Traffic congestion: Metro Vancouver second worst in North America for local travel – July 11, 2012
Vancouver may no longer be eligible for inclusion among the world's top 10 best places to live. But it can claim one distinction: It has the worst traffic congestion in Canada — and the second worst in North America, with only car-mad Los Angeles leaving it in its rear mirror.

Mortgage Rules Won’t Lower Prices – July 9, 2012
The newly announced mortgage rules by the federal government will do little to advance housing affordability in Canada.

High City Density, High Prices – May 28, 2012
You have to admit that whether you agree with him or not, Wendell Cox offers a fresh perspective. It's long been de rigueur for professional urban planners and left-of-centre middle-class lay-people alike to opine on the benefits of "high density" areas: These concentrations of large groups of people are supposed to be better for the environment, better for the economy and better for society. Residents are said to use cars less, walk more and consume fewer resources. Some even claim they'll breathe fresher air. But in a commentary released Thursday by the Macdonald-Laurier institute, Mr. Cox - an urban policy authority himself - dares to suggest just the opposite. What "radical densification" has done, he says, is drive down the quality of life for Canadians living in the country's major cities.

8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey – January 23, 2012
The Frontier Centre releases a survey of 325 housing markets in seven countries including 35 from Canada. Vancouver is now the second least affordable housing market in the English speaking world, with the Prairies improving and Toronto continuning a long term trend of declining affordability.

Canadian Housing Affordability in One Page – January 23, 2012
A one page look at housing affordability across 35 Canadian markets according to the 8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.

The Cost of “Smart Growth” – November 9, 2011
“Smart Growth” policies which attempt to curb urban sprawl and micromanage urban development have failed over the past 40 years. Smart Growth has made housing unaffordable where it has been tried, and played a major part in the mortgage market meltdown.

Media Release - Planning That Leaves the Poor Out in the Cold – November 2, 2011
Smart Growth strategies that seek to contain urban development and encourage population concentration are responsible for increasing housing prices four times higher than in markets with less restrictive land use regulations.

Smart Growth Hurts the Urban Poor – November 2, 2011
The idea of containing urban populations through Smart Growth strategies has typically sent housing prices soaring and has hurt those least able to afford buying a house of their own, the urban poor.

Vancouver Home Prices Poised for Correction, Could Fall 21 per cent: Report – June 15, 2011
Homes in Vancouver have become so expensive you might have to win the lottery to afford one, says a prominent economist — and with prices that sky-high, odds are the city is ripe for a big drop.

Brookings Economist Decries Transit Subsidies, Calls For Privatization – February 21, 2011
In his new book, Last Exit: Privatization and Deregulation of the U.S. Transportation System, Brookings Institution economist Clifford Winston contends that transit subsidies are largely the result of labor productivity losses, inefficient operations and counterproductive federal regulations.

7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey – January 24, 2011
The latest edition of the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey puts Canadian housing affordability in perspective amongst 325 housing markets world wide.

Urban Sprawl Rules Choking Toronto Development: Building Industry – January 24, 2011
"Provincial guidelines intended to contain urban sprawl in the Greater Toronto Area are choking development, according to the building industry, pushing the value of single-family homes above $500,000 in 2010 as developers struggled to find land they are allowed to build upon."

Media Release: 7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey – January 24, 2011
Media Release for the 7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.

Joel Kotkin: Why Housing Affordability Matters – January 24, 2011
"Uber Geographer" Joel Kotkin weighs in on the housing affordability debate, arguing that limits imposed on housing supply by housing ethoses such as "smart growth" are taking us to a paradigm of neo-feudalism.

California Needs To Revive Progressive Practices – September 3, 2010
"California futurist Joel Kotkin anticipates the unequivocal restoration of the United States as the most dynamic country in the world. With its population increasing at a record-setting pace, he argues, the U.S. will grow younger as the rest of the world grows older."

Why the Great Plains are Great Once Again – July 19, 2010
"The cities of the plains—from Dallas in the south through Omaha, Des Moines, and north to Fargo—have enjoyed strong job growth and in-migration from the rest of the country."

Media Release - Improving Life from Telecommuting – October 6, 2009
Spurred by advances in information technology, especially the spread of broadband services, telecommuting is already the fastest growing mode of getting from home to work.

Traffic Congestion, Time, Money & Productivity – September 22, 2009
Congestion Costs: This is why such serious attention is paid to the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI) Annual Mobility Report, which estimates the costs of traffic congestion, principally the value of lost time as well as excess fuel costs. The fundamental premise, long a principle of transportation planning and policy, holds that more time spent traveling costs money, to employers, employees and shippers.

High-speed Rail in Canada: Decade of Debate Chugs On – August 7, 2009
"A new debate is emerging among Canadians about whether high-speed passenger trains are the answer to rising oil prices, traffic congestion, airport delays and environmental concerns."

The High Cost of Canada’s “Free” Parking – June 30, 2009
Senior Policy Analyst David Seymour and Transport Engineer Stuart Donovan make the case for removing minimum parking requirements from new developments, a reform that promises to improve economic efficiency, transportation, and social equality.