Sunday, December 27, 2020

Twitter thread : The blog in 2020 the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nanaimo Commons : Urban Public Space : Our Commons...

Posted by Nanaimo Commons on Sunday, 27 December 2020

Monday, December 21, 2020

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Monday, December 14, 2020

Jane Jacobs on master plans

When a trip to Saturn is proposed, the planning has to be very comprehensive, very detailed and very much in control until the whole scheme is finished. The plan has to be big or it is useless.
It seems to me sometimes that many city and town planners must be frustrated space-travel planners. But pieces of our cities, or for that matter suburbs or even New Towns, are not going to take off Saturn. They aren’t going to take off for anywhere. The substance doesn’t mandate big, comprehensive, tightly controlled planning the way a spaceship does.
Little plans are more appropriate for city renewal than big plans.
− Jane Jacobs, Residential Areas + Urban Renewal Conference, Germany, 1981

Friday, December 11, 2020

“Main streets are like old growth forests, they display species diversity, they support a rich variety of interdependent activities, the mature die off and are replaced by new a little at a time leaving the forest whole..."

Friday, December 4, 2020

A Covid-19 journal. Part 2

Notes from my Covid-19 quarantine in this earlier post, included urban design courses, gis data mapping and 3d drawing projects, and urbanism and economics reads.
There were also several excellent webinars over recent months, the Council for Canadian Urbanism’s City Circle round table a standout.
Lead planners on city-wide plans, Stockholm, Auckland, Ottawa, Edmonton, “explore the bold steps their cities are taking to design neighbourhoods that better support community resilience − cohesive, connected, mutually-supportive communities… a more place-based approach."
Moderator: Khelsilem, elected member of the Squamish Nation Council, is the public face of the innovative Sen̓áḵw development, 6,000 rental homes to be built on 10.5 acres of reserve lands in Kitsilano. The circle : Kalen Anderson, lead planner Edmonton city plan, currently Chief Planner National Capital Commission in Ottawa; Evelina Hafvenstein-Säteri, Stockholm Plan; @oliviahaddon, Māori Design Auckland; Alain Miguelez, Manager, Policy Planning, City of Ottawa; and Gil Kelley, General manager of Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability, City of Vancouver.
Unfortunately, the video of the discussion has not been uploaded to the Council for Canadian Urbanism website for broader viewing. The Tweet above links to a thread of the discussion and my notes can be found on this thread.
This discussion offered a master class on best practices where change-making leadership is guiding cities to transition from the mid-20th Century mall and sprawl development model to 21st Century realities. Community building principles: place-based, inclusive, equitable, resilient, holistic, complex and integrated. Contain urban growth, invest in the public realm ahead of the market’s curve. These principles are not, with this group, idle virtue-signals, but embedded, codified in planning frameworks, frameworks that, rather than locking in current circumstance, anticipate review and revision in an unpredictable future.
This Council for Canadian Urbanism City Circle webinar was also a master class for the City of Nanaimo. Here is what 21st Century city-building looks like, led by courageous change-making leadership. And here is as clear an illustration, in contrast, as you will find of the flaws of our current fill-out-our-survey approach.
 The Canadian Urban Institute launched a number of initiatives to help cities cope with the current and future crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos are availabe on their YouTube channel
They also collaborated on the excellent Art of City Building series which included this conversation with Eric Klinenberg about his book Palaces for the People, How Social Infrastructure Can Fight Inequality, Polarization and the Decline of Civic Life.
And in this Urban3 webinar Joe Minicozzi chats with the former Director of Planning, City of Minneapolis Heather Worthington.

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Dozens of amenities and services are
within a 1 km walk. But the neighbourhood
is unwalkable. Treacherous, literally deadly


Statistics Canada’s Proximity Measures Database identifies the north western tip of Nanaimo as an “amenity dense neighbourhood,” with access to a grocery store, pharmacy, health care facility, child care facility, primary school, library, public transit stop within a 1 km walk.
The data are not wrong. There is a great wealth of amenities and services in this area but it is 100% unwalkable. It’s treacherous, literally deadly. Several people killed on these highways and high-speed arterials in recent memory. (Weekend Nanaimo pedestrian carnage and victim blaming #VisionZero)
In this neighbourhood, kids old enough to go off to a movie by themselves aren’t walking or biking the 1 km, they’re being driven by their parents. A total urban design failure.
How is it possible a City with the opportunity to incorporate these essential daily-needs elements into its urban design could blow this so badly?
These two images are the area identified by the Proximity Measures Database as amenity dense and the outlines of the Census Dissemination Areas they're within.
The residential population (2016 Census) of these dissemination areas is 1,763 in 939 households. Total land area of 1.72 sq km, density of 1,000/km².

