By Erick Villagomez
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UCS #114: Distracting the Voters?
The © Urban Cartoon Syndicate was launched in May 2024, jointly with Spacing Vancouver. Coming out roughly weekly from a group of cartoonists and...
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Minority Rules, Revisited: Who Actually Votes with Whom?
Last April, shortly after Vancouver’s by-election, I turned the result into a game. It was admittedly a geeky one. Going into the by-election, ABC...
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UCS #108 – The Village Baker!
See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: Vancouver’s...
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What Makes a Village?
I recently found myself wandering Commercial Drive, reading between its pulsing cafés and restaurants. An empty storefront. Another. A familiar music...
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Book Review: An Even Better Way to Zone
Author: Donald Elliott (Island Press, 2025) When I first reviewed Donald Elliott’s A Better Way to Zone almost fifteen years ago, I began with a...
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Book Review – Black Public Joy: No Permit or Permission Required
Author: Jay Pitter (Penguin Random House, 2026) What is public space for? Most planners would answer with some combination of safety, accessibility...
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If We Have a Housing Shortage, Why Are We Buying Empty Condos?
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier David Eby recently announced a plan to purchase vacant condominium units and convert them into affordable housing...
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Vancouver’s Villages Debate in Plain English
If you’ve heard people talking about Vancouver’s proposed Villages Plan and wondered what all the fuss is about, you’re not alone. The...
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Book Review – Planning the Future of Abu Dhabi: A Canadian-Emirati Collaboration for Sustainable Urbanism
Edited by Larry Beasley and Michael White (UBC Press/On Point Press, 2026) There is a version of city-building that planners often imagine, if not quietly...
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Last-Mile Urbanism
A small cube-shaped robot rolls carefully along a crowded sidewalk, weaving between patio tables, cyclists, utility poles, and pedestrians carrying...
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From Exception to Entitlement
Vancouver is once again asking a familiar question: how tall should the city grow? Framed through the City’s ongoing review of the Higher Buildings...
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Community Centres…and The Costs We Don’t See
On a weekday afternoon, a community centre in Vancouver hums in a way that rarely makes it into policy announcements. A seniors’ exercise class wraps up...