Get live statistics and analysis of Matt Baran's profile on X / Twitter

Architect, Professor & Evil Developer tackling CA’s housing & office mess one Ugly Building & Zoning Hack at a time. Thoughts on CRE, urbanism, design & biz.

1k following5k followers

The Innovator

Matt Baran is an architect and professor redefining the urban landscape, one controversial building and zoning hack at a time. Known for his sharp wit, deep insights on commercial real estate and urbanism, and a fearless approach to tackling California's housing and office crises, he blends creativity and pragmatism like no other. His tweets offer a mix of humor, brutally honest truths, and thought-provoking stories, making him a captivating voice in urban development.

Impressions
2.3M2M
$440.39
Likes
26.1k24.2k
92%
Retweets
565497
2%
Replies
595335
2%
Bookmarks
991695
3%

Top users who interacted with Matt Baran over the last 14 days

@maxdubler

Housing policy at @cayimby. Find me on Bluesky. he/him

1 interactions
1 interactions
@greetfriends

i believe in mankind

1 interactions
@crypto_mami_

Marketing I Hotels I AI Healthcare I Content I This page is satire I Ily I CMO

1 interactions
@kamilkwapiszpl

Solopreneur & Lead Python Dev, AI Consultant. Solving real problems with tech. Blog: kamilkwapisz.com pickproxy.com

1 interactions
@KDimitratos

Strategy & Ops 🚀. Founder @MeddyHealthCo. @ecogeniaorg Ambassador. I believe in using business as a force for good. | IG: @katerinadimitratos

1 interactions
@GZNYer

Whatever you do, do not focus on the billionaires. Please keep hating your fellow citizens. Thank you! -Management

1 interactions
@nsreddy08

Do the wrong thing

1 interactions
@someonesmwhere1

Ex-Meta/NVIDIA/Apple (AI/ML). Professional couch tester until further notice.

1 interactions
@RichSavantX

Gonna be the next big account

1 interactions
@WilliamN81650

45 years in commercial construction, shaping skylines. Viking spirit, sharing pro tips & jobs. No DIY—just real expertise. Consulting? DM me! #ConstructionLife

1 interactions
@DgtlDev

🧶 creating great online experiences that make fun 🎨 digital art, domaining, branding ⚡ ₿itcoin & web3 tech

1 interactions
@squirtBeetle

just having fun with my animals & plants in the woods. shared husband and wife account, the game for you is to guess who made each post. currently pregnant

1 interactions
@0oAstro

Allistic Programmer. Electrical Sophomore at IIT Delhi. I write automations for money. Master of all trades.

1 interactions
@weltraumMonster

AI b2b tools in C# by day space mining and solar system conquest by night

1 interactions
1 interactions
@jrouldz

Stock Picker, Psychoanalyst | Stocks on weekdays, photography on weekends | Early $AAPL, quantum, $RKLB, $PLTR, etc | I also have a degree in philosophy

1 interactions
@nimanikroo

@nthcraft - StageMyInterior.com Ai interior staging. New app for architects and designers. (in-development).

1 interactions
1 interactions
@GhostofEdie

currently caregiver for elderly parents in the South. enjoys birds, and turtles. long time CA resident and voter. help.

1 interactions

Matt’s tweets are like a steel beam in a glasshouse—bold, unfiltered, and just a little bit too heavy for delicate sensibilities. If his sarcasm were an architectural feature, it’d be a cantilever jutting out so far you’d need a hard hat just to read his feed safely.

Matt’s viral tweet ‘Fixed it!’ garnered over 1.5 million views and 24,000 likes, cementing his influence in the urbanism conversation and demonstrating his ability to engage a wide audience with clever, actionable insights.

Matt's life purpose is to revolutionize how cities grow and function by challenging outdated zoning laws and architectural norms, facilitating innovative solutions that address housing shortages and urban sprawl. He thrives on transforming friction into progress, pushing the boundaries of design and policy to create more dynamic, livable cities.