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Twitter thread : “Neighbourhood" a 2018 book by University of Chicago Professor of Urbanism, Emily Talen AICP

Emily Talen is Professor of Urbanism at the University of Chicago. Her research is devoted to urban design and the relationship between the built environment and social equity. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
● Traces the historical progression of how neighbourhoods are defined, designed, ascribed purpose, and attributed effect.
● Integrates a complex historical record and multidisciplinary literature to produce a singular resource for understanding what is meant by neighbourhood.
● Offers a rebuttal to the ongoing problematizing of neighbourhood as exclusionary.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Downtown Nanaimo is rated medium amenity-access density. Surrounded by low population density, low amenity access density in the rest of the city.
— Statistics Canada


Downtown #Nanaimo is rated medium-amenity-density. Surrounded by low population density, low amenity access density in the rest of the city.
This is my Census Dissemination Block in downtown Nanaimo, bordered by Fitzwilliam and Franklyn, Selby and Wesley.
Proximity Measures Data Viewer @StatCan_eng

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

The elephant in the room

The City of Victoria* and the City of Nanaimo have comparable populations. As of the 2016 Census, Victoria’s population was 85,792 and Nanaimo’s 90,504. Vitoria’s 85,792 people live on a land mass of 19.47 km² while Nanaimo’s 90,504 people are spread out over 90.76 km². Victoria’s population density is 4,405 people per square kilometre, Nanaimo’s is 997 people per square kilometre.
Nanaimo’s low population density is the elephant in the room on every file our City Hall struggles with, economic and environmental sustainability, compact walkable neighbourhoods, mobility alternatives, social justice and inclusivity issues.
One good thing about our low population density : the large undeveloped properties in the city centre, the City-owned Downtown Waterfront Lands, the School District owned lands at Franklyn and Selby and the Department of National Defence lands south of the VIU campus.
Directing our growth, instead of to these properties, to the greenfield lands of rural Cedar would be a disincentive to develop these city centre lands, a huge mistake. And a missed opportunity to partner with the Snuneymuxw First Nation on city centre land development to mutual benefit and meaningful reconciliation.
*The Greater Victoria Area of course is larger, composed of several independent municipalities that surround the City of Victoria.

Monday, November 9, 2020

A Covid-19 journal. Part 1

March Urban Design for Planners : Software Tools. Six-course series exploring urban design concepts using free open source software Qgis, Earth pro, Sketchup, Inkscape and GIMP to create analytical maps, 3D models, and 2D graphic designs. Instructor is New Urbanist Emily Talen, Professor of Urbanism, University of Chicago. Twitter thread. March most viewed Tweet.
After a steep learning curve, accessing City of Nanaimo open source data sets and StatsCan Census data thru Jens von Bergmann’s execellent #censusmapper I was able to map the urban demographics of Nanaimo’s city centre neighbourhoods by Census Tract.
April Planetizen course : Form-Based Codes 101: Introduction. Distinguishes form-based codes from conventional "use-based" zoning ordinances—all with an emphasis on placemaking and walkability. An overview of the development of form-based codes, their mandatory and optional component parts, and the importance of making form-based codes context or place-specific. April most viewed Tweet.


May Nicol Street : A boundary separating neighbourhoods or a seam stitching them back together?

May most viewed Tweet
The summer months The by-design, vertically integrated, local and regional food economy. 3 part series, scroll down for the first post.
City streets are urban design problems, not engineering problems. Selby St re-imagined as a welcoming new public space


#ShelveSandstone!
From random notes There is a playbook, an operating manual if you like, for the growth and development of Nanaimo. It contains dozens and dozens of practical ideas that can be applied and tested. Ideas for safe compact neighbourhoods with parks and squares and corner stores. Ideas with the potential to add up to the safe, equitable, inclusive, diverse and prosperous city we know Nanaimo can be.
Some of these ideas have worked elsewhere but might not work here, some have failed elsewhere but might work here. We can keep what shows promise, withdraw ones that don’t, then test some more. Caveat: some assembly required, some DIY.
Jane Jacobs is the starting point, the bedrock. If you read only one thing (and that would be a terrible shame) read the last chapter of her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, chapter 22, The Kind of Problem a City Is.
Quarantine Reading Strong Towns : A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild [North] American Prosperity / Charles Marohn
Palaces for the People / Eric Klinenberg. To restore civil society, start with the library
Maximum Canada − Toward a Country of 100 Million / Doug Saunders
The City is Not a Tree, The 50th Anniversary Edition / Christopher Alexander, ed Michael Mehaffy
People, Power, and Profits. Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent / Joseph E. Stiglitz
The Price of Peace − Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes / Zachary D. Carter

Neighborhood How neighbourhoods are defined, designed, ascribed purpose, and attributed effect. / Emily Talen 

Part two....

