Urban Design
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The Singapore Chronicles: The Politics of Preservation
Singapore’s skyline is constantly in motion. Construction cranes and hoardings are as much part of the visual identity of the city as its heritage...
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 -
The Coriolis Effect, Part III: Reclaiming the Planner’s Toolkit
Parts I and Part II of The Coriolis Effect explored how market-aligned tools like the pro forma have subtly—but powerfully—steered urban planning in...
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 -
UCS #50: Welcome to Jericho Water Park
See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: Vancouver...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate -
Downtown in Transition: An Interview with Sean Bailey
As downtowns adapt to shifting work patterns and rising public expectations, planners and designers are being challenged to think beyond traditional...
By Erick Villagomez -
Book Review – City Science: Performance Follows Form
Authors: Ramon Gras and Jeremy Burke (Actar, 2024) Cities have long been at the intersection of art and science, blending architecture, engineering, and...
By Erick Villagomez -
Rising High, Falling Short: Social and Economic Division
Key Metrics Summary Building: A 40-story residential building constructed of a reinforced concrete frame with a curtain wall facade on a site without...
By Erick Villagomez