Jens von Bergmann

Where is this map from? This looks much more promising than what’s in the current draft plan.

It’s both. I’m short, population weighted density is just regular density plus variance in regular density taken over the sub-regions, 1km grid cells in this case. Hard to say what exactly is going on for individual cities without checking into details.

Some caution is advisable here, population weighted density is a funny metric that gets boosted by variance in population density. And thus heavily depends on choices like grid size.

The big picture on housing, density and affordability How Edmonton's approach fights for affordability and fiscal efficiency

Fantastic piece by Don Iveson on what Edmonton is doing right on housing. There are lots of lessons here for other communities.

Time to dust off that old 3-line RSA t-shirt…

I first read that as 15.4%. Holy moly, we really don’t want solar in Canada.

September data was released today. The drop in absolute number of travellers is a bit lower than in the (higher volume) summer months, but year over year percentage change drop held fairly steady.

One such paper to find:
What Proportion of Tax Returns Could the Canada Revenue Agency Complete?
(open access)
utppublishing.com/doi/full/10....

Vancouver

There are a few other opportunities to catch us this week! www.modacitylife.com/vancouver

Sounds amazing. How am I so out of the loop that I don’t even know what this event was?

I have lived in North America for half my life now but I still get tripped up by how ridiculous some of the regulation here is compared to Europe. (And pretty much all of the rest of the world.)

At least for this project it looks like they aren’t using their discretion to force assemblies, which definitely has been a thing in the past.

Can’t believe we are still doing this.
RM-7 zoning is designed to generate maximally inaccessible townhouses, because not sinking the first floor a metre below ground level would make the building a metre taller and cast an extra 10mins of shade in some SFH zucchini garden. (Also add elevators!)

YIMBYs (like @ahvancouver.bsky.social) often say, "legalize apartments", or "end the apartment ban".

I don't want to speak for anyone else. But when I say that--things like this is what I'm talking about. No street, no neighbourhood, is too good for housing like this.

Housing is good!

This is really good to see. It brings predictability to development, not just for developers but also for residents who know what kind of development they can expect to see. Hoping this work will continue and reliance of site-specific zoning will get further reduced.

My guess, regular lane painting equipment is designed for roads and the bike lane and line placement is too narrow for it to work. So they had to wing it.

How B.C.'s property tax system delivers big benefits to multimillionaires, and why some say it needs to change B.C.'s property tax system is uniquely generous for wealthy homeowners. Some people think that should change. Find out more.

Great to chat to Dan Fumano @vancouversun.bsky.social about BC's property tax deferment program.

My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”

Ack, we should coordinate next time.

Barely. But worth it.

Dang. Can’t believe I missed that. 30 yers already. Maybe I’ll walk over and try to sneak in and catch the tail end…

Quite a few people have taken this as a diss of Trent Reznor. Which makes me sad.
This is a screenshot from a David Bowie music video from the 90s in which Trent is playing “Johnny”.

Link to the video is now threaded below the quoted post, it’s a good video to watch if you haven’t seen it.

Photo of a countertop with a laptop, a bowl of muffin mix and a recipe book. In the background is a window with solar panels visible outside.

Nerdy Sunday! Getting ready for the Fall legislative sitting by baking zucchini muffins and watching a recording of a #Housing webinar from @1alexhemingway.bsky.social from the new @bcpolicy.bsky.social.

bcpolicy.ca/2025/10/03/s... #BCPoli #AffordableHousing

Yeah. Except too many people who missed the context were reading this as a diss on Trent. Which made me sad.

Agreed. I am just trying to understand the argument for up-front charges. What they are based on to justify them. I am open to the idea that there are edge cases where up-front charges are useful or better, but I’d like to see a clear explanation/accounting. Especially applied to infill development.

Still hoping to finding a lifecycle cost analysis of water and sewer infrastructure with a clear explanation which costs should not be financed as user fees (like we do with electricity infrastructure) and which costs should be paid upfront.

A simple and effective way to fight street disorder and crime? That makes money too? Cities must be all over this…

Some people did serve prison sentences, even just last year someone was sentenced to 10 years in prison on murder charges stemming from his role in the secret police. But consequences were mostly via removing former operatives and “unofficial operatives” from public roles and jobs (e.g. teachers).

Speaking from the German perspective, yes, Germans did (to some degree) learn who worked for the secret police. Everyone could go and requests to see their personal files, if they existed and weren’t destroyed in the tumultuous last days of the regime, and learn who was spying on them.

YouTube video by David Bowie David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (Official Music Video) [4K Upgrade]

Just the still frame does not really do it justice though.