Friday, October 30, 2020

#ShelveSandstone!

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

City streets are urban design problems, not engineering problems. Selby St re-imagined as a welcoming new public space.

Street design influenced by the Dutch slow street, also known as shared street (woonerf). And inspired by the downtown Lancaster CA award winning “rambla” street design. (Video)

When city streets are understood to be public places, places with a responsibility to be safe and welcoming for all citizens, many design options emerge.
This model for a re-imagined Selby Street welcomes all users including those in private vehicles. The difference is, though, that here the car is the guest not the master. Vehicle speed is calmed by design; the travel lane is narrow and accommodates both cars and bikes; drivers must slow for cars backing out of the angled parking; folks using the angled parking are free to cross the travel lane at any point. 30kph would be posted but the design will result in even slower vehicle speed.
On a Dutch slow street there are no curbs. The surface is on one level from property line to property line across the right of way. In this Selby St re-imagining, a mid-block crossing aligned to the E+N Train Station walkway connects to the E+N Trail to the west and becomes part of an interior footpath to the east through the neighbourhood.
The centre “rambla” feature, when the street is closed to vehicles, becomes a new welcoming public space ready to host special events, live performances, markets, and festivals.
More photos : https://www.facebook.com/NanaimoCommons/posts/3099923363446400

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Friday, October 9, 2020

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Twitter thread.
Palaces for the People / Eric Klinenberg.
To restore civil society, start with the library

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Thursday, September 24, 2020

Shelve Sandstone!

Sunday, September 20, 2020

#ocp2020ycd

Saturday, September 19, 2020

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Thursday, September 17, 2020

The by-design, vertically integrated,
local and regional food economy. Part three

Part one and two recap : From securing the business of local and regional anchor institutions, entering into professional level supply contracts with these institutions; to taking advantage of import replacement and economic gardening opportunities; to offering pooled strategic marketing, legal and finance supports to craft producers, restaurants, and local farms and farmers’ markets, the strong basis of a vertically integrated local food economy ecosystem can be established. Then things get ambitious.
The skills, experience and knowledge to build the local food economy are present locally in abundance. A refocused City economic development arm has the ability, properly tasked, to work with current local food enterprises to create a public good far greater than the sum of the parts.
The crown atop the food economy ecosystem, the creation of a City-owned public market, anchoring catalyst of an ambitious vision of downtown renewal and regeneration requires talents not available here or in any but the largest cities in the country. Around the world, pubic markets are key municipal assets that, done right, punch above their weight economically, socially and culturally. This is where the local food economy can achieve real security by connecting consumers, at scale, with the local food economy ecosystem. To realize the vision of a Nanaimo City-owned public market catalyzing downtown urban renewal and regeneration the following are imperative :
  • The re-reinstatement immediately of the role of Chief Planner, a progressive proactive hire reporting directly to the City Manager, the CAO.
  • The creation by a skilled team of professionals, chosen through an RFP competitive process, a city-centre specific urban plan.
  • The creation as recommended by the Downtown Waterfront Initiative headed by former VIU VP Dave Witty of a Public Development Corporation.
There is now a much loved and respected community market, Island Roots. They’ve done especially well coping with the COVID-19 pandemic offering innovative ways to support local producers and their customers. They have a proposal in front of the City to expand at their present location, a large park outside the urban core. I’ve expressed my concerns that the market will struggle at this location, unable to benefit from the mix of activities around it and unable then to benefit others in a mutually supportive way. The proposed Island Roots Co-op Market at Beban Park
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Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The by-design, vertically integrated,
local and regional food economy. Part two

