Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 107

Cities exist because they offer economic and social benefits. People generally come to cities to make money, find a partner, and interact with other humans. Occasionally, we underestimate this desire to cluster — which was the case during our recent pandemic. But the reality is that this is a human tendency that has existed for thousands of years and that also happens to be accelerating.

I mean, as recent as 1980, only about 40% of the world's population was living in an urban area. Today, this figure is closer to 60% , and by 2080, it is predicted that up to 90% of the people on this planet will live in an urban center.

This will take the number of megacities with over 10 million people from 3 (in 1980) to nearly 100 in 2080 (according to projections from UN-Habitat). But here's the thing: cities help people become wealthier, but once people become wealthier, they tend to have far fewer children. This inverse correlation is well established. So intuitively, there should be limits to the growth we are seeing.

Here's an interesting article from CityLab by Greg Clark, Borane Gille and Jennifer Dolynchuk that pegs this peak somewhere around 2080. We will still remain extremely urban, but overall our population will start to decline. And for some cities, like Tokyo, this decline has already started.

Charts via CityLab

I've been trying to think of the right city analogy to explain what it's like to really experience a place. Onions are perhaps the obvious choice because of the layers you peel back. But that's not entirely accurate, because the layers of an onion tend to be uniform. I think a better choice would be a pomegranate.

Pomegranates are a nice-looking fruit. Good colors. They also have high symbolic value in many cultures. They are typically associated with abundance and fertility. And so I would imagine you could enjoy one just by looking at it or by having an artificial replica of one on display.

But the real benefits of a pomegranate arrive when you dig for its jewel-like seeds, called arils. This is the stuff that tastes good and is rich in antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins. But it requires some work to uncover these seeds and they're not uniformly distributed. Instead, they tend to be clustered. They are also surrounded by a white membrane that is bitter and generally unpleasant to eat. So most people work around these parts.

This is a lot like how cities work. It's easy to experience a city on a superficial and symbolic level. Most cities have a prejudicing brand that gives you some indication of how you should feel while you're there. But the best parts come when you go digging. There will be bitter and unpleasant parts, no doubt, but that's just the price you pay to enjoy their hidden jewels.

If any of you can think of a better fruit or vegetable to use, please let me know.

Our time in Paris has come to an end. It's time to get back to the greatest city in the world (Toronto). As has become customary around here , I'd like to summarize some of my anecdotal observations from the trip. Here goes:

• The first one is an obvious one. Paris has transformed itself into a cycling city. Bold planning moves have explicitly prioritized biking, and you can feel it everywhere you go, including outside of the Périphérique. Young and old, families and individuals, everyone seems to cycle in Paris. In parallel to this, it feels like there has been a noticeable reduction in vehicular traffic. Many of the smaller streets around Paris almost feel like they've been pedestrianized. But in fact, it's just because there are so few cars.

• Because of this change, I asked an Uber driver this past week if traffic has gotten worse and if it has generally gotten harder to drive in Paris. His response was absolutely. So I then asked him how Parisians generally feel about all of the changes and all of the new cycling lanes. The first part of his answer didn't surprise me. He said people who live in Paris love it because it's now easier to get around and they don't need to own a car. It's more efficient. But people who drive into the city or pass through it don't like it. Fair. However, as somebody who drives for a living, the second part of his answer did surprise me. He said, the changes needed to be done — bikes are a more efficient form of transport and they have greatly reduced pollution within the city. I thought this was quite an enlightened and selfless response.

• The geography of Paris is changing. Parisians used to think of their city as only existing within the boundaries of the Boulevard Périphérique. (This is technically the boundary of Paris proper, but there is also the Métropole du Grand Paris, which encompasses the greater urban region.) New investments in transit, new developments, and pioneering urbanists are changing this mental model. A New Paris has arrived . And its modal split seems to be skewed toward non-car forms of mobility, to the point that younger Parisians don’t even seem to bother getting a driver’s license.

• Anecdotally, I also noticed a big uptick in running, in the number of gyms/fitness studios in the city, and in the number of people walking around in athleisure wear. I view this as North American culture creeping in. Historically, my understanding is that running — and getting sweaty in public — was considered a bit of a faux pas. But at one point this week, I saw a parade of people running in and out of a Drip and doing laps down a busy street filled with cafés. Clearly, attitudes have changed.

• Paris is, of course, well known for its cafés and terraces. But I would like to emphasize how beneficial these spaces are for the city. Every terrace comes equipped with a large awning that extends out into the street and creates a kind of outdoor room. These rooms then fill up with an endless supply of people facing outward, adding life, conversation, and eyes on the street. It's a wonderful way to create urban vibrancy, and you really feel the difference on streets where they don't exist. More cities need to figure out how to replicate this simple formula.

• Food is different in Paris (and in Europe more broadly). There is real concern over the quality of ingredients and what we put in our bodies. We touched on this briefly, here . The difference is that you feel as if you can eat whatever you want, and the end result is that you feel satisfied, not gross. You also don't feel as if you've just ingested a sodium bomb.

• On this trip, Bianca and I spent a lot of time exploring the 9ème, 10ème (where we were staying), and 11ème arrondissements, with regular trips south to Le Marais. We've now been to Paris enough that we're starting to figure out which areas we like the most. (If you have a favorite area, please leave it in the comments section below.)

• Finally, I would like to end by saying that the trains in Paris are something they should be proud of. When we come to Paris, we always take the train into the city and, on this trip, we took the metro on a number of occasions to get out to places like Pantin and Boulogne. Not once did we wait more than a minute or two for a train. In fact, even during off-peak times, the maximum headway between trains seemed to be 4 minutes. With this at your doorstep, and with all the new cycling infrastructure that has been introduced, I guess it's no wonder that many Parisians couldn't care less about driving.

Until next time, Paris.