Lloyd Alter

But Toronto just sent him a message anyway.

It's a new Stone Age in London, with stone apartment buildings and a stone demonstrator exhibit showing how it's done. Because it is silly to grind up limestone, cook it, and then add water to turn it into... stone. We could be doing a lot more of this in Canada- we are made of rock.

The craziest thing I ate in Portugal was this Francesinha, a sandwich of 4 different meats covered with cheese and egg, an instant artery killer, but according to the @nytimes.com it might be health food www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/m...

Worst welcome home message ever: before the plane even lands my phone buzzes Hi, it’s Brad Bradford.

Doug Ford should move to Iowa. He could build a spa and rip up bike lanes and leave us alone.

A portrait of the Ontario Minister of Transport

William McDonough jokes that it took 5,000 years to figure out how to put wheels on luggage, demonstrating that design is hard. Trying to walk on the streets of London, I think it was a mistake.

I am reading this in London UK where there are just thousands of people on bikes everywhere, congestion charges and clean air charges and traffic is still slow because successful cities are congested, people want to live there!

When in London, I usually complain about the Serpentine Pavilions being carbon-intensive throwaways but this one made of curvy brick is a keeper. lloydalter.substack.com/p/a-very-ser...

OK followers in London, I am free on Sunday, what’s new and exciting for architect types?

People who complain about congestion in the streets of Toronto should take a trip on a double-decker bus in London.

There is not even the semblance of a bookstore at Pearson, just a pile of so called best sellers, this is so wrong

This is such a terrible idea, so incredibly inefficient, such a waste of aluminum! I have written about this process before and called it incredibly silly. www.treehugger.com/why-make-hyd...

I have often complained that  “The big fridge, the big car, and the big grocery store are all part of one economic machine; in a sense, you cannot have one without the other two.” Now people are installing special "costco doors" to make it easier to move stuff from car to fridge.

Tomorrow is Fridtjof Nansen's birthday. I have written about how Fram was essentially a Passive House design, but it was also an extreme example of passive survivability, generating its own electricity from wind power and carrying enough food for five years.

Brits have been nice to Canadians as of late. That will change when Shoppers Drug Mart takes over the UK.

I walked into a glass door the other day and now have a big black eye. It could have happened to anyone, but it is more likely if you're older and your vision is compromised. As the demographic time bomb continues detonating, we are going to see more of this.

And on the same day I write about engineered stone countertops: the New York Times is on it! www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/u...

I am not posting a photo of my huge black eye, but those smudges on the glass door of a lovely restaurant in our neighbourhood are where my forehead and nose smacked into it. Seriously, if you have a glass door, put some markers on it. You have to do it for birds, why not do it for people too

paging @carintobuilding.bsky.social this bowled me over

I wondered how people who sell engineered stone countertops deal with the problem of fabricators dying or needing lung transplants after inhaling silica dust. They were oblivious. lloydalter.substack.com/p/nobody-at-...

Canada could absolutely do this. Instead, we get Carney and Ford pushing pipelines.

This was an extraordinary takedown, everyone should read it and post it everywhere

I think Toronto worked a bit of magic on Kevin. Love his T-shirt

You try climbing up a scaffold and lifting bricks for 40 years. It’s why bricklaying is one of the first trades that will be roboticised or eliminated.

There is a reason that @thestar.com does a major exposé on car theft a month before the election: to build a sense of fear and push bradbrad's candidacy. It's not just social media, it's all the media.

Doug ford’s obsession with burying everything so that it doesn’t slow cars has cost years, billions, and reduced accessibility and usefulness. apple.news/AynZes1NuRmy...

This is new: boomer on boomer and hit-and-run. Demographics ensure that we will be seeing a lot more of it lloydalter.substack.com/p/we-may-soo...

I will be there!

I write often about how our homes are lifeboats, but Jessica shows us how to stock the lifeboat with necessary supplies. She writes a useful and thorough survival guide for people in cities and apartments. It’s not for preppers; it has bicycles, not pickup trucks.

Doctors prescribe blackout curtains, warm-coloured bedside lighting, and covering the small standby LEDs on household electronics to protect the heart.

@dieworkwear.bsky.social what do you think of the Mao suit look on Xi? He wears suits all day, but to dress up he reverts to form? (I like it)

I hate it when charities send a huge package of shit, even with my name printed on the pen and cards, hoping I will be guilted into a donation. Supposedly if 5% of the people who get these donate then it covers their costs, but how much of this stuff ends in the trash. It should be banned.

This is great. I love seeing the falsework holding up the arch

Honestly I am often so embarrassed by my generation of sociopaths

Paging @norton.bsky.social our future under AI: giving up 75% of everything and putting humans in their place, regulated and on the fringes. @thewaroncars.bsky.social time for thewaronAI

The Economist does an exposé on standing desks, claiming that they are no healthier than sitting desks. This is old news; what matters isn't standing or sitting, it's moving. We have known this for a decade. lloydalter.substack.com/p/are-standi...

Hostile design at Black Creek Station on TtC

It sure looks like @thestar.com is in the tank for BradBrad, running bullshit headlines and a push poll with loaded negative questions about traffic and safety, two of his favourite hot buttons. All manufactured outrage.

A new initiative in the UK tries to change the way we look at the built environment: “Housing, planning, transport, infrastructure, energy and regeneration aren't separate problems — they're one industry, hiding in plain sight.” Yet we are in separate silos, often working at cross-purposes.

I concur, not a good look

I don’t know how anyone can pitch I Texas with the distraction of the people drinking and partying behind home plate. It’s impossible to watch!

Jan Gehl wrote: “A good city is like a good party — people stay longer than really necessary because they are enjoying themselves." That's why I love PARK(ing) Day- get outside, take back the streets, and party. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-parkin...