#athiscity

We already know that many successful cities are struggling with housing affordability. But what you may not know is that a similar phenomenon is happening in many ski towns. Supply is constrained and demand is high.

Here is an excerpt from a recent New York Times article:

Local officials and housing experts say it is a symptom of widening economic inequality, one that is especially sharply felt in tiny resort towns hemmed in by beautiful but undevelopable public land. While the wealthiest can afford $5 million ski homes and $120-a-day lift tickets, others work two jobs and sleep in shifts to get by.

“It’s so much worse today than it’s ever been,” said Sara Flitner, the mayor of Jackson, Wyo., where the median single-family home price rose 24 percent last year to $1.2 million, according to the Jackson Hole Report.

It’s for reasons like this that some ski towns have strict criteria around who is an eligible resident. For example, Banff, Alberta does this to ensure, “that housing remains available for those whose primary objective is to live and work in the community.”

Thanks to this blog, it’s pretty easy for me to go back and look at what I was doing and thinking throughout the year. That’s one of the benefits of writing a daily blog/journal. And as is usually the case, 2015 was a year of ups and downs.

For my annual ski and snowboard trip with the guys, we went to Banff (Alberta) and Revelstoke (BC). But we got stuck with unseasonably warm weather in the west (the opposite of what’s happening this winter) and I got injured on day 3. That put me in the emergency room and knocked me out of snowboarding for the rest of the season -- as well as from the gym for a number of months.

Shortly after that I also got struck with some family health issues. That was pretty scary for a good solid month, but in the end, everything seems to have worked out. What a relief.

Towards the end of March, I did a brand partnership between Architect This City and Porter Escapes, which brought me to Quebec City for a weekend. That was a lot of fun and gave me the opportunity to be a real flâneur in one of the most interesting cities in Canada.

In April, I left my real estate development job at TAS and shortly after I joined CAPREIT (TSE: CAR.UN) to help build out their (real estate) development platform. Previously their/our focus had just been on acquiring existing rental assets. But now it is time to build.

Later this month I also participated in the Toronto filming of a documentary called Waterfront Cities of the World. That was a lot of fun. But come to think of it, I don’t think I ever watched the final video.

In May, I started lobbying hard for the removal/replacement of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway East here in Toronto. If you’ve been reading this blog since the summer, I am sure you remember this period. With the help of a colleague of mine, I even started a petition that ended up getting presented at City Council.

But in June, Toronto City Council voted to demolish and then rebuild the elevated expressway along our waterfront. I am still surprised by that. What a shame.

In July, we (CAPREIT) announced our first joint venture development project. A mixed-use project -- 506 rental apartments on top of about 160,000 square feet of retail -- in Toronto’s Liberty Village. 

In August, I went back to Philly to relive my Penn days. I do that every couple of years just to make sure that Bob and Barbara’s is still offering up “The Special.” The Special is a can of PBR and a shot of Jim Bean for $3. It’s famous in Philly, but it always sounds like a far better idea the night before, as opposed to the morning after.

In this same month I also hit the 2 year mark here on Architect This City. That’s 2 years of getting up every single day and staring at a blank blog post screen and thinking of something insightful to say. 

The following month on September 11 (I’ll never forget this date), I got laser eye surgery. More specifically, I got custom wavefront LASIK. And today it’s pretty hard to imagine that I used to have to reach for my coke bottle glasses as soon as I woke up every morning.

Later in September, I also gave a talk at my alma mater, the Rotman School of Management, to a delegation of about 70 urbanists from Portland. It was an honor to be invited alongside rockstars such as Richard Florida and Jennifer Keesmaat.

In October, I featured a guest post from the former mayor of Toronto, John Sewell. I don’t often do guest posts on my blog, but John had just published a new book and I thought it would be a good way to change things up here. John and I aren’t necessarily on the same page with many urban issues, but we did agree on the Gardiner East.

For the remainder of October, it was basically just the Jays.

In November, I spoke at a Product Hunt event focused on real estate + tech. It was incredibly encouraging to see so many entrepreneurs here in Toronto focused on the intersection of real estate and tech. There are lots of opportunities in this space and I am sure that there are many success stories in the making right now. Toronto is the perfect place for real estate + tech innovation.

And finally, in December, I crossed something off my bucket list and attended Art Basel Miami Beach. I have wanted to go for well over a decade; pretty much since I started studying art history in undergrad. I don’t know what took me so long.

Oh, I also announced that I was writing a book on becoming a real estate developer. 

What a year. I can’t wait for 2016. 

Today I’m getting laser eye surgery. (If you’re reading this via email subscription, it already happened!)

This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for many many years. My original plan was to get it done after I finished my MBA. But that time came and went, and so it was about time I took action.

I’ve always been a bit nervous about doing it, which is why I’ve been procrastinating. I’m an early adopter when it comes to most things in life, but not when it comes to this. Not when it comes to my eyes.

The major impetus for getting it done is sports. I love lifting weights. I love cycling. I love snowboarding. And I love swimming. All of these things are easier to do when you don’t have to fuss around with contacts. I’m quite nearsighted.

