Urban Planner
Technical Writing, Data & Analysis, Research, Consulting, & Project Management
DAVID'S PROFILE
Currently working at the City of Vancouver to develop and implement climate change policy in the Sustainability office. This requires all of the skills listed above to deliver projects and manage programs. Graduate of McGill University's Master of Urban Planning program, with a concentration in Urban Development and Urban Design.
Laid-back, adaptable, reliable, capable of balancing competing priorities, effective in team and individual work environments.
Experience (1) implementing policies, developing programs, and helping to manage projects to support ‘Housing Vancouver’ initiatives; (2) researching Airbnb’s impact on several housing markets with quantitative datasets, data mapping, literature review, stakeholder interviews, and regulatory policy analysis; (3) developing sustainable development and economic diversification strategies in a master planning context; (4) organizing and leading volunteers for the Car Free Day Vancouver festival that celebrates active transportation and public space; (5) as well as conducting customer-service, digital media guidance, information management, and administration in public service organizations.
Technical skills include (1) map-making and spatial analysis in ArcGIS and QGIS; (2) quantitative analysis in SPSS, SAS, and Excel; (3) report writing and story telling; (4) graphic design in the Adobe Suite; (5) and rendering in SketchUp.
Inspired to design, build, and improve cities and communities in a way that balances social, economic, and environmental sustainability in an inclusive and innovative manner.
I believe in the potential for planners, other professionals, and the public to work together and create fair, equitable, and prosperous communities.
PLANNING PROJECTS
Selected works, click headers for links or to e-mail me for details
SHORT-TERM RENTALS, LONG-TERM PROBLEMS?
Airbnb’s impact on condominium governance
June 2018 - August 2018
This paper explores how the rise of short-term rentals is changing condominium governance. We do so through case studies of Airbnb in two North American cities with booming condo sectors and booming short-term rental markets: Toronto and Vancouver, Canada. We provide a quantitative spatial overview of Airbnb activities in these two cities, with a focus on condo listings, and then describe the results of key-informant interviews within the condo sectors in these two cities. We argue, first of all, that Airbnb exacerbates two pre-existing condo governance tensions. The first tension is between individual ownership rights and common use rights in condominiums. The second tension is between residents and investors. Secondly, we argue that existing condo governance structures are ill-equipped to respond to these tensions.
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Academic paper. 27 pages. Publication forthcoming. One of two co-authors with David Wachsmuth.
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My contributions include:
GIS analysis, literature review, statistical analysis, expert interviews, academic writing, narrative development, data analysis, policy review
An analysis of Airbnb’s impact on condominium governance
May 2017 - August 2018
This project describes how under ordinary circumstance condominium governance is complicated. Numerous stakeholders, often with diverse interests, agendas, and goals, must coordinate around the regulation of and daily experience of living together. The rise and spread of Airbnb condominium listings increases the complexity of condominium governance. This project focuses on the impact of Airbnb on condominium governance in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver. This project includes a literature review, descriptive statistics, maps, and expert interviews. I argue that condominium governance is already difficult and complicated, and Airbnb exacerbates these difficulties by giving stakeholders an additional issue to disagree about by exploiting and deepening tensions around pre-existing challenges and divisions that face those involved in condominium governance.
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Supervised research project. 91 pages. Supervisor: David Wachsmuth.
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My contributions include:
GIS analysis, literature review, statistical analysis, expert interviews, basic desktop publishing, academic writing, report writing, narrative development, data analysis, policy review, cartography
An analysis of Airbnb in New York City
September 2017 - January 2018
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Airbnb activity in New York City and the surrounding region in the last three years (September 2014 - August 2017). Relying on new methodologies to analyze big data, we set out to answer four questions:
1. Where is Airbnb activity located in New York, and how is it changing?
2. Who makes money from Airbnb in New York?
3. How much housing has Airbnb removed from the market in New York?
4. Is Airbnb driving gentrification in New York?
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Research report. 49 pages. One of five co-authors, along with: David Wachsmuth, Danielle Kerrigan, Andrea Shillolo, and Robin Basalaev-Binder.
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My contributions include: GIS, cartography, policy review, statistical analysis, report writing, data analysis
Sustainable neighbourhood masterplan in Mont-Tremblant, Québec
September 2017 - January 2018
Ville de Mont-Tremblant commissioned our consulting firm, l’Équipe Audacité, to create a detailed écoquartier master plan. This plan balances sustainable environmental, economic, and social development. The plan deals with the challenge of providing space for land uses that are not financially lucrative, in a high value land market, such as industry to spark job creation and housing that is affordable for people with median local incomes – as opposed to high-value resort-oriented housing geared to non-residents. The 18-hectare site in question is an active industrial area adjacent to the business district of Mont-Tremblant. This report provides the detailed plans required by Mont-Tremblant to justify the feasibility and development of a unique and high quality écoquartier. Includes significant GIS, pro-forma analysis, literature review of best practices, and CAD drawings of the site.
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Master plan report. Volume one: 113 pages. Volume two: 38 pages. One of six co-authors with: Dylan Anderson, Evan Brazeau, Sadhana Carrier-Doneys, Eli Heyman, and Heather deManbey.
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My contributions include: Literature review, case study review, policy review, statistical analysis, data analysis, narrative development, photoshop, graphic design, presentation creation, report writing
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Airbnb’s impact on Canadian housing markets
May 2017 - August 2017
This report presents the first comparative analysis of short-term rentals in major Canadian cities. It provides a comprehensive analysis of Airbnb activity in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver in the year leading up to May 2017. Relying on new methodologies to analyze big data, we set out to answer three questions:
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1. Where is Airbnb activity located in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver?
2. Who makes money from Airbnb in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver?
3. How much housing has Airbnb removed from the market in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver?
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Research report. 48 pages. One of four co-authors, along with: David Wachsmuth, Danielle Kerrigan, and Andrea Shillolo.
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My contributions include: GIS, cartography, policy review, statistical analysis, report writing, data analysis
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Volunteer run arts & culture festival that celebrates active-transportation
April 2012 - June 2016
We described the festival as follows:
"Car Free Day celebrates the vibrancy of Vancouver’s diverse neighbourhoods by organizing a multi-site annual arts and culture festival that reclaims traffic thoroughfares as community focused public spaces. This allows artists, local residents, performers, artisans, non-profits, and businesses to interact, and re-imagine spaces normally reserved for vehicle traffic."
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As a core organizational volunteer, and one of the few festival contract employees, primary responsibilities included volunteer recruitment and community survey design. As the festival is reliant on volunteers, it is critical to successfully recruit them. These experiences were in addition to an unrelated full-time job between 2012 and 2014, and time as a full-time student with a part-time job between 2015 and 2016.
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My contributions include: data management, volunteer recruitment, communications, team leadership, presentations
"The best way to predict the future is to create it"
