Steve Hurst

There is no predictable process to create non-profit affordable housing.

Typical sanitary drainage configuration for larger aisle-layout bathrooms in California vs what would be designed/installed in Europe. The one to the left requires double the amount of piping and labor while also having 8 penetrations through the floor rather than 4, each requiring fire-stopping.

I just completed my final professional obligation of the trip (excellent Denmark podcast incoming) and now I am standing on top of Copenhill, the giant waste incineration plant on the edge of Copenhagen, drinking a beer and looking out over the city. Life is good.

"It simply never occurs to us to make streets into oases rather than deserts."

Pedestrianized 35th reaches its final, lush form

I periodically try to pitch a kind of normie urbanism where we just get to "one car per household" instead of "one car per adult"

If walking costs you $1, we all pay $0.01. If biking costs you $1, we all pay $0.08. If bussing costs you $1, we all pay $1.50. If driving costs you $1, we all pay $9.20. Via study that still underestimates climate cost. This isn’t about choice. It’s about who pays for your choice. #citymakingmath

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

@stephenjacobsmith.com and @sightline.org light the way. It’s a dark, nerdy, and winding path - but breaking the US regulatory monopoly on elevators is the next key action needed to scale up walkable/accessible/affordable/sustainable cities.

our houses are Made in Canada

It appears that the Champs Elysées of Paris 🇫🇷 is about to undergo a transformation.

www.maptap.gg September 7 100🎯 80👏 33❄ 33😥 69😑 Final score: 552

www.maptap.gg September 5 100🎯 100🎯 80👏 91👑 11🤢 Final score: 666

Hey Doug Ford, about the bike lanes…

Mrs. Volts and I have been riding e-bikes around Victoria, BC all day and we are blown away. We already knew that Vancouver is awesome but we didn't have many expectations about Victoria. It is amazing! The bike infrastructure is superb and there is jaw-dropping beauty around every turn. 🚴‍♂️😎

Bike-lanes don’t cause traffic congestion. Car dependency, land-use sprawl, too many cars driving too much taking up too much space, highly subsidized driving costs, and not enough choices in how to get around, ALL cause traffic congestion. Think about it. THAT’S common sense.

New on the website: you ask, I answer, and I take absolutely no responsibility for how many of you are about to get Todd Litman-pilled

For as long as I’ve been a reporter in this city the complaint has been that we build too many giant luxury condos in a few places and not enough medium density housing across neighbourhoods. But this week reaffirmed why that approach is so baked into the DNA and political culture of Vancouver.

Attention single-stair/missing middle people: as part of OBC review, the Province has opened a consultation on the Building Code, seeking to “identify ways to reduce unnecessary costs, delays, complexity, and administrative burden”. Runs to August 14. ero.ontario.ca/notice/026-0744

Riding bikes is 10X more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. And that’s just the climate emissions. Doesn’t include the massive public & personal cost difference, the air & noise pollution difference, the massive space difference, etc, etc…Via @theconversation.bsky.social

Day 2 of hearings on the ‘Villages’ plan. Reminder: Vancouver’s single stair code creates new options we haven’t seen before. (and thanks @mikeklassen.bsky.social @sarahkirbyyung.bsky.social for asking about SES and if that work can move forward even if villages gets bumped back for more work).

this shot is so bleak lmao

🚨 Eye candy alert 🚨 How do we add more homes to our existing leafy, quiet, 50'-wide residential lots? @lanefab.com has a gorgeous idea.

In Portland’s single-stair design competition, students showcased beautiful, light-filled homes that could fit on a standard residential lot. None of them are legal to build. @maccoinnich.bsky.social www.sightline.org/2026/07/09/i...

Starting to suspect my street is the US capital of mid-rise single-stair buildings. I didn’t pick it for that, I picked it because it was affordable! Turns out affordability just requires mid-rise single-stair.

New quarterly population and migration estimates out today, another quarter of negative net external migration for Canada. (And net population loss, not shown here.) Immigration saw a slight reduction, this is driven by a net outflow of non-permanent residents.

Polling for congestion pricing is always bad before a city implements it. Then it rapidly improves once residents experience faster traffic, quieter streets, and better transit service. As a European city official once told me, " “You have to make people happy against their will."

