Planning Pool

"Olympic Line" Streetcar Demonstration in Vancouver, Canada from Planning Pool on Vimeo.

January 21 2010 at 9:30am -that's today! - marks the start of a two-month demonstration of modern streetcar service in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics. This three-minute slideshow shows a sneak preview of the streetcars themselves, on loan from Brussels, Belgium. It also observes the City of Vancouver's interest in finding funding and galvanizing political will to reinstate permanent streetcar service in the city.

The demonstration streetcars will ... Continue Reading

October 19, 2009.  In a room full of Vancouver’s planning and transportation elite, Gordon Price (director of SFU’s City Program) introduced an event from SFU's public lecture series, evoking New York City’s gritty and dangerous history, comparing it to a “fallen empire.”  He feels that the success in recent years give it reason to be called “a resilient city” - acting as proof that cities can rebound - and aptly referencing the Gaining Ground conference this week.  Our guest this evening, Janette Sadik-Khan is the commissioner for New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT). She is largely responsible for ... Continue Reading

This afternoon’s session, entitled “Old Age Ain’t for Sissies and What that Means for Planners” was a full house. The enthusiasm shown for this topic indicates that planners are very aware of impending demographic changes that will require accommodating aging communities to become a planning priority. The moderator, Don May, opened the presentation with a mind-boggling time-lapse series of Canadian population pyramids from the late 19th century. (You can see a similar series of pyramids online here.) Canada expects an 86% increase in its senior population over the next 20 years; by 2041, one in four Canadians will be ... Continue Reading

Thanks to Christian Cable for this delightfully artery-hardening Creative Commons photo.

If you are not yet familiar with the website ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com, it might just be time to check it out. They serve up a never-ending photostream of revoltingly fatty foods, including a donut bun hamburger and deep fried bologna. While for some the site might be secretly mouthwatering (ahem. . .) the urban planning equivalent -unmitigated auto dependence- has few upsides.

Last week, the Dallas Morning News published a ... Continue Reading

Funding public transit service and infrastructure is a challenge anywhere, but transit providers in small towns and rural areas have even fewer resources to work with. In my travels through small-town British Columbia, I’ve been continually amazed at the resourcefulness demonstrated at bus stops.

Along the Sunshine Coast Highway, where the first photo was taken, bus stops are furnished with every imaginable kind of seating by the people who use them. Lawn chairs are the most common bus stop furniture, but old kitchen chairs are also a ... Continue Reading

Having long envied its streetcar system from afar, I was delighted this summer to make my first visit to Portland and ride its famous streetcars. Vancouver BC, where I make my home, is often compared to Portland but its once-extensive streetcar system was scrapped in favour of trolley busses in the 1950s.

A handsome new streetcar in Portland, Oregon. Photo by author.

One thing I had not expected to see when riding Portland's famed streetcars was the presence of advertisements ... Continue Reading

The U.S. Congress just put another US$2 billion into the popular Cash for Clunkers program.

The Cars Allowance Rebate System (CARS), which has been dubbed "Cash for Clunkers," has been so popular in the US that the $1 billion allocated for the program ran out in just a week, three months ahead of schedule. The $2 billion extension will let car owners trade in old fuel-inefficient cars for $3,500 to $4,500 until September 1.

This ... Continue Reading

Back in the prehistoric days of my undergrad, I recall a particular Canadian Literature class when my professor got off on a tangent about the siting of universities in British Columbia. “What’s wrong with us?” he ranted.  “Eastern Canadian universities are located in the heart of the city, close to civilization. We sequestered UBC at the end of a peninsula, SFU on top of a mountain, and UNBC in the forest out of town!”

Whatever the reason for our current predicament, the relative isolation of these universities has important transportation implications for students and everyone else who uses a ... Continue Reading