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edenicity.bsky.social
Edenicity
@edenicity.bsky.social
59 followers 26 following 34 posts
Best practices for sustainably abundant cities.
Hosted by Kev Polk

Edenicity is:
🌻 permaculture urbanism.
🚴🏽 a template for Edenic cities.
🚇 a measure of economic + ecological abundance.

🇺🇸 UNITE and DEFEND the CONSTITUTION
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edenicity.bsky.social
Congratulations to MILLIONS who showed up for this! Thousands demonstrated peacefully in Honolulu. Over 15,000 waved or honked their support from their cars.

The tide is turning. We have momentum. Staying UNITED, resisting more, caring more, could make us a nation where all of us thrive. 🤸🌴🏙️
NoKings day map with many circular icons denoting the thousands of events held June 14, 2025 in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, BVI, UK and Europe.
June 15, 2025 at 2:17 AM
edenicity.bsky.social
Why is US housing so expensive?

4 obvious reasons: supersizing, wage theft, speculation by large private equity firms, and price-fixing algorithms.

Less obvious: Since 1949, industry pressure has kept governments from building public housing that has proven successful in other countries.
First, housing got supersized nearly 2⨉ per person. Twice as big: twice the price. [Image of a giant suburban house, with a chart comparing US median home statistics for 1975 and 2020. During this period, home size grew from 1,500 to 2,480 square feet, occupancy fell from 3.14 to 2.53 people, square foot per person grew from 477 to 926 (wow emoji, horrified cat emoji), interest rates were 9% and 7% respectively, average price (in 2023 dollars) went from $82,000 to $164,000, and monthly mortgage per square foot (in 2023 dollars) was $0.35 in 1975 and 2020.] Second, the price hits even harder today because of systematic wage theft since the 1970s. All that extra productivity? Straight into the pockets of CEOs and investors. Way to go, “free” markets. [Chart from the Economic Policy Institute showing both US hourly pay and productivity doubling from 1948 to 1973, then productivity going up another 74% between 1973 and 2013, while hourly pay increases only 9%.] Third, Private equity is buying up houses to speculate in rentals. [Pictured: Headline from USA TODAY October 3, 2023: Blocked by Wall Street: How homebuyers are being outbid in droves by investors.] Fourth, Big rental listing services are facing lawsuits for alleged price-fixing. [Pictured: headline from Realtor.com May 9, 2025: 9 States Are Suing Landlords Over Rent-Setting Algorithms]
June 5, 2025 at 9:40 PM
edenicity.bsky.social
Remember when platforms drove politics? In an era of personality cults, I felt the 🫏 weren’t articulating a clear enough vision for 🇺🇸. So I pulled together lists of issues that a majority of 🇺🇸 support (plus some permaculture urbanism😀). Here ya go,🫏—your Missing Platform.
STRONG ECONOMY: Make housing a human right. Build high-amenity, mixed-income apartments. Cut military budgets 2% per month until all audits are clean. Make quality education FREE for life. Pay a universal basic income. Tax capital more than labor. Support labor unions. Save the Post Office. SAFETY AND HEALTH: Strongly regulate guns to make schools and public gatherings safe again. Vastly expand public transit (60⨉ safer than cars, far less polluting). Support diversified urban agriculture and forestry. Make pregnancy safe again: restore Roe v. Wade. Provide universal public healthcare for life. Prioritize walkable neighborhoods. QUALITY ENVIRONMENT: Make energy 100% renewable by 2050 (costs less just than buying more fossil fuels). End sprawl subsidies (fuels, roads, water, taxes). Upgrade all buildings for energy efficiency. Expand and protect the national parks. Invest in rail, not roads or highways. Restore damaged wildlife habitat JUSTICE: Promptly enforce Ethics in Government—all branches! Condemn and divest from nations waging genocide. Enforce Amendment 14§3: insurrectionists out! Decriminalize drugs. Treat addiction. Strengthen consumer protections. Counter voter suppression. Reverse Citizens United. Shut down ICE.
June 4, 2025 at 7:50 PM
edenicity.bsky.social
It’s appalling that the US has both a housing shortage and way too many supersized, exclusive residences full of empty rooms. OK, free markets, you’ve shot your shot. Time for governments to step in and get everyday people housed.
432 Park Avenue, New York City, with units listed at $90 million, has seen low occupancy amid tenant lawsuits. Meanwhile, Singapore builds however much public housing it takes to get people housed, resulting in 90% home ownership (vs 65% in the US). All without undercutting the open market.
May 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
edenicity.bsky.social
According to the UN, the world’s urban population is growing by 200,000 people a day. So… do we need new cities? No. Ecologically sound, urbanist upgrades can accommodate growth in existing cities without displacing people or ecosystems.
Daytime panorama of Hong Kong skyline and waterfront from the hills behind the city. Hong Kong's population grew massively in the 20th century, yet it is 75% green space to this day.
May 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
edenicity.bsky.social
My sign for the HandsOff protest: "UNITE and DEFEND the CONSTITUTION." People waving signs at the HandsOff protest at the state capital in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 5, 2025. There were thousands of protesters, and the streets were jammed with honking cars, many with HandsOff signs of their own.
April 6, 2025 at 6:40 AM
edenicity.bsky.social
Join the REVERSE BOYCOTT!
I'm riding public transit even MORE now.
Because oil billionaires bought the last election.

NGL, I'm getting a lot more reading done.
I also like being 50x safer.
Oh, and using 95% less energy, land and material to get around than by car, for 90% less $$$.
Three buses pulling up to a stop in a dedicated bus lane in Honolulu. several people are seated at the sheltered bus stop. The lead bus has a red bicycle in its front carrier. Its lighted sign says "Waikiki" and "UH Manoa."
April 4, 2025 at 1:05 AM