Friday was a good day. It brought together a room full of people for honest, grounded conversations about housing and homelessness on Vancouver Island. Thank you to everyone who showed up. The conversation doesn't stop here. #BeyondTheNoise #AffordableHousing #VancouverIsland

Beyond the Noise Panel Spotlight Protect the Progress - Preserving What We Have, Building What We Need How do we protect the housing we have and build what communities need? Featuring David Hutniak, Lillian Chau, Kyle Ryan, Sarah Henderson. Moderated by Katie DeRosa. May 22-Victoria 🎟 bit.ly/4sMa7ZF

Beyond the Noise is two days away & we're almost sold out. A few spots remain for this Friday's conversation on housing and homelessness in #yyj. Housing providers, government, developers, & community partners all in one room asking the hard questions. Register now: bit.ly/4sMa7ZF #AffordableHousing

In 2025, Texas passed a single-stair bill co-sponsored by Rep. @jamestalarico.bsky.social, making it easier for cities to allow single-stair buildings up to 6 stories. These buildings lower construction costs, fit on smaller lots & make family-sized housing units more feasible.

The Big Four is becoming the Big Three, with Kone buying TKE. Oligopoly is converging on monopoly. The only way to reverse this is to harmonize with global standards to open our market up to mid-sized European and Asian players. www.kone.com/en/news-and-...

MEDIA RELEASE: “The 1-Hour City Conspiracy.” If you are traditional or new media and would like to write, talk, or post about the REAL conspiracy in cities, read our media release, and send us a DM for more information. It’s already making BIG waves! And allies, please help share this. #UrbanTruth

I have used this chart to radicalize many.

Imagine a city full of 12 unit passive house co-ops with cargo bike garages.

We need to allow our urban 'single family' neighbourhoods to evolve. Our vision: Accessible, zero emission, bright, social, bike oriented, #singlestair homes - allowed on individual residential lots - everywhere.

The US and Canada have the fewest elevators of rich countries. That's a barrier to building better cities. Join us and @welcomingneighbors.us on April 10 for a deep dive: www.sightline.org/going-up-or-... @stephenjacobsmith.com @1000oregon.bsky.social @shaneboland.bsky.social @uytaelee.bsky.social

If we don’t build housing to solve homelessness, we don’t really want to solve homelessness. #UrbanTruth

Wondering why Washington just passed the first statewide elevator reform bill? Still not elevator-pilled? @sightline.org and @welcomingneighbors.us have a webinar for that! Friday April 10 at 11am PST, register at this link: www.sightline.org/going-up-or-...

Its not to late to reverse course. In fact restoring or growing SRSP program is an easy government win. It actually saves money by diverting from the emergency health care & #homelessness management systems in an efficient way. #bcpoli futureofgood.co/bc-governmen...

Tired of being blinded by increasingly high, bright headlights at night? Let Transport Canada know by filling out this survey!

WATCH: If you STILL don’t understand how car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtown and all the urban parts of your city, watch this EXCELLENT video by #NotJustBikes with #Urban3 & @strongtowns.bsky.social. And PLEASE SHARE it as much as possible. I’ve sent it to a LOT of politicians.

ICYMI: Suburban development costs 38% more in upfront public costs & 10% more in ongoing costs than compact development, PLUS has only 1/10th the tax revenue per acre, confirms report summarizing 17 studies. Via @smartgrowthusa.bsky.social The blunt truth? Sprawl is heavily subsidized by ALL of us.

Here’s the blunt reality — reasonably-sized electric vehicles need to be the future of cars, but cars can’t be the future of urban mobility. Fewer cars. Less driving. More inviting mobility choices. Better communities and cities. These are the 4 pillars of the REAL urban transportation solution.

By a 41-7 vote, the Washington Senate just directed the state's building code council to adopt updated regulations for elevators in buildings with up to six stories or 24 units, "minimally sized to meet federal accessibility requirements." The final version: lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/202...

Cycling through the Rijksmuseum passage in Amsterdam, through one of the world’s most iconic museums. Local residents fought to keep it open when renovation plans nearly closed it, and today it’s used by thousands of cyclists every day. A truly unique piece of cycling infrastructure.

1/ For those who think that homelessness in Victoria is caused by a permissive "clownsil" and our warm climate, and not a scourge across all of Canada, here's an article about the dramatic increase of homelessness in rural, Northern, Ontario. #yyj #housing www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/39c067e...

Inch by inch, elevators in North America have become 85% bigger than the global baseline to fit at least two people, w one in a wheelchair. It’s part of the reason why the US and Canada now represent less than 3% of new installations. @andersem.bsky.social www.sightline.org/2026/01/11/v...

Ever lived in a building with an elevator? I haven't. It wasn't until recently that I realized how unusual this is. In most of the rich world, elevators aren't just for tall buildings in big cities. They're all over. To be age-friendly & accessible, our society needs to change this. Here's how.

Which kind of land use is the most financially productive: roads, parking, or buildings? Looking at this comparison, it isn't even close. Info courtesy of our friends at Urban3.