Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Slow Ways @slowwaysuk.bsky.social · 5d

Up for helping with #SlowWays this weekend? This map shows 900 routes across Britain that need just one more good review to be verified🐌✅⭐️❤️

Could you check one... or even a trail of routes? And inspire others to follow in your footsteps?

Take look:
beta.slowways.org/user/waylist...

2 14 24

Julia Thrift @juliathrift.bsky.social · 4d

#Design is facing an existential crisis, as @edwinheathcote.bsky.social explains so eloquently. 🔻🔻

Design thinking could transform lives for the better (eg in #NHS systems; or wayfinding; or products for older people), but many designers' work just fuels excessive consumption...

on.ft.com/46M9mXI

Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world

Design was once seen as a tool to improve lives — but as modernism has become marketing, that sense of social purpose has drifted away

on.ft.com

1 2 5

Reposted by Julia Thrift

SW20ed #Edinburgh @sw20.info · 5d

The same in #Edinburgh. It invested in its public realm to increase walking and cycling and Mastercard reported a 20% increase in local spend.

Many other benefits were also evidenced in the multi year study - despite predictions of disaster, the scheme was anything but.

🚌 🚶‍♀️ 🚲 95% of people interview travelled by sustainable means

⬆️🚶‍♀️pedestrian satisfaction up

⬆️🚲Local residents cycling more to work 8% to 12% to 15% over three years

⬆️📈residents support increased from 49% to 68%, opposition drops from 11% to 9%

⬆️🅿️satisfaction with local parking is up

⬆️🛍️Traders support for scheme increases from 12% to 60%

⬇️ 🛒vacant shops down - it’s up in similar areas in Edinburgh

⬆️💳Mastercard data shows local spending in scheme area up 20% (wow!)

⬇️🚗traffic levels down 27% since 2018

22 38

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Nuffield Trust @nuffieldtrust.org.uk · 8d

@theasrstein.bsky.social warns that other countries haven't made a shift from hospital to community without investment, and we don't have the infrastructure that is ready for that shift at the moment.

It's a very difficult equation to make it work with current resources.

2 2

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Town and Country Planning Association @thetcpa.bsky.social · 14d

At this year's TCPA Annual Conference, we'll hear inspiring examples of community planning & nature recovery, learn what the Planning & Infrastructure Bill proposals mean in practice, & consider how local planning authorities should approach the next year.
Tickets: www.tcpa.org.uk/event/tcpa-a...

3 3

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Town and Country Planning Association @thetcpa.bsky.social · 15d

Parks should be accessible & welcoming to all. Yet in Britain, women are 3x more likely than men to feel unsafe in a park during the day. We must create a community of active bystanders to make our parks safer & more inclusive, writes Dr Anna Barker on the launch of a new campaign.
shorturl.at/kti7o

Safer Parks: Design only goes so far – we need to tackle harassment

We must create a community of active bystanders to make our parks safer and more inclusive, writes Dr Anna Barker on the launch of a new campaign. Professionals in the built environment have a vital r...

www.thedeveloper.live

2 4

Reposted by Julia Thrift

The Bee Guy @thebeeguy.bsky.social · 16d

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 179

Bumblebees are aware of the size of their bodies relative to the environment around them.
They know how big they are and can judge where they’ll fit!
Knowing one’s body dimensions is a core aspect of self-awareness.
#bees
#nature
#environment

14 76

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Trees For Streets @treesforstreets.bsky.social · 19d

Most areas in the UK were affected by heatwaves this summer, with some areas becoming unbearable. This is likely the future of our British summers ☀️🌡️

One way to make your street cooler is to add some trees. Sponsor a street tree today to make next summer easier 👉 sponsor.treesforstreets.org/start

5 6

Julia Thrift @juliathrift.bsky.social · 19d

#Planners in #Leeds doing a good job of mixing old and new buildings and patching together public spaces...

But still a lot to do!

View looking down on old stone building, canal and new flats in Leeds

5

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Martin Lewis @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com · 20d

New Pod: The Grown Up Stuff! (Free) Wills & even more important Power Of Attorney. I'm joined by lawyers to talk peace of mind protection. Do listen.
podcasts.APPLE.com/gb/podcast/t...
open.SPOTIFY.com/show/6tsU1yc...
www.BBC.co.uk/sounds/brand...

12 38

Reposted by Julia Thrift

The Greenwich Wire @greenwichwire.bsky.social · 20d

Community groups can now bid for a share of a £1 million pot of money from developers with the return of the council’s Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund.

greenwichwire.co.uk/2025/09/18/g...

