February 2, 2010
The wacky and weird of living in an Olympic host city
Having the Olympic Games in your city at first sounds exciting, exotic and somewhat cool. As the Vancouver Olympic Games approach there have been — and are sure to be many more– elements of that. For example, I went skating on the Olympic Speed Skating oval with my four year old son — what a fast ice surface; that was cool. Top Canadian and global musicians and entertainers will be in town, often performing free shows. I may try to catch one or two. Buildings are blanketed with 100 foot high images of athletes — I’ve been staring at Clara Hughes from my office for months.
And then there are the unexpected, strange and bizarre things. Here are a few:
- Large military aircraft suddenly make low speed passes through town; or a military helicopter circles above your house for hours.
- It’s a tent city! Giant white tents are everywhere — pavilions for various places and organizations. Nunavut has one, Canada has it’s own, etc. Millions have been spent on them.
- Lost mounties: hundreds (thousands) of RCMP officers are here to help with security. Vancouver doesn’t use the RCMP normally as its police force, so most have never been here. Helped some mounties on bikes (rather than horses) find their way the other day.
- Starbucks has new door signage everywhere, with “Welcome” written in at least 10 languages and 5 different alphabets.
- Time for residents, businesses and other organizations has three distinct phases in 2010: “Before the Games,” “During the Games,” and After the Games. All projects have deadlines before or sometime well after the Olympics. We all talk to each other with “what are you doing during the Games” (as in are you leaving town, renting out your place, staying, attempting to go to work, etc.)
- Garbage will be picked up in the middle of the night (roads will be too busy during the day).
- For many businesses, the Olympic 2 weeks will be a test run of “catastrophe management” — they have had to invest in technology so everyone can effectively do their jobs from home (as would have to happen should an earthquake or terrorist take out a bridge or two, cutting off parts of the city).
I’m sure there will be more. Anyone else care to add something?
Topics: catastrophe management | 6 Comments »
January 12, 2010
Libraries as public 3rd places
Seth Godin and CEOs for Cities raised the issue of what do to with public libraries in the 21st century. Over time, all books will be available on the internet, which will mean fewer people checking out the hard-cover, hard copy versions.
Seth thinks they should “train people to take intellectual initiative.” Not a bad goal, but we have universities for that and increasingly they are reaching out to the broader community.
So what to do with all these small and large public places dotted around a city that belong to the taxpayers. Why not make them into “third places” that are free as well as community resource points. Currently, small business people and others wanting to network or discuss an idea need to spend money to “rent” a table at Starbucks or another wireless cafe.
What if libraries offered comfortable spaces for people to meet and chat, as well as spaces for silent reading or working –free wireless, of course, plus the ability to borrow a computer while you’re there. Maybe for a small fee (or free), small meeting rooms could be reserved complete with technology like projectors. Maybe local groups including meetup ones would have a free place to meet: a novel writing support group or political campaigners.
What if these existing places could also become community resource points staffed by volunteers. Tourist and travel information in one corner, help with your resume in another, tax advice in a third place and maybe legal help at certain times in another area.
At certain hours childrens’s programing (typically available now) would continue– story time, song time, etc.
All the books libraries currently own would still be available and people would still come to read them. Children love the magic of books with bright colours, fun pictures and pages they can “turn by self”and this won’t change when it’s possible to download the same books.
Rooms to watch classic movies and documentaries could exist for those who prefer to watch them in a group and discuss the content afterward with fellow aficionados.
What do you think? Would this work?
Topics: urban history | 10 Comments »
January 9, 2010
Think small: A non-market housing supply solution?
Planners and politicians in many cities — especially those with high housing costs — face a dilemma when it comes to providing non-market housing (sometimes called social housing). The most cost effective solutions in terms of dollars per unit can be to build a big apartment block in a struggling area of the city where land is cheaper.
Unfortunately, this can tend to reinforce a poor ghetto’s status, which can make it harder for individuals and families to make those broader connections in a wider community that help break the cycle of poverty, especially for kids.
Better for many people is to be mixed into market-housing neighbourhoods. In a recent interview, a child who grew up in a smaller Vancouver social housing project located in a generally wealthier area of the city noted how she and her cohorts in the social housing townhouses went to school with the children of successful business people and university professors. As a result, she argued, the high school performance and university graduation rate of these children from the social housing complex was quite high. She was very grateful for having had the opportunity to be a part of this high performing peer group as it allowed her to break a cycle of poverty in her family.
