Julian Villafuerte
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julian.city
Julian Villafuerte
@julian.city
Transit planner in Montréal // UBC and McGill alumnus // Data science, urbanism, & brighter futures ☀️🌏🌕
🇨🇦🇨🇴🏳️‍🌈
Je m'exprime à titre personnel et non au nom de mon employeur
julian.city
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
See, I think so many of our problems in North America re transit come down to ignoring that speed is REALLY important. I *don't* think its hard to believe that *getting places quickly* is peoples top priority!

This is especially true because most people have access to a car!
It seems hard to believe but speed is probably the number 1 thing users want.
December 6, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I calculated change in access to jobs by transit before and after Winnipeg's bus network redesign. 🚍

The median resident experienced an increase of 4% in access to jobs within 45 minutes, according to my analysis in R.

The redesigned network gets more people to more places within the same time.
November 17, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
The most underappreciated issue in urbanism is the Anglosphere’s transit construction cost problem.

It’s not just that we’re spending too much money on any particular project.

It’s that we could be getting *much more transit* for the *same amount of money we’re currently spending*.
How This Small City Built Light Rail For Cheap
YouTube video by Oh The Urbanity!
youtu.be
September 21, 2025 at 7:12 PM
TIL that St. John's is called "San Juan de Terranova" in Spanish
August 11, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
C’est le grand jour du déménagement (et de la Fête du Canada 🇨🇦)

Les mulos sont disponibles jusqu’à la fin de la journée pour vous vous aider avec le déménagement 📦🪴👕👗

Bonne route 🚲

Merci à @julian.city pour la superbe photo !
July 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Aujourd'hui j'ai pris un mulo pour récupérer les dernières choses qui traînaient dans mon ancien logement ! Déménagement terminé 😌😌

@mulocargo.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Took a mulo cargo bike out today for a costco run 🚲 Was quicker, cheaper and more pleasant than using car share which is how I usually go.

Great initiative that just launched this month in Montreal @mulocargo.bsky.social
June 6, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Ayant grandi à Windsor, je trouve encourageant que les journalistes au Québec s'intéressent à ce que cette ville vit actuellement. Je ressens l'unité de mon pays à ce moment critique de notre histoire commune. Merci @fanniearcand.bsky.social et Dominick Gravel de cet exposé ! lp.ca/4FIcL3?shari...
Dossier | Élections et guerre commerciale | État de choc dans trois régions (3 articles)
L’hostilité de Donald Trump envers le Canada secoue le pays. Le bon voisin que nous avons toujours été se demande comment réagir. Sur son départ, Justin Trudeau a utilisé l’expression elbows up pour d...
lp.ca
March 22, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
Here's my latest reflection on a lesson I learned from a woman who was in the second tower on 9/11.
When the world is turned upside down taking action is the only way to survive.
Our democracy is under threat but politicians are still living in 2024.
charlieangus.substack.com/p/no-return-...
NO RETURN TO NORMAL
A Message To My Fellow Parliamentarians
charlieangus.substack.com
February 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Si on dépasse une profondeur de neige de 54cm à Montréal, ce serait le montant le plus important de neige au sol qu'on aurait vu depuis plus de 50 ans !
February 13, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
It’s time for Canada to import Japanese zoning, Korean and Spanish transit construction practices, Dutch road design, and Swiss building codes.
February 2, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
February 1, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
I keep saying: Canada and Mexico (and EU) should go for a US talent grab.
🧪
If I were Canadian PM I would immediately:

1. Create a new $15B science fund

2. Offer any credentialed US scientist funding for lab startup and replacement of NIH grants if they move to Canada

3. Immediate permanent residency

4. Citizenship after 2 years

Overnight a science superpower
February 1, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
I honestly believe our most powerful position in a toxic time that feeds on cynicism, apathy,& despair is to genuinely care and act for a better world.

Cynicism is our enemy. We should check it, incl. on the left. It’s not intellectually superior. It’s the virus they’re trying to infect us with. NO
January 31, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Pretty funny how the company whose AI technology is considered a "black box" compared to the remarkable openness of DeepSeek is called "OpenAI" www.nature.com/articles/d41...
January 28, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I had some fun with the weathercan library today in R.

Two illustrations of how much milder Canadian winters have gotten : days with sub-zero temps in Vancouver and maximum snow depth in Montreal.
January 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Colombia es el corazón del mundo 💛💙❤️
January 26, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
Not only do 17% of US coffee imports come from Colombia…Colombia is also the largest supplier of cut flowers to the United States.

Valentine’s Day is in 18 days.
NEWS

After President Petro of Colombia denied entry of two US repatriation flights of Colombian migrants, President Trump has announced these retaliatory measures.

Petro said he wouldn’t allow the flights in until Trump establishes a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants.
January 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
"For there is always light
If only we are brave enough to see it
If only we are brave enough to be it"
Four years ago I wrote my inaugural poem The Hill We Climb. Both when I wrote it and performed it, I did so while continuously reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King’s legacy.
January 22, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
Gare Centrale’s signage is a mess: still says AMT (it’s exo now), no signs for REM or exo from outside, a single bad sign to the métro, and nothing to help navigate the RÉSO. So I fixed it—installed 7 signs myself. They’ve been up 3 months, and Cominar hasn’t noticed. www.lapresse.ca/actualites/g...
January 20, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Julian Villafuerte
Most of the solutions to climate change actually make life better, not worse. So we should be moving towards that better future with great joy and haste.
January 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
In the good old days of Twitter, I made sassy commentary on the misplaced values of political leaders in Windsor, Ontario (my hometown).
January 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I just deactivated my account on X. Before departing that space forever, I wanted to return to a tweet by @qagggy.bsky.social from a few years ago that really stuck with me:
January 21, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Took a trip with Metro Connect today, Greater Portland Metro's new on-demand transit service that they launched this month. Pretty neat!!
December 23, 2024 at 11:56 PM