Pinned
Brandon Donnelly
@brandondonnelly.com
· Mar 3
I'm a real estate developer with @globizen.bsky.social. I also write a daily blog about city building that I've been doing since 2013: brandondonnelly.com
20” of new snow in Park City over the last 48 hours
January 6, 2026 at 2:10 PM
20” of new snow in Park City over the last 48 hours
Same post: Twitter vs. Bluesky. And this is with 10x the amount of followers on Twitter.
January 6, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Same post: Twitter vs. Bluesky. And this is with 10x the amount of followers on Twitter.
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Urbanism > architecture
Tokyo is a city that makes the argument that architecture is irrelevant.
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
January 6, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Urbanism > architecture
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
One of my biggest takeaways from living in Tokyo was that the city is incredible in spite of the fact that 95% of the architecture is unremarkable.
It makes the years-long design review process for a single apartment building in the U.S. seem all the more frivolous.
It makes the years-long design review process for a single apartment building in the U.S. seem all the more frivolous.
Tokyo is a city that makes the argument that architecture is irrelevant.
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
January 5, 2026 at 9:46 PM
One of my biggest takeaways from living in Tokyo was that the city is incredible in spite of the fact that 95% of the architecture is unremarkable.
It makes the years-long design review process for a single apartment building in the U.S. seem all the more frivolous.
It makes the years-long design review process for a single apartment building in the U.S. seem all the more frivolous.
Tokyo is a city that makes the argument that architecture is irrelevant.
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
January 5, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Tokyo is a city that makes the argument that architecture is irrelevant.
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
What matters more is urbanism:
The street network
The density
The freedom of uses
The clustering around rail
The world has a new biggest city. The UN’s 2025 World Urbanization Prospects report has reshuffled the global rankings, placing Jakarta at the top.
brandondonnelly.com/the-world-ha...
brandondonnelly.com/the-world-ha...
The world has a new biggest city
It's not always as straightforward as it may seem to measure the size of a city or urban region. There's the problem of which urban boundary to use. And then once you've landed on that, there's the ad...
brandondonnelly.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:28 PM
The world has a new biggest city. The UN’s 2025 World Urbanization Prospects report has reshuffled the global rankings, placing Jakarta at the top.
brandondonnelly.com/the-world-ha...
brandondonnelly.com/the-world-ha...
100%
“The place is always busy” feels like the clincher. Retail at Union can cater to so many different audiences/markets across the day/week/year. The boom in downtown residential over the last 20 years is what sets it apart from other similar station retail like Denver - which is still office-focused.
January 5, 2026 at 7:27 PM
100%
How 300,000 commuters built a retail destination — Why retail at Toronto's Union Station was inevitable
brandondonnelly.com/how-300000-c...
brandondonnelly.com/how-300000-c...
How 300,000 commuters built a retail destination
Good morning, and welcome back to work and school. I remember a moment very early on in my development career when I was sitting in a boardroom with dozens of "gray hairs" and the topic of Toronto's U...
brandondonnelly.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:25 PM
How 300,000 commuters built a retail destination — Why retail at Toronto's Union Station was inevitable
brandondonnelly.com/how-300000-c...
brandondonnelly.com/how-300000-c...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Congestion pricing is working as expected in New York City. Here's why. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/05/h...
How Congestion Pricing Proved the Haters Wrong and Is Changing New York for the Better - Streetsblog New York City
Happy birthday to the toll cameras! Congestion pricing is working as promised — defying haters and doubters, including President Trump. Here's why.
nyc.streetsblog.org
January 5, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Congestion pricing is working as expected in New York City. Here's why. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/05/h...
Hi. Totally forgot about this platform.
January 5, 2026 at 5:49 AM
Hi. Totally forgot about this platform.
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Monday's Most Read # 3 - Toronto is planning for a post-car future link.theoverheadwire.com/7ayn8 @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
Toronto is planning for a post-car future
One of the fundamental principles that we espouse on this blog is that land use and transportation planning are integral to one another. This matters if you're trying to build a big, bad global city b...
link.theoverheadwire.com
August 18, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Monday's Most Read # 3 - Toronto is planning for a post-car future link.theoverheadwire.com/7ayn8 @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Join this Panel at Oct 17th 9am at the CanU Forum: CHA[lle]NGE!
Moderated by Mark Guslits & Eric Turcotte @urbstrat.bsky.social
Featuring @brandondonnelly.bsky.social , Mary W. Rowe
@canurb.bsky.social , Joe Berridge, Julie Di Lorenzo, Vic Gupta
🔗 www.canu.ca/registration...
