diversity
« Previous EntriesThink small: A non-market housing supply solution?
Saturday, January 9th, 2010Planners 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 […]
Gentrification and diversity
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009The 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 […]
Rio 2016
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009Being chosen to host the Olympic Games is a complicated process. Without delving into that issue too much, here’s a take on what becoming an Olympic City typically signifies — that a city somewhere in the world has passed a threshold and become a “world city” at least in the eyes of the voting delegates. […]
Gung “Haggis” Fat Choy (belated)
Monday, February 11th, 2008After the firecrackers chased away the evil spirits, a Scottish Bag Pipe Band helped lead off yesterday’s Chinese New Year Parade through the streets of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
In Vancouver, blending the Scottish Robbie Burns Day festivities with Chinese New Year has become a tradition. Haggis meets Gung Hay Fat Choy (Happy New Year in Mandarin). […]
Insights into San Francisco (and cities) from Allende’s “Daughter of Fortune”
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007With the holidays approaching, many readers of this blog might look to curl up by the fireplace with a novel instead of non-fiction books about the economy or planning theory. A good choice would be Isabel Allende’s book, Daughter of Fortune.
This spellbinding work of historical fiction details the experiences of a well educated young […]
Comparing cities through surnames
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007The last names of individuals in a metro area or a country can be surprising. Until today I never knew the most common last name in Canada is Li. Not Smith, as it is in the USA. Smith is number two in Canada.
The USA-Canada contrast is interesting: Looking down the top […]
Dubai - a microcosm of globalization?
Monday, October 29th, 2007What does globalization really mean? It’s a loaded term with many meanings. Perhaps one way to understand what the shrinking distances between people, economies, cities and countries really means is to look at life in one city that exists in its current form because of global trade and travel - Dubai.
Dubai is a […]
Race, Class and Sprawl
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007Is there a link between race, class and an insistence on urban sprawl in the US? Historically, probably yes. Today, some African American advocates imply that continuing sprawl is required for African Americans to catch up on home ownership rates. I question whether this would actually be best for equalizing the economic […]
Families, City Living, and Economic Diversity
Thursday, September 6th, 2007What do you need to build a community? Do you need dozens of like-minded people from the same socio-economic background, living in similar houses, doing similar jobs, with kids who do the same activities?
Or, can you build a strong community with people from a variety of backgrounds, who have different life experiences, living in different […]
World Cities and Work
Monday, August 13th, 2007Here’s a intriguing quote about how and why “world cities” function:
“As technology shrinks distance, differences [in local laws, language and traditions] persist and are even amplified. To mitigate the resulting polarizations, global businesses prefer “world cities” as locations. These cosmopolitan centers, existing and new, mediate between a global culture and the flavors of each locality. […]
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