pearsonified
@pearsonified
Testing to see if I can still post tweets via the Twitter API (and Focus OmniTweet)…
Looks like I’ll have to switch OmniTweet over to Twitter API v2 😕
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Decentralized systems are superior over time, but humans keep building centralized systems. Why?
• Control over nodes
• Consolidation of resources (the borg profits)
An economy based on a fiat currency guarantees centralized systems will be “chosen” over decentralized ones.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Emergent orders are CRITICAL tools for the survival of any system over time.
Without them, failure is guaranteed.
Centralized systems lose the ability to produce emergent orders as they scale.
Meanwhile, decentralized systems become MORE AGILE as they grow!
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
So what ARE the biggest threats to centralized systems?
• Rogue agents
• “Bank runs” of dissatisfied nodes
• Time
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
As we’ve seen, the complexity of centralized systems creates vulnerabilities…
But it also offers a benefit in the form of REDUCED COMPETITION. (Complexity increases startup costs for other players.)
A large centralized system is unlikely to be taken down by a competitor.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
On a long enough timeline, decentralized systems have unlimited potential, and centralized systems are guaranteed to fail.
Why, then, is the default—for human systems generally and big business specifically—centralization?
1. Control over nodes
2. Reduction of competition
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Decentralized systems, however, GAIN agility as the number of nodes increases.
Nodes can independently—and spontaneously—adjust to changing conditions. Other nodes may or may not follow suit.
This is called EMERGENT ORDER.
No limit to the possibilities!
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
AGILITY
As they increase in size, centralized systems LOSE agility—the ability to adapt quickly to changes.
Even trivial adjustments can become impossible obstacles in a centralized system of sufficient size.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
In decentralized systems, individual nodes face specific risks, but they can still protect themselves against those risks.
In centralized systems, nodes are protected from many specific risks, but they are vulnerable to system-level attacks—against which they have no defense.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
This creates a RESOURCE DEFICIT in all centralized systems.
Fragility within these systems is guaranteed by TIME LAG (hardening must follow growth) and RESOURCE DEFICITS (never enough to harden completely).
And this means centralized systems can NEVER be secure.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
This dynamic GUARANTEES all centralized systems carry a certain amount of fragility related to their current size and rate of growth.
And because resources are finite, decision-makers in centralized systems must engage in COMPROMISE—x% for growth, y% for hardening.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Addressing fragility is also known as HARDENING.
But hardening can only happen downstream from growth.
And because growth is necessary to keep a centralized system alive, hardening can only occur on a time scale that lags behind growth.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
This means centralized systems must pull resources AWAY from growth—the sole means of survival—in order to address fragility.
If fragility goes unaddressed, the system will eventually be taken down by external threats.
So a balancing act is necessary.
(Central bank, anyone?)
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Here’s where things get interesting:
Given their high energy costs, Centralized systems must keep adding nodes (as this is how they gain energy).
But in order to address fragility, resources must be re-allocated toward redundancy and security.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
FRAGILITY
In centralized systems, the system itself is responsible for everything.
Because of this, attacks on one part of the system can threaten the stability of the entire thing.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
COMPLEXITY
In order to grow, centralized systems must add functionality along all vectors.
This process requires significant energy costs in the form of development, administration, and in many cases, compliance.
Decentralized systems can grow simply by adding a node.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
System Design: Centralization vs. Decentralization
In centralized system, energy costs are borne by the existing system. The system itself must scale to accommodate new nodes.
In a decentralized system, energy costs are borne by the nodes. Each node has “skin in the game.”
Show thread → Tweet Thread 446
pearsonified
@pearsonified
I don’t care what your website looks like.
It’s not a fucking Picasso. It’s not SUPPOSED to be a Picasso.
It’s a TRANSACTIONAL MEDIUM, kinda like an ATM machine.
It has a specific job; if it does not excel at that job, it’s a failure.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Want a fancy website?
Why?
Your visitor doesn’t want to wade through *any* nonsense.
The only reason they’re on your site is because they clicked on a link that made a PROMISE.
Does your site deliver on that promise CLEARLY and IMMEDIATELY?
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
To do that, you’ve got to meet them where they are.
And you do this by delivering content according to the current rules of Attention Design.
It’s funny how everyone designs from the perspective of the ego when the attention of the visitor is what determines everything 🧠
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Conditioning (experience of using internet) leads to expectations, and expectations inform the way we ration our attention.
You can WANT to show your audience everything you’ve got, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to look or listen.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
The video must appear first due to *attention conditioning*.
