Addison Del Mastro

Japanese people run tiny shops like this because they're allowed to. We could also be allowed to, and that's what "urbanism" is all about. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/backyard-cof…

Two interesting and seemingly opposite things happened in the broad technology/consumer electronics world in 2007 thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/the-cool-coi…

Interest in urban living, along with this old-tech nostalgia thing are both expressions of the deeper desire for more real community, and less ephemeral distraction. These movements arising in the era of smartphones and social media can’t be a coincidence. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/the-cool-coi…

"It’s curious that a technology that was pretty much universally understood to be obsolete and commercially dead came back at exactly the same time as a seminal step forward in the digital revolution." thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/the-cool-coi…

2007 is an interesting year in technology thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/the-cool-coi…

"I like to write about stuff like food and cooking and homeownership because, simply, they’re part of living, and I think of urbanism in this way too....thinking a little more critically or creatively about the things we do every day." thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/avocado-almo…

A little (lunch) break from urbanism: a pretty simple sandwich I came up with that I really like thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/avocado-almo…

Thinking through the fact that “urbanists” like me who “discovered” cities after growing up in suburbia probably see cities differently from people who’ve actually lived in them unselfconsciously thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

In which I consider that "cities are like eating your vegetables or going to the gym" is a fundamentally suburbanite idea of urban living thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

It’s difficult for me to know what it feels like for a city to be your “natural” or baseline environment, rather than a thing you had to choose or learn to like. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

I think some of us who live in newer, more anonymous places mistake our own circumstances for a change in the way things are done. Of course, as more of our built places look like that, it does change the way things are done. But you get my point. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/wa-wa-wa

You know what’s a really neat coincidence? The year the iPhone came out, 2007, is the same year vinyl sales began to climb every single year. It’s curious that the smartphone era and the vinyl resurgence precisely overlap.

The very first Wawa store in Pennsylvania is still standing thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/wa-wa-wa

I didn't say it this way in the piece, but I'm liking the analogy of preemption to defrocking thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/ways-of-thin…

The idea of urbanism as some difficult, beautiful thing might be an accurate description of suburbanite psychology, or perhaps it could help nudge some skeptical suburbanites into seeing the value of cities. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

I don’t really perceive on a gut level how much car dependency demands of me, even though intellectually I dislike it. I would change it, but with the understanding that I’m still giving something up that I like in order to get something I like more. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

I feel like this possible gap in perception between old-school city people and newer former suburbanites who “discovered” cities is interesting thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

I think there’s an interesting thing here where perhaps there’s a split between urbanists, who see cities almost as ideas, and many of whom are suburbanites who “discovered” cities, and plain old city dwellers. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

I think I probably still look at cities/urban living as a suburbanite, even though I like and support them thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/maybe-cities…

"Preemption" is the involuntary surrender of stewardship not done thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/ways-of-thin…

It is kind of odd that something as basic as building enough housing or letting cities get more dense has to be mediated through politics and advocacy. It’s weird that we’ve lost the sense that these are basic things. thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/ways-of-thin…