Urbanism and Activism – David William Rosales

From fights for safer bike infrastructure and better transit, to my work in New York’s community gardens, here are my articles and reflections on building better cities and societies.

Bike Advocacy | Transit Advocacy | Compost | Green Space & Gardens | Climate | Housing

Bike Advocacy

Urbanism

SusqueCycle Review: Harrisburg’s Bike Share Has Potential, But Needs to Grow [With Video]

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025
Essays | Urbanism

Bean Soup and Bike Lanes: Can We Have Nice Things Even If We Don’t All Use Them?

December 1, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

8 Tools NYC’s Mayor Has to Improve Bike Infrastructure in 2026

November 19, 2025
Urbanism

New York’s Fifth Avenue Redesign Is Both Progress and a Missed Opportunity

November 4, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

7 Visuals That Show Just How Much Space Cars Really Waste

October 31, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

No, Bike Lanes Don’t Cause Gentrification. Let’s Clear Up This Common Misconception.

October 23, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Travel

A Hidden Gem in the Bronx: The Bronx River Greenway’s Starlight and Concrete Plant Park

October 21, 2025April 23, 2026
Urbanism

Actually, Cyclists Should Be Able to Go at Red Lights (Here’s Why)

August 30, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

Why Broadway Should Be Fully Car-Free from Union Square to Columbus Circle

August 29, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

What Is the Green Wave for Bikes? How Retimed Traffic Lights Change Cities

August 25, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

11 Reasons Bike Lanes Are Controversial, and Why They Shouldn’t Be

May 26, 2025December 4, 2025
Health and Fitness | Urbanism

11 Evidence-Based Benefits of Protected Bike Lanes

April 23, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Benefits of Street “Daylighting” — And How We Can Do it Right

February 12, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

2000 Citi Bike Miles Later: I Pass On All My Pro Tips for NYC’s Ride-Share

October 9, 2024May 4, 2026
Urbanism

Let’s Make Our Major Streets Like Barcelona’s Gran Vía

May 18, 2024December 4, 2025
Persuasion | Urbanism

Good and Boring Bike Share Names

April 16, 2024December 4, 2025

Transit Advocacy

Short Writing | Urbanism

The Best Way to Lower Gas Prices is To Reduce Dependence on Gas

March 15, 2026March 15, 2026
Travel | Urbanism

How to Get to Every U.S. World Cup Stadium by Public Transportation

February 21, 2026June 23, 2026
Urbanism

A Realistic Transit Plan for the Cross Bronx

February 7, 2026February 7, 2026
Urbanism

Why the 125th Street Subway Is a “Now or Never” Project for New York City

January 25, 2026January 25, 2026
Travel | Urbanism

What Are Spain’s Media Distancia Trains? My Experience Riding the Overlooked Rail Option

January 6, 2026January 22, 2026
Urbanism

The NYC F/M Train Swap, Explained: What Changed and Why

December 1, 2025
Urbanism

6 Ways Mayor Zohran Mamdani Can Make NYC Buses Faster, Without Albany

November 14, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

7 Visuals That Show Just How Much Space Cars Really Waste

October 31, 2025
Urbanism

Could the Interborough Express (IBX) Ever Reach the Bronx? Here’s What It Would Take

October 14, 2025February 7, 2026
Urbanism

One Year Later: Is Congestion Pricing Working For the Bronx?

September 24, 2025December 24, 2025
Urbanism

Pennsylvania’s Transit Crisis Shows What’s Broken About U.S. Transit Funding

August 23, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Case for Car-Free Streets: From NYC’s 14th Street to Every U.S. City

August 22, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Norfolk Tide Light Rail: Its Problems, Potential, and the Story of the “Worst LRT in America”

August 9, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

Is Amtrak in Trouble? Its Problems, What The Future Holds, And How We Can Shape It

August 1, 2025December 16, 2025
Travel

15 Tips to Work Remotely on Transit: Buses, Trains, and Planes

July 23, 2025May 31, 2026
Sustainability | Urbanism

Why We Should Remove and Reimagine Highways: The Cross Bronx Case Study

July 4, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

The Pros and Cons of Free Buses: Examining Zohran’s Proposal

June 27, 2025January 31, 2026
Urbanism

4 Zoning Regulations We Should All Be Against

June 25, 2025December 4, 2025
Travel | Urbanism

The New York Transit Museum: A Hidden Gem For More Than Train Nerds

June 14, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Travel

Why I Take Amtrak Instead of Flying (Most of The Time)

March 23, 2025May 9, 2026

Compost

Sustainability

How to Keep Indoor Compost from Smelling (It’s Easier Than You Think)

January 29, 2026January 29, 2026
Sustainability

How I Keep an Outdoor Compost Pile From Smelling, Even in a Community Garden

January 11, 2026February 7, 2026
Sustainability

7 Winter Compost Tips to Keep Your Pile Active, From an NYC Composter

December 16, 2025December 20, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

NYC Spends $150M Exporting Food Waste. Community Composting Costs Less.

December 8, 2025April 20, 2026
Sustainability

I Run a Community Compost. Here’s What Really Doesn’t Belong in the Bin.

