Urban Studies

Urban Links

Brandon Yan — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:25:23 +0000

Check out the 100 Mile House Ideas Competition: Participants are challenged to design a house to accommodate 4 people with a maximum area of 1200 square feet (111M2) using only materials and systems made/ manufactured / recycled within 100 miles of the City of Vancouver (emphasis is NOT on affordable housing).

Atlantic Cities takes a stab at what is (or will become) a hugely contentious issues in Metro Vancouver: the Tsawwassen First Nation’s mall project. Is it a sign of things to come?

Another from the Atlantic: a feature on British Columbia’s 2nd city, Surrey, BC.

The Vancouver Public Space Network is hosting an Ideas Slam (bring your ideas and your enthusiasm!).

New Georgraphy takes on the 2011 Canadian census data: Urban Dispersion.

More good news from New York: their effort to make NYC streets safer is paying dividends.

Cool timelapse in Rotterdam (though, it’s a promo vid for a Rem Koolhaas designed building)

The Beasley

Vanessa Wong — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:08:33 +0000

Burnham Square Condominiums, The Balton, Robert Moses Middle School. Do you know what these three structures have in common? They were named after urban planners. Larry Beasley can now count himself among that group thanks to The Beasley a 33 storey, 218 unit condominium named after the City of Vancouver’s former planner. Located on the edge of Yaletown at 888 Homer Street (Homer and Smithe), the condo replicates the podium style (retail on the bottom, residential up top) but with one big difference, a plaque the size of my torso is fixed to the front of the building. It reads:

The Beasley

A tribute to urban excellence

The Beasley is developed and built by Amacon, as a tribute to the City of Vancouver and its former Co-Director of planning, Larry Beasley. Both are recognized as leaders in urban sustainability, heritage restoration, affordable housing and mixed use development. These four pillars of urban planning helped to form the vision and design of The Beasley.

I even took a picture.

The cursive font makes it looks like Larry personally signed off on it, giving the impression he was personally involved (I canonot confirm this). Not sure how I feel about the “affordable housing” in the plaque. I took a look at some recent listings for units in the building and they ranged from $499,000 (1-BR) and $699,000 (2-BR). Perhaps they are referring to other affordable housing projects they were involved with?

Census Canada 2011: City hall take note, you can’t fight suburbia | News | National Post

Brandon Yan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:40:48 +0000

…Meanwhile, the National Post has gleaned a very different story from the census:

This continued growth comes despite what Mr. Cox calls “anti-suburban policies” that outlaw development on large swaths of land, creating scarcity and increasing housing prices. He believes governments should build more highways instead of trying to get the public riding mass transit. More highways, he argues, will cut down on traffic congestion, which leads to air pollution and less productive cities as workers spend more time on the road.

“You start drawing down a line around cities like they’re doing in Toronto and like they’ve done in Vancouver, you drive housing prices through the roof, young people won’t be able to afford houses…[As well, all the] data indicate the more dense you make a city, the higher you make the traffic congestion.”

via Census Canada 2011: City hall take note, you can’t fight suburbia | News | National Post.

The emphasis is mine. Thoughts?

Gateway Program highway expansion: looking westbound on Highway 1, just before the Port Mann Bridge

Canada: Urbanized

Brandon Yan — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:08:32 +0000

The 2011 Census data is out and there’s a lot to sift through. The Globe and Mail has already put together some great interactive features: Rise of the West and Compare your Community. Their Census at a Glance has some basic infographics, including this one:

This continues to confirm what we already know: Canada is highly urbanized nation and it’s becoming even more-so with less than 1 in 5 Canadians living in rural areas now. The Canadian experience is (and has been for a while now) an urban one – contrary to what many politicians try to say.

So what does this mean? Well, cities will continue to face huge challenges as they add more people (growing inequality and infrastructure costs to name a few). They will face discussions on how to organize/govern themselves (Toronto is still trying…) and they will be our hope for a sustainable future.

