@CityBuilderBook global online reading: #ArrivalCity by @DougSaunders

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From the National Film Board — Highrise: The Towers in the World, The World in the Towers

Interactive views from the global highrise. A 360° National Film Board documentary by Katerina Cizek. You see them all over the world. Concrete residential highrise buildings are the most commonly built form of the last century. On the outside they all look the same. But inside these towers of concrete and glass, people create community, art and meaning.  An Emmy-winning, multi-year, many-media, collaborative documentary experiment at the National Film Board of Canada, that explores vertical living around the world. More at: Highrise

From Henriquez Partners Architects Archimemo — Council Approves Refugee "Welcome House Centre"

In an interview with the CBC yesterday, Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC) director Chris Friesen announced that Vancouver City Council has approved a new, first of its kind in the world, 58,000 square foot facility that will address the needs of immigrants and refugees.

Henriquez Partners Architects, ISS of BC, and Terra Housing are working together to create a fully integrated regional service hub that brings together a variety of essential organizations, programs, and services that address the needs of immigrants and refugee newcomers to Vancouver.Read more: Council Approves Refugee "Welcome House Centre" | Archimemo

Alan Broadbent Cities of Migration — Why Municipal Leadership Matters

People move to cities because that is where opportunity exists at scale. They move for work, school, entertainment, acceptance and love. They go to the city for economic success, as they move into and upwards in their careers. They extend their education in higher learning, meet their mates and begin families, and find a place in neighbourhoods and communities. In the city they find people interested in the same things they are, and culture in a vast array of expression.

They move from the hinterlands and rural areas in a relentless internal migration.

And they move from around the world, historically from farms to farms, then farms to cities, and now from large cities to large cities. In every country the biggest cities are becoming bigger at a faster rate of growth than secondary or tertiary cities.

Cities know and feel both urbanization and immigration profoundly. At the national and sub-national levels, urbanization and immigration are policy issues. At worst, they become xenophobic political issues as politicians stir fear of immigrants. At the municipal level, though, they are primary lived experience. And at the city level is where we find the political and community voices that embrace immigrants, knowing they bring strength, vitality, and innovation.

More at: Why Municipal Leadership Matters: Alan Broadbent | Cities of Migration

From Maytree ― Alan Broadbent onBuilding Strong Organizations For Hard Times

The world is changing. Our former consensus that government was there to protect us is eroding. As we operate community organizations in the face of government retreat, we wonder how we must change. How do we find the sustainable platform on which a progressive future can be built? In this month's Maytree Opinion, Alan Broadbent offers three areas we need to think about for our organizations to thrive in hard times.
Read more: Maytree » Building strong organizations for hard times

From Spacing Vancouver A Vancouver “Extra” Special in Strathcona

"Vancouver Specials were initially targeted for immigrant families looking for an affordable, modern home to enjoy the North American quality of life and designed to optimize the use of a 33 foot wide city lot. The original plans could be purchased at City Hall for $65. Given their stock nature and frequency of use, permits were issued quickly. It was not unusual for a Special to be built in a few weeks time. By 1985, there were an estimated 10,000 Vancouver Specials throughout the city."

A Vancouver “Extra” Special in Strathcona « Spacing Vancouver

ANATOMY OF A SLUM
Why Did Antwerp’s Immigrant Ghetto Get So Bad? - The Globe and Mail
DOUG SAUNDERS

Antwerp, Belgium— 

From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 8:00AM EST

It is an early Saturday evening on Handelstraat, a busy and somewhat dishevelled boulevard in the north of this historic Belgian port city, its sidewalks lined with outdoor cafés and tea shops, fish restaurants, butchers and bakeries, all of them buzzing with customers. It's a typical European street scene, except that most of the people have olive-coloured skin, many women sport head scarves and the throaty sounds of Arabic and Turkish mix with brusque Flemish.

Read more...