Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1338

A few weeks ago I wrote a post talking about megalopolises and the importance of the Great Lakes region in North America. And I suggested that high speed rail could be one way to better stitch together the region.

To some, I’m sure this sounded like a bit of a pipe dream. But thinking at the megalopolitan scale is something that I think we are going to need to do. Other parts of the world certainly are.

The Chinese government is in the midst of developing a supercity around Beijing that is called Jing-Jin-Ji . It will span about 82,000 square miles and will house approximately 130 million people. 

As part of the plan, a high-speed rail network is being built that will bring the region’s major cities within an hour’s commute. The objective is to compete with the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta regions in the south.

It’s a scale of planning and development that most people aren’t used to thinking about. But it’s happening right now.

Image: New York Times

Today I spent the afternoon watching volleyball as part of the 2015 Pan Am Games . I saw Brazil and Uruguay play. I saw Canada and Mexico play (Canada unfortunately lost, but it was a great game). And I saw USA and Argentina play (shown above).

It’s incredibly hot in Toronto right now. With the humidity it feels like 36 degrees celsius (97 degrees fahrenheit). But we all had a lot of fun and there was a ton of energy in the stadium, particularly when Canada played.

I’m excited to have the Pan Am Games in Toronto. I just wish I had time to go to more of the events. For those of you in Toronto right now, what sports have you gone to?

Since 2009 when the U.S. economy started to recover, housing starts (i.e. new residential construction) have favored multifamily buildings over single family housing. Apartment/condominium construction has grown 3 times faster according to the U.S. Census Bureau (via Bloomberg ).

A lot of this multifamily construction is assumed to be rental apartments, but this category also includes for sale condominiums. The classification has to do with building typology rather than housing tenure. (I would love to see how the above graph breaks down in terms of the latter.)

The typical explanations for this trend often relate back to Millennials being poor and saddled with student debt. That’s why they’re delaying buying single family homes. But eventually the expectation is that they will resume doing (largely) what previous generations have done.

Money and the economy, I’m sure, have something to do with the above trend. But I’m not convinced that it’s the whole story. 

There are also shifts happening with respect to consumer preferences and with respect to how we plan and build our cities. That’s why I’m very interested in monitoring family formations and housing choices. 

At the same time, I’m also a Millennial. And whenever I catch myself thinking a certain way, I assume that there are probably other Millennials out there who feel similarly.