Community
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21st Century Road Allowances
Yvonne was in her early 40s, with short brown hair and a solid build. She was taller than my 5’ 5” frame, but when I met her she was seated on the steps...
By mariastanborough -
The Overhead: Community land trusts gaining ground
THIS EPISODE: Community Land Trusts Gaining Ground A good news story in recent years is the amount of progress Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have made in...
By Spacing Radio -
The Language of Uplift
In 2023, the Vancouver City Council recently adopted a motion titled “Uplifting the Downtown Eastside and Building Inclusive Communities that Work for All...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Costs We Don’t See
Vancouver’s proposed 2026 Budget arrives with a promise that feels, at first glance, like a reprieve: a 0% property tax increase in a year when almost...
By Erick Villagomez -
Nostalgia about neighbourhood retail is not a strategy
I have lived for many years less than 30 metres from what was once one of Toronto’s storied corner stores — a green grocer known locally as...
By John Lorinc -
The Overhead: Indigenous-led housing
THIS EPISODE: Indigenous-led Housing What does Indigenous housing look like? Are there special forms of housing needed by Indigenous communities in...
By Spacing Radio -
Week of Learning with Bruntletts
It was a cool late afternoon in October when I met up with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett at Trees Café on Granville Street. The rain held off as we settled...
By mollybarkowsky -
Running the City
Dawn doesn’t so much break over Toronto on marathon morning as creep in behind the sound of trucks, radios, and zip-ties. Streets that usually hum with...
By Alex Kharabian -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 90, Bless this urban mess
Change in cities is often slow, when using official channels. There is a desire to achieve the perfect plan, one that balances everyone’s needs an...
By Spacing Radio -
Who Gets to Lobby?
When most people hear the word lobbyist, they think of expensive suits, closed-door meetings, and backroom deals. In Vancouver, as in most Canadian...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Slow Emergency, Part II: The Emergency Escalates
What began as a procedural memo has become a full-blown shift in how decisions are made. The City of Vancouver’s September 2025 rezoning...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Coriolis Effect, Part IV: When Viability Becomes Destiny
In my earlier Coriolis Effect series (Part I, Part II, and Part III), I argued that city planning has been quietly absorbed into the logic of the...
By Erick Villagomez