We need urban green space! And yes, we have to preserve agricultural land and wilderness areas. The biggest road blocks to achieving these objectives: suburbanites demanding development freezes to halt densification. Densification results in more urban green space – not less. Also, it helps prevent urban sprawl to more distant municipalities that grow by re-zoning […]
I enjoy exploring towns and cities and this year we spent a month in Paris and Strasbourg. Sadly, I always expect to see some level of homelessness. However, I wasn’t ready for the number of little encampments that I saw in France this year. Tents and cardboard shelters near the Louvre, in shopping arcades, just […]
What caught my attention the Week of January 31st? A Shell First Shell opened its first all-electric fueling station in Hammersmith and Fulham, London. Not a gas or diesel pump in site. Ultra rapid chargers bring car battery capacity from 0% to 80% in less than ten minutes. Built of sustainable construction materials, the charging […]
Québec has municipal elections on a set date every four years. Candidate campaigns are now in full swing with voting scheduled for November 7. Items high on the agendas in most municipalities – housing and population density. Focus Pointe-Claire I live in Pointe-Claire, an on-island suburb of Montréal. It has a lot going for it […]
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “Third Place” in 1989. He defined home as the First Place and “the office / factory floor/ etc” the Second Place. Oldenburg’s Third Places were neither home space nor work space. Boundaries between work, home, and play fade Since 1989, information and communication technologies have helped fade the boundaries […]
Learning to live well on this fragile planet is far more important than dreaming about the next one. Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development, and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey. Tim Jackson, The Alternative UK, July 24, 2021 Essay – the Plutocrat Space Race Fear of […]
Quote of the Week “A walkable community has to have useful things for people to walk to.” ― Philip Langdon, Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All Jacob Gotta, Propodo.com- June 13, 2021 THE GROWING POLITICAL PUSHBACK AGAINST FREEWAYS If you haven’t clued in by now, you haven’t been reading everything I write. I […]
The time is past when humankind thought it could selfishly draw on exhaustible resources. We know now the world is not an exhaustible commodity. François Hollande, ex-president of the French Republic on Climate Change Maxine Bédat, Fast Company – June 1, 2021 SEE THE HORRIFYING PLACE WHERE YOUR OLD CLOTHES GO TO DIE Do you […]
Developers have their eyes set on Montréal’s Chinatown, a tiny but very accessible area of the city near the central business district. This distinctive neighbourhood just a short walk from Old Montreal, University of Montréal Hospital Centre, and McGill University, anchors Montréal’s Chinese community. Additionally, it is an area of the city where people congregate. […]
Targeted Housing should come in many formats and could be a dynamic part of any neighbourhood.
Targeted Housing desperately needed! So, here’s an idea! We will tie the supply of social, affordable, and family housing to private development by applying quotas. And then, we will spend years negotiating development agreements in a process that gives uninformed NIMBYs too much influence. Despite best intentions, the plan and process results in long delays […]