Matt believes that change is necessary and inevitable, even if it angers neighbors or disrupts the status quo. He values diversity, flexibility, and open-mindedness, especially the ability to find beauty and solutions in seemingly conflicting ideas. He firmly sees developers as part of the solution—not the problem—in urban revitalization.

Matt's strengths lie in his fearless innovation, ability to communicate complex urban and architectural issues accessibly, and his perseverance in advocating for change amidst opposition. His storytelling skills make abstract policy issues relatable and his diverse life experiences bring authenticity and empathy to his work.

His blunt, confrontational style and frequent high-volume tweeting might alienate more sensitive followers and could occasionally invite heated debates that distract from constructive dialogue. The dense, detailed nature of some tweets could overwhelm casual observers or dilute key messages.

To grow his audience on X, Matt should continue leveraging storytelling, adding multimedia elements like short explainer videos or sketches to simplify complex topics, and engage more directly with followers through Q&A sessions or Twitter Spaces. Balancing his prolific tweeting with targeted, digestible content can expand his reach beyond architect and urbanism circles into more mainstream audiences.

Despite his 'evil developer' persona, Matt champions the role of development in solving housing issues and openly acknowledges the emotional resistance to change that neighbors often exhibit. He's also prolific on X, tweeting over 14,700 times, showing his dedication to engaging and educating his audience consistently.

Top tweets of Matt Baran

When I was 7, I was kidnapped by my mom. She put me in a car and drove off without telling anyone, leaving Detroit in the rear view. Back in 1978 there was no Amber Alert, so for months my dad had no idea where she had taken me. At some point she called to ask for money and he traced the calls to Huntington Beach, where we were living in a motel near the pier. My dad came to HB looking for me, and was walking the beach when he spotted my mom. She panicked and fled to a lifeguard, pleading with him, “those men are after me”. She jumped in his Jeep and they sped off. Meanwhile, my dad had hired a detective who started visiting elementary schools, at which point they found me. One day after school, my dad showed up with the detective (who I happened to walk right up to on the playground) and asked if I wanted to go with him ‘back home’ (the detective told him he had to ask or he’d get “punched out”). The bus driver who kept an eye on me getting home (I was a ‘latch-key kid’) saw this happen and called the police. In the meantime we had driven off around the corner where my dad and I got into a getaway car and headed to San Diego (LAX being too obvious for the cops). The detective was picked up and arrested (and later released). I stayed with my dad about 2 years, visiting my mom in the summer, until I decided I wanted to move back to HB permanently. I then visited my dad in the summer. So the backdrop for me growing up was the Detroit and it’s suburbs, an OC beach town, and Los Angeles. These were very different places both in their culture and literal climate. On top of that I had an extremely permissive and often abusive parent, and a very strict authoritarian one. I think these conflicting personalities and juxtaposition of places are very much reflected in how I work and what I work on, as well as how I handle relationships (among other things). Being in a wide variety of situations and environments is part of how I developed flexibility. Because of all of this, contrast and diversity are something I have embraced. I look to find beauty in disparate things. This doesn’t mean I don’t discern or have my own opinions, but it means I attempt to remain open to the opinions and ideas of others to the greatest extent possible.

342k

You no longer need to pay impact fees! Below is an excerpt of a letter from a developer that sued the City of Oakland over impact fees and won (project specifics omitted for privacy). Big changes coming to a city near you. "We need you to let the public know about our lawsuit and its effect on the ability of the City of Oakland to participate in affordable housing construction. We filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland’s... affordable housing impact fee. We believe that the collection of these fees is unconstitutional. The recent supreme court ruling in Sheetz v. County of Al Dorado reaffirmed that there must be a direct relationship between the impact fee and the adverse impact on the City or County. In our case the city must prove that our building...will cause the adverse impact of increasing the need of affordable housing. Obviously, the need for affordable housing is in no way related to the construction of... new housing units. We were informed on Tuesday morning, January 7th that our impact fees had been waived. We are now able to receive our building permits without paying any of these affordable housing impact fees. However, we believe that the City of Oakland will continue to require these fees be paid by anyone who is unaware of the unconstitutionality of the fees themselves. The City Council recently discussed taking all of the money out of the affordable housing fee trust fund and using this money towards the $130 million budget deficit. The individual and companies who have paid these affordable housing impact fees may be eligible for a refund if these monies are used for other purposes. Should the City of Oakland unconditionally admit that the affordable housing impact fee is unconstitutional. Oakland’s ability to fund affordable housing construction would be severely impaired or ended entirely."