If you tell someone to watch a video and then send them a link…
The expectation is the resulting page will kinda-sorta work like a YouTube page.
If it doesn’t, you’re violating Attention Design.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Say you want your audience to view a video on your website.
You send an email with a link to this page, and off they go…
If the video does not appear FIRST on that page, it’ll receive far fewer views, and the page will have a much higher bounce rate.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
You expect to see a video FIRST, followed by supplemental information (description) and “other stuff” (comments, links to other videos).
This *specific expectation* matters—YUGELY.
It affects the way people are willing to consume videos elsewhere, like on your website.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
When thinking about Attention Design, patterns are you friend (as always).
The trick is that the patterns are always changing, so you’ve got to pay attention! Example:
When you click on a YouTube link, what do you expect to see?
Obviously, a video!
But there’s a context here—
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
💥 ATTENTION DESIGN 💥
Instead of basing design decisions on some vague notion of aesthetics, we start by considering the way human attention works… and then develop the design around this.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 437
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Do you know the MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPT in the history of websites?
https://diythemes.com/stage-1-stage-2/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
The question I’m asking myself every day:
What is the perfect modern content flow? 🤔
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in October:
• 14 rounds played
• 3 different courses (1 first-timer)
• 49 birdies
• 27 bogeys or worse
Set a personal best at Zilker’s updated layout (-5) with a clean card (no bogeys) 🤙🏿
Under par in 10 of 14 rounds 🔥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in September:
• 13 rounds played
• 5 different courses (1 first-timer)
• 45 birdies
• 41 bogeys or worse
Set a personal best at Searight (-6) with my best-ever round at any course (no bogeys, either) 🤙🏿
Also 5 rounds with 4+ birdies 🔥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
How to see original tweets from any Twitter user (without retweets or quote tweets): 🧐
• In the Twitter search bar, type from:[username]
→ Example: from:pearsonified
• When the results appear, click the Latest tab
🔥 Please share this pro tip! 🔥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in August:
• 22 rounds played
• 6 different courses (1 first-timer)
• 73 birdies
• 88 bogeys or worse
Set a personal best at Met Center (-1) and tied a PB with 7 birdies 🤙🏿
Also tied my PB at Circle C (-2) 🔥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
IS YOUR WEBSITE RUNNING OFF AN OLD SCRIPT?
Social media has *completely* changed the way we use the internet.
And this means you need to make some changes if you want your website to be effective.
This free, 7-part content series explains it all 👇🏿
https://diythemes.com/nobody-browses-websites/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
DO YOU RUN A WEBSITE?
Think about the EXPERIENCE of running your site…
• Is it complicated? High maintenance?
• Are you able to do the things you want? Can you do them yourself?
If your experience stinks, you’re lost in Stage 2.
Learn more 👇🏿
https://diythemes.com/stage-1-stage-2/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Have you run a website for 2 years or more?
You’re probably sitting on a lead generation GOLDMINE that is—for now, at least—virtually untapped!
Here’s how you can remix/repurpose old content to teach your audience any topic! 🔥
https://diythemes.com/thesis/5-content-lessons/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Bottom line?
Internet user behavior has changed in the age of social media.
Your website MUST deliver immediately, or else people will head back to their dopamine-rich social media feeds.
If you want results, you need to FOCUS 🔥
https://diythemes.com/focus/
Show thread → Tweet Thread 423
pearsonified
@pearsonified
If visitors want clarity, why are you serving them:
• a gigantic navigation menu
• a huge hero image that’s only tangentially related to your content and takes 3 seconds to load
• a sidebar full of distracting links to other pages
• links to related posts
🤔
Show thread → Tweet Thread 423
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Specifically, website visitors want SPEED and CLARITY.
Why aren’t you focused on either?
Your relationship begins when the page starts to load.
Are you respecting—or rejecting—this basic reality?
Show thread → Tweet Thread 423
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Your visitors want you to have a fast website—indeed, the fastest website you can possibly have.
Why haven’t you made this a top priority?
Show thread → Tweet Thread 423
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Great copy is priceless and timeless.
That’s why it’s so difficult to compose.
pearsonified
@pearsonified
What’s one difference between Thesis/Focus and every other #WordPress Theme that’s ever existed?
Instead of storing static code inside template files, Thesis turns that code into LIVING HTML OBJECTS that can be edited, moved around, and extended for unlimited functionality.
pearsonified
@pearsonified
If you lived through the golden age of Moore’s Law—when the graphical capabilities of gaming consoles literally doubled every 4 years—you’ll struggle to grasp a basic reality of software:
Just like written content, software can also be evergreen.
