"You've lost your fking minds, government of Canada. You don't understand that you've made it possible to buy $1.5MM homes with fake income documents, and without an effective checking system...there's a greater incentive to commit fraud than ever" -Ron Butler

EXCLUSIVE: This is exactly when China blocked ChatGPT, Hugging Face and other AI sites. I received first access to a platform that can track the precise timing of Chinese censorship, when previously this was difficult. Explore our interactive graphic: restofworld.org/2024/when-chin…

I was amazed when UBC computer scientist 𝓟𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓰 offered me a first crack at his new platform, which tricks China's Great Firewall into showing precise blocking data. We worked on this research all summer! Check out the interactive graphic here: restofworld.org/2024/when-chin…

New report: Early data shows BC's short-term rental rules are working, helping cool housing costs BC munis w/ existing STR regs saw rents go down 5.7%, saving tenants $600 mil in rent in '23 Repealing Prov regs could cost BC renters billions. newswire.ca/news-releases/… #bcpoli

AALDEF is disappointed that Mayor Parker took a stance in support of 76 Place arena's construction—before city council has had the opportunity to officially consider the proposal with public participation. We are ready to fight alongside the Chinatown community. #SaveChinatown

ICYMI: We're losing our digital history. Can the Internet Archive save it? BBC #VanishingCulture bbc.com/future/article…

What a picture-perfect day for the SFU Vancouver #TerryFox Run and Walk. Always proud to support this annual fundraiser for cancer research.

In Vancouver, which has had restrictions on short-term rentals since 2018, rents are on average $147 less per month than without the rules. vancouversun.com/business/real-…

Oh, and of course, home prices are still skyhigh. trib.al/WVelxZM

"B.C. renters are paying less since Airbnb restrictions took effect: study" as told by Nathan Griffiths #bcpoli #vanpoli #VanRE vancouversun.com/business/real-…

Andy Yan SFU City Program neal lamontagne Your never to old or too educated to learn more. I took the SFU cities program diploma 20 years ago with my friend and then boss Brent Toderian I am thrilled to see SFU continuing to help teach planning to non planners! Thanks Andy Yan

"Every year that passes, BC renters are going to save more money." Nathan Griffiths The Vancouver Sun on new report by McGill University research team finding short-term rental regulations help lower housing costs - and those effects are cumulative. #Airbnb #bcpoli

Andy Yan Harvard Business Review I found this article very well done. There are other pieces as well. especially studies out of NYU and Univ of Ohio. The main point being that you can’t solve housing affordability by solely relying on market driven increases in supply.

Utterly obsessed with this UCL researcher who won an Ig Nobel for showing that “Blue Zones” where people supposedly live well past 100 at unusual rates are actually just full of clerical errors and people committing pension fraud ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/…

Here’s my story based on an FOI with the details of how much a developer paid demovicted Burnaby renters under the city’s tenant assistance policy. It’s our first glimpse, to my knowledge, of the exact sums tenants have received after demoviction. burnabynow.com/local-news/doc…

As more replacement buildings complete, I’m hoping to continue to document the ranges tenants receive. One thing to look out for will be the difference between lump-sum payments and rent top-ups (you could do some estimates, but I’m interested in the numbers across a project)

Related fun fact: I learned at Langara Journalism that govt forms are awesome to FOI. So when I was reading, um, every city doc I could find about TAP + found reference to the “final tenant assistance report”? You bet I set a calendar alert for when the report would be ready 😉

China is working on a proposal to let mega cities including Shanghai and Beijing relax rules on non-local buyers trib.al/dPpYw9Z

Americans’ news habits have changed dramatically in the 21st century. This fact sheet looks at the platforms Americans turn to for news, including patterns and trends. pewrsr.ch/3Typ4jm

Check out interviews and articles by Meg Holden, Mohsen Javdani, Anthony Perl, and Andy Yan! Also, read a feature story about our new Urban Worlds major. #sfuurb