After all this, there seems to be very little discussion at a national level about our cities. Granted, there’s the whole ‘constitution’ thing, little interest from the Federal Government, and there also seems to be some vestiges of a passé form of Canadian nationalism that idealizes or glorifies the rural. Still, now would seem an opportune time as any to begin talking about our cities: ways they can share ideas, talent, and other resources. Something like a cities exchange. Maybe.

What do you think? Do you think this type of national discussion about the future of our cities would be possible or even useful?

Upcoming Public Talks: Scott Bernstein

Andrew T Jones — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:31:24 +0000

The Urban Studies Program is presenting two public talks by Scott Bernstein, President and Co-founder of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. CNT developed a Housing and Transportation (H&T) index to determine true housing affordability. “Only two in five American communities—or 39 percent—are affordable for typical households when their transportation costs are considered along with housing costs” (CNT Press Release).

Center for Neighborhood Technology

How will Vancouver determine housing affordability? And what role will location efficiency have in achieving economic sustainability?

Monday, March 19 at SFU Surrey | 7:00PM | Reserve

If Not Now, When? How Making Economic Progress Count Accelerates Public and Private Infrastructure Investment in Cities and Regions

Thursday, March 22 at SFU Vancouver | 7:00PM | Reserve

Progress Lost, Progress Redefined, Progress Regained – How Location Efficiency Performance Measures Are Being Used to Achieve Economic Security

From the CNT website:

Scott leads CNT’s work to understand and better disclose the economic value of resource use in urban communities, and helps craft strategies to capture the value of this efficiency productively and locally.

About the work of CNT:

The aim of CNT’s 2011 policy agenda is to develop and advocate for legislation and regulations that make use of a city’s intrinsic assets to build sustainable communities—sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. We can get there by pursuing four broad goals: giving people more transportation options to lower the cost of living, making buildings more energy efficient, protecting our water by treating it as an asset rather than a waste product, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Poster for the March 22, 2012 talk at Harbour Centre, SFU Vancouver:

BernsteinVancouverMarch222012

Canada’s most romantic cities

Andrew T Jones — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:40 +0000

Here is something to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day. The most romantic city in Canada is Kingston, Ontario. According to an article in the Globe and Mail, a list by Amazon.ca ranked Kingston in top spot with Guelph and Kelowna in second and third spots respectively.

Source: City of Kingston

Now for the most important question but with the most disappointing answer. What criteria is Amazon using to rank the most romantic cities in Canada?

Sales data. Specifically, the sales volume of romance novels, sex and relationship books, and…the per capita sales of Michael Buble CDs. Excuse me? I was expecting a fascinating discussion on how romantic cities can be evaluated on their urban and natural qualities – like the number of cafes and public squares, views of the mountains and ocean, heritage buildings and architecture. Kingston definitely has some of these qualities, but do other contenders Guelph, Kelowna, Langley and Red Deer?

As a lover of cities, I think we can come up with a better list with better criteria. People are likely to use experiential criteria to rank romantic cities. Places that are rich in meaning and history, vibrant, and that reflect an authentic identity will probably create a lasting experience for someone. What are your most romantic cities? Why? Here are a few photos of mine.

Victoria. Source: tourismvictoria.com

Montreal. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Whistler. Source: Tourism Whistler

CAPS-ACÉAU 2012

Vanessa Wong — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:56:29 +0000

If you are a planning student, it is likely you attended or have heard of the CAPS (Canadian Association of Planning Students) conference. The conference is an annual opportunity for students (planning and non-planning) to network, meet professionals in the field and present their research to one another. This year’s conference was organized by SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. It should be noted that the CAPS conferences are organized by students with limited funding. Perhaps a testament to REM’s hard work was a wait list - the interest was so strong, a wait list had to be created.