Few.
pearsonified
@pearsonified
If you run a #WordPress website, this is nearly impossible because:
• the platform gets more bloated with every release
• everyone relies on Plugins that commit myriad performance sins
Your only hope is the ⚡️ LIGHTNING FAST ⚡️ Focus WordPress Theme:
https://diythemes.com/focus/
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
To RUN and MANAGE an effective website over time…
(please note how I did NOT say “create a design that satisfies your ego”)
You MUST minimize the following:
• Software dependencies
• Idiosyncratic customization touchpoints
It’s the only way to win over the long term 🥇
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
But like I said, it was a difficult journey that took me about 3 months to complete.
(And really 6 months for every last detail within the existing ~850 pages of content.)
If you ever reach this point with your own website, you will understand:
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
In my case, refactoring DIYthemes improved page load times across the board from ~3s to ~1s.
Enhanced organization enabled me to create better documentation and also to provide better support.
I can run the business by myself now, too.
https://diythemes.com/
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Getting rid of old baggage? Sounds great!
But with a website, this is a gigantic, technical, and expensive pain in the ass.
A full-scale refactoring is simultaneously the most painful and liberating experience you’ll ever have running a website.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
If you run a website for 10+ years, you are GUARANTEED to face at least one TECHNICAL DEBT JUBILEE.
This is a hair-tearing-out moment where you realize you cannot continue to live with the technical debt and legacy code you’ve accumulated.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 414
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Does website speed *really* matter?
If so, how *much* does it matter?
And how can you test your site to ensure it’s fast enough?
Discover the answers to these questions and more in this article + (occasionally hilarious) video 👇🏿🔥
https://diythemes.com/performance-optimization-testing/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Achieve ANYTHING YOU WANT on the internet with these 4 core assets:
• Emails 📧
• Web pages 📑
• Videos 🎥
• Tweets 🐥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
How can you publish tweets on your own property BEFORE pushing them to Twitter?
I built Focus OmniTweet for precisely this purpose.
It’s a fun and awesome new way to compose content on your own site…and to become UNCANCELLABLE in the process! 🔥
https://diythemes.com/focus/omnitweet/
Show thread → Tweet Thread 408
pearsonified
@pearsonified
• Your tweets are still available on your website, where fans can (and WILL) link to them while your cancellation is making the viral rounds.
• This is a perfect opportunity to convert casual readers to subscribers (or even paying customers!)
Massively untapped opportunity.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 408
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Mass Citation Events are a BIG DEAL. Here’s how they work:
• Publish your best content on your site FIRST and THEN push it to Twitter
• If you get cancelled, your tweets become inaccessible, BUT…
Show thread → Tweet Thread 408
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Another high-profile cancellation today—this time it’s @ConceptualJames.
Unfortunately, James did not post his best tweets and threads to his own website, where they could be linked ad nauseam by his biggest fans.
A Mass Citation Event is a great way to fight censorship.
Show thread → Tweet Thread 408
pearsonified
@pearsonified
DID YOU KNOW?
Dubai’s highest paid copywriter, @NabeelAzeezDXB, REQUIRES that his clients use the Focus #WordPress Theme.
Why?
Because it’s the easiest way to create FAST and RICH sales pages 🔥
In this video, I show you *exactly* how he does it 👇🏿
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJUSs93B0DI
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Blogging is dead because people’s CONTENT CONSUMPTION behaviors have changed.
But that doesn’t mean WEBSITES are dead or that you don’t need to publish content on them anymore.
You still need HARD-HITTING PAGES.
And now you’re free to focus on QUALITY over quantity 💫
pearsonified
@pearsonified
If you run a WordPress website…
AND you sell something…
Check out the 🔥 Modular Content Plugin 🔥
Easily add product pitches, email opt-ins, checkout modules, or anything else you can think of to any page of your site!
👇🏿👀
https://diyplugins.com/modular-content/
pearsonified
@pearsonified
My son has clearly been sent as an aspirational figure for the rest of mankind.
For example, you will NEVER be able to nap in as Chad-like a manner as he can 👇🏿
But by god, you should at least TRY! 🔥
pearsonified
@pearsonified
How can this happen?
Perhaps the United States’ original experiment in Federalism can provide a template.
Certain states could promote these high risk economic opportunity zones.
But the forces of the status quo are unlikely to allow *anything* like that.
Time will tell!
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Until we DO because we CAN, our world will continue to collapse on itself as it becomes consumed by its own gravity.
The hour is getting late, friends.
