Phil Levin
@levin_phil
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All about happier / healthier / funner ways to live. Founder @livenearfriends. Founding team @Culdesac. Lives @ Radish in Oakland Writes Supernuclear
Bay Area
Joined December 2018
Over the past 8 years, I’ve had the privilege of designing and developing multifamily projects in Minneapolis and mentoring developers through The Bright Build. Along the way, one thing has become clear and that is that I bring two valuable things to the table: 1.) A
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Absolutely LOVE the idea of Live Near Friends -- hope this and other projects like it are super successful https://t.co/xHXlQWgcDl
livenearfriends.com
Live right next door to friends and family. One of the best things you can do for your health and happiness.
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I'm doing a 4-day solo reading retreat. Name an essay you would COMPEL me to read. (more interested in learning about stuff than reading hot takes)
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A feature that Opendoor, or anyone else, should really take advantage of: Helping people live near their friends, family or community In Opendoor's Series A deck, there was the commonsense, but powerful, observation that there was some portion of Sellers who had a very high
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“If you dream of living in a small town surrounded by creative, high-agency people, we’re building this for you,” @devonzuegel told us. The former software engineer is building Esmeralda, a Tuscan-style town 90 mins from SF that will look and feel unlike most places built in the
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This wonderful project has sparked excitement as an example of affordable housing in an expensive European city. However, an exploration of the project and its costs reveals that it isn't cheap. Let's take a tour.
Chicago’s newest affordable housing (L) costs $880k/unit. Paris affordable housing (R) costs €180/unit … and has a solid limestone facade. Chicago’s affordable housing system is broken because it relies on expensive, inefficient development models and building designs. At
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Photo is of The Ember in Edmond Oklahoma (not my project!) https://t.co/Awfu9gBWad
unionstudioarch.com
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I talked to 20+ people over 55 about their ideal next home. Nearly all described some version of a privately-owned home in a Cottage Courtyard.
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With help from @Chris_Smeder, @JonathanHillis, @levin_phil, @devonzuegel, @damonhemmerding, @Cobylefko, @jansramek, @AustinTunnell and @davegordon14, I made this wishlist of changes that could make it easier to build more beautiful & walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of
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Has never been a better time in American history to be an older person. Amazing reverse value capture that continually increases.
I understand the gerontocracy has a stranglehold on American politics, but it's wild that we're cutting Medicaid in part so we can give seniors a $6000 tax deduction just for being seniors and there's ~zero negative coverage of the issue
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I reckon that living near 20+ friends has doubled the fertility rate of our friend group. •Some had kids who wouldn’t have •Some had more kids than planned (inc. us) •Some had kids earlier [Shilling for the "housing theory of fertility"]
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Chinese cities occasionally sell land to developers before buying out all the existing residents. But sometimes existing residents refuse to be bought out, so developers are forced to build around them. These are "nail houses"🧵
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At @livenearfriends we see a specific opportunity to build 2-4 unit courtyards designed for friends/fam rather than strangers.
The answer to “why don’t people have more friends?” isn’t AI. It’s housing. Let people afford to live near the people they care about and love. Build more homes.
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The answer to “why don’t people have more friends?” isn’t AI. It’s housing. Let people afford to live near the people they care about and love. Build more homes.
Zuckerberg explaining how Meta is creating personalized AI friends to supplement your real ones: “The average American has 3 friends, but has demand for 15.”
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Soapbox moment: never ask “what could go wrong” without remembering the other parts of the risk triplet “How likely is it?” “What are the consequences?” And bonus, what could go right?
if you think this behavior is a problem you are a bad person
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what if there is global thermonuclear war? what if 37 mutant superterrorists invade your room? what if there's an earthquake? what if you're dozing off right beside your child and they have sudden cardiac arrest? what if we just imagine an infinite list of incredibly low
This is the way I think of it; what if there is a fire? There is nobody there to save your baby.
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Lukewarmer take: You are not allowed to both be anti-sprawl AND anti new city. If you are anti-sprawl you should be clamoring for new cities.
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