City Debate #7: THE VACANCY TAX WILL WORK (VIDEO)
Vancouver just enacted a 1 per cent tax on empty homes. Will that make housing more affordable or fail to do so while creating new problems?
City Debate #6: VANCOUVER REPELS CREATIVE PEOPLE (VIDEO)
Vancouver has been a creative hotbed for environmentalism, urban design, art and social policies – but is that coming to a halt due to high prices and other factors?
Meet Vancouver's New Chief Planner (VIDEO)
Welcome to Vancouver’s new Chief Planner!
Gil Kelley is the City of Vancouver’s new General Manager of Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability. Please join the Urbanarium in welcoming him to his new role.
Gil will speak on: West Coast Cities: On the Leading Edge of Change
Gil’s talk will be followed by a Q and A and a reception in the Playhouse lobby:
5.30 Doors Open/Check-in
5.30 - 6.30 Networking and No Host Bar
6.30 - 8.00 Talk and Q+A
8.00 - 9.00 Reception
City Debate #20: INVEST OR RETREAT? GRANVILLE ISLAND + SEA LEVEL RISE
20th Edition Celebration at Waterfront Threatre!
North America's most successful public market is at high risk to be underwater by 2100. Do we invest in new infrastructure to keep it above sea level? Or do we retreat?
This event has been approved by the AIBC or 2.5 Core Learning Units.
CCA Screening and Panel: To Build Law
Much of what we build (and how we build it) is actually shaped by laws and public policy. From building codes to zoning and heritage by-laws, these frameworks have an enormous impact on what gets built and what is lost along the way. Buildings are held as assets, torn down, and redeveloped, with limited consideration of community and environmental impacts. Evidently, a systemic shift in the way we build and value our built environment is urgently needed.
From Street to Plaza with Modular Timber Technologies
We know it’s so important to have parks and open space to meet our friends, relax, play, and have room for other creatures like plants and animals. But public space in cities is limited - particularly in older, built up areas. One way that cities are approaching this challenge is by transforming streets into plazas. In Vancouver, to help keep these new plazas beautiful, agreements are made with local groups or businesses to maintain them.
An Intracity Canal for Vancouver
With limited budgets and the large scale of sea-level rise challenges facing cities, it’s time to think about design solutions that address many problems at once. Streets provide an amazing opportunity for this because they are owned by cities (which makes it easier to implement changes), and they are significant public spaces for community use (in Vancouver, about 30% of land are streets).
Decoding Density in VR: Building Density In a Climate Emergency
Decoding Density in VR: Building Density in a Climate Emergency was 4 weeks of Ethos Lab mixed reality camps exploring concepts of building housing and food density through combining urban planning and architectural practice and live drawings with the powers of the Unity game engine.
City Debate #19: HIGH RISES ARE MORE SOCIABLE THAN LOW RISES
Which form of housing development supports a stronger community fabric and greater sociability? Do low-rise housing forms make it easier for neighbours to get to know each other and build stronger social connections? Or does being more spread out make it harder to stay connected? Do the higher population densities of condo and rental towers make it easier for residents to form tight social networks? Or does the high-rise form lead to residents being surrounded by people, but all avoiding eye contact in the elevator?
City Debate #18: MASS TIMBER IS NOT WORTH THE RISKS
Mass timber is widely touted for it’s potential for speedy, low carbon construction. However, market acceptance in BC remains elusive. Do the risks (cost, supply chain, trades, maintenance etc) outweigh the benefits? Our panel debates the position: “Mass timber is not worth the risk(s)”.