We must toss aside the shackles and reach for the stars, lest we NEVER have a chance to reach for them again.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Risk is so much larger than just capital.
It’s taking the Oregon Trail and staring death in the face.
It’s trying crazy things because no one will shut you down for running afoul of regulation [x] or legal precedent [y].
It’s doing things simply because we CAN.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
In our low risk society, the only high risk element involves MONEY.
That’s too narrow to promote outcomes that lead to expansion in 3 dimensions.
High risk producers AND consumers must “get reps in” to determine a magical future.
Without this pairing, it cannot happen!
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Low risk is the society we have now.
It has its perks! Life ain’t too bad, if I’m being honest.
But I have FOMO because I *know* what we’re missing!
We need a high risk OPTION for those who dare.
One where lawyers and insurance agencies aren’t welcome.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Today, we talk a lot about societal bifurcation—specifically, the “two Americas” that now seem incompatible with one another.
But this rift is at least 21 years old.
What we really need are 2 playing fields—high risk and low risk.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Epcot Center looks quaint and almost embarrassing now.
The future never really happened.
We crushed pioneers with a burdensome regulatory state.
We killed innovation by obsessing over Security and Safety. (This harmed family formation, too, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
It’s been 37 years since 1985.
Why the hell can’t I cross the Atlantic Ocean in 3 hours or less?
Why haven’t humans already been to Mars?
Why is NASA—the most inspiring acronym of all time—dead?
Why do cars just run hotter instead of getting 90mpg?
It’s all bullshit.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Even the damned internet—our shared projection of a new frontier—devoured itself to bring us the unholy FAANG overlords.
How the hell could so many vectors align to squash the unlimited progress we were promised?
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
The result was an era of extreme centralization.
Ruthless mergers and acquisitions were the hallmarks, with the big players swallowing up the smaller ones like a cartoonish procession of ever-larger fish eating one another.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
The threat of litigation is a severe deterrent, and we dove headlong into the Security State without considering the grave consequences that go with it.
Predictably, the window of innovation narrowed, as only the largest and most calcified organizations could afford compliance.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
The obsession with security lead to an obsession with calling out—and penalizing—anyone who didn’t dot every i and cross every t.
Lawyers and insurance agencies hollowed out every last product, adding miles of disclaimers to previously-unsullied items (like stuffed animals, ffs)
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
9/11 really f*cked it all up.
Stuff that used to be fun and exciting—like flying—became a gigantic pain in the ass.
We started to obsess over security, an asymptotic concept.
Moore’s Law finally reached the longtail plateau of slow, incremental improvements.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Somehow, the progress seemed unbroken through 1995.
The Concorde was a small hiccup, but other than that, all graphs were going up.
The internet ushered in a new era of discovery and connection.
Gaming systems kept doubling graphical capacity with each new console release.
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Been trying to recall the imagery of the 1980s that made me believe technological progress and innovation were not only increasing, but forever *accelerating*:
• Space shuttle
• Concorde
• Epcot Center
• Computers
• Nintendo + SEGA
• Amusement parks
Show thread → What happened to the future?
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in July:
• 17 rounds played
• 9 different courses (5 first-timers)
• 4 states (TX, KY, IN, FL)
• 41 birdies
• 73 bogeys or worse
Set a personal best at Steeplechase Park (E) 🤙🏿
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in June:
• 16 rounds played
• 7 different courses
• 2 states (TX, CA)
• 58 birdies
• 54 bogeys or worse
Set personal bests on Searight (-5), Circle C (-2) and Met Center (+1) 🤙🏿
pearsonified
@pearsonified
No matter who you are, your copy would be more effective if you made better use of CONTEXTUAL BOLDING.
What’s that?
Simply bolding key words or phrases within each paragraph to create a series of “attention lily pads” for visitors to jump on as they scroll down the page.
🧠
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Contrary to popular belief, visitors aren’t looking for an “experience” on your website.
No—
They’re looking for SPECIFIC INFORMATION based on a PROMISE made in social media, an email, search results, or some other source.
Your job is to deliver QUICKLY and CLEARLY.
pearsonified
@pearsonified
“Inflation is made in Washington, because only Washington can create money. And any other attribution…is wrong….
What produces it is too much government spending, and too much government creation of money, and nothing else.”
~ Milton Friedman
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Complexity is an illusion.
What we *think* are complex systems are really just composite interactions between smaller, simpler systems.
Unfortunately, most people do not understand this.
Thus, they mistakenly believe complexity is a necessary ingredient in fantastic outcomes.