Moderated by Mark Guslits & Eric Turcotte @urbstrat.bsky.social
Featuring @brandondonnelly.bsky.social , Mary W. Rowe
@canurb.bsky.social , Joe Berridge, Julie Di Lorenzo, Vic Gupta
🔗 www.canu.ca/registration...
October 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Join this Panel at Oct 17th 9am at the CanU Forum: CHA[lle]NGE!
Moderated by Mark Guslits & Eric Turcotte @urbstrat.bsky.social
Featuring @brandondonnelly.bsky.social , Mary W. Rowe
@canurb.bsky.social , Joe Berridge, Julie Di Lorenzo, Vic Gupta
🔗 www.canu.ca/registration...
Moderated by Mark Guslits & Eric Turcotte @urbstrat.bsky.social
Featuring @brandondonnelly.bsky.social , Mary W. Rowe
@canurb.bsky.social , Joe Berridge, Julie Di Lorenzo, Vic Gupta
🔗 www.canu.ca/registration...
As a general rule, I am much more interested in longer-term thinking, an approach that compounds over time, the opportunity to continually refine a craft, and the growth of brand equity.
brandondonnelly.com/platform-gre...
brandondonnelly.com/platform-gre...
Platform > sponsor
I don't remember signing up for Thesis Driven's newsletter, but I'm on it, and it does sound like something I would do. Their latest post, the first of this year by Brad Hargreaves, is called "Seven R...
brandondonnelly.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:45 AM
As a general rule, I am much more interested in longer-term thinking, an approach that compounds over time, the opportunity to continually refine a craft, and the growth of brand equity.
brandondonnelly.com/platform-gre...
brandondonnelly.com/platform-gre...
Ground floor overhangs like this are one of my least favorite urban conditions. They bear no resemblance to the colonnades of Europe.
June 3, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Ground floor overhangs like this are one of my least favorite urban conditions. They bear no resemblance to the colonnades of Europe.
Talking to a friend from Korea right now. He’s telling me about a suburb of Seoul that used to be a 1.5 hour commute from the city center. This was deemed too long so a new express train was created. It now takes 20 minutes. Boom. The magic of rail.
May 7, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Talking to a friend from Korea right now. He’s telling me about a suburb of Seoul that used to be a 1.5 hour commute from the city center. This was deemed too long so a new express train was created. It now takes 20 minutes. Boom. The magic of rail.
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Thanks for the share @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
April 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Thanks for the share @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
Longtime readers of this blog might remember a post that I published back in 2016 where I talked about the genesis story of Toronto-based developer David Wex and his company Urban Capital Property Gro...
brandondonnelly.com
April 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
It's painful watching Toronto saddle new homebuyers and those struggling to afford to live in Toronto with the cost of renaming Dundas Square, which definitely was not *critical infrastructure.*
April 22, 2025 at 6:56 PM
It's painful watching Toronto saddle new homebuyers and those struggling to afford to live in Toronto with the cost of renaming Dundas Square, which definitely was not *critical infrastructure.*
Today's blog post: In 2005, 21 of 26 single-family house markets in Southern Ontario could have been classified as either affordable or deeply affordable. Today, none of these markets can be considered affordable or deeply affordable, and 11 are now unattainable.
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
Housing is expensive in Ontario
The Missing Middle Initiative, which is a research group housed at the University of Ottawa's Institute for the Environment, just published this detailed report on Southern Ontario's housing affordabi...
brandondonnelly.com
April 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Today's blog post: In 2005, 21 of 26 single-family house markets in Southern Ontario could have been classified as either affordable or deeply affordable. Today, none of these markets can be considered affordable or deeply affordable, and 11 are now unattainable.
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Do governments make good developers?
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
Do governments make good developers?
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Broadly sp...
brandondonnelly.com
April 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Do governments make good developers?
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
What housing type (single-family, townhouse, apartment, etc) have you lived in the most throughout your life? (Working on a new blog post.)
April 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
What housing type (single-family, townhouse, apartment, etc) have you lived in the most throughout your life? (Working on a new blog post.)
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency.
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at...
brandondonnelly.com
March 31, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency.
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor.
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor. The reason ...
brandondonnelly.com
March 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor.
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
It's also important to keep in mind that the risks you worry about the most will invariably change throughout the course of each real estate cycle.
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
The development risks you're not even thinking about
Real estate development is a risky endeavor and so a big part of this business is managing it. There's planning risk, market risk, construction risk, bad-drawing risk, and the list goes on. But it's a...
brandondonnelly.com
March 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It's also important to keep in mind that the risks you worry about the most will invariably change throughout the course of each real estate cycle.
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...