Her experience was from the 1970s. Today, it would can be hard to get a medium-sized non-market housing project approved in an existing neighbourhood. So what if those seeking to provide non-market housing thought much smaller.
In many cities across North America there is a movement to increase the density of existing and sometimes older areas by allowing duplexes, secondary suites, and laneway houses be added to existing properties.
What if social housing organizations went around existing, and maybe gentrifying, neighbourhoods and bought up suitable existing houses that could be converted into 2 or 3 units.
Those who would benefit from the homes could be invited or required to provide some labor during the renovation. This would keep costs down along with using the existing home’s “solid old bones” as a base.
Buying the occasional fixer-upper house that comes up for sale anywhere in the city would eliminate the social housing ghettos. The city could even mandate there not be more than one house on any given block.
Surely this has been tried somewhere. Does it work? Can it work?
Given the amazing cost overruns at a Vancouver social housing project (I think the units will cost tax payers over $700,000 each), buying up existing houses just seems easier.
Note: by social housing I’m not talking about homeless shelters, but homes for those with jobs, or students with children, for example, who just cannot afford the escalating costs of housing in some of North America’s more dynamic cities.
Topics: planning policy, diversity | 6 Comments »
January 6, 2010
Five Phenomena of the Century (so far)
The first decade of the 21st century has come to a close. For the first blog post of the new decade, I decided to ponder the most significant trends of the past decade related to cities or affecting urban spaces.
Below are the five most significant happenings, in no particular order because they are all somewhat interrelated.
1. Widespread recognition of how industry clusters work and the importance of focusing on those in furthering an urban economy. For a while, every city tried to attract every type of industry. In the late 20th century leaders of cities everywhere wanted bio tech companies, an auto plant, the next Microsoft, fashion designers and the movie industry to flourish in their town. More recently, city government and business groups have spent time examining the industries where the region has a comparative advantage over other places: sectors where they have more jobs on average and likely some ingredients or a history that gives the industry an authenticity in the community. Such strengths can then be used to attract more people and organizations in that cluster.
2. Richard Florida’s publishing of “Rise of the Creative Class.” The book helped explain the human dimension behind why clustering works and how cities need to foster a mix of “talent, tolerance and technology” in order to attract and retain knowledge-based industries and workers. The book spawned new ways that planners, developers, business leaders, and scholars think about cities (whether they agree or not, everyone has to respond to these ideas).
3. Rise of Asian cities as global commercial, manufacturing and financial hubs:
- 20 years ago, when China was massacring citizens at Tienanmen Square no one could have predicted the country of today and the urban revolution there as detailed in The Concrete Dragon. According to Mastercard in 2008, 15 of the most important 65 world cities are now in China. Besides Beijing and Shanghai they include places like Harbin, Xian, Wuhan and Nanjing that few ordinary people outside of China have heard of they are so new to the contemporary world stage.
- 10 years ago had you heard of Dubai?
- Bangalore and Mumbai have became centres of global outsourcing and then innovation in their own right. Clustering works for India too.
4. The Green Revolution – not the agricultural one, but the shift to more sustainable urban construction and sustainable design. 10 years ago, as the US Green Building Council began promoting “green” construction and its LEED rankings, everyone laughed. They said the private sector and institutions would never build LEED office buildings because it couldn’t make financial sense. Today in Canada’s major cities virtually every major project, private and public sector, is being built to LEED or other environmental sustainability standards, not only because doing less harm to the environment is good but because private firms have learned that green makes employees feel better, take fewer sick days and be more productive.
5. Re-birth of urban-style living and the start of a shift away from suburban lifestyles. Individuals, couples and families in North America are increasingly choosing to live in townhouses and apartments in or near the urban core (even if they can afford a spacious suburban home). Not everyone, not everywhere, but enough people to make this a trend and likely one that will help define the 21st century in North America (whereas suburban style automotive culture defined and shaped how people lived in the 20th century). This shift is related to a green consciousness, the rise of women to become the dominant gender in the workforce, the rising price of gasoline, escalating house prices.
Your comments? and what would you add or subtract?
Topics: urban history | 7 Comments »
December 16, 2009
Resiliant Canadian Home Prices–Alternative Theory
Unlike the housing market crash in the USA, in Canada the average home price is reaching record highs, or is already there depending upon how you measure it and adjust for inflation. Market watchers are starting to cry “bubble!” They are predicting a burst, or at least a noticeable slow down soon. (Good article in the Globe and Mail on who is saying what, and why.) They may be right — or not.
