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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 4h

Let’s do this yesterday!

The Boston LOL 💜 🚲 ⚡ @thebostonlol.bsky.social · 13h

If you can pedestrianize Broadway in NYC, Boston can make Newbury St permanently car free #CarLiteBoston

Qagggy! @qagggy.bsky.social · 1d

Some of the urbanism happening in New York City…is stunning.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Phew! That was a lot. Thanks for sticking with me to the end. As a treat, here’s a video of the Swedish train I went on with a fantastic red leather couch in the cafe car. Until next time!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Lastly, I did a quick day trip to Tallinn! The ferry there was just 2 hours, but was on a cruise ship. The city was very walkable and cute with a nice mix of new and old. The transit was nice (and c*nty trams), however one line was not running and there were no signs!

A large ferry that looks like a cruise ship.

A light in a tunnel almost falling down.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

As for design, I visited the Alvar Aalto house which was, well, gorgeous. I also saw these cube address lights all over the city that I became obsessed with. Still trying to source one in the US… stay tuned.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Helsinki had some nice public spaces. The central library was incredibly gorgeous (and had a great maker space). There were also lots of saunas, which were simply lovely. More public saunas! You can definitely see the Soviet influence in the city.

Helsinki library exterior with a large wooden facade.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

I then took an overnight ferry to Helsinki. Their public transit was great, with frequent trams that ran all over and an easy train to the airport. Though, turns out the scooters stop working after midnight and I had to run 30 mins home at 3am after going out the night before my early flight home.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Stockholm had some nice pedestrian streets and plazas, some new public spaces under construction, and a sunken plaza. Being a city of islands, you are always close to the water and the scenery was gorgeous. Oh, and CONGESTION PRICING!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

They had outdoor workout areas at parks with literal logs you can lift. Fun.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

The biking was a mixed bag. Some good lanes, but other streets without. There were a lot of people biking though (including some bike mail carriers). I also saw this red bike, is that a Swedish ghost bike? There was also a cute mini truck that picked up the recycling.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

After CPH, I took the train to Stockholm! The ride was beautiful, though a bit rough and slow at times. In Stockholm, the public transit (T) was fast, and frequent. The metro is known for its dramatic painted ceilings which TBH look a lot better in photos than in person (they need a clean).

A metro station with a dramatic painted ceiling.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Copenhagen has great access to and activation around water. From swimming spots in the city center to paths along the banks, the city has really opened itself up to the harbor. Lets bring water access to Boston!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

There are also so many great third spaces, like Absalon where I always go for a community dinner when I’m in town. There’s also Studenterhuset, and a whole bunch more.

People having dinner inside a colorful building.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Copenhagen has amazing public spaces (and trampolines). I checked out a few new ones—the Paper Island development is strange (not human scale), and the new park by the Opera is nice, though actually sits on top of a parking garage (the park kind of goes into the garage, its weird and kinda cool).

Buildings that kind of look like Toblerone bars.

A park with a glass building next to it.

A tree coming up from the bottom of a underground garage.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Biking is obvi amazing in Copenhagen. It always strikes me just HOW many bikes there are. Every journey is on safe streets. They also have lots of little details that make biking easier, like lean bars at intersections and rails on stairs (we need these all over Boston). And great traffic calming.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

This arrival screen had an interesting way of showing upcoming trains. Not sure I like it, but it is interesting!

Arrival screen showing visually how close trains are to the station.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

The new Metro is amazing! And the S-Tog system is an incredible regional rail (though it was under construction and had 30 min headways). In general, transit is fast, efficient, and just… easy. My one complaint is that they’ve moved to an app for payment. I much prefer to tap a card!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Oh Copenhagen… It was nice to be back. It’s truly one of my favorite cities. One thing I did notice more this time is its homogeneity. Both explicitly and implicitly there is pressure to confirm and it leads to much less diversity in all senses of the word.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

This awesome project took a closed department store and turned it into a skate park! Amazing reuse of vacant space.

Debenhams store with "DEB" crossed out and "SHRED" written over it.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

There was also this weird sunken plaza in the middle of a large roundabout. Which was funny. I also loved this detail of the ridged metal curb.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

After London, I went to Bristol (via Somerset for a castle wedding)! They had lovely modern busses (I'm BEGGING for a US modern bus). They only had dockless ebikes, which (while better than nothing) are complex set up and dock, heavy, and can be hard to find. Docked systems are just better IMO.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Lastly, I went to two transit-related museums. The Postal Museum had an old mail train you could ride. It was amazing, even though it was entirely children with their grandparents. The TFL museum was also incredible—going through so much history of London’s transport system.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

I visited two brutalist developments. The Barbican was visually interesting, though in classic brutalism fashion, hard to navigate. Loved the conversation pit fountains though. Alexandra Road Estate was quite striking. I just can’t say no to brutalism covered in plants, a match made in 1970s heaven.

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

I saw lots of public spaces. Regent’s Canal was both lovely and… industrial (I love an urban canal). Coal Drops Yard was architecturally impressive, but ultimately corporate placemaking. There was a cool skate park under a building by the Thames! Canary Wharf was a bit weird, but Camden was lovely!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

There were some lovely pedestrian streets across the city. And London knows how to use their bollards (including as a modal filter). You can tell which neighborhood you’re in by the bollard type!

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Aaron Greiner @aarongreiner.bsky.social · 14h

Biking was a bit hit or miss. There was some great connected routes, but also a lot of large roads that were quite dangerous. It also did not help that I had to remember to stay to the left. I did see a lot of delivery bikes!

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