Supper the other night —al fresco— at a new restaurant downtown. Every sprout, every salad green and root vegetable, even the ribeye steak sourced locally.
The farm-to-table movement is one element of the vertically integrated local and regional food economy I wrote about in part one.
The farm-to-table movement and many of the elements of a local food economy are in place now. Missing is an organizing authority to work with each element, to coordinate, to grow the mutually advantageous elements of the local food economy ecosystem.
This requires a rethinking of the role of the City’s economic development arm. A reversal of focus from searching far and wide for the large branch plant employer to nurturing and growing the resilient local economy. Craft producers — brewers, wineries, distillers; startups, farms, market gardens, restaurants, farmers' markets, specialties and related enterprises. With the foundational work described in part one done, local economic development would hold monthly public presentations on starting a business in the local food economy, connecting startups and established businesses with resources: legal, accounting, marketing, regulatory.
And one econ-dev function would be to invite submission of business ideas. Qualifying ideas would go into an intense incubation period, the outcome of which would be a completed business plan ready to present to lenders and investors. Alternative business models like co-ops and social enterprises should be stressed. And City economic development would be looking to partner with financial institutions especially Island-based credit unions to create innovative financing and investment tools.
I took just such an incubator at VIU years ago that resulted in a business my wife and I grew and sold in 2009. Joint federal funding was available for this incubator then and no doubt would be now.
A re-focused economic development arm would investigate local applications of concepts like import replacement and economic gardening (an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that seeks to grow the local economy from within). Economic gardening is being applied successfully on a large scale, growing already large enterprises larger. Local focus would be to identify smaller enterprises in need of financial or marketing, planning or legal assistance, to grow larger, each creating new employment.
Earlier post : On a self-reliant, resilient and regenerative local economy. 1 Next : up the chain to the downtown public market catalyzing renewal in the urban core. Part three.
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Thursday, September 10, 2020

Urban planning

Sunday, September 6, 2020

Nanaimo City Centre neighbourhoods, comparative data. 2016 Census

As of the 2016 Census the Nanaimo City Centre neighbourhoods were populated more densely than the City of Nanaimo average, they were poorer than the City average, 4 of the 6 held fewer bachelor level university degrees and all but 2, downtown and Brechin, were younger.
The three major public anchor institutions are located in the City Centre, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Vancouver Island University and the City of Nanaimo administrative, technological and public works centres. A large centralized recreational facility with swimming pool and ice rink is also located within the City Centre. (Trend in both the public and private sectors to centralize and consolidate has had negative consequences for the urban design of cities, what economists call "externalities." To "build back better” post-COVID we'll need to reverse that trend.)
The public institutions that comprise the arts and culture sector are clustered in close proximity in the urban core. The public art gallery, the Port Theatre, the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, the museum, the central library. The City Council Chamber is accessed from downtown's High Street, Commercial Street.
These Nanaimo City Centre neighbourhoods were home to 33% of Nanaimo’s population while occupying only 17% of the city's land area. This is the heart of the city, its economic, social, and cultural engine.
These are the most environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods in the city. The population density and proximity of shops and services, schools and public spaces, result in it being more likely that these are accessed without a car. A higher percentage of households live more compactly, in condos and apartments with shared walls, dramatically increasing heating efficiency. It’s well established that transportation and building heating account for 30-40% of the carbon we put in the atmosphere.
These, in other cities, are the neighbourhoods, the oldest in the city, where Form-Based Code zoning has been successful. Creating from the “good bones” of the older neighbourhoods more resilient places "where people can work, shop, learn and play within a 15-minute walk or bike ride, the 15-minute city... “an economy-booster”
Urban3 and Strong Towns research looking at city taxation revenues by acre and cost-per-citizen of delivering city services shows that city centre neighbourhoods punch above their weight. Similar analysis here would show that these Nanaimo neighbourhoods pay for sprawl where taxation and user fee revenues are less per acre and the cost-per-citizen to the city of providing services and amenities higher.
We’ve underinvested in these neighbourhoods. We’ve focused too much on neighbourhood-harming private car infrastructure.
Street trees and sidewalks; traffic calming; mobility and accessibility mode alternatives; public spaces, both grassy parks and playgrounds but also, importantly, small urban squares that facilitate neighbourly encounters. Livability goals, making these neighbourhoods all the more desirable, can be met here by careful urban design planning specific to the city centre, while increasing population density across this area. One size does not fit all. This area needs its own urban design plan.
Geospatial analysis of each of these neighbourhoods with link to full 2016 Census StatsCan data can be found here.
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Thursday, September 3, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis. 7. Census Tract 9380015 The Downtown Core



