URBANISM – Page 5

December 19, 2016February 8, 2022

Progressive forward-thinking transit oriented development.

in Greater Vancouver, transit oriented development is not seen as a driver of building of affordable housing, in fact it’s been quite the opposite: In Burnaby we are seeing wholesale demovictions of communities with affordable housing bulldozed to make room for new less affordable towers, In Vancouver, where T.O.D has been employed (Marine Drive and Oakridge) proposed developments offer an abysmal portion of affordable housing, but tremendous condo sales and presales.

October 28, 2016February 13, 2022

Dick Florida’s mea culpa: A 180˚ on “Creative Cities”

When people ask what went wrong, and how did Vancouver get to this crisis point of inequality and unaffordability — I’ve often pointed to the Richard Florida mantra of the creative class / creative cities: a school of urbanism that has dominated our city’s politics and planning for the last decade.

Florida’s premise: that economic and urban renewal could result from wooing the “creative class”, that things like hip coffee shops, bike infrastructure, and social engineering with a progressive veneer would fuel urban transformations.

August 4, 2016February 13, 2022

Should we expect Portland with Vancouver’s new Planner?

At long last, the City of Vancouver has hired a Chief Planner, Mr. Gil Kelley. Kelley comes with a solid background of West Coast urban planning experience: two years as head planner in San Francisco, fourteen years as director of planning for Berkley, and ten years as the lead in Portland. I’ll admit, as a …

Continue reading “Should we expect Portland with Vancouver’s new Planner?”

July 13, 2016February 13, 2022

License to Shill: Why aren’t there restrictions on licensing of realtors in Vancouver?

pressingly long, and given the role that the real estate industry can play in that equation — you might be surprised to learn that the City of Vancouver have absolutely no rules or regulations to govern the licensing of realtors doing business in the City of Vancouver.

April 23, 2016February 13, 2022

Molson Brewery site allows plenty of development opportunities

The incredulity that greeted last week’s announcement that residential-build-focused Concord paid over three times the assessed value for the protected industrially-zoned Molson Brewery site at the southeast end of the Burrard Bridge needs a bit of circumspection. You don’t get to be one of BC’s largest new home developers by making cavalier and reckless business moves, so at the request of Vancouver Green councillor Adriane Carr, I looked a little deeper.