However, here I offer the theory that maybe the steady increase in house prices isn’t a bubble, but a response to shifting urban trends. The demand for homes (whether condo, townhouse or single family) close to the urban core continues to grow, while supply cannot keep pace. The result is rising prices.
Increasingly, individuals and families want to live in close proximity to jobs, as well as urban amenities. There is a limited supply of housing in such places, and thus prices go up.
When analysts speak of record high prices, they are typically talking aggregate values, nationally. What I want to see are prices broken down by proximity to urban core. Home price increases may be uneven geographically with the rapid increase of metro core homes masking declining or stable values in suburban places and smaller towns.In the Metro Vancouver area, for example, homes actually in Vancouver, near or in the dense urban core — with proximity to a wide variety of urban amenities from restaurants to theatre, the ocean and transit — have continued to increase in price throughout the recession. But in the more distant, automobile-centred suburban areas, this is not the case.
In the GTA, I’m hearing a similar phenomenon. Home values in Rosedale or Forest Hill continue to rise; demand for downtown Condos has not been satiated. But what about the distant suburbs?
Does anyone have some good, local level numbers?
Other comments on my theory that it’s the rising sale prices of houses in certain places driving up the national average?
Topics: urban history | 6 Comments »
December 1, 2009
Gentrification and diversity
The challenge as many North American metro areas urbanize — evolve into higher density, urban playgrounds — is maintaining diversity in these new and renovated neighbourhoods.
An article by Aaron Renn of the Dallas Morning News is circulating among the urban bloggers that notes how “White” some of the cities often considered models for future urban development are or have become (Portland, in particular). While many of the statements in the article ignore some historical context, this paragraph hits a challenge of our times:
Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs.
This paragraph holds true if the city’s urban planners and voters don’t also push for different forms of housing — a diversity of housing options to maintain a fertile environment for a more diverse population, if you like.
Gentrifying urban spaces need: small and larger rental options, of varying age, quality and price; home ownership options of all variety from high rise condo to ground-oriented row house — and some single family homes nearby.
Sure the latter might only be affordable by the highest income cohort group, but this group is as important to the diversity of a neighbourhood as artists, coffee baristas, and junior software programers.
Problems arise in an urban space when one group — whether poor, rich, or in the middle dominates to the point of shutting out all others. And lets face it, mono-cultural life is not what people want when they choose urban spaces over suburban ones.
Topics: diversity, development conflicts | No Comments »
November 24, 2009
Your most outragious examples of “urbany”
Urbany — Trendwatching.com’s new word for the urban experience lifestyle.
100 years ago, less than 5 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today over 50% call urban areas home and that number could reach 70% within a few decades.
What’s the significance? Urban culture is taking over. As explained by Trendwatcher:
A forever-growing number of more sophisticated, more demanding, but also more try-out-prone, super-wired urban consumers are snapping up more ‘daring’ goods, services, experiences, campaigns and conversations.
So, what are your examples of the most extreme “urbany” you’ve seen? Put another way, what daily happenings in cities would most shock a time traveler from the 1950s?
Here are mine (in no particular order):
- The widespread daily $5 Latte habit
- Dozens of people sitting in a cafe, all texting on their cel phones but not talking to each other
- Ordinary people having personal trainers
- How busy a restaurant patio is on a warm day, with both men and women (in the 1950s these people would all have 4 kids at home)
What else?
Topics: urban history, urban lifestyles | 6 Comments »
November 18, 2009
American cities facing challenges
As the United States grapples with the worst job losses since World War Two, the nation’s cities need to be centers of solutions and incubators of private sector jobs. Yet, with government bank balances at all levels in the red, finding the resources to provide infrastructure and even maintain basic services will be challenging. Municipalities may be forced to cut payrolls, which will make it that much harder to provide a fertile place for employers and employees.
The Brookings Institute will be hosting a forum on November 19 2009 at 9AM– that will be live streamed (and re-playable)– related to this issue, involving mayors, the Wall Street Journal and even VP Joseph Biden.
The discussion will focus on the deepening fiscal challenges many cities face, the adjustments that will be required in 2010 budgets, and the and the tough choices on city services and payrolls that may drag down national jobs numbers and economic recovery.
In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the big issues for American cities:
The US is facing the need for structural economic change, finishing the shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge and experience based one. The latter requires dynamic, vibrant cities filled with talented people and clusters of different companies doing innovative things.