Nanaimo Census Tract 9380015, The Downtown Core, is 1.9 km² in land area (adjusted for Protection Island) with a population of 4,969. 2,795 households in 3,100 dwellings, 1,640 rent and 1,185 own. Average age : 49.1 years. Average after-tax household income (2015): $46,080. Population density is 2,576 per km². Demographic data : Census Profile, 2016 Census 9380015.00 [Census tract], British Columbia and Nanaimo [Census agglomeration], British Columbia
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Wednesday, September 2, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
6. Census Tract 9380012
Brechin Hill



Nanaimo Census Tract 9380012, Brechin Hill, is 1.5 km² in land area (adjusted for Saysutshun Island) with a population of 3,220. 1,813 households in 1,960 dwellings, 865 rent and 925 own. Average age : 50.1 years. Average after-tax household income (2015): $49,618. Population density is 2,146 per km². Demographic data : Census Profile, 2016 Census 9380012.00 [Census tract], British Columbia and Nanaimo [Census agglomeration], British Columbia
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Tuesday, September 1, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
5. Census Tract 9380013 Nanaimo
Regional General Hospital − Townsite



Nanaimo Census Tract 9380013, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital − Townsite, is 2.1 km² in land area with a population of 5,209. 2,389 households in 2,473 dwellings, 1,280 rent and 1,130 own. Average age : 44.8 years. Average after-tax household income (2015): $48,047. Population density is 2,471 per km². Demographic data : Census Profile, 2016 Census9380013.00 [Census tract], British Columbia and Nanaimo [Census agglomeration], British Columbia
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Monday, August 31, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
4. Census Tract 9380014
Vancouver Island University − Bowen Park

Nanaimo Census Tract 9380014, Vancouver Island University − Bowen Park, is 4.6 km² in land area with a population of 6,719. 3,032 households in 3,203 dwellings, 1,385 rent and 1,650 own. Average age : 38.2 years. Average after-tax household income (2015): $50,713. Population density is 1,468 per km². Demographic data :
Census Profile, 2016 Census9380014.00 [Census tract], British Columbia and Nanaimo [Census agglomeration], British Columbia 


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Saturday, August 29, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
3. Census Tract 9380016
Harewood − Vancouver Island University

Nanaimo Census Tract 9380016, Harewood − Vancouver Island University, is 5.2 km² in land area with a population of 7,039. 2,864 households in 2,969 dwellings, 1,065 rent and 1,800 own. Average age : 39.2 years. Average after-tax household income (2015): $57,506. Population density is 1,369 per km². Demographic data : Statistics Canada, Census Profile,9380016.00 [Census tract], British Columbia and Nanaimo [Census agglomeration], British Columbia
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Thursday, August 27, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
2. The South End

 
These five Census Dissemination Areas (the smaller levels that make up the large Census Tract, in this case 9380017.02) are 2.3 km² in land area with a population of 2,2754. 1,289 households in 1,359 dwellings, 490 rent and 765 own. Average age : 43.3 years. Average after-tax household income (2015) $45,954. Population density is about 1,200 per km². Demographic data : Statistics Canada, 2016 Census.

 
Nanaimo Census Profile 59210416 [Dissemination area], 2016 Census 
Nanaimo Census Profile, 59210417 [Dissemination area], 2016 Census 
Nanaimo Census Profile, 59210419 [Dissemination area], 2016 Census
Nanaimo Census Profile, 59210420 [Dissemination area], 2016 Census
Nanaimo Census Profile, 59210434 [Dissemination area], 2016 Census
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Friday, August 14, 2020

City Centre geospatial analysis.
1. The study area


Five Nanaimo Census Tracts and five Census Dissemination Areas within the larger Census Tract 9380017.02 make up this City Centre geospatial analysis. Data sources are the City of Nanaimo’s Open Data Catalogue and Statistics Canada 2016 Census data, variables searched and downloaded via #CensusMapper.
Brechin Hill, Townsite−Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Bowen Park−Vancouver Island University, Harewood−South End, and the downtown urban core.
Population of the study area : 29,910. Land area (adjusted for Saysutshun and Protection Islands) : 17.3 km². 33% of Nanaimo population, 17% of Nanaimo land area. Population density per km² approximately 1.9x greater than city-wide (1,949 / 997). Households : 14,182, 33% of city total. 7,455 own and 6,725 rent. Demographic data : Census Profile, 2016 Census Nanaimo, City [Census subdivision], British Columbia and Nanaimo, Regional district [Census division], British Columbia
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Thursday, August 13, 2020

