Originally published October 25, 2017 in Vancouver Courier newspaper. On December 7th, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan (featured in story below) was voted by his peers to chair the Mayor’s Council, defeating Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. Watch for my forthcoming post with arguments *in favour* of Surrey light rail. When it comes to the future of transportation […]
The crammed-to-the-rafters Vancouver Playhouse auditorium should have been evidence enough of our obsession with how cities are built. It was an exultant tweet, however, by urban affairs reporter Frances Bula that summed up the occasion. “An amazing packed house of young people at the Janette Sadik-Khan talk tonight. Watch out, status quo!” A who’s who […]
Originally published in Vancouver Courier and Huffington Post. Twenty-two years ago last fall, I began a young political campaigner’s dream job, working in the B.C. war room for the Yes forces in support of the Charlottetown Accord. For the first and only time in Canadian history, all the major political parties — Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, […]
"It's is not going to work on many levels, from social to infrastructure and ecological" – Thom Mayne The nightmare referred to in my entry title is not Canada's federal party election platforms. The nightmare is Dubai, which a leading architect says is heading toward an "ecological disaster." In a speech at the World Architecture […]
I went to a talk tonight by Michael Geller, noted Vancouver urban planning commentator and developer consultant, hosted by the Planning Institute of BC. He has returned from an 8-month trip abroad, where he visited dozens of cities to explore how they are dealing with change and growth. Naturally, he compared Vancouver with places as […]