I had the privilege of attending a presentation by Andy Yan of Bing Thom Architects. Andy presented a broad-strokes presentation about the lessons he’s learned from working in the planning profession. Reviewing my notes, I realized they are relevant to students and professionals and thought I would share:

“As a student, you have nothing to lose.“
“As planners, we’re in the business of creating tools….plans are not everything.“
“Planning is about teams, it determines your success and how you fit [into the project]“
“Real estate is not housing policy”
Understand the institution you engage in, find the organization chart for each city and understand who makes the decisions
Vancouver has the hardware figured out (buildings, infrastructure) but the software (people, behaviours) need work
Compared to other Canadian cities, Vancouver has the highest number of newcomers (59% in Vancouver compared to 25% in Montreal and 54% in Toronto)
A critical component of being a good planner is understanding economics

I also learned a few things:

There was a planning library at one point in time (not sure if this exists anymore, a 1989 Community Development Plan noted its location as “East Wing, 453 West 12th Avenue”)
At one point in Vancouver’s history, it was recommended that Chinatown be relocated to an island in False Creek and it was to be named “Cathay.” I am trying to find evidence of this but have not been able to.

Event: Debate on Smart Growth

Brandon Yan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:45:54 +0000

Langley City, Google Maps

Hey all,

There’s a great event coming up in the ‘burbs about, well, the future of the ‘burbs. In my opinion, conversations like these don’t happen very often and they’re extremely important in guiding the future of our neighbourhood, city, and our region.

Here’s the press release:

South Fraser OnTrax (SFOT) is a non-profit BC Society that has a passion for making great communities even better with the introduction of sustainable transportation options and community design that is made available to all. Visit southfraser.net for more information

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

February 1st, 2011

Debate on Smart Growth comes to Langley

LANGLEY, With the Metro Vancouver region set to grow by another 1 million people over the next 20 years and with most of that growth set to occur in the South of Fraser, there has been a call by many academics and urban planners to change the way we build our communities. South Fraser OnTrax advocates for smart growth design principles such as making transit a priority and building neighbourhoods that provide a variety of housing options, from single-family homes to apartments. OnTrax believes these principles will protect the environment, human health, and our agricultural land, but not everyone shares this belief.

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, whose research has been used by governments worldwide, will be debating Randal O’Toole who is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and who has also taught environmental economics at Yale, UC Berkeley, and Utah State University on the future of land-use and transportation planning in the South of Fraser. Litman is a strong proponent of smart growth principals and high-quality public transit while O’Toole has been an outspoken critic.

“For many years we have talked about building more sustainable community and better transit,” says Nathan Pachal of OnTrax, “but many in our communities are not sold on the ideas that this is the way to go. This debate will allow both perspectives to be expressed and let people decide what future they want for our region.”

OnTrax with the support of a City of Langley grant will be hosting this debate on Thursday, February 23rd from 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the Township of Langley Municipal Hall (20338 65 Avenue.) This free event is open to all members of the public, who will have the chance to hear both sides of the debate and have the opportunity to question Litman and O’Toole.

Seating is limited and reservations are recommended. Please visit southfraser.net or on Facebook for more information and email southfraserblog@yahoo.com to reserve your seat.

-30-

Media Contact:

Joe Zaccaria

South Fraser OnTrax

Phone: 1-866-459-0665

Email: joezac@sfot.info

————————————————————————

I will make the ‘trek’ to Langley via transit – if anyone would like to join me, leave a comment or message me elsewhere and we can be bus buddies.

Brent Toderian

Vanessa Wong — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:34:01 +0000

Brent Toderian’s contract is being terminated “without cause” in this morning’s Globe and Mail. Article can be found here. Frances Bula (author of the article) sheds some light on Brent’s career on her blog.

On Suburbs

Vanessa Wong — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:16:52 +0000

“The people who move to the suburbs aren’t nearly as stupid or careless or brainwashed as the urbanites seem to think. They know they’re going to get a lawn, a garage, and a backyard. They know they will be miles from a store or cafe, and that they’ll have to drive everywhere. Most people move to the suburbs with eyes wide open, fully aware of the tradeoffs they are making. They are not looking for some pastoral idyll, but for more privacy, space, quiet, and parking.”

- Excerpt from The Authenticity Hoax by Andrew Potter