362B98CF3E1A
(2) https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/ -
Some historical precedents for ground-oriented denser housing choices (what I dubbed #GentleDensity and what @danielparolek.bsky.social called #MissingMiddle) make you melt. This is Schnoor Quarter in Bremen, Germany. Nothing stops us from building something like this today, except our rules.
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Whether we like it or not, “BRANDING” our good city-building ideas WORKS for spreading & strengthening those ideas. A good example is #MissingMiddle Housing via @opticosdesign.bsky.social, which has been even more effective than my #GentleDensity. What are YOUR FAV better city-building idea brands?
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What would a transit oriented development look like near Galway city? Polysee have put together a video to visualise it.
#TransitOrientedDevelopment #GentleDensity #Transport #GalwayCity #Oranmore
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YbvihdC6SJY&si=0Ti9ew-7pMm_xupc -
Some historical precedents for denser ground-oriented housing choices (what I coined #GentleDensity) just make you melt. This is Schnoor Quarter in #Bremen, Germany —“life before the car” via @heuristics. It’s too low density for places that really need & can support well designed higher densities, but it’s an excellent alternative to low density sprawl. Nothing stops us from building something like this today, except our rules, biases and lack of political will. #missingmiddle #cities #urbanism
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One of the best arguments for better urbanism and better city building is that #gentledensity takes development pressure off adjacent natural areas.
The respite of REAL nature is critical to our mental and physical well-being. And, as a bonus, when you bring back a little more venison than you had originally planned, you won’t have to survive on the fringes of neglected-in-winter stroads every time you venture out.
#BetterByBike #OneLessCar #IBikeIVote #BikeZoo #ModeShiftKzoo
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Bill Bryson once said that if the Martians invaded earth, they'd think Vienna was the world capital. You can see why
Here's #GentleDensity with extra fiddly bits. "Mixed use" sounds like tedious planner speak but it should be ornamented & beautiful🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/boys_nicholas/status/1486470157207805961