From The Wall Street Journal — Classic New York Streetscapes, Then and Now

It is an essential paradox of New York City that its streetscapes seem both ageless and ever-evolving. Photographer Berenice Abbott captured that vibrant contradiction in the 1930s when she created her landmark series “Changing New York,” more than 300 black-and-white images of the metropolis shot with a large-format camera while she was working under the auspices of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. Her visual time capsule documents everything from soaring skyscrapers to neighbourhood storefronts, churches, tenements, warehouses and bridges.

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What makes New York is how we recycle buildings. 

— Mitchell Moss, professor of urban policy and planning at New York University

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The New York Public Library recently released free, high-resolution scans of the “Changing New York” portfolio, prompting one Wall Street Journal photographer to reshoot more than a dozen of Abbott’s images of Manhattan and Brooklyn. They reveal how much, and in some cases, how little, New York City has changed. Read more: Classic New York Streetscapes, Then and Now - WSJ

Patrick Condon in The Tyee – Vancouver's 'Spot Zoning' Is Corrupting Its Soul

Photo by hradcanska 

Why is Vancouver a place where developments increasingly spark conflicts, where frustrated developers must gamble millions of dollars on projects before knowing if they will meet city approval, and where developer money floods the political system? Is that just the way modern cities operate, or is there something unusual about Vancouver? 

Read more: The Tyee – Vancouver's 'Spot Zoning' Is Corrupting Its Soul

@emilymbadger in The Washington Post — An Economic Defense of Old Buildings

Jane Jacobs, a woman akin to the patron saint of urban planners, first argued 50 years ago that healthy neighborhoods need old buildings. Aging, creaky, faded, "charming" buildings. Retired couples and young families need the cheap rent they promise. Small businesses need the cramped offices they contain. Streets need the diversity created not just when different people coexist, but when buildings of varying vintage do, too. "Cities need old buildings so badly," Jacobs wrote in her classic "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," "it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.” More here: An economic defense of old buildings

From Old Urbanist — We Are the 25%: Looking at Street Area PercentagesAnd Surface Parking

Original work: photoLith

Several months ago I posted a chart in which I calculated the proportion of land given over to buildable space, right-of-ways and park space for each of 22 cities, or city neighborhoods.  In response, one commenter suggested that I perform the same exercise with off-street parking included as a separate category.  Although the work of Chris McCahill, which I featured last week, does just this for a number of cities, another commenter directed me to this thread at Skyscraper Page, where a number of people have mapped surface parking lots for several American cities.  I'd like to feature three of those here (which I've further edited to show parking structures and park space), while adding one of my own.  No guarantee of perfect accuracy is given. Red shows surface parking, yellow shows above-ground parking garages, and green shows park space: More at: Old Urbanist: We Are the 25%: Looking at Street Area Percentages and Surface Parking

Jennifer Keesmaat in the Toronto Star — Fight Congestion: Densify Eglinton Avenue

It’s a well-known fact that it’s not possible to relieve traffic congestion by building more roads in a rapidly densifying city. Research has shown that when we add capacity to our road network, within a very short period of time additional commuters are induced to drive, leading to impassable congestion.

Two University of Toronto professors, Gilles Duranton and Matthew Turner, quantified this phenomena through historical data, showing that road construction goes hand-in-hand with an increase in traffic thanks to the “fundamental law of road congestion.” Read more: By densifying Eglinton, we can fight congestion | Toronto Star

From Planetizen — Mid-Rise: Density at a Human Scale

All growing cities must find ways to develop at appropriate, transit-supporting densities without overwhelming the surrounding context. The human-scaled, mid-rise building can be a solution—but achieving a good neighbourhood “fit” is not easy. Read more: Mid-Rise: Density at a Human Scale | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network

From EstudioD3 — 500 sq ft East Village NYC

From The Atlantic Cities — How Cleveland Lured Young Professionals Downtown

When the Maron family decided to redevelop an entire city block in downtown Cleveland, the area was so blighted no restaurateur would lease space there. A decade later, the East Fourth neighborhood is home to Food Network personalities, a House of Blues, and free Saturday yoga classes. Café-style seating spills into the pedestrian-only street. Apartments on the block are fully leased, and a 100-unit building under construction across the street has already reached full capacity. Read more: If You Build It, They Will Come: How Cleveland Lured Young Professionals Downtown - Sophie Quinton - The Atlantic Cities

From City Block — Development Costs And Housing Affordability

Two competing narratives often emerge when talking about policy responses to housing costs. One asserts that lowering the costs of construction and development will allow those savings to be passed on to eventual users of the real estate; the other asserts that markets set prices, and lowering the cost of development would yield pure profit to developers who will charge what the market will bear. So, which is it? TheVancouver Sun has a series of articles on housing affordability in Vancouver, BC. One of these articles focuses on development impact fees(among other causes) and their role in affordability. The two basic narratives are on display: Read more: Development costs and housing affordability « City Block

From ContainerLiving.net — Repurposed Shipping Containers Base for Innovative Social Housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

We have had a few container homes in Canada but this is definitely the most recent. 12 Containers are being utilised to form social housing for women in the downtown Eastside of the city.

