And we're back!

It has been said that the definition of a habit is that you don't feel normal until you do it, and that's certainly how I've been feeling over the last few days without writing this blog. I've been unusually preoccupied. At the end of the day, you don't write a daily blog for 13 years without being someone who enjoys routine and consistency. I'm assuming I've written over 4,600 posts at this point.

Anyway, I just listened to this podcast by Malcolm Gladwell.

It starts with Malcolm proudly declaring himself a YIMBY. This is a recent thing for him, and so he goes on to say that he has "all the zeal of the recently converted." Then comes Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Building in North America, and they talk about the great American elevator tragedy.

It has been well documented that elevators in Canada and the US generally cost many multiples more than elevators in other developed countries. The result is that we tend to have fewer elevators per capita. Only certain projects and building types can afford and/or physically accommodate them. In the words of Malcolm, aiming for perfection comes with costs — fewer elevators and more expensive housing.

If you're interested in this topic, the Center for Building in North America has an extensive report titled Elevators that you can download here. But even if you aren't particularly interested in the trials and tribulations of elevators, all of this is an important reminder that the challenges facing new housing are fundamentally multifaceted.

If we want to unlock as much housing as possible and make it as affordable as possible, it's not just a question of zoning. It's also a question of utilities, environmental regulations, levies, construction methods, building codes and, yes, elevators.

Cover photo by Bagzhan Sadvakassov on Unsplash

We've talked about this before. If you live in New York City, you're probably about a third as likely to die from a transportation-related accident as compared to the average American. And if you live in Paris, you're probably about a third as likely to die from a transportation-related accident as compared to the average New Yorker.

These stats might feel a bit intuitive to you. Both New York and Paris are big and dense metros with high public transit ridership. And that usually translates into less car accidents. As for the divide between these two cities, Paris is in Europe. It's old. Most of its streets were built before the car had been invented. And all of these things are generally good for pedestrians. Makes sense.

But David Zipper asked a good question today: So what's going on with Canada? Canada is not in Europe (though some might argue that it sits culturally somewhere between the US and Europe). It's not that old. And it generally has a car-oriented landscape just like the US. So why is it that in 2020, Americans were 2.5x more likely than Canadians to die in a car crash? The trend lines are also diverging between these two countries. Between 2010 to 2020, US road deaths increased 19% on a per capita basis, whereas Canada's rate declined by about the same rate, according to David.

Ultimately, we are probably going to need Malcolm Gladwell to write a book about this so that we can really figure out what's going on. But in the interim, David does propose a few possible explanations ranging from Canadians buying slightly smaller vehicles to Canadians being slightly more law-abiding than Americans and so less likely to run people over. But one of the most persuasive explanations for me is that maybe our urban landscapes aren't actually the same.

More than a third of Canadians live in our three biggest cities: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. And this number would be even higher if you looked at the full urban catchment areas of each. Either way, this is a significantly higher concentration than in the US, where about 13% of Americans live in the metro areas of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Part of this difference is because the US has almost 9x more people and has many more big cities to choose from. But it doesn't change the fact that, despite our reputed love for things like forests and beavers, Canadians are actually quite urban. And as we have discovered, that's a good thing for pedestrians.

Photo by Jamshed Khedri on Unsplash

Witold Rybczysnki recently had this to say about the American Institute of Architect's plans to ensure better equity across the profession:

But the architectural profession is not the post office. It depends on the availability and preferences of clients, it depends on the swings of the economy, and success relies on individual drive and talent. Architecture is a zero-sum game, of course: there are a limited number of building commissions at any one time and if one architect gets the job, another doesn’t. Some of the most prominent commissions—the ones that build a reputation—are the result of architectural competitions. In these blind auditions, only the most talented have a chance to shine. And talent is not evenly distributed; “cream rises” as Stewart Brand memorably wrote in the Whole Earth Catalog. Hard to put your thumb on that scale.

When I read this I couldn't help but think of Malcolm Gladwell's account of what happened when orchestras first started conducting blind auditions in the 1980s. I think he talks about this in his book Blink. As soon as selection committees could no longer see the sex of candidates -- and could only hear their musical output -- orchestras immediately started hiring more females.

This is a neat and tidy example that seems to demonstrate that women are perhaps better classical musicians than men, even though the opposite was believed to be true before large screens started obfuscating our inherent biases.

But the selections process for architects isn't always as simple. This makes it a bit more difficult to determine if we truly have a meritocracy or if there are in fact some deep rooted prejudices that we maybe aren't aware of.

Of course, there is also the possibility that we have more or less a meritocracy, but that we have structural issues which are precluding certain people from fully developing their merits in quite the same way.

Whatever the case may be, I agree with Witold that blind design competitions are probably a fairly reasonable way to level the playing field. The problem is that design competitions are not universally used. We have never done one when searching for an architect.

I would like to think that we simply look at their portfolio (in search of both cool and relevant projects), objectively assess their abilities, and then consider their fees. But I also know that us humans are riddled with biases.