Around the world, we love our city and naturally, we want to make films about them! If you are interested in cities or community development, we are certainly in the golden age of Youtube!
During the pandemic I recall a number of commentators lamented the end of cities. They were wrong.
More and more folks are choosing to return and reinvest in cities (~20,000 people per year each year for the last ten years in Edmonton!), and making movies about them!
I’ve seen fantastic films from how we build and grow to great spaces for artists or innovative recreation for children and families. I’ve learned about historic buildings, Montreal’s Expo building, walking school buses, a local skate park strategy, seniors dance groups, and much more.
Both inspirational, and at times cautionary, I find that after watching many of these videos I truly feel like I’ve traveled.
I recently was speaking with a number of community builders about their favourite channels. Here are a few of mine... What are yours?
About Here
Oh the Urbanity
Shifter
Climate Town
Strong Towns
Not just Bikes
StreetFilms
As the weather turns colder, we are reminded again of the enormous cost of the social and humanitarian crisis on our streets in the richest province in Canada. As a resident of Whyte avenue, I see it everywhere around me. Just last night, a gentleman huddled in a sleeping bag in the alleyway next door.. The invisible become visible, often in transit stations, bus shelters, libraries, the remnants of public spaces.
Following my last post, (Raw Deal in the Region: Edmonton's Free Rider Problem) when you pay your property taxes, a percentage of your taxes are subsidizing the costs of the region, helping offset the taxes for property owners in the region. How much is that amount? And what do we do about it?
The City of Edmonton effectively provides various services and infrastructure projects for a Census Metropolitan Area population of 1,563,600, while only generating property tax from its resident population of 1,128,800.90. Before jumping to solutions as to how we can fairly recover costs, we need to correctly diagnose the problem.