communities
« Previous EntriesTrick or Treat for a Community
Friday, November 6th, 2009Zillow released a “Trick or Treat” Housing Index last week for Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Their goal was to assess where a child could score the most candy with the least amount of walking and in a safe place. As they explained:
[We used] four equally weighted data variables: Zillow Home Value Index, population […]
What all cities share with Urumqi, Xinjiang, China
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009The events on the fringes of the Chinese empire this week might sound confusing and exotic. But their roots are actually quite familiar.
The clashes between Uyghurs (WEE-GARs, a turkik-speaking, Islamic people living in the Chinese state) and the Han Chinese in Urumqi and Kashgar this week presented the ugly side of the ongoing ethnic or […]
Urban families after the great reset
Friday, May 29th, 2009As energy becomes expensive and major cities increase their status as economic drivers, families who live in them will inhabit smaller spaces than many do today. Some are already there, and from their lifestyles we can glimpse into the future.
Melanie, her husband and two children live in their 950 square foot condominium in Vancouver’s Yaletown […]
Social media and community engagement
Friday, May 15th, 2009Many popular culture analysts noted the decline of community in the later decades of the 20th century. People seemed to “tune out” and become uninterested in world events, local politics and issues that affected their daily lives. Some blamed television, others the double-income family combined with longer commutes that left little time to connect with […]
Special civic advocates for walking? cycling?
Sunday, May 10th, 2009Cities need to offer residents and businesses a variety of transportation options to maximize livability. Only facilitating automobile travel makes for a polluted, congested, and concrete-freeway-based environment. Only facilitating bikes or walking in 21st century life and you hamper citizens’ ability to go any distance or carry very much while doing it. As recently […]
Celebrate Cities with Jane’s Walk - May 2/3
Sunday, April 12th, 2009Last year 141 different walks took place in eleven Canadian cities — as well as a couple of American ones — to celebrate the life and work of Jane Jacobs. Depending upon the volunteer leader’s interest and expertise, participants learn about local history, took in street-level charm, were exposed to challenges such as homelessness, and/or […]
City politics are where it’s at
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Recently, popular interest in city-based politics and municipal government activity has grown — whether in metro Vancouver (as Frances Bula ponders) or most areas of North America. Meanwhile many city daily newspapers are failing. I think there is a connection.
Cities are becoming the engines of economic growth as the knowledge economy and urban service sectors […]
Is infrastructure spending the answer?
Monday, January 19th, 2009Many North American cities face crumbling infrastructure along with a need to offer residents new mass transit options. During the current economic slow down, the conventional wisdom seems to be that investing in infrastructure is a win - win, offering short term employment and long term needs.
But, what if many of the people needed to […]
Cities as places
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008Well-functioning cities are not just collections of people, places for commerce, or even car-tropolis. They are collections of “places” — that is, networks of people and services interwoven into the lives of residents. Cafes, doctors offices, grocers and specialty retailers are examples of ingredients to place — they offer services used by residents and […]
Halloween visit and walkability score
Saturday, November 8th, 2008After we ran out of candy Halloween night (after about 100 pint-sized visitors), I was pondering Richard Florida’s “Trick-or-treater” index. Essentially, Florida argues that a “rule of thumb” measure of the child-friendliness of a neighbourhood can be based on the number of trick-or-treaters.
But, the thought occurred to me that the number of trick-or-treaters might also […]