Keywords: streets, history, urban politics, street design, roadspace reallocation, zoning

Keywords: congestion pricing, urban politics

An interesting little essay, including some historical facts about Vancouver cycling groups that I wasn't aware of, such as the fact that BEST was originally an offshoot of Bicycle People. Too bad there's no online copy... reading it on microfiche on UBC campus is a pain.

Keywords: activism, bicycle planning, urban politics, canada

detailed annotation

Keywords: general interest, history, sociology, urban planning, urban politics

In the first three chapters (the only part I've read), there were some very interesting discussion of growth management policies, equity and racial segregation in the USA.

One point I found interesting was the discussion of preferences. In general, Americans want single-family detached houses, auto-based travel, free parking and short travel times. The planning system in many ways guarantees the first two: suburbs have extremely high minimum standards for housing (low density single-family homes), and generally provide generous roads and free parking. The last aspect of preferences cannot be guaranteed due to growth and swamping of existing roads by new travel, discussed at length in the book. This is the aspect I find interesting: the system is inherently biased towards one set of preferences (housing) and limits trading off housing against travel time-if an individual prefers short travel times and is willing to accept “lower quality” dense housing in return, that option is rarely available. In other words, this minimum provision limits choices, a point that Andre Sorensen has made repeatedly in his discussions in the course I'm taking.

Downs notes that one-third of US households did not live in single-family homes in 1990, and one-third were renters (presumably with substantial overlap). He describes the provision of low-cost housing as a “trickle-down” process: since cheap new housing is prohibited, only degraded older houses are available for those who cannot afford the suburban single-family home. This process breaks down when “net housing construciton is lower than net household formation”-i.e., periods of rapid growth.

Keywords: urban planning, equity, zoning, urban politics, smart growth

Keywords: transport planning, urban form, transit, land use transport link, urban politics, smart growth

An excellent, detached and comprehensive overview of postwar trends in the Toronto region. The hypothesis that Toronto may have “the best of both worlds” by having both dispersed and concentrated environments is an interesting one, although the retention of that status would require both realms to grow at similar rates, which has not been the trend in recent decades.

Keywords: canada, urban planning, geography, urban politics, toronto

The smart growth concept has recently achieved prominence within the planning profession. It represents a reaction to mounting resentment towards the adverse consequences of prevailing forms of urbanization: air pollution, high development costs and deteriorating quality of life. The article examines the possibility of implementing smart growth proposals within the prevailing political, economic and value environment. After drawing lessons from the lack of success of attempts at altering urban development over the last thirty years, the article proposes two smart growth strategies. To maintain their implementation potential and capacity to modify urbanization trends, the strategies avoid clashes with entrenched preference patterns and powerful interest groups. The first strategy consists in an expansion of the high-density transit-oriented compact urban realm into the ambient low-density car-dependent dispersed realm. The second strategy involves the creation of mixed-use high-density corridors, hospitable to transit use and walking, within newly urbanized areas.

An excellent article, aimed at realistic incremental policies to change urban densities, the main obstacle to mode share changes. The solutions he presents are not new at all, but the political context and discussion of suburban values are worth thinking about.

Keywords: urban planning, urban politics, canada, urban form, smart growth

Keywords: urban politics, canada, urban planning

Keywords: urban planning, urban politics

Keywords: history, finance, urban politics

Some interesting analysis of the politics in this issue. Goodwin notes that the use of revenue from congestion charging is an essential part of any scheme, in which “the beneficiaries were as visible and influential as the motorists who paid it” even if the only goal is to reduce congestion, not to raise revenue. In London's case, the revenue was funneled to public transport improvements. He also notes the implications for modelling: the traffic reduction was at the upper end of the range estimated by models, and the revenues from the scheme were hence lower than expected. “This is not particular to road pricing: it is part of a general reappraisal of establish transport modelling techniques, which have a built-in tendency to underestimate the range and complexity of the behaviour response to policy, which in turn causes an overestimation of the benefits of infrastructure expansion, and an underestimation of the benefits of demand management.” In a footnote, he adds that “some of the earlier modelling work had actually forecast a bigger effect, closer to what happened, but this had been progressively revised downwards by the modelling teams in order to produce robust, defensible, conservative assessments.”

Keywords: congestion pricing, urban politics, transport modelling

Keywords: urban politics, transport planning

Keywords: urban politics, urban planning

Keywords: congestion pricing, urban politics

Keywords: urban politics

Keywords: urban politics

Keywords: history, urban planning, urban design, urban politics

Keywords: urban politics, canada, transport planning

Keywords: urban politics, governance

detailed annotation

This book examines the development of Vancouver's unique approach to zoning, planning, and urban design from the early 1970s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. By the late 1990s, Vancouver had established a reputation in North America for its planning achievement, especially for its creation of a participative, responsive, and design-led approach to urban regeneration and redevelopment. This system has other important features: an innovative approach to megaproject planning, a system of cost and amenity levies on major schemes, a participative process to underpin active neighbourhood planning, and a sophisticated panoply of design guidelines. These systems, processes, and their achievements place Vancouver at the forefront of international planning practice. The Vancouver Achievement explains the keys to its success, and evaluates its approach to planning and design against internationally accepted criteria. Generously illustrated with over 160 photos and figures, this book - the first comprehensive account of contemporary planning and urban design practice in any Canadian city - will appeal to academic and professional audiences, as well as the general public.

Keywords: history, canada, urban planning, urban politics, architecture, streets, urban design

Keywords: canada, urban politics

Keywords: congestion pricing, urban politics

Keywords: governance, urban politics, canada

Keywords: urban politics, canada, governance

Keywords: urban politics, transport planning

Keywords: urban politics, equity, zoning

In many provinces in Canada, development charges are collected by municipal governments to help pay for the capital costs associated with urban growth. Hardly anywhere, however, is there an attempt to structure development charges so as to achieve planning goals. This article examines the disconnect between fiscal and planning goals by tracking the evolution of development charge regimes in a particular urban region, namely the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. The authors pose the question: why do so many municipalities adopt average cost approaches to calculating development charges when it is widely assumed that a marginal cost approach is superior from an infrastructure and land-use efficiency (i.e., planning) perspective?

The typical explanations put forward to account for this preference are examined and found wanting. A fuller explanation requires an understanding of developer-municipal conflict over the principles involved in the design of development charges. This leads us to an account of the emergence of development charges in Ontario and the evolving debate between municipalities and developers over who should pay for the infrastructure needed to support growth. This story reveals that there has been a gradual shift in municipal infrastructure financing practices from a marginal cost or “site-specific” approach, favoured by developers, to an average cost or “municipal-wide” approach, favoured by municipalities. In the conclusions, a number of factors underlying this evolution are identified.

Keywords: canada, urban planning, urban politics, finance

Keywords: urban politics