Thank you for visiting! Despite my best efforts to update this website on an ongoing basis, a day job keeps getting in the way. As of July 2021, I have at least finally ported my website from davidpereira.ca to urbanshift.ca, a domain that is less conceited and more representative of my online goals. I’d like to think that I am part of a long line of urbanist thinkers who have been concerned about environmental degradation and social inequity – I hope that UrbanShift can help unpack some of these challenges.
Many of the websites and other resources around urbanity have been preoccupied with activities in interesting global cities, such as Vancouver. However, I would make the case that the survival of our society depends on how we manage growth outside these interesting urban cores. Observing the contrast between these worlds presents the fodder for this site. For example, urban farming in Vancouver proper is a matter of cute backyard and community garden plots – but the reality is that these plots supply a fraction of a fraction of the needs of the residents – meanwhile, thousands of acres of farmland south of Vancouver and in the Fraser Valley have been shifted into industrial hubs where Amazon and other global giants are extending distribution networks to support our reliance on inexpensive produce and products from afar.
Its relatively easy to create beautiful compact urban communities where they already exist – it is much more challenging to control growth in the fringes, where land is more affordable – both for people wanting a single floor bungalow with space to sprawl, as well as the industrial land developer – so while we cry about density in our back yard, our farmlands and natural ecosystems continue to be converted into what Gordon Price refers to as motordom. This little presence on the web is aimed at a more regional perspective, whether its transit-oriented-development, growth management planning, or any similar topic that I have the energy and time to write about.
So, stay tuned, and cheers for now.
David