Hooray!
You found us.
Thanks for joining us at the ULI Summer Social. Hopefully we gave you something to chew on.
The best city-building discussions rarely begin with certainty. They begin with curiosity, disagreement, a good question, or occasionally a terrible analogy.
If one of our observations made you laugh, nod, disagree, or tell the person next to you, then the gum did its job.
Let's keep the conversation going.
Recognize these faces? Let's chew the fat... coffee's on us.
Jonathan King
Principal
jking@bnkc.ca
Elie Newman
Principal
enewman@bnkc.ca
Kate Watanabe
Director, Marketing & Business Development
kwatanabe@bnkc.ca
Sajith Sabanadesan
Associate
ssabanadesan@bnkc.ca
Collecting the Series?
Below are all 17 observations.
And if you're wondering...
Why 17?
We have our reasons.
Think you know what they are?
Send us your best guess. If it's clever enough, we just might tell you whether you're right.
CHEW ON THIS #01 /17
Public land is finite.
Housing demand appears committed to growth.
CHEW ON THIS #02 /17
Every consultant thinks they're carrying the project.
Statistically, several of them are wrong.
CHEW ON THIS #03 /17
People rarely remember buildings.
They remember places.
And where they got good coffee.
CHEW ON THIS #04 /17
If The Bear has taught us anything, everyone thinks they could run the project until they're actually running the project.
CHEW ON THIS #05 /17
Every neighbourhood’s character was once new construction.
CHEW ON THIS #06 /17
The most successful public-private partnerships usually don't begin with a procurement process.
They begin with a shared problem.
CHEW ON THIS #07 /17
Winter is coming.
So is the next round of comments.
CHEW ON THIS #08/17
Some neighbourhoods oppose change.
Others oppose the lack of it.
CHEW ON THIS #09 /17
Nobody has ever said:
"That project had too much stakeholder engagement."
(Okay, maybe somebody has.)
CHEW ON THIS #10 /17
If Severance has taught us anything, the people making decisions and the people living with them should probably meet.
CHEW ON THIS #11 /17
A good master plan leaves room for change.
A great one survives it.
CHEW ON THIS #12 /17
The housing crisis has survived multiple Prime Ministers, Premiers, and Mayors.
That's impressive, in a concerning sort of way.
Â
CHEW ON THIS #13 /17
A purpose-built rental building isn't finished when construction ends.
It's finished when someone decides to renew their lease.
CHEW ON THIS #14 /17
Some of the best city-building projects start with a question.
Not an answer.
CHEW ON THIS #15 /17
Every neighbourhood was once considered "too much growth."
CHEW ON THIS #16 /17
You can tell a lot about a city by what people complain about.
And even more by what they stop complaining about.
CHEW ON THIS #17 /17
We're all just one municipal comment letter away from a villain origin story.