October 11, 2025
Sustainability

How to Get the Brown to Green Ratio in Compost Right (With Real Examples)

September 5, 2025October 11, 2025
Sustainability

The 4 Ways to Compost in NYC — And the Pros and Cons of Each

January 25, 2025May 19, 2025
Sustainability

How to Start a Community Compost Program (Based on Our Real NYC Experience)

January 18, 2025December 5, 2025
Sustainability

Calling Anaerobic Digestion “Composting” Is Greenwashing

September 22, 2024December 5, 2025
Sustainability

How I Helped People in a Conservative Town in Connecticut to Compost

July 17, 2024December 5, 2025

Green Space and Gardens

Sustainability

I’m Starting a Garden, of Questionable Legality

March 22, 2026June 5, 2026
Sustainability | Urbanism

NYC Spends $150M Exporting Food Waste. Community Composting Costs Less.

December 8, 2025April 20, 2026
Urbanism

Elizabeth St Garden and Pitting Two Needs Against Each Other

November 24, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The London Plane: New York City’s Most Loved and Hated Tree

October 30, 2025December 4, 2025
Essays | Sustainability

What’s Holding Back the Community Garden Movement

September 21, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability

How to Get the Brown to Green Ratio in Compost Right (With Real Examples)

September 5, 2025October 11, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

Urban Rewilding Examples: How Cities Can Bring Nature Back

June 18, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Pros and Cons of Green Roofs: More Complicated Than You Think

June 4, 2025December 4, 2025
Essays | Uncategorized

Adding 1000 Gardens, Land Use, and the Biggest Problem With Car-Dependency

May 16, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability

The Bronx River Was Healing. Now The EPA Cut Its Funds.

April 9, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability

Guerrilla Gardening Chronicle: Willow Spiral on a Bronx Sidewalk

October 2, 2024December 4, 2025
Uncategorized

Community Gardens Can Save Us: 21 Benefits of These Volunteer-Led Spaces

August 9, 2024May 9, 2026
Health and Fitness | Short Writing | Sustainability

Foraging for Wild Ramps

May 28, 2024August 10, 2024

Climate

Sustainability | Urbanism

Urban Rewilding Examples: How Cities Can Bring Nature Back

June 18, 2025December 4, 2025
Essays | Uncategorized

In Defense of Those Standing Up: On The Los Angeles Protests

June 13, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Pros and Cons of Green Roofs: More Complicated Than You Think

June 4, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

7 Reasons Urban Sprawl is an Environmental Disaster

May 7, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability

The Bronx River Was Healing. Now The EPA Cut Its Funds.

April 9, 2025December 4, 2025
Essays | Sustainability

A New Climate Communication Playbook: 5 Strategies to Transform Our Environmental Discourse

March 10, 2025December 4, 2025
Sustainability

The 4 Ways to Compost in NYC — And the Pros and Cons of Each

January 25, 2025May 19, 2025
Sustainability

5 Impactful Ways I Slash Plastic Waste (That May Surprise You)

December 15, 2024December 16, 2024
Sustainability

28 of The Best Books on Climate Change — From Politics to Food to Transportation

November 17, 2024February 28, 2025
Sustainability | Urbanism

14 Green (and Blue) Infrastructure Examples to Protect and Clean our Cities

November 6, 2024December 4, 2025
Sustainability

Guerrilla Gardening Chronicle: Willow Spiral on a Bronx Sidewalk

October 2, 2024December 4, 2025
Persuasion | Sustainability

9 Tips to Help You Talk About Climate Change From “Saving Us”

July 13, 2024December 4, 2025
Essays | Short Writing | Sustainability

Individual vs Systemic Action to Combat Climate Change

July 13, 2024December 4, 2025
Essays | Sustainability

Saturdays Are For The Planet

June 1, 2024December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Travel

18 Tips For More Sustainable Travel, From a Travel Addict

April 30, 2024December 4, 2025
Sustainability | Travel

Why I Gave Myself a Personal Flying Limit And Why I’ll Keep It Forever

April 29, 2024March 17, 2026
Sustainability

The 80/20 of Personal Action for Climate Change

April 28, 2024July 13, 2024
Sustainability | Urbanism

27 Hidden Costs of Cars: How Car-Dependency Hurts Your Wallet, Your Health, And The Planet

March 15, 2024March 6, 2026
Health and Fitness | Sustainability | Urbanism

8 Ways The Health and Fitness Industry Can Combat Climate Change

February 2, 2024December 15, 2024
Essays | Uncategorized

My Top 5 Reads of 2023

February 2, 2024December 30, 2025

Housing

Urbanism

“Trickle Down Housing” is a False Analogy

November 29, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

Elizabeth St Garden and Pitting Two Needs Against Each Other

November 24, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

Inclusionary Zoning: The Pros, The Cons, and Whether It Actually Works

October 1, 2025December 4, 2025
Urbanism

I Moved to a “Luxury” Building in Mott Haven: My Honest Experience

September 10, 2025April 14, 2026
Urbanism

4 Zoning Regulations We Should All Be Against

June 25, 2025December 4, 2025
Travel | Urbanism

Rethinking Gentrification: 18 Possible Solutions From Many Sides of the Debate

April 12, 2025March 26, 2026
Sustainability | Urbanism

The Vermont Housing Crisis and Why Dense Infrastructure Is The Answer

January 26, 2024December 4, 2025