Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 676

For a very long time, there was a great debate in Toronto about whether or not the elevated Gardiner Expressway should be removed from downtown and replaced with something else. As recently as five years ago, that debate was centered around removing the eastern portion of the expressway and replacing it with a large surface boulevard.

But that ship has sailed. A controversial decision was made not to remove the "Gardiner East," but instead reroute it (that wasn't my first choice). At the same time, wonderful new city building initiatives, such as The Bentway , have started to reclaim the long overlooked spaces that sit underneath it.

Another good example of this is the " West Block ," which was recently unveiled at the northeast corner of Bathurst St and Lake Shore Blvd W. New retail uses (such as the above LCBO) and new public spaces (note the above stair/seating combo) have been tucked underneath the expressway's structure, creating a beautiful contrast between old and new.

It reminds me of some of the urban spaces that you might find in other dense urban centers such as Tokyo, because this may be the first fully fledged retail space located underneath the Gardiner. I think it is. But here's what's counterintuitive: the more we embrace the Gardiner in these ways, the more it will recede into the background.

At some point in the near future, these spaces will be filled with people. People eating outside at restaurants. People sitting on the above steps enjoying an illegal drink (because of our antiquated liquor laws). And when that happens, I'm sure most won't even consider what's above their head.

This week, Union Square Ventures, which describes itself as a "thesis-driven venture capital firm," announced a new $162 million Climate Fund . The thesis for this fund is pretty simple. They want to invest in companies that either provide mitigation for or adaption to the climate crisis. The thinking behind this approach is as follows. They want to invest in companies that directly attack the causes of climate change (mitigation), but they are also recognizing that the climate crisis is not some distant thing. It's already here, which is why it's important to also focus on companies that are dealing with the consequences of it (adaptation).

One of their first investments is in a company called Leap . What Leap does is provide the connective (software) tissue between local energy devices/applications and the broader energy markets. For example, let's say you have a Leap-enabled smart thermostat. If the grid is in need of power, it might automatically reduce your local energy consumption so as to help with load balancing on the broader network. In exchange for this, you would earn money for your contributions. In effect, Leap acts as a kind of virtual power plant.

Why does this matter? Well, it matters because two important things seem to be happening with energy production: (1) It's moving toward renewables and (2) production and storage are both decentralizing. Assuming this trend continues, there will be an increasing need for software to help manage energy consumption, production, load balancing, the broader energy markets, and so on. That's where companies like Leap come in . It's also why many are arguing that Tesla is so valuable. More than an EV company, it is creating a new decentralized renewable energy network through its car batteries, powerwalls, and solar panels.

That does sound valuable.

Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash

I've written about this before on the blog, but one of my qualms about architecture school was that it was too often taboo to talk about business and money. Why? Talking about and understanding the realities of the world doesn't have to mean that you're compromising on good design. Constraints are often good for design innovation. Similarly, I've always felt that personal finance should feature more prominently in schools at an early age. It should be considered a basic life skill.

In any event, I came across this tweet thread last night by Naval Ravikant talking about how to get rich (without getting lucky). It's from 2018, but the lessons -- and there are many -- obviously haven't changed. (For those of you who may not be familiar, Naval was the co-founder of AngelList and was an early stage investor in companies like Uber, Twitter, and Opendoor.)

When you see a headline like this it's perfectly normal for your bullshit radar to go off. (In fact, it is one of his points .) But this thread is not bullshit. It's about building wealth. Owning equity instead of renting out your time. Working hard. Taking a long view. Leveraging your time and skills. Understanding compound interest. Partnering with people of integrity. Being accountable. And becoming the best at what you do because you're pursuing genuine curiosity (among many other great points).

Here are a couple of his tweets. But I would encourage you to have a full read .

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936?s=20

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103497725173760?s=20

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103670400417792?s=20

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103908947263488?s=20

https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002104083694501890?s=20