In any case, I’m going to be taking the weekend off from blogging. I have never done that in the over 2 years that I’ve been writing Architect This City, but this time is different. I need to give my eyes a rest. Doctors orders.

For this reason, yesterday’s post on affordable housing was a bit longer than usual. And if you’re looking for more to read, you can also check out this list of most popular posts.

Regular scheduled programming will resume on Monday, which means that if you’re a daily email subscriber, you won’t receive another email from me until Tuesday morning at 6am Toronto time.

Last night Westbank went public with their first design for the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst in Toronto (the Honest Ed’s site).

There’s no name for the project yet and they haven’t even submitted a development application to the city, but I can tell you that there was a lot of excitement in the room last night. Over 500 people showed up at the Park Hyatt. And I think it only partially had to do with the fact that they were offering up free grilled cheese sandwiches.

If you’d like to get a feel for last night’s open house, check out #BloorAndBathurst on Twitter. And if you’d like to learn more about the project, check out Alex Bozikovic’s piece in the Globe and Mail. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I’m not going to repeat all of the project details here because Alex has already eloquently done that. All of the developer’s information boards can also be found online, here.

What I instead want to talk about is Westbank’s community engagement process. In Toronto, it’s quite rare to see this level of public consultation pre-application. And that’s because the city only requires it once a development application has been formally made.

But I’m of the opinion that the status quo isn’t actually the optimal strategy for city building. In fact, I’ve argued before that public consultation is broken.

And the reason I think that is because the typical process doesn’t allow for a critical mass of community feedback, both early on and throughout the process (think lean startup methodologies). In-person public meetings are too much friction for a lot people and getting feedback only once an application has been submitted means that a lot of work has already been done, which is the opposite of lean.

In the case of #BloorAndBathurst, last night was part of an engagement process that began last year.

Now, part of the reason that many developers don’t adopt this model is because of fear. There’s a belief that many communities just don’t like change, period. But is that really the public opinion? Or do we simply not have enough data and enough feedback loops built into the city building process?

Time will tell how this approach works out for Westbank, but I have a pretty good feeling that they’ll do just fine.

A few weeks ago I wrote about showcasing the Architect This City community. The idea was that there are lots of interesting and talented people who subscribe to this blog, but that there’s no scalable way for me to connect with everyone.

So I wanted to provide an opportunity for you to share a bit about yourself on this blog. I could selfishly learn more about the kinds of people who read ATC; you and/or your company could benefit from a bit of exposure; and you all could get the opportunity to connect with one another.

I didn’t get quite as many responses as I thought I would — which is partially why it has taken me so long to write this post — but I did get a lot of positive feedback on the idea. So I’m excited to share 5 of the people and companies that did respond.

Darren Davis @ Auckland Transport (Auckland, New Zealand)

Proudly car-free Principal Public Transport Planner, and arch transit nerd, at Auckland Transport. Auckland Transport is in the midst of the biggest redesign of the city’s public transport system since the introduction of electric trams in 1902. We are taking a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine public transport by going back to first principles, in an exercise inspired by Human Transit and strongly influenced by its author, Jarrett Walker. 

Travis Goodhand @ Entuitive (Calgary, Canada)

We are a consulting engineering practise — structural, building envelope, restoration, and special projects & renovations — bringing together engineering and intuition to enhance building performance. Entuitive is creative, collaborative, and advanced.

Taya Cook, Development Director @ Urban Capital (Toronto, Canada)

We develop forward thinking condominiums with a focus on urban location, fantastic design and superior customer experience. I work there. Really B, do you need more reasons for awesomeness?

Sara Parratt-halbert @ South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (Sheffield, UK)

Currently managing a Europe-wide €4m ERDF funded project, ‘Stimulating Enterprising Environments for Development and Sustainability’ (SEEDS).  SEEDS is working with 8 partners across 6 countries towards establishing acceptance of the temporary use of abandoned places and spaces as an integral part of longer term planning.

Cynthia Mykytyshyn @ Urbanspace Gallery (Toronto, Canada)

Urbanspace Gallery is a unique venue, dedicated to diverse exhibitions and events that explore how cities work and how we might improve them. Our purpose is to present issues related to community, public space, housing, transportation, planning, governance, and sustainability (among others) in order to further the discussion about our own city and others around the world, while fostering a space of learning and reflection.

Most of the people who responded were from Toronto and Canada. And that’s not surprising given how local a lot of my content is. Half of the ATC reader base is currently from Canada.

But I did also get emails from many other places all around the world. It always amazes me to see where people are reading from. My only wish is that I could learn more from them (you). So drop me a line. I hope to do another community profile sometime soon.

Many thanks to everyone who responded!

Yesterday UrbanToronto.ca published a post talking about Melbourne's laneways (something I also wrote about here on ATC a few months ago). As part of their post, they included the video that I've embedded below. I think it does a good job of showing the vibe and energy in these repurposed laneways, and so I wanted to share it with you all as well. What are your thoughts on these spaces? I think they're great.