‘Smart Growth’ Pioneers Come to Town April 14, 2008

Some great speakers are coming to Vancouver in the coming weeks to deliver free lectures.  Parris Glendening, a pioneer in conceiving and executing smart growth speaks on April 17. And Christopher Leinberger — a scholar, teacher, and developer –  will deliver his insights about walkable developments on April 25.   Both are dynamic, entertaining speakers.

Strategies for [...]

Some speculation on some speculation April 12, 2008

Here’s the unedited text of my most recent column in Business in Vancouver:

News item: Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority is launching a real estate division that could produce up to $1.5 billion in revenue over the next 10 years, modelled on an agency that has reshaped Hong Kong. …TransLink will purchase land along new rapid transit [...]

Price Tags at 100 April 11, 2008

Thanks to all you PT readers who came out to celebrate the 100th issue of Price Tags and the donation of my slide collection to the Active Transportation Lab at UBC.  (Special thanks to Larry Frank, the Bombardier Chair at SCARP and to the Bombardier Foundation for making it possible.)
Of course, fellow blogger Stephen Rees [...]

Real Affordability in Seattle April 10, 2008

We need the equivalent of this map for Vancouver:

You can find the full explanation here in the Slog Blog - but basically the blue areas are those where housing and transportation together cost more than 48 percent of median household income ($50,733 for a family of 2.5); taupe areas are places where they cost less.
The [...]

Price Tags 102 - Paris Périphérique April 10, 2008

The Boulevard Périphérique divides the Paris region: arrondissement inside, banlieu outside; one served by transit, the other car-dominant. This issue explores an example of modern urbanism - in particular, the corporate centre of La Défense.
This issue is a revised version from the one e-mailed to the Price Tags subscription list.  (If you’d like to be [...]

Leaving money on the table April 8, 2008

This bit of pavement doesn’t rank as “New Stuff” quite yet: it’s the southern end of the Carrall Street Greenway (design here) - a critical link between the False Creek seawall and, eventually, Burrard Inlet and Coal Harbour, completing the loop around the Downtown Peninsula.  Eventually, thousands will be biking, blading and walking on this [...]

When the sun shines April 8, 2008

Portlander and bike advocate Aaron Tarfman (his site is here) was in Vancouver last weekend to check out the cycling scene.  He’ll send his report later - but in the meantime, a classic shot of the city he took from West 8th near sunset, proving that, yes, the sun does shine in April:

 
 

Opening Night April 8, 2008

Jason Vanderhill sends along an invitation to what looks to be an interesting exhbition in local photography:

STRANGER: A photography exhibit of strangers and unfamiliar landscapes. The work is a diverse mix of the abstract, the dreamlike, and the street. Photographers include Marc L’Esperance, Lung Liu and John Goldsmith.
Opening Night is Friday April 11, 2008 from [...]

New Stuff 5 - Gardens April 5, 2008

My mother seemed to extract a season’s worth of fresh food from the modest garden in the backyard of our Victoria home.  I have no idea how she did it.
As Jane Jacobs noted in her last book, it’s quite possible for knowledge to be lost when one generation decides not to pass on their experience, [...]

Come Celebrate My 100th April 4, 2008

Price Tags, that is.
For those of you who subscribe to “Price Tags” (the magazine, not the blog), you’ll know that the 100th issue - the index to all the previous issues - came out in February:

We’re going to celebrate with a little event at UBC Robson Square, this coming Monday, April 7, at 7 pm.  [...]