Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 847

Over the long weekend, and across a couple of flights, I read Perfect City by Joe Berridge. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Each chapter focuses on a different world city, starting with the one and only Toronto. From New York to Singapore and London to Belfast, Joe hones in on what is working and what is not working.

No city is perfect.

I found myself folding the top corner of the page on numerous occasions. I did this every time I came across an interesting takeaway or stat, such as this one here: "Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, recently observed that Europe has 7 per cent of the world's population, 25 per cent of its GDP, and 50 per cent of its social expenditures."

However, the thread that really stood out to me is one about individuals. We all know that great things happen as a result of great teams. But as Joe profiles the various city building initiatives that he has come across throughout his work and travels, a common theme seems to emerge.

From Jane Jacobs to Lee Kuan Yew , there's often a determined individual who is set on making something happen, or set on stopping something from happening, as is the case with Jane Jacobs and Toronto's (proposed) Spadina Expressway.

This is not meant to discredit the value of teamwork. We all know that is essential. Instead, I think it speaks to the power of individual passion, conviction, and tenacity -- all of which are ingredients required to build a perfect, or almost perfect, city. Wonderful things don't just happen on their own.

Photo by  Fraser Cottrell  on  Unsplash

Sometimes I think that writing a blog has become a bit old fashioned. I should probably be making videos. But the reality is that I like writing. Getting up in the morning, reading, having a coffee, and writing my thoughts down is a ritual that I really enjoy. Making videos is also a bigger time commitment, and I would rather focus my energy elsewhere.

But there's no question that user-generated videos have and will continue to change ecommerce and many other aspects of society. This recent blog post by Connie Chan and Avery Segal called, " Ecommerce as video's killer app ," is a perfect example of that. In it, they talk about a handful of Chinese companies that are pioneering "shoppable videos."

What these platforms are doing is allowing consumers to buy things natively within their app and through a "video-centric checkout flow." In other words: watch a story being told (from an individual, as opposed to a company); become interested in a particular product or service; and then immediately purchase it with only a few taps.

Another use case, which I think many of you will find interesting, is the creation of "crowdsourced video city guides." Instead of checking for hotel reviews on TripAdvisor, simply find someone who has already vlogged a stay and book it that way. The individual who uploaded the video will then earn a commission.

This behavior already exists. Discovery and buying decisions -- for many products and services -- have moved to social platforms. Just today a friend reached out asking me about a bar that she saw on my Instagram stories a few weeks. She's planning to go next week. Now where's my commission?

Shoppable videos are a natural extension. They may also lower the barriers to participation. And so maybe I will end up making videos, after all.

I am still making my way through (and editing) my photos from Lisbon and Malaga. Here is one that I took from the Playa de La Malagueta . I also posted it to Twitter and Instagram and asked: Should we encourage the personalization and customization of outdoor spaces on multi-family buildings?

This building overlooks the beach and the Alboran Sea. If you look closely, you'll see that a number of the balconies have been modified to include different kinds of awnings and shade structures. And some look to have been converted to interior space.

A few of you seem to support this level of customization, provided that the overall design integrity of the building is maintained. And I would agree that in this particular instance, it seems to work, which is actually why I took the photo. It gives the facade life.

I recall seeing instances of this in Toronto, but generally speaking it's not encouraged or allowed. In condominiums, outdoor spaces attached to units are typically defined as "exclusive-use common elements ."

The challenge, here, lies in the subjectivity of "maintaining the overall design intent of the building." I'm not sure how you codify that, unless you pre-design the options. Perhaps that's one way of doing it.