But, how to get there from where so many cities are — that’s a big question. I look forward to hearing what the Brooking’s Institute’s forum participants come up with. But I can’t help but think the challenges here generally cannot be solved at the municipal level alone — it’s a national economic structural shift that needs to happen, and will require a devalued currency, inflation, and perhaps a decline in living standards for millions of Americans.
Topics: national politics, urban history, economic development | 1 Comment »
November 17, 2009
Apartment living and women’s empowerment
Back when North American metropolitan areas were laid out, in suburbs connected by freeways, women typically stayed home to raise the 3.9 children that was typical for a woman to have in 1961.
The entire metro area design evolved interconnected with this dominant idea about womanhood as motherhood. Suburbs detached from work areas; malls and shopping detached from home, such that it was a full time job to drive around to provision a home and get kids to and from activities.
Today, suburban living requires almost the same commitment — one parent must devote herself (or himself) to keeping up a suburban home, even if there are no longer 3.9 children there. It is still, at minimum a significant part time or full time job. Leaving one child in extended daycare or with a nanny in order to commute 1 hour each way and then work an 8.5 hour day is not most parents’ preferred option and thus suburban living creates stress for families where both parents enjoy their jobs and want to remain in the workforce. Although working from home is sometimes possible with today’s technology, for many people it’s just not as satisfying as with face-to-face interaction.
Indeed the suburban style of metropolitan organization seems anachronistic and out of place with today’s realities, which creates a lot of stress on families. 61.9% of families with children have both parents working, in Canada. Yet the housing stock and our housing assumptions — that we need to live in a house with a yard if we have children — evolved from a time when many fewer mothers and fathers both worked.
Moreover, today, a woman in Canada typically has only 1.6 children in her lifetime. Having a house in the ‘burbs is hardly necessary as a “space” issue. How much room does a family of 3 need?
Female labour force participation has grown steadily in recent years, and it’s no accident that so has apartment and condominium living in Canada’s larger cities. Given women now earn the majority of university degrees, and the economy is increasingly knowledge based, I expect that urban living close to workplaces will grow in the coming decades. Look for demand for apartments and condominiums to grow.
Living and working in close proximity saves time, allowing time for work and for children, particularly if an employer is somewhat flexible (an increasing pattern as well) — or if the woman or parents create their own businesses. High density areas close to business districts offer lots of potential customers.
Your comments welcome .. are you seeing apartment living as a force that is supporting women in professional careers? does it support you?
What about in the USA where the fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman (much higher than Canada) — is this a cause or an effect of continued suburban lifestyles?
Topics: urban history, demographic stats, sprawl, urban families | 6 Comments »
November 9, 2009
Changing urban jobs, new urban lifestyles
How is the changing nature of urban employment changing our cities?
Many cities, particularly in North America, emerged as centers for manufacturing, primary industry and some natural resource processing and trade. In recent decades, manufacturing finished products has become more automated and global. Making primary products like steel has undergone a similar transformation. And many of North America’s resources are gone, and those that remain are often more costly to harvest than comparable products in other countries (forestry and the fishery being good examples).
That has changed. Urban jobs increasingly are based in the knowledge economy or urban experience economy. The former often involve engineering, accounting, financial or other analytical work. The latter involve providing others with experiences, whether that perfect morning latte, a spa treatment, a personalized workout, retail service or the presentation of fine food to name a few.
There is still construction employment and jobs driving containers of Cherrios or designer clothes to warehouses will not disappear. But so many other jobs often considered masculine and male dominated are gone.
Our cities are changing along with attitudes about gender. Most women today have less than 2 children (1.5 children per woman in her lifetime is the current fertility average); women earn 55% of bachelor and masters degrees, often needed (or an advantage) in the knowledge economy and skilled experience-service economy positions.
As women take skilled positions in the knowledge economy, it creates positions for child care workers (a skilled, service economy role) and perhaps more demand for lower maintenance apartment living rather than suburban single family home ownership.
Immigrants to Canada come with higher education levels than the typical native born person (50% of immigrants to Canada over the age of 24 have degrees, in comparison to 20% of Canadian born in the same age group). This is making Canada’s major cities more multi-cultural than ever.
With many of the resource and manufacturing companies gone, there seems to be fewer large employers and more smaller ones. Does this empower talented people or is it a loss to job security? or both?
What other ways do you see changing employment patterns in cities affecting the look and feel of urban areas, or the way people live in them?
Topics: urban history, economic development | 4 Comments »