Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 20h

Citizens United has had catastrophic impacts on American democracy.

Unlimited spending is entrenched, but @rfunkfordham.bsky.social offers a suite of reforms that can get concentrated wealth out of our political system.

Line graph titled 'The US Is Now a Flawed, Not Full, Democracy' showing a decline in the US democracy index from 2006 to 2024, with a significant drop marked at the 2010 Citizens United ruling. Data sourced from the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index. The index value decreases from above 8.2 in 2006 to below 8.0 after 2016, entering the flawed democracy category.

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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 23h

Traffic.

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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 23h

RELAX.

The @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social T-Shirt shop is now open with this and two other designs to start with.

Happy to have collaborated with TBL on these and really awesome that $5 from every shirt goes to a great org. bikinglawyermerch.myshopify.com

Person eating a white t shirt that says Relax, I’ll just be a minute. Image of a bike in front of two cars with person walking into shop

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1d

New Study Finds Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 22

WATCH THIS: This is quite possibly still the most comprehensive interview I’ve ever done on smart urban transportation for better cities. Filmed in Vienna for a planned Paris-based documentary. Watch it, quote it, and please help spread it around. Thanks!

Brent Toderian on sustainable mobility

YouTube video by opascaud

youtu.be

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Søren Have @sorenhave.dk · 17d

Much recommended ‘lecture’ on urban mobility and its companion, land use planning.

Love how Brent several times stress the need to call out status quo bias, eg by highlighting that people calling for ‘balance’ in really just want status quo. Which is not fair, but just what we have gotten used to.

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 22

WATCH THIS: This is quite possibly still the most comprehensive interview I’ve ever done on smart urban transportation for better cities. Filmed in Vienna for a planned Paris-based documentary. Watch it, quote it, and please help spread it around. Thanks!

Brent Toderian on sustainable mobility

YouTube video by opascaud

youtu.be

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 5d

"If we Europeans do not wake up and say, ‘We want to take back control of our democracies,’ I can tell you this: within 10 years [...] we will be a continent, like many others, of conspiracy theorists, extremists, noise and fury."

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy

“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.

defenddemocracy.eu

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 9d

Lies are never the truth.

Stupidity is never common sense.

Worse is never great.

Treachery is never patriotism.

War is never peace.

Death is never life.

No matter how much they want you to think they are.

#TakingWordsBack

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Marita Hennessy @maritahennessy.bsky.social · 10d

"in contrast to the relational, embedded & dynamic understanding of vulnerability elaborated by qualitative social science schlrs, national research ethics documents remain heavily dominated by understandings of vulnerability originating from biomedical research" journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Vulnerability in procedural ethics: A study of 44 national research ethics guidelines - Rebecca Tapscott, Sophie Moxon, 2025

How should qualitative social scientists understand and engage with the concept of vulnerability in their research? Scholars have largely approached this questi...

journals.sagepub.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12d

NEW STARTER PACK! This time I’m hoping to encourage and support global urbanists from OUTSIDE North America here on Bluesky, so hopefully this will help! Who’ve I missed? Just joined? Let me know! I’ll keep updating, so please keep checking & sharing this pack! And let’s try using #GlobalUrbanists.

Urbanists OUTSIDE North America Worth Following!

Join the conversation

go.bsky.app

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Grant Ennis @grantennis.bsky.social · 15d

@brenttoderian.bsky.social @tomflood.bsky.social @reenamahajan.bsky.social

Amber Mac @ambermac.bsky.social · 15d

🚴‍♀️ Why is there so much hate for (and lies about) bike lanes in Toronto? I speak with @brenttoderian.bsky.social about how to design better cities. Here is a sneak peek from our chat.

🎙️ Listen to our full conversation on this week's The AmberMac Show podcast, just released today:
bio.site/ambermac

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Amber Mac @ambermac.bsky.social · 15d

🚴‍♀️ Why is there so much hate for (and lies about) bike lanes in Toronto? I speak with @brenttoderian.bsky.social about how to design better cities. Here is a sneak peek from our chat.

🎙️ Listen to our full conversation on this week's The AmberMac Show podcast, just released today:
bio.site/ambermac

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 17d

WATCH THIS: The most amazing thing about this remarkable 2002 car commercial is that it didn’t seem to realize at the time, or perhaps didn’t care, how effectively it made the point that cars and car infrastructure are a HUGE waste of space in cities. Award-winning 2002 ad for Saturn car company.

