Planning Pool

Foreign Workers, Local Neighbours: A Multimedia Initiative about Temporary Foreign Workers in Vancouver

CallistaHaggis — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:39:38 +0000

Thanks to Callista Haggis for this great introduction to the short documentary Foreign Workers, Local Neighbours, which examines the conditions and socio-economic impacts of temporary foreign workers in Vancouver, Canada. At the bottom of this post is a link to view the entire film! In April 2011 The Mayor’s Working Group on Immigration launched a multimedia [...]

Once in a Lifetime

Caroline Schutrumpf — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:33:08 +0000

For the price of a Jimmy the Cornman tattoo, a lifetime of burritos was a bargain for some Casa Sanchez customers. Tranvia de Murcia is offering a similar deal: trade in your car for a lifetime transit pass. The campaign is intended to spark use of the new trolley system and reduce driving in the city [...]

All Eyes

Caroline Schutrumpf — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:38:29 +0000

Designing for safety often relies on “eyes on the street“. After recent moves from Vancouver to Whitehorse to Toronto, I have been considering how living in a much bigger city affects my safety. The assumption that urban anonymity leads to more crime is likely true. It makes sense that safety in smaller places is due to [...]

5 Takes on Sustainable Local Economies

Daniella — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:15:43 +0000

A significant component of sustainability is developing and fostering strong local economies. Why? Well, people often conceptualize regional economies using economic base theory, of which one part is the idea of leakage. Basically, when people who live in a community spend money outside of their community or spend money with a business that takes money outside [...]

School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis: Part 4 – Changing Expectations

Vanessa — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:39:15 +0000

This is the final installment in a four-part series about the demographic, housing and land use contexts of troubled public schools. Here are links to parts one, two and three. In many core cities, insufficient affordable and suitable housing for families provides a push for young families to leave urban neighbourhoods for the suburbs. The pull of [...]

School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis: Part 3 of 4 – Intergenerational Neighbourhoods and Housing Diversity

Vanessa — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:50:11 +0000

Wrestling with the conundrum of why growing cities like Vancouver face declining public school enrolments, the first two posts in this series suggest links between municipal and regional populations of school-aged children and the affordability and suitability of family housing. Today’s post explores the value of intergenerational communities in both urban and suburban contexts, and considers how housing [...]

Pedestrian (and stroller) priority in Vancouver

timbarton — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:40:49 +0000

Tim Barton is a transport planner, photographer, and dad in Vancouver, Canada. This informative reflection on stroller-friendly sidewalks was first published on his planning and photography blog Planning Picture here. Being forced to push your baby out into traffic… feeling like the sidewalk has taken over control of your stroller and is determined to introduce your [...]

School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis: Part 2 – Family Housing

Vanessa — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:49:48 +0000

This is the second post in a series exploring demographic, housing and land use contexts of troubled public schools in the City of Vancouver and its suburbs. Last week’s post showed that, though the proportion of Metro Vancouver’s population made up of school-aged children is declining, that decline is occurring more rapidly in the central City of [...]

School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis – Part 1

Vanessa — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:17:50 +0000

This is the first post in a series exploring demographic, housing and land use contexts of troubled public schools in the City of Vancouver and its suburbs. Kids attending public schools in Vancouver, Canada are back in class today after an extended two-week spring break. In previous years, spring break was just one week long, but school [...]

PICS Lecture – Climate Change and Health Impacts

Daniella — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:17:10 +0000

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions hosts free monthly lectures from many academic disciplines that focus on climate change. This lecture by Michael Bower from UBC and Tim Takaro from SFU focuses on the intersection of climate change and health impacts. The World Health Organization estimates that climate change causes 150,000 deaths a year (2000). [...]