Where do we go from here?

CC #200—2026 challenges and objectives

Citizen protests at Vancouver City Hall—November 2024 image by David Fine

As I approach the fifth year¹ of City Conversations, my 200th post² and the end of 2025, it’s time to think about the year ahead rather than dwell on what’s past. Certainly I have been occasionally guilty of remembering “the good old days,” but that hasn’t always worked well either for me or for my readers. As Hugh Grant says about his government in the movie Love Actually, “We’ll have to do better next year.”

But how do we do better next year, which is civic election year in Vancouver and BC’s other municipalities? Of course, lots more is planned for 2026: FIFA, the American midterm elections, etc. Some of these events will affect us, but I’ll be generally sticking to where I have some modest experience and expertise, being architecture, planning and urban design. Those three foci include:

• Housing affordability, including the illusive balance between livability, energy efficiency, climate resilience, building regulation and construction methodology and costs;

• Community and neighbourhood planning, including the Vancouver Plan and all its bits and not so little pieces such as “Villages,” the “Social Housing Initiative,” the ever growing Broadway Plan and various Official Development Plans, including the Jericho Lands, the illusive Cambie Corridor, UBCx (the expansion of SkyTrain to UBC); the broader picture of enacted³ and planned⁴ provincial legislation that’s just starting to affect us; and on and on…

• Community micro-planning, including site planning standards, Small Scale Multiple Unit Housing (SSMUH), multiplexes and other forms of (theoretically) gentle density;

• Planning regulation, including the minutiae of building heights, setbacks, separations and character and their impacts on views, solar access, privacy and overlook, to name a few;

• Building regulations and safety, including Single Exit Stairs (SES)⁵, building separation⁶ and protection during construction⁷, renovation⁸ and remediation.

I hope to try to make some sense of these many topics under the umbrella of three themes:

1. Embrace the lessons (but not dogma) of our history, current research and positive initiatives;

2. Enhance what we have rather than just destroying it;

3. Evolve improved living environments, looking for positive, incremental progress for all rather than polarizing non-solutions.

I have much to be grateful for. In addition to my wonderful family are the many folks CCs and other civic engagements have introduced to me. You all help me stay positive in these times, in the knowledge that good people make life rewarding and worth the challenges.

This is a shorter post than many of my efforts. We all need a break. Best holiday wishes and all the best for 2026. Let’s stay in touch.

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This post is only 560 words including footnotes, about as much as the 3-5 minutes citizens are allowed when they speak to the current Vancouver City Council, in their efforts to suppress democracy. If you appreciated this post, please share to your social media and consider becoming a free subscriber to City Conversations at

Brian Palmquist writes on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam people. He is a Vancouver-based architect, building envelope and building code consultant and LEED Accredited Professional (the first green building system). He is semi-retired, still teaching, writing and consulting a bit, but not beholden to any client or city hall. City Conversations mix real discussion with research and observations based on a 50-year career including the planning, design and construction of almost every type and scale of project. He is the author of the Amazon best seller and AIBC Construction Administration course text, “An Architect’s Guide to Construction.” A glutton for punishment, he is threatening to write a book about how we can Embrace, Enhance and Evolve the places where we love to live. Some of its content may appear above.

1. My first post was January 6, 2021.

2. My most recently numbered post was #169, but Substack keeps better records than I, who did not start numbering posts until about a year after starting CCs. Turns out this is post #200!

3. Bills 44, 46 and 47 are busy disrupting growth and development all around BC.

4. Private member Bill M216 has received 2nd reading, could become law early in 2026.

5. Read Grenfell tower fire as well as recent enabling amendments to the BC Building code.

6. Read Hong Kong tower fires and the gradual relaxation of separations between towers in the Broadway Plan and other areas.

7. Read Collingwood and 41st Ave summer fire.

8. Read recent Hong Kong fire.