St. John’s downtown: 1948 to 2024

This is a simple post: Below is a comparison from an aerial composite plate of St. John's in 1948 to modern aerial imagery from 2024. We can use several tools to warp and bend an image to align it to our current cm accurate modern aerial imagery. Without getting overly technical, aligning the images involvesContinue reading "St. John’s downtown: 1948 to 2024"

Housing Insecurity Worse for Low Income Residents and Immigrants

Housing insecurity has become a major problem in Canada, but does the problem affect residents equally? We use StatsCan data and correlation analyses to examine whether economic inequality and citizenship status interact with affordability of shelter in the North East Avalon region of Newfoundland and Labrador.

St. John’s Housing Accelerator Fund: Impact Analysis and Recommendations

The City of St John’s will be receiving 10.4 million in federal funding through the housing accelerator fund to stimulate housing growth. This will be done by a rapid initiative to have a text amendment to the city of St. John's development regulations. The proposed changes offer some gentle density increases on existing zones; howeverContinue reading "St. John’s Housing Accelerator Fund: Impact Analysis and Recommendations"

Affordability Maps: How to solve a problem

There's a housing crisis, if you haven't heard. It's hard to miss with all of the news publications on the topic and outrage from people on social media who are, rightfully, voicing their concerns that Canadian cities are simply becoming unaffordable for the average person. But how do you solve that problem? 'Build more houses!',Continue reading "Affordability Maps: How to solve a problem"

Zoning – It is broken but can it be fixed?

Zoning land use maps. They are the crown jewel of urban planning. What most people don't know is that in North America, that jewel is often a blood diamond. That is a pretty harsh opening, I know. Allow me to explain via a 'quick' history lesson. History of zoning In the days of old, fromContinue reading "Zoning – It is broken but can it be fixed?"

Commuter data – who doesn’t drive a car?

St. John's: One of the most car friendly city in Canada. That might not be true according to many articles you'll find on the internet, but the statistics are there. People here LOVE their cars and just can't get enough of them. Below are some of the statistics for St. John's and its peer metroContinue reading "Commuter data – who doesn’t drive a car?"

Stats Canada Dissemi-what nows?

TL;DR We will be creating maps based on Statistics Canada's long form survey results, called the Census Profile. It uses the second smallest geographic codes called dissemination areas. We edit those areas to better reflect the built-up area within each dissemination area, but that isn't perfect, and nor are the areas. We will also AnalyzeContinue reading "Stats Canada Dissemi-what nows?"

St. John’s Metro Mobility Infrastructure V0.8

It has been a long road with many volunteer hours but we are finally happy to announce our first regional mapping project launch. First, we need to note a few things (scroll down and just start clicking links if you want). Firstly what are we doing at Streets are for People? Our goal is toContinue reading "St. John’s Metro Mobility Infrastructure V0.8"

Traffic calming – Modal filters?

What is a modal filter? It is a structure that filters out different types of transport methods. There are many examples. Diagonal traffic diverts on 4 way intersections prevent vehicle through traffic. A bollard in the middle of a bike trail prevents large SUV's from getting in the trail. A chicane gate may prevent largeContinue reading "Traffic calming – Modal filters?"