Not tickled by TikTok? Try these urbanist entries

At GGWash, we love to blog and tweet about urbanism. But there’s a world of other ways people communicate about transportation, housing and land use. As a card-carrying millennial gris (my inauthentic French version sounds better than “elder millennial”; work with me), I’m more familiar with some of these formats, like podcasts, than others.

But for a while I’ve been TikTok-curious, so I asked the rest of GGWash staff for their favorite urbanist versions. They did not disappoint.

Do some public spaces make you feel like they’re for cars and not for you? TalkingCities has got you covered on why.

@talkingcities

#greenscreen Cities should be built for people, not cars #urbanplanning #urbandesign #citydesign #cities #architecture

♬ original sound - TalkingCities

Frederick Lewis shows us what environmental racism looks like in practice with a drive through two areas with different demographics.

@frederick_lewis1

Yeahhh racism isn’t just being called a... nvm y’all get it #environmentalracism #racism #politics #houston #foryoupage #fyp

♬ original sound - Frederick Lewis

Mr. Barricade walks us through the design of an intersection with “all four corners protected,” and talks about how this pays off for cyclist and pedestrian safety.

@mrbarricade

#protectedintersection is the future. #bikes make #leftturns from the #bikebox #civilengineering #urbandesign #quickbuild #trafficengineering #larch

♬ original sound - MrBarricade

One for the “density caucus”: Minute Earth uses Godzilla to explain how thoughtful land use can mitigate climate change.

@minuteearth

The suburban burden #learnontiktok #cities #cityplanning #earthday

♬ original sound - MinuteEarth

To me, urbanism means making the most of cities’ great potential to bring values that many of us share to life: sustainability, equity, and human connection. It’s not always easy to communicate those connections to a mass audience, so I’m tickled by these short efforts that hit a sweet spot somewhere between the 140 characters of a tweet and a full-sized blog post in a more interpersonal format. I hope they make you smile or think, and if you have other suggestions, share them!

Thanks to Abby Wester and Kate Jentoft-Herr for contributing their ideas.