The project is looking to complete by April 2013 and is the brainchild of the Atira Women’s Resource society, which bought a lot in 2009 to buildtraditional housing. Read more: Container Homes Hit Vancouver! | ContainerLiving.net

From lewisnvillegas.wordpress.com — Density & Built Form in Canada

[It] is possible to achieve high-density — in the order of 100 units per acre — using fee-simple, human-scale product. ...The quartiers or neighbourhoods that result are highly supportive of social functioning. They present values of community and values of place lacking in the Modern suburbs and tower neighbourhoods. Read more: Density & Built Form in Canada | lewisnvillegas

From SUNN: Vancouver Historic Quartiers BC Fee-simple Attached Housing Now Legal

This building was built under strata legislation. The owners hold the property in common and must deal with issues as a collective. With the new legislation, each unit will have the legal entity of a single house. Expect changes in design. No more underground parking, common roofs, and shared landscaping. Also expect changes in use. Individual units will generate more opportunities for rental housing. We see major changes to the feel and functioning of the neighbourhood as well. In these matters, small changes can usher in great qualitative differences. Photo: http://sunnvancouver.wordpress.com/ 

Slipping below the radar, in the first week of June 2012, the Provincial Legislature passed a small amendment that made legal a form housing in this region that had been banned from the outset. As a result “the missing link” in Vancouver urbanism is now approved and ready for construction. Fee-simple (clear-title) attached housing is now legal to build in British Columbia for the fist in a long time. There really are no examples I can point to of row houses built here in the last 150 years. Row houses are there, but always missing one important feature or another. We have premised the Vancouver Historic Quariters analysis on just this reversal in policy. Read more about the implications of this change for Vancouver urbanism here. Read more: One Decision Our Way | SUNN: Vancouver Historic Quartiers

From Frances Bula's blog: http://www.francesbula.com/uncategorized/rowhouses-missing-from-vancouver-in-the-past-about-to-arrive-in-the-future/

From Michael Geller's Blog —Housing Form and Design: My Contribution to the Mayor's Affordable Housing Task Force

Yesterday I joined Bruce Hayden and Patrick Condon at SFU's Noon Time Conversation Series to discuss whether there is a need for alternatives to the glass high-rise tower for Vancouver.  All three of us suggested that while there is a place for towers (well, two out of three were more supportive of building towers, right Patrick?) we all agreed that there is both a place and need for alternatives, especially those that can produce more affordable housing. These include fourplexes, sixplexes, townhouses, stacked townhouses, wood-frame apartments up to six storeys, and mid-rise buildings, both 'set on their own grounds', and with zero side yards. Read more: Michael Geller's Blog: Housing Form and Design: my contribution to the Mayor's Affordable Housing Task Force. 


Here's the report: 

From Spacing Vancouver—Price Points: An Easter House

Less than half a kilometre from Burrard and Robson, one of the city's busiest intersections. At 1063-69 Barclay Street, a half-block from the YMCA, it's tucked into the eclectic landscape of the West End, maintaining the architectural diversity of a neighbourhood which still contains every residential style this city has seen since 1890. But despite its look, it's one of the newest. 

This house is actually four strata-title units, built in 2003, as you can see from the map here.

There's no such thing as a Missing Middle in the West End. We have it all.

Price Points: An Easter House « Spacing Vancouver

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

Home, Home on the Lane

First laneway house in Vancouver. Photo by Krista Jahnke

Four Great Things About
Vancouver’s Laneway Houses.

Sightline Daily
News and Views for a Sustainable Northwest, Sept 8, 2011

There’s an alley renaissance going on around the world. It was born of a renewed love for urbanity that came along with the droves of young, artistic types shunning the ‘burbs and re-populating North America’s inner cities. They brought with them a desire to turn what have traditionally been neglected and ugly inner-city dumping grounds into vibrant, art-adorned, pedestrian-friendly public spaces.

Read more...