On March 28, the not-for-profit organization Urbanarium hosts another entry in its ‘missing middle’ debate series, tackling the question of how to build missing middle housing with and without lot assembly. Co-hosted with the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, the debate will be held at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. Urbanarium’s post sets the context for the discussion:
Unleashing the potential of The Missing Middle will hinge on the economics of land assembly. The pervasive development culture, requiring land assembly, underground parking, presentation centre marketing and tendency towards large scale developments begs big questions for this missing housing type. Will neighbourhoods embrace more density, and more neighbours, necessary for new approaches to affordable housing" Will local governments politically support the opening up of low density neighbourhoods that have historically been sacrosanct" Will municipal rules be quickly adjusted to support the design profession in the innovation of new typologies" Will the prevailing high cost of land hinder, or enhance, Missing Middle potential"
The debate will feature UBC’s Patrick Condon and Scott Hein squaring off against urban planned Chuck Brook and Urban Development Institute (UDI) CEO Anne McMullin. The debate is sponsored by British Columbia Housing Corporation, CMHC, Peeter Wesik, Vancity, Chris Dikeakos Arch...