Greenwich Council opens £1m growth fund to community groups - The Greenwich Wire

Community groups can now bid for a share of a £1 million pot of money from developers with the return of the council’s Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund.

greenwichwire.co.uk

1 1

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 22d

Given Farage's comments on marriage yesterday, worth saying that levels of support for same-sex marriage among Reform supporters are almost double those who oppose it, and not far off the national average.

3 25 82

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 25d

Another free link to this, in case people have going to bed reading requirements

on.ft.com/3K1ZFg3

The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis

[FREE TO READ] How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration

on.ft.com

19 23 86

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Town and Country Planning Association @thetcpa.bsky.social · 27d

🗣️ 'Planning has been described by some, rather mischievously, as a ‘system without a purpose’. But we argue that the planning system can be transformational.'

Lachlan Anderson-Frank reveals what to expect from this year's Annual Conference: The purpose of planning.

www.tcpa.org.uk/announcing-t...

Announcing the TCPA’s Annual Conference 2025: The Purpose of Planning - Town and Country Planning Association

We are pleased to announce the TCPA’s 2025 Annual Conference will focus on the Purpose of Planning.

www.tcpa.org.uk

4 6

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 27d

#OtD 11 Sep 1946 the Abbey Lodge block of flats in Regents Park, London was squatted by homeless families of WWII ex-servicemen. It was part of a wave of similar occupations in the wake of WWII stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8359...

33 92

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 27d

EPC ratings are being used for access to grants, to ban landlords for letting low-rated properties, and for access to green finance. But yet another study has found they bear no relation to energy used. share.google/oqiQWuAtGTJ4...

6 9 32

Julia Thrift @juliathrift.bsky.social · 27d

Important question 🔻

Green Alliance @green-alliance.org.uk · 27d

Construction and buildings are already a quarter of the UK’s carbon footprint. Adding 1.5m homes could tip the balance. What’s the alternative?

Libby Peake, senior fellow and head of resources, explores in our latest blog.

🔗

Is it possible to have it all: to build 1.5 million homes without accelerating the climate crisis?

How can we build 1.5 million homes without breaking the carbon budget? This was the question we set for a webinar I chaired last week, which Green Alliance organised in partnership with the Institu…

buff.ly

2 4

Julia Thrift @juliathrift.bsky.social · 29d

Sadly I didn't take a photo of the gatecrashing squirrel...

But can offer you this sleepy cat...

2

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Darren McLean @darrenmcleanuk.bsky.social · 29d

Remember folks, to keep your house even cooler in summer, your Venetian blinds are best fitted to the exterior of your home. Just like they did in old Venice.

On the inside, and it's too late, as the heat is already in the house.

Windows protected from direct sunlight with exterior Venetian blinds on a awning style frame.

A old photo of Venetian Palazzo with a row of windows, all benefitting from exterior Venetian blinds

5 7 38

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Murky Depths @murkydepths.bsky.social · Sep 8

Abbey Wood station alone now sees more passengers a year than Bristol Temple Meads station.

Also more than Cambridge station, Sheffield station and Newcastle station.

The power of the Liz line (and why it's baffling Southeastern cut trains serving it for interchange)

2 9 28

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · Sep 8

#OtD 8 Sep 1946 numerous empty properties, including 148 luxury flats in the Duchess of Bedford House in Kensington, were squatted by homeless ex-servicemen and their families in London in a wave of occupations across the country stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1086...

2 53 130

Reposted by Julia Thrift

The Food Foundation @foodfoundation.bsky.social · Sep 8

📢 We're hiring a Public Affairs Lead!

An exciting opportunity has come up help us influence the political agenda about the impacts of the food system on our diets, our health and our planet.

More info & apply: ➡️ bit.ly/3CoZaoy

3 2

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · Aug 29

Nuclear energy - it certainly ain't cheap www.ft.com/content/ee89...

18 64 110

Reposted by Julia Thrift

Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · Sep 1

It's disappointing that the government's plan to get people moving is focused around "Go for a jog" rather than, as the evidence suggests, building environments that encourage everyday incidental exercise: the ability to walk to amenities
liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/388...

Streeting’s bid to get Britain off the couch and save NHS £10bn

Health Secretary’s Get Britain Moving campaign could be undermined by difficulty to walk in some areas

liveapp.inews.co.uk

30 120 420