From Price Tags — Ed Glaeser (“Triumph of the City”) on Vancouver… and Sam Sullivan

Georgetown row house block; courtesy of the Congress for the New Urbanism

Ed Glaeser (“Triumph of the City”) on Vancouver … and Sullivanism | Price Tags

In a one-week period earlier this month, Edward Glaeser’s schedule took him from a conference in Leeds, England, hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to Stanford for an urban summit, to Milwaukee to speak at Marquette, home to Boston for a night, down to Washington to give a keynote address at a World Bank conference and finally off to Delhi for a two-day visit. What’s driving this demand for his views is not only his reputation as a top-notch urban economist, but his thoroughly researched message about our urbanizing world. Half of humanity now lives in urban areas, he reports, and by 2050, that figure will rise to three-quarters of humanity. In Glaeser’s eyes, this urbanization is a profoundly positive trend. Despite the challenges cities must learn to overcome — including crime, sanitation, services for the poor — they are sites of intense collaboration, innovation and opportunity. Read more: Humanity’s Greatest Invention? Face-to-face with Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City — Medium

City Government is Now WalmartCitizens Customers and Clients

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

More on the Vancouver Urban Forum here

Vancouver Urban Forum — Edward Glaeser and Architect James Cheng

Architect Cheng's repurposing proposal for the long despised Sears building (aka the ‘Great White Urinal’) in downtown Vancouver is to be unveiled today. Here's a terrific chat at the recent Vancouver Urban Forum between Cheng and Harvard economist Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City — How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier.

Vancouver Urban Forum Video ― Brent Toderian

More videos at: http://globalcivic.org/vancouver-urban-forum/videos/

Vancouver Urban Forum Video ― Gil Peñalosa

More videos at: http://globalcivic.org/vancouver-urban-forum/videos/

Vancouver Urban Forum Video ―Edward Glaeser

More videos at: http://globalcivic.org/vancouver-urban-forum/videos/

Time to Separate the Judicial and Legislative Roles of City Councillors at Public Hearings

Prof. Max Cameron, UBC Political Science, Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. interviewed at the June 6 Vancouver Urban Forum on the need to separate the legislative and judicial roles of municipal politicians at public hearings...

Citizens as Customers and Clients

University of Alberta's James Lightbody interviewed at the June 6 

Vancouver Urban Forum.

"......City government is [now] thought to be Wallmart and citizens are no  longer classic citizens but we are customers and clients, that everything should be user-pay, fees for service and managed by City Hall.... We have retrenched into the legacy of Reagan and Thatcher into a very non citizen oriented form of local administration."

The Vancouver Urban Forum, Wed. June 6

The Vancouver Urban Forum will take place on Wednesday, June 6 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre. About 300 delegates are expected including some from cities across Canada as well as from Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Colombia, etc. Attendees will experience a daylong program of short presentations that will inform, provoke and entertain and will be connected to the theme "achieving urban densification" and a coming "fourth wave of urban reform."

Prof. James Lightbody of the University of Alberta will set the stage by describing the first three waves of urban reform in Canada and why we might be on the verge of a fourth wave.

California city planner Dan Zack will give an abridged version of his "Delightful Density" presentation that is wowing residents groups in that state.

Brent Toderian, Vancouver Director of Planning from 2006 to 2012, will present on "Density Done Well."

Prof. Edward Glaeser of Harvard will recommend what Vancouver needs to do to achieve affordable housing and how density relates to economic prosperity.

Global Civic Policy Society ― Vancouver Urban Forum, June 6

Former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan's think-tank Global Civic Policy Society is presenting the upcoming Vancouver Urban Forum. Participants include Harvard Economics' Edward Glaeser author of The Triumph of the City and the Maytree Foundation's Alan Broadbent author of Urban Nation. Global Civic offered 30 seats sponsored by The Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia. I applied for one and was accepted. The two speakers mentioned above are of particular interest and there will be much else to discover and explore I'm sure. I have just received the full itinerary and will post detail as the date of the forum approaches.


Global Civic Policy Society | Vancouver Urban Forum

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