Urbanarium City Talks

We are sharing an episode from our friends at SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. It is a Below the Radar mini-series called The Trip Diary that focuses on accessible, sustainable and equitable transportation in urban spaces. In this instalment called B-Line to the Future, SFU Urban Studies alum and host Steve Tornes speaks with Bowinn Ma and Uytae Lee about their engagement work involving transit systems, as well as the possible futures of getting around in the Lower Mainland. Listen to the full Trip Diary series: bit.ly/3Ise6F3  

But wait, there's more! I talk with housing minister David Eby about balancing the desires of two camps of people: those who want house prices to stay high and those who want prices to come down; about what it would take to build more homes; and about whether there's hope.

This is the very last episode of this season where Bruce and I process everything our guests have told us so far. Also, this is the moment you've been waiting for: do I stay in my trailer or do I go? 

SFU professor Andy Yan and I talk about the impact of investors on Metro Vancouver's housing market and what it means for people trying to live here.

Leslie Shieh, co-founder of the development company Tomo Spaces, breaks down the concept of co-housing and what it costs to build a home.

Tony Pappajohn, president of Jameson Development Corp., talks about why so many developers have a hard time building affordable housing (even if they wanted to).

Investigative reporter Sam Cooper explains how Vancouver real estate became a key channel for international drug trafficking. Also, why did so many people in power who know about the hockey bags of drug money turn a blind eye? 

My mom, a homeowner, immigrant, and parent, gives her take on the housing crisis - and how she feels about me moving back in permanently if I can't afford to live anywhere else.

On today's show, the classic question: should you rent or should you buy? Heather Tremain, CEO of Options for Homes, one of Canada's largest non-profit developers, gives us her take.

The answer might surprise you. Sonja Trauss is the president of YIMBY Law in California, a non-profit that sues cities for not obeying their own housing laws. She explains why all across North America and not just in Vancouver, it's so hard to build the homes we need. 

Cold showers, cheap rent, and living ten minutes from the beach: I give the low down on what it's like to live in a trailer in Vancouver's fancy West Point Grey neighbourhood. 

Jenny Tan is on a mission to figure out how to keep on living in Vancouver and so explores the housing crisis from her trailer home in the Westend.  She asks Sonja Trauss, president of YIMBY, journalist/writer Sam Cooper, developers  Heather Tremain, Tony Pappajohn and Leslie Shieh, Andy Yan, director of SFU's City Program and her mom, should she stay or should she go? She is asking you too. 

The Experiment. A conversation on transportation with City of Vancouver and the City of Oakland, California on municipal rapid responses to COVID. How have urban planners responded to the COVID crisis on our streets and on our sidewalks? What worked, what was the feedback process, what was learned and what to we get to keep.

Shifting from Consumers to Creators – Black Youth in the Forth Place: a conversation with Ethos Lab and the forces that have helped Build Atlanthos: an Atlantis themed, Afrofuturist inspired, virtual space made by and for young people. We talk technology and space integration, the role of digital infrastructure in the future of city making and the power of co-creation within the Fourth Place. 

A conversation with an assembled group of planners and designers involved in city-wide plans around the world on the eve of Vancouver developing its comprehensive plan, and as the Squamish Nation launches its new development Sen̓áḵw. Moderated by Khelsilem.