British Columbia
Are Vancouver's Leaders 'Tone-Deaf' to Residents' Vision for the City?
After less than a year on the job, Vancouver's planning manager is under fire for controversial proposals. Do the recent misfires reflect poor messaging, tight budgets, and short timelines; or a more fundamental problem with the city's leaders?
Key Decision Due Over Fate of Vancouver's Viaducts
The movement to dismantle the twin viaducts that hover over Vancouver's downtown reaches a crucial milestone today, as the City Council votes to fund the study of how to transform "the last, large, under-utilized area close to the city’s core."
Major Oil Pipeline Rejected - But Will Alternatives Have Greater Environmental Impacts?
Kinder Morgan's proposed $2 billion 'Freedom Pipeline' to transport West Texas oil to California refineries has been rejected - not by a governmental entity as occurred with the Northern Gateway, but by oil refineries opting to ship by rail instead.
British Columbia Rejects Massive Northern Gateway Oil Pipeline
The rejection may ultimately doom the $6 billion pipeline to transport Alberta's oil sands crude west through British Columbia for export. Final word is reserved for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but many say an overturn would be highly unusual.
Vancouver's Popular Laneway Housing Program Gets a Redesign
Vancouver's efforts to facilitate accessory dwellings has proven to be popular - perhaps too popular for some residents. As officials prepare to expand the program citywide, they're tweaking it to address concerns with privacy and parking.
Are Developer Fees Responsible for Vancouver's High Housing Costs?
The Vancouver Sun looks at the fees that the city charges developers, such as the community amenity contribution, and finds them much higher than neighboring areas. Even though costs are higher, so are developer profits.
Why Are There So Many Vacant Condos in Vancouver?
New analysis of census data has found that a quarter of the condos in some areas of downtown Vancouver are empty or occupied by non-residents, leading analysts to raise concerns about the role of investors in the city's housing market.
Making Density a Cornerstone for Successful City-Making
Density is a loaded term that brings with it many negative connotations. But it can help solve "our city's toughest challenges." Brent Toderian discusses lessons from Vancouver on how to turn "the third rail of municipal politics" into an asset.
Why Has 'Vancouverism' Become a Hard Sell in Canada?
Vancouver's remarkable experiment in livable density is the envy of, and model for, cities across the world. So, after a decade of skyline expansion across Canada, why has densification 'lost steam' in the country? Doug Saunders investigates.
Democratizing Urban Design: A Public Square for Downtown Vancouver
Lacking public open space in downtown Vancouver, the city is taking a nonconventional approach and closing one block off to traffic for the summer months to allow for a pedestrian-oriented public square.
Small Houses Find Big Following in Cascadia
In a photo essay on small homes and the people who love them, Sightline Fellow Alyse Nelson explains the attraction of compact living and the ways in which small homeowners are living it up by scaling down.
Vancouver Hungry for New Food Strategy
Yolande Cole discusses some of the elements being considered for Vancouver's new city-wide food strategy, which "will include over 60 actions intended to expand [the city's] food system."
Disgruntled Developers and Residents Have Vancouver Planning Chief Talking Transparency
Just two months into his job as Vancouver's Chief Planner, Brian Jackson is responding to a growing backlash from developers and residents unhappy about an opaque system for determining and implementing community benefits.
Does Urbanism Correlate with Happiness?
Planning policies related to the economy and environment are easier to measure, but Hazel Borys asks, "how do we measure national happiness, well-being, and social capital as they relate to the way we plan our neighborhoods, towns and cities?”
Testing Density with Trick or Treaters
Planner and urbanist Brent Toderian explains why Halloween is his favorite holiday.
New Study Supports Advocates of Bike Infrastructure
Emily Badger discusses new research showing that dedicated bike infrastructure has a demonstrated impact on reducing the risk of injury for cyclists.
Will Vancouver Lose It's Farming Mojo?
Vancouver has the most farmland and farmers in North America. However, as Vancouver booms, the thriving agricultural belt that surrounds Greater Vancouver is at risk from an expanding city.
Solving Our Urban Challenges Requires Speaking Openly About Density
With cities such as Vancouver struggling with housing affordability, limited developable land, and residents resistant to change, Bob Ransford suggests we need open and honest debate about density and the big picture of development.
Is Downtown Any Place to Raise a Family?
Certainly, says Brent Toderian. And with children "the indicator species of a great neighbourhood," he argues that cities should be designed with families in mind.
Is the Success of Vancouver's Urbanism Just a Facade?
Bob Ransford argues that the policies that have shaped Vancouver's streets and skyline over the last decades into a global icon of planning and design are an accomplishment of style over substance that fail to look at how people inhabit buildings.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