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Boom! Hucked a personal best (-5) at Mary Moore Searight in 102º heat 🥵🥏
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Shot a personal best (-2) at Circle C this morning 🔥🥏
pearsonified
@pearsonified
🥏 Disc golf in May:
• 12 rounds played
• 3 different courses
→ Zilker: -12
→ Circle C: +10
→ Searight: -3
• 43 birdies
• 32 bogeys or worse
Set personal bests on Searight (-3) and Circle C (+1), also tied a PB on Zilker (-5) 🤙🏿
pearsonified
@pearsonified
One way to visualize an area of 10 square acres:
A 660 foot square 🟧
pearsonified
@pearsonified
But as I mentioned earlier in the thread, this underground parking MUST be paired with above-ground limitations! Specifically:
• Consistently-sized city blocks
• Height limits for buildings
This is the way!
May we all live long enough to enjoy a shining example of it 🥂
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Furthermore, given the spatial requirements for parking and the aesthetic limits of disguising above-ground parking garages as actual architecture…
I can only recommend underground parking garages as the *best* way forward in any modern planning.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
This is a difficult discipline because it involves solving for multiple variables simultaneously.
It’s hard enough to consider each variable in a new development; it’s almost impossible when retrofitting.
In other words, it’s hard work, and that’s why we don’t see much of it 🤷🏾♀️
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
But there’s one last caveat:
People—especially Americans—value CONVENIENCE.
And because of this, both roads and parking must be close to any destination.
Developments must carefully integrate roads and parking without interfering with the energy or aesthetics of public places.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Clear distinctions—”this plaza is for people, and no cars are allowed”—are the bedrock of celebrated public spaces.
Consider NYC’s stretch of Broadway between 46th and 47th streets, where cars are not allowed:
You’ll find people gathering, dining, performing—LIVING.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
In a car-first society (like 99% of America), pining for a truly car-free city is futile.
But through thoughtful planning and development, we can QUARANTINE the different modes of consuming a city.
This creates distinct places for cars vs. places for people.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
New developments can *absolutely* be built to achieve the following goals:
• Minimize the impact and intrusion of cars into pedestrian spaces
• Maximize the human-scaled points of interaction for pedestrians
Achieving the former makes the latter possible.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
This is the point at which the incentives behind car-free and car-scaled cities align.
When we achieve effective, human-scaled density, we also shorten the distance between points of interest.
This serves everyone’s needs and should be the focus of city planning commissions!
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Interestingly, while we accept some degree of car-scaling within our cities, we also value convenience and efficiency.
In other words, while we may not mind jumping in our cars, we would prefer our routine trips be as short as possible.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Cars, parking, cities, and aesthetics:
• Car-free cities = aesthetic and human-scaled but extremely limited
• Car-scaled cities = unlimited but grossly inefficient and necessarily ugly
Clearly, any practical solutions for the future will occupy a middle ground.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Given these constraints—and the known PAIN of massive urban retrofitting projects like Boston’s “Big Dig”—it’s clear that underground parking must be part of an initial plan, or else it’s unlikely to ever happen.
And this returns us to the point of the thread…
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
That’s over $27,000 per parking space!
And it is clearly only viable in extremely limited circumstances:
• Areas where the benefits outweigh the costs + interruptions
• Ability to dig underground without significant consequence (sorry, New Orleans)
• Public/private consensus
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
From 2005–2010, the city of Savannah, GA, undertook the construction of an underground parking garage for its bustling City Market district.
The project added 1100 parking spaces at a cost of over $30M—a price paid through a combination of public and private funding.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
UNFORTUNATELY
This is the most expensive way to accommodate parking 😔
It’s bad enough before development, but it’s prohibitively expensive—and oftentimes impossible—to retrofit into an existing city.
It’s also the only way to accommodate parking without destroying aesthetics.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
Increasingly, I am only convinced of one solution, and it won’t work everywhere:
UNDERGROUND PARKING paired with…
• Consistently-sized city blocks
• Height limits on buildings
This creates a fixed maximum population density per square mile; can be scaled out over time.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
With that said, it is clear people prefer walkable cities and, more specifically, neighborhoods built to a human scale—and without the constant presence (and threat) of cars.
But no cars = too far 😬
And too many cars = Houston 🤮
So what can we do?
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future
pearsonified
@pearsonified
But in a modern context, the desire for a truly car-free city is a childish pipe dream.
In fact, I suspect most people would see the whole thing as a net loss—ESPECIALLY families with children who are into sports or other activities where longer-range travel is essential.
Show thread → Cities that Solve the Parking Problem Will Win the Future