On Site Report is a podcast about cities. In each episode we discuss topics such as affordable housing, gentrification and globalization. We also explore potential solutions to the problems currently faced by urban dwellers. On Site Report is recorded in Vancouver, on the stolen and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Hosted by Theodore Abbott. Produced by Charlie D.
theodoreabbott.substack.com (https://theodoreabbott.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Singapore: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly w/Erick Villagomez
Erick Villagomez discusses Singapore's unique blend of free-market capitalism and socialist housing policies, highlighting both its successes in minimizing homelessness and its challenges regarding civil liberties in this interview episode with Theodore Abbott.
19 May 2025
Wanted: Systemic Overhaul w/Erick Villagomez
In this episode of On Site Report we sit down with esteemed researcher and educator Erick Villagomez. Erick is a lecturer at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning and the Editor-in-Chief of Spacing Magazine Vancouver. Our conversation takes many twists and turns as we assess the direction of urban development in Vancouver, debrief on the city’s recent by-election, and discuss the importance of strong neighbourhoods in the face of a declining capitalist system.
Enjoyed the episode? Help support our podcast by making a donation using this link: https://ko-fi.com/theodoreabbott (https://ko-fi.com/theodoreabbott) (if you don’t have a PayPal account simply select ‘try another way’).
Various films and books are discussed in this episode, the links to which are provided below:
* David Harvey Rebel Cities: https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2236-rebel-cities?srsltid=AfmBOooX83HQoQnW3CsuWkhAzx_UF63FdNSULXJ_TMwE9s7DB05ufYXT (https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2236-rebel-cities?srsltid=AfmBOooX83HQoQnW3CsuWkhAzx_UF63FdNSULXJ_TMwE9s7DB05ufYXT)
* Ada for Mayor Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzqaj54_A-g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzqaj54_A-g)
* Douglas Todd for the Vancouver Sun: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/despite-voters-rebuke-vancouvers-abc-party-new-towers-higher-increase-density (https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/despite-voters-rebuke-vancouvers-abc-party-new-towers-higher-increase-density)
* Hospicing Modernity: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675703/hospicing-modernity-by-vanessa-machado-de-oliveira/ (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675703/hospicing-modernity-by-vanessa-machado-de-oliveira/)
* A House Deconstructed: https://actar.com/product/a-house-deconstructed/ (https://actar.com/product/a-house-deconstructed/)
* Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: https://royscranton.net/books/learning-to-die-in-the-anthropocene/ (https://royscranton.net/books/learning-to-die-in-the-anthropocene/)
* Feminist City: https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2626-feminist-city?srsltid=AfmBOopZLBtWfKqWaqcR_Tkaeluqa45Rs0vD3m9HSm7F6S18I4-4-nZd (https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2626-feminist-city?srsltid=AfmBOopZLBtWfKqWaqcR_Tkaeluqa45Rs0vD3m9HSm7F6S18I4-4-nZd)
* Resilience, Reciprocity, and Ecological Economics: Northwest Coast Sustainability: https://www.routledge.com/Resilience-Reciprocity-and-Ecological-Economics-Northwest-Coast-Sustainability/Trosper/p/book/9780415782524?srsltid=AfmBOopMv1S4FtSWRhm7TlCEQX_yf6k7WsNiP29bP5DpVxxfR-yEk7Yn (https://www.routledge.com/Resilience-Reciprocity-and-Ecological-Economics-Northwest-Coast-Sustainability/Trosper/p/book/9780415782524?srsltid=AfmBOopMv1S4FtSWRhm7TlCEQX_yf6k7WsNiP29bP5DpVxxfR-yEk7Yn)
On Site Report is hosted by Theodore Abbott and produced by Charlie D.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theodoreabbott.substack.com (https://theodoreabbott.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
26 Mar 2025
2025 Update: Theodore Is Running for City Council
Voting day is April 5th; advance voting is March 26th & April 1st
https://vancouver.ca/your-government/2025-by-election.aspx
Learn more about TEAM & Theodore here: voteteam.ca
11 Dec 2024
PAUSE THE PLAN! w/ Michael Fergusson
Vancouver residents Michael Fergusson urges the community to pause the Broadway Plan as growing opposition highlights the need for a more inclusive and sustainable development strategy.
11 Sept 2024
Is There No Alternative? w/ Ward Stirrat
False Creek South is an area of Vancouver that exists adjacent to one of North America’s most up-scale neighbourhoods. In stark juxtaposition to the affluent and largely unaffordable district of Yaletown, False Creek South represents a model of livability that has been widely celebrated amongst urban planners and academics since its inception. Episode #4 of On Site Report marks our second dedication to exploring the area of False Creek South, and in this episode we highlight how this unique enclave provides us with an important alternative to thinking about how our cities should be built. Are unaffordable high rises and market-rate condominiums the only way forward? To answer this question I sat down with long-time area resident and social commentator Ward Stirrat. We hope you enjoy!
