Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY. There was also a 71% drop in air pollution. Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/03/08/closing-central-madrid-to-cars-resulted-in-9-5-boost-to-retail-spending-finds-bank-analysis/

The Ruby Developer Experience team at Shopify has just launched Rubydex, a building block for indexing and (semantically) querying your Ruby codebases. @vinistock.bsky.social has a write up explaining what it is and how it works here: https://railsatscale.com/2026-05-12-one-engine-many-tools/

Interesting ...

Better cars are like better cigarettes. We stay dependent, they sell more. #UrbanTruth

Motonormativity is a shared bias whereby people judge motorised mobility differently to other comparable topics. This works against societies addressi…

STUDY: Those microplastics from tires and such don’t just pollute the air and prematurely kill us. They’re also fuelling the climate crisis. #UrbanTruth https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-05-05/microplastics-in-the-air-are-making-earth-hotter-study-finds

Remember this quote EVERY time you’re asked to “prove” the need for safe street conditions. Via our own @brenttoderian.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth

“Without a compelling narrative, [the truth about better cities] can be dismissed, distorted, or ignored.” “We’re ambitious when it comes to real-world change,” Toderian adds. “Why wouldn’t we be?” Read this excellent @momentummag.bsky.social interview. #UrbanTruth https://momentummag.com/urban-truth-collective-and-the-fight-to-fix-misinformation-about-bike-lanes-traffic-and-city-living/

So MANY examples… #UrbanTruth #BikeLanesMeanBusiness [contains quote post or other embedded content]

Did you miss our 1st URBAN TRUTH STARTER PACK? These are accounts with unusually good communications or marketing/branding of issues and ideas for better city-building. Sharing the truth more persuasively, and calling out disinformation & lies! Please follow & SHARE! #UrbanTruth go.bsky.app/47w5jKk [contains quote post or other embedded content]

WATCH: “You’ve been lied to about roads for 60 years.” And you’re still being lied to today. Building more and wider roads WON’T reduce traffic congestion or support the economy. But they WILL cost us billions, increase pollution, emissions, noise and road deaths, and trap us in longer commutes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=CVq7XOXkg1U

The Road Lobby claims cars deliver freedom. But what about the freedom to NOT have to drive? #UrbanTruth Our #1HourCityConspiracy Campaign continues all this week. This poster gives a hat tip to #NotJustBikes.

Here are some clear examples of the results of a Parisien urban policy committed to having a city for people, not for cars 1st graph: NO₂ 2nd graph: particulate matter (annual average). Measurements based on data provided by Airparif. Paris has shown that change is possible. @urbantruth.bsky.social

NEW: “The initiative is less an advocacy group & more a communications intervention. Its premise is blunt: the reason so many good urban ideas stall isn’t because they’re wrong—it’s because they’re losing the narrative war.” Read about us in @momentummag.bsky.social! https://momentummag.com/urban-truth-collective-and-the-fight-to-fix-misinformation-about-bike-lanes-traffic-and-city-living/