Friday, August 7, 2020

The by-design, vertically integrated,
local and regional food economy. Part one

"We need to view cities as the complex, adaptive systems they are—and when we do, we gain insight into how to address today's pressing challenges.” recent Strong Towns Tweet.
“Cities happen to be problems in organized complexity, like the life sciences… The variables are many, but they are not helter-skelter; they are interrelated into an organic whole.” Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Ch22 The Kind of Problem a City Is.
This post, the first in a series on how Nanaimo can best emerge from the crises, the health crisis here now and the economic crisis to come, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, proposes a by-design, vertically integrated local and regional food economy.
Local and regional food security has been on a lot of people's minds the last few years. And all the more so the last few months. We can emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with a secure local and regional food economy ecosystem.
This chart from the 2016 Nanaimo Census Profile offers a snapshot of the local economy. We're a population centre, a transportation hub and we're the urban centre most important to our region. As in other small regional cities, the large payrolls are public sector (about 20% of the labour force are employed in the health, education and related sectors) and retail related services employ more people than any of the other sectors (almost 30%).
These are family-supporting incomes and we're fortunate to have them. They shouldn't however make us complacent about growing and strengthening our local economy, about the creation of local value. Many cities across North America are looking at import-replacement principles as a way to grow and make more resilient their local economies.
The supply and distribution of locally grown and produced food can only be as secure as it is fully integrated into the local mainstream economy. Creating family-supporting jobs at every point in the new economic sector. Here’s how, in these incremental steps, we can do that.
By Design.  Building on current strengths, and with an understanding of how cities are made up of complex, interconnected systems, the City of Nanaimo's economic development arm can begin to design the vertically integrated local and regional food ecosystem. This is incremental development within an ambitious plan that builds on the strengths of each proceeding element. The growing and producing of local and regional foods is the place to start.
Import replacement. We’re fortunate to have a strong base from which to grow and develop a secure local and regional food economy. Farmers’ Markets, community gardens, Vancouver Island University and others have acquired a key knowledge base in the growing and production of food and also in distribution, marketing and administration.
In To Combat Widespread Job Loss, Stay Local and Look to Import Replacement, journalist Valerie Vande Panne describes innovative ways some cities have successfully re-localized their economies. Some of these examples could serve us well here in Nanaimo as a way forward.
"In Cleveland, Evergreen Cooperatives has brought home multiple businesses and millions of dollars through enterprises including Evergreen Cooperative Laundry and Green City Growers. In the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, Wellspring Cooperative meets local food needs through their Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse."
Partnering with local anchor institutions, as detailed in the above nextcity.org article, beginning with surveying current purchases of the hospital, the K-12 school system, the university and others, to identify import replacement opportunities offers a solid foundation on which to begin to build a resilient and regenerative local and regional food economy.
More to come : the craft producers, re-localized finance and investment, business incubators and start-up supports and a City-owned public market catalyzing downtown urban renewal.
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Friday, July 17, 2020

#Nanaimo Census Tract 9380011. Hospital - Beban Park. 2016 Census Profile. Geospatial : Parcels, parks, buildings, business licences.

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Thursday, July 16, 2020

Statistics Canada COVID-19 Relevant Indicators. Health Occupations. Nanaimo.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2020

2016 Census. Numbers of Nanaimo households with after-tax income
of $150,000 and over


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Sunday, July 12, 2020

Geospatial maps : Education levels.
University at bachelor level or above Apprenticeship or trades
certificate or diploma


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Saturday, July 11, 2020

Nanaimo geospatial maps :
Population change 2011 - 2016 and
number of single parent family households.

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Monday, July 6, 2020

Census Tract 9380014
Vancouver Island University − Bowen Park

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Sunday, July 5, 2020

Population densities, low incomes, dwellings built 1960 or before by Census Tract

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Friday, July 3, 2020

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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Nanaimo Seniors


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Sunday, June 28, 2020

Nanaimo : Numbers of children
living in poverty. 2016 Census

Low-income status in 2015 for the population in private households to whom low-income concepts are applicable - 100% data. 0 - 17 years. Click to enlarge.

Statistics Canada. 2017. Nanaimo, CY [Census subdivision], British Columbia and Nanaimo, RD [Census division], British Columbia (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.


Low-income cut-offs, after tax (LICO-AT) - The Low-income cut-offs, after tax refers to an income threshold, defined using 1992 expenditure data (adjusted to current dollars using the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI)), below which economic families or persons not in economic families would likely have devoted a larger share of their after-tax income than average to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing. More specifically, the thresholds represented income levels at which these families or persons were expected to spend 20 percentage points or more of their after-tax income than average on food, shelter and clothing.
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