Housing
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The Singapore Chronicles: Introduction
Singapore often appears as a paradox—both widely admired and deeply critiqued. It is a city-state that epitomizes precision and planning, where efficiency...
By Erick Villagomez -
UCS #63: A message from Broadway renters to the development community
See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: The great...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate -
On Taxes, Exemptions, Loopholes, and Reversals: A System Built for Speculation
In British Columbia, ordinary homeowners pay annual property taxes—and when they buy a home, they pay Property Transfer Tax. In recent years, the Province...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Slow Emergency
The crisis in Vancouver’s housing system isn’t explosive—it’s quiet, procedural, and often disguised as progress. Recently made public, the Broadway...
By Erick Villagomez -
Entitled to Flip
In Vancouver today, rezoning doesn’t necessarily mean building. Increasingly, it means something else: securing entitlements — legal permissions that...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Trifecta of Control: Stealth. Speed. Complexity.
In the 1960s, planning decisions in Vancouver—like many North American cities—were made behind closed doors. Freeways bulldozed working-class...
By Erick Villagomez -
Et Tu, Uytae?
In just one month, well-known YouTube personality Uytae Lee released three high-profile videos addressing the creation of new downtowns, taxes, and...
By Erick Villagomez -
When Local Planning Becomes Provincial Command: On Bill 13, Bill 15, and the End of Urban Democracy
In British Columbia, democracy is being redefined—not through elections or referendums, but through legislation with quiet names and sweeping...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Coriolis Effect, Part II: Beyond the Spreadsheet
The Coriolis Effect, Part I went through a long gestation period as I humbly asked various people within the discipline for constructive feedback. I was...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Coriolis Effect, Part I: Planning by Spreadsheet
Just because there’s a number on it, it doesn’t mean that the number was arrived at properly…people gather statistics. People choose...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Broadway Plan Protects Displaced Renters. But Not All
Vancouver’s former Mayor Kennedy Stewart might’ve called the Broadway Plan tenant protections the “strongest” in Canada, but tenants say it’s important to...
By Christopher Cheung -
I Love These Streets. Come Walk with Me
Photos by Kayla Isomura Looking at my house fills me with a quiet joy. She is painted in turquoise with a bright yellow door. Vines gives her a winsome...
By Emilie K Adin