Saturn Ion commercial

YouTube video by Eliyahu Biton

youtube.com

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Grant Ennis @grantennis.bsky.social · 16d

@brenttoderian.bsky.social @tomflood.bsky.social

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Oil Change International @oilchange.bsky.social · 18d

🚨New research🚨Rich countries can unlock $6.6 trillion for climate action by ending fossil fuels handouts, making polluters pay, defunding wars, taxing the super rich. There’s no shortage of $$ for action. It’s just in the wrong hands.
#FixtheFinance

➡️ Read more: oilchange.org/we-can-pay-for-it/

We Can Pay For It - Oil Change International

We Can Pay for It factsheet shows rich counties can unlock $6.6 trillion for climate action

oilchange.org

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 17d

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s.

Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 17d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 22d

Smart cities know that, as hot as they already are, they’re just going to keep getting hotter. Greening the city not only cools it down, it cleans the air, quiets the noise, improves mental health & happiness, saves public money, & more. Strand Aldwych, London. 2021 vs. 2025. Via @modacitylife.com

Before and after images of street green g in central London UK

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Active Towns @activetowns.bsky.social · Feb 22

ICYMI: Yesterday, I posted my conversation with Paris-based @reenamahajan.bsky.social, founder of Studio Divercity, about her efforts to create people-centered and nature-based cities worldwide. Available in both video and audio-only formats: www.activetowns.org/2025/02/20/c...

Creating People-Centered & Nature-Based Cities

EPISODE 283, SEASON 9: In this episode, I connect with Paris-based Reena Mahajan, founder of Studio Divercity We discuss her efforts to create people-centered and nature-based cities and reduce car ...

www.activetowns.org

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Reena Mahajan @reenamahajan.bsky.social · Jul 8

"From paper to (de)pavement" — Honoured to be interviewed for @polisnetwork.eu's Cities in Motion magazine. online.fliphtml5.com/arovr/ilzt/#...
#StreetSmart #LiveStreetSmart

POLIS @polisnetwork.eu · Jul 8

#CitiesInMotionVI is here: The Tipping Point🗞️

Cities are not waiting—they are acting.

Read today 17 stories on mobility, leadership, and resilience, from #London to #Vitoria-Gasteiz.

🔗 Link to our #magazine formats👇
www.polisnetwork.eu/document/cit...

#UrbanMobility

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Drilled @drilledmedia.bsky.social · 27d

Make no mistake, the global turn toward authoritarianism is heavily oil-funded. drilled.media/news/casey-m...

The Golden Age of Oil-Funded Influence

Casey Michel, author of ‘Foreign Agents,’ on the state of lobbying and corruption in America.

drilled.media

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Mike Christensen, MCMP, CNU-A, AICP @mrc-slc.bsky.social · Sep 9

The War on … Walking and Biking? - usa.streetsblog.org/2025/09/09/t... via @usa.streetsblog.org, @keawilson.bsky.social, and @healthtepi.bsky.social

The War on ... Walking and Biking? — Streetsblog USA

Corporations and policymakers aren't just promoting car dependency — they're actively making it harder to walk, bike, and move in our communities. So why is it so hard to name their enemies?

usa.streetsblog.org

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Greg Fell @felly500.bsky.social · Sep 9

uncertaintyprinciples.substack.com/p/ultra-proc... “Ultra-Processing Is the Bathwater. What About the Baby? Recent obsession with ultra-processed foods spotligTaubesworld of industry-related issues, while rendering sugar & refined grains almost benign in the process”
Thanks @grantennis.bsky.social

Ultra-Processing Is the Bathwater. What About the Baby?

The recent obsession with ultra-processed foods spotlights a world of industry-related issues, while rendering sugar and refined grains almost benign in the process.

uncertaintyprinciples.substack.com

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Calgary Climate Hub @calgaryclimatehub.ca · Aug 20

This month's guest is one of the world's TOP urbanists, Canadian @brenttoderian.bsky.social! We talk suburbs, #sprawl, #BikeLanes, why smart #CityBuilding is the common sense climate solution & the awesome responsibility of the city councils we elect. #yyc #yyccc www.podcastics.com/episode/3796...

Brent Toderian & the Common Sense of Climate Smart Cities

Why urban design is a force multiplier in the fight against climate change

www.podcastics.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Sep 9

Traffic congestion in our downtowns was rarely bad for business or undermined the strength of downtown. What REALLY hurt downtowns were the traffic engineers’ “solutions” to congestion, designed to let cars get through them as fast as possible. Cartoon via artist Jean Wei & @t4america.bsky.social.

Cartoon showing a vibrant and successful street being turned into an unsuccessful bypass road to “solve congestion.”

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Katja Diehl @katjadiehl.bsky.social · Sep 8

We all fall for a lobby that has hammered car-centric lifestyle into our hearts and minds as the ‘default mode’.

We are making ourselves their vassals if we do not rebel against this and demand more freedom in our lifestyles and our mobility.

@grantennis.bsky.social
katja-diehl.de/grant-why-do...

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