64k

Most engaged tweets of Matt Baran

When I was 7, I was kidnapped by my mom. She put me in a car and drove off without telling anyone, leaving Detroit in the rear view. Back in 1978 there was no Amber Alert, so for months my dad had no idea where she had taken me. At some point she called to ask for money and he traced the calls to Huntington Beach, where we were living in a motel near the pier. My dad came to HB looking for me, and was walking the beach when he spotted my mom. She panicked and fled to a lifeguard, pleading with him, “those men are after me”. She jumped in his Jeep and they sped off. Meanwhile, my dad had hired a detective who started visiting elementary schools, at which point they found me. One day after school, my dad showed up with the detective (who I happened to walk right up to on the playground) and asked if I wanted to go with him ‘back home’ (the detective told him he had to ask or he’d get “punched out”). The bus driver who kept an eye on me getting home (I was a ‘latch-key kid’) saw this happen and called the police. In the meantime we had driven off around the corner where my dad and I got into a getaway car and headed to San Diego (LAX being too obvious for the cops). The detective was picked up and arrested (and later released). I stayed with my dad about 2 years, visiting my mom in the summer, until I decided I wanted to move back to HB permanently. I then visited my dad in the summer. So the backdrop for me growing up was the Detroit and it’s suburbs, an OC beach town, and Los Angeles. These were very different places both in their culture and literal climate. On top of that I had an extremely permissive and often abusive parent, and a very strict authoritarian one. I think these conflicting personalities and juxtaposition of places are very much reflected in how I work and what I work on, as well as how I handle relationships (among other things). Being in a wide variety of situations and environments is part of how I developed flexibility. Because of all of this, contrast and diversity are something I have embraced. I look to find beauty in disparate things. This doesn’t mean I don’t discern or have my own opinions, but it means I attempt to remain open to the opinions and ideas of others to the greatest extent possible.

342k

When I graduated from UC Berkeley with my Master’s in Architecture, I invited my mom to attend the ceremony, where she promptly got very drunk. She had found the wine that was being served for the occasion and decided to hit it pretty hard. Meanwhile, the formally dressed, upper to middle-class crowd was politely sipping a drink (or not drinking at all) and chatting. My mom and her then-husband were in worn clothes. They didn’t know how to make small talk. They were clearly out of place. Before they arrived, I had explained to them that I myself didn’t fit in particularly well with the students. I was older and had worked on a lot of ‘real world’ projects while they were fresh and young and experimenting with algorithmic form making. I may have been very vocal about my views on that 😊 We didn’t always see eye to eye and there were quite a few that didn’t care for me or my ideas at all. The commencement began, and they called my name. I started walking down to receive my diploma and honors when I heard a voice rising from the back of the auditorium. It was my mom. Then she started yelling: “I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU. I LOVE YOU… F*CK *ALL* OF THESE PEOPLE… I. DON’T. CARE. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU!!!” I’ve almost never been embarrassed about who I am or where I came from, but this truly tested me. People were horrified, staring at me with so much judgment. Their eyes said, “We know what you are… you’re trash.” One professor approached me after the ceremony and said with a big condescending smirk, “It seems your mom had a bit too much to drink.” I learned a few things in that moment: 🙀Authenticity: Past experiences will always be a part of you, and you can learn from them. Where you come from does not define where you’re going. 🙀Resilience: Despite the discomfort, I had to remember who I was and that the views of others don’t define my value. 🙀Social Dynamics: Different backgrounds and cultures can often misunderstand one another. It’s important to balance authenticity with some form of ‘decorum’. 🙀Appreciation: Despite the embarrassment, it was nice to have the support 😊

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