Subscribe to our Patreon: patreon.com/onsitereport (https://patreon.com/onsitereport)
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @onsitereportpod
Contact us: onsitereportpod@gmail.com (mailto:onsitereportpod@gmail.com)
Further reading:
Andy Yan on Building The Kind of Housing We Actually Need: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1en8wl2/our_tax_dollars_funded_a_developer_to_create/?share_id=ifNtiw6t9MhAyAzl_Dtfp&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=3 (https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1en8wl2/our_tax_dollars_funded_a_developer_to_create/)
City Hall Watch: https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/ (https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/)
There is No Alternative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_is_no_alternative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_is_no_alternative)
Hugh Segal: https://www.ubcpress.ca/bootstraps-need-boots (https://www.ubcpress.ca/bootstraps-need-boots)
Cameron Murray: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=P5s-_d0AAAAJ&hl=en (https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=P5s-_d0AAAAJ&hl=en)
4 Jul 2024
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats w/ Colleen Hardwick
As we continue to map the city of Vancouver, the neighbourhood of False Creek South comes into view. Heralded for its progressive approach to urban design, False Creek South demonstrates the core principles of the city livable movement. In the early 1970’s The Electors Action Movement (TEAM) championed a turn towards human-scale urbanism that prioritized aesthetics and livability. But fifty years later Vancouver has transitioned from being a beacon of livability to a city that commentators have recently referred to as “impossibly unaffordable”. In the midst of Vancouver’s embrace of bad urbanism, the False Creek South neighbourhood has come under threat. In episode three we sit down with Colleen Hardwick to discuss this and more.
More Colleen/TEAM:
https://www.voteteam.ca/
https://www.instagram.com/voteforteam/
Subscribe to our Patreon: patreon.com/onsitereport
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @onsitereportpod
Contact us: onsitereportpod@gmail.com
Further reading:
Patrick Condon, Tyee: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/10/18/City-False-Promises-False-Creek-South/
City Hall Watch: https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2021/08/07/palmquist-false-promises-false-creek/
David Ley: Liberal Ideology and the Postindustrial City: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2562952
10 Apr 2024
Similar Yet Different: The Story of Vancouver’s False, False Creek w/ Henry Tsang
<p>In our second episode we discuss an area of Vancouver that is the epicenter of the city’s newly acquired and carefully polished identity. In False Creek North almost everything is made of glass and tinted with green, and the mid-rise towers are podiumed with town homes, some of which exit onto manicured park space, while others overlook the Sea Wall. Emanating from this place is the spirit of Vancouverism, a form of urban planning that has evolved as a contemporary response to the outdated precepts of last century’s Manhattanism. That said, how is it that False Creek North has come to be recreated in the Arabian desert? In this episode On Site Report I sit down with artist and educator Henry Tsang to better understand this peculiar pastiche and discuss some of the issues facing Vancouver and other cities like it. </p>
<p>Learn more about the Maraya Project and check out Henry&#39;s work here: https://henrytsang.ca/maraya-sisyphean-cart/</p>
<p><strong>Subscribe to our Patreon: </strong><a href="https://patreon.com/onsitereport">patreon.com/onsitereport</a></p>
<p><strong>Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: </strong>@onsitereportpod</p>
<p><strong>Contact us: </strong><a href="mailto:onsitereportpod@gmail.com">onsitereportpod@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>Photo credit: <em>Maraya Project (Glen Lowry, M. Simon Levin, Henry Tsang), 2011</em></p>
10 Apr 2024
Similar but Different: The Story of Vancouver’s False, False Creek
In our second episode we discuss an area of Vancouver that is the epicenter of the city’s newly acquired and carefully polished identity. In False Creek North almost everything is made of glass and tinted with green,
and the mid-rise towers are podiumed with town homes, some of which exit onto manicured park space, while others overlook the Sea Wall.
Emanating from this place is the spirit of Vancouverism, a form of urban planning that has evolved as a contemporary response to the outdated precepts of last century’s Manhattanism. That said, how is it that False Creek North has come to be recreated in the Arabian
desert? In this episode On Site Report I sit down with artist and educator Henry Tsang to better understand this peculiar pastiche and discuss some of the issues facing Vancouver and other cities like it.
Photo credit: Maraya Project (Glen Lowry, M. Simon Levin, Henry Tsang), 2011
10 Apr 2024
Similar Yet Different: The Story of Vancouver’s False, False Creek
In our second episode we discuss an area of Vancouver that is the epicenter of the city’s newly acquired and carefully polished identity. In False Creek North almost everything is made of glass and tinted with green, and the mid-rise towers are podiumed with town homes, some of which exit onto manicured park space, while others overlook the Sea Wall. Emanating from this place is the spirit of Vancouverism, a form of urban planning that has evolved as a contemporary response to the outdated precepts of last century’s Manhattanism. That said, how is it that False Creek North has come to be recreated in the Arabian desert? In this episode On Site Report I sit down with artist and educator Henry Tsang to better understand this peculiar pastiche and discuss some of the issues facing Vancouver and other cities like it.
Learn more about the Maraya Project and check out Henry's work here: https://henrytsang.ca/maraya-sisyphean-cart/
Photo credit: Maraya Project (Glen Lowry, M. Simon Levin, Henry Tsang), 2011
16 Jan 2024
If You Build It They Will Come
<p>Expo86 marked a new era in Vancouver’s urban development. Now a city that shines on the international stage, Vancouver is a place that is grappling with the side effects of globalization. In this inaugural episode we explore the realities of a city caught in transition while paying close attention to one of the most enigmatic features of Vancouver’s cityscape.</p>
16 Jan 2024
Episode 1: If You Build It They Will Come
Expo86 marked a new era in Vancouver’s urban development. Now a city that shines on the international stage, Vancouver is a place that is grappling with the side effects of globalization. In this inaugural episode we explore the realities of a city caught in transition while paying close attention to one of the most enigmatic features of Vancouver’s cityscape.
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