The city of Ottawa is updating its Official Plan. Under consideration are expanding the urban boundary (urban growth boundary) and strengthening of its intensification (densification)policy. These strategies are components of urban containment policy. This report examines the relationship between urban …
Japan Prefectures: COVID-19 Fatality Rates and Urban Densities
Japan has done remarkably well in controlling the Covid-19 virus. The nation’s death rate per million population at 0.9, is very low by international standards and the lowest among the G-7 nations. Yet there are significant variations among the prefectures — as …
Urban Flooding – It’s Not about Climate
Dr. John Robson investigates the claim that flooding is getting worse because of climate change, and finds that there’s no more rain than there ever was, and no more flooding in rural areas. The problem is bungled water management in …
Canada’s Urban Areas: Descent From Affordability
As Canadian cities are plagued by ever-higher home prices, governments look for ways to provide affordable housing for their citizens. They should look to their own ill-advised “urban containment” policies. Urban containment severely restricts or bans development in urban fringe …
The Urban Containment Effect (Zoning Effect) On Australian House Prices
By: Wendell Cox Originally published: April 5, 2018 Source: newgeography.com In delivering the Annual Report of the Bank to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration on …
California’s Dense Suburbs and Urbanization
Many observers think California urban areas are more geographically expansive (“lower density” or to use the pejorative term, more “sprawling”) then those elsewhere in the nation, especially the Northeast Corridor, which runs from the Washington DC metropolitan area through Baltimore, …
The Life of a Dissident Urbanist (with Patrick Schumacher and Wendell Cox)
Patrik Schumacher, managing partner of Zaha Hadid Architects, and consultant Wendell Cox are both controversial figures in the urbanist world. They joined Aaron M. Renn in conversation to talk about their beliefs and what it’s like to challenge the urbanist …
The Urban Revival Is An Urban Myth, And The Suburbs Are Surging
The past decade has seen a gusher of books arguing for and detailing the supposed ascendency of dense urban cores, like the inimitable Edward Glaeser’s influential Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier, …
Canada’s Urban Areas: Descent From Affordability
Canada is a nation of wide open spaces, yet it has high urban area densities recently driven higher by a redefinition of urban area criteria (Note 1). Canada’s largest urban area (population centre) is Toronto, with a population of 5.4 …