Phil Levin
@levin_phil
All about happier / healthier / funner ways to live. Founder @livenearfriends. Founding team @Culdesac. Lives @ Radish in Oakland Writes Supernuclear
With help from @Chris_Smeder, @JonathanHillis, @levin_phil, @devonzuegel, @damonhemmerding, @Cobylefko, @jansramek, @AustinTunnell and @davegordon14, I made this wishlist of changes that could make it easier to build more beautiful & walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of…
Has never been a better time in American history to be an older person. Amazing reverse value capture that continually increases.
I understand the gerontocracy has a stranglehold on American politics, but it's wild that we're cutting Medicaid in part so we can give seniors a $6000 tax deduction just for being seniors and there's ~zero negative coverage of the issue
Chinese cities occasionally sell land to developers before buying out all the existing residents. But sometimes existing residents refuse to be bought out, so developers are forced to build around them. These are "nail houses"🧵
At @livenearfriends we see a specific opportunity to build 2-4 unit courtyards designed for friends/fam rather than strangers.
The answer to “why don’t people have more friends?” isn’t AI. It’s housing. Let people afford to live near the people they care about and love. Build more homes.
The answer to “why don’t people have more friends?” isn’t AI. It’s housing. Let people afford to live near the people they care about and love. Build more homes.
Zuckerberg explaining how Meta is creating personalized AI friends to supplement your real ones: “The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15.”
Soapbox moment: never ask “what could go wrong” without remembering the other parts of the risk triplet “How likely is it?” “What are the consequences?” And bonus, what could go right?
if you think this behavior is a problem you are a bad person
what if there is global thermonuclear war? what if 37 mutant superterrorists invade your room? what if there's an earthquake? what if you're dozing off right beside your child and they have sudden cardiac arrest? what if we just imagine an infinite list of incredibly low…
This is the way I think of it; what if there is a fire? There is nobody there to save your baby.
Lukewarmer take: You are not allowed to both be anti-sprawl AND anti new city. If you are anti-sprawl you should be clamoring for new cities.
Lukewarm Take: More urbanists should focus on “how to sprawl better” rather than just sitting out of the process.
The process of getting permission to build something on your own land could be quick, predictable, and default to 'yes' instead of defaulting to 'no'. The paths to improving the local park could let you break ground in a few months, not a few years.
Friends who travel to South Asia talk a lot about the incredible, charming, quirky tiny businesses that you find everywhere, run out of homes - themed tea shops and craft shops and antique shops and mini-bakeries, a testament to the diversity of human interests and fascinations.…
Hot take: Instagram parenting trends like 'gentle parenting’ and ‘attachment parenting’ are pathological responses to lack of community. DIY copes for a missing village.
There's so few walkable places, that people are willing to pay more to live in then.
People are often willing to pay more to live in walkable, mixed-use communities I knew this intuitively, but I wanted to understand: 1. Just how big is this premium? 2. How quickly does it set in? So I dove into the data, & what I found blew me away