Jens von Bergmann
@jensvb.bsky.social
Data, analysis, visualization, #CensusMapper, transportation cyclist.
📍Vancouver, BC
📍Vancouver, BC
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
I did a comparable map for the Halifax peninsula out of curiosity
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I did a comparable map for the Halifax peninsula out of curiosity
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago
Nice try flipping the script!
Housing should be illegal by default, each new project should be scrutinized, provide justification, and neighbours should have veto powers.
It's a slippery slope. If we just allowed housing that meets environmental and health standards, more people would have housing.
Housing should be illegal by default, each new project should be scrutinized, provide justification, and neighbours should have veto powers.
It's a slippery slope. If we just allowed housing that meets environmental and health standards, more people would have housing.
"[W]hile the Islands Trust is aware of the many illegal dwellings on the island, if there are no environmental and health concerns, the occupants are left alone due to the housing crunch."
Kinda gives away the game. If there aren't any environmental & health concerns, why are the dwellings illegal?
Kinda gives away the game. If there aren't any environmental & health concerns, why are the dwellings illegal?
Good reporting here on Salt Spring Island's housing crisis & the rise of informal workforce housing.
Good to keep asking both why the Islands Trust isn't allowing more permanent housing to be constructed & why $20k trailer homes have been made illegal.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Good to keep asking both why the Islands Trust isn't allowing more permanent housing to be constructed & why $20k trailer homes have been made illegal.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
November 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Nice try flipping the script!
Housing should be illegal by default, each new project should be scrutinized, provide justification, and neighbours should have veto powers.
It's a slippery slope. If we just allowed housing that meets environmental and health standards, more people would have housing.
Housing should be illegal by default, each new project should be scrutinized, provide justification, and neighbours should have veto powers.
It's a slippery slope. If we just allowed housing that meets environmental and health standards, more people would have housing.
Noticed on my morning bike ride into downtown that the construction crane has been taken down on the first tower at Sen̓áḵw. Getting tantalizingly close to being done…
(Not sure when this happened, was out of town for a few days.)
(Not sure when this happened, was out of town for a few days.)
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Noticed on my morning bike ride into downtown that the construction crane has been taken down on the first tower at Sen̓áḵw. Getting tantalizingly close to being done…
(Not sure when this happened, was out of town for a few days.)
(Not sure when this happened, was out of town for a few days.)
You used to regularly hang out with your neighbour across the street for chats and drinks. But then that neighbour started taking crazy pills, shit on your front lawn, threaten and shout obscenities at you.
So you simply don’t cross the street to chat any more. That does not require “effort”.
So you simply don’t cross the street to chat any more. That does not require “effort”.
November 14, 2025 at 8:15 PM
You used to regularly hang out with your neighbour across the street for chats and drinks. But then that neighbour started taking crazy pills, shit on your front lawn, threaten and shout obscenities at you.
So you simply don’t cross the street to chat any more. That does not require “effort”.
So you simply don’t cross the street to chat any more. That does not require “effort”.
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
It is certainly interesting that the politician who frames himself as the most conservative is obsessed with regulating what people sell and where they live
bsky.app/profile/pwal...
bsky.app/profile/pwal...
The very idea that a politician thinks they should be able to create a prescribed list of approved items for sale really highlights how unhinged local politics is.
November 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
It is certainly interesting that the politician who frames himself as the most conservative is obsessed with regulating what people sell and where they live
bsky.app/profile/pwal...
bsky.app/profile/pwal...
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Hmm... seems familiar.
"We consider how housing acts as a potential realm where perception of crisis can activate reactionary nationalism, investigating how it differs from and interacts with other realms (e.g. jobs and wages, crime, and social welfare)..." www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
"We consider how housing acts as a potential realm where perception of crisis can activate reactionary nationalism, investigating how it differs from and interacts with other realms (e.g. jobs and wages, crime, and social welfare)..." www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
November 13, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Hmm... seems familiar.
"We consider how housing acts as a potential realm where perception of crisis can activate reactionary nationalism, investigating how it differs from and interacts with other realms (e.g. jobs and wages, crime, and social welfare)..." www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
"We consider how housing acts as a potential realm where perception of crisis can activate reactionary nationalism, investigating how it differs from and interacts with other realms (e.g. jobs and wages, crime, and social welfare)..." www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Nice morning coffee read on internal EU trade barriers, and the difficulties of estimating these and sensitivity to assumptions.
November 13, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Nice morning coffee read on internal EU trade barriers, and the difficulties of estimating these and sensitivity to assumptions.
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Worth noting that because Sim brought forward his proposal for a property tax freeze requiring millions in cuts with just weeks left in the budget process, this is not up for public debate and is not outlined in the documents available to councillors when they vote on this
SCOOP: Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is planning to eliminate the city's sustainability and climate department under the guise of a push to prevent increases to property taxes in his proposed 2026 budget.
Great source work by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson to uncover this
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/11/n...
Great source work by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson to uncover this
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/11/n...
Vancouver mayor plans to eliminate city's climate and sustainability department
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is planning to eliminate the city's sustainability and climate department under the guise of a push to prevent increases to property taxes. Canada's National Observer learned a...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Worth noting that because Sim brought forward his proposal for a property tax freeze requiring millions in cuts with just weeks left in the budget process, this is not up for public debate and is not outlined in the documents available to councillors when they vote on this
Still thinking about this part of the conversation, showing a poster by @tomflood.bsky.social next to two by Klaus Staeck that I remember from my childhood.
Lots of parallels between discussions in Germany (and other places in Europe) back then and Canada (and the US) 30 to 40 years later.
Lots of parallels between discussions in Germany (and other places in Europe) back then and Canada (and the US) 30 to 40 years later.
November 11, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Still thinking about this part of the conversation, showing a poster by @tomflood.bsky.social next to two by Klaus Staeck that I remember from my childhood.
Lots of parallels between discussions in Germany (and other places in Europe) back then and Canada (and the US) 30 to 40 years later.
Lots of parallels between discussions in Germany (and other places in Europe) back then and Canada (and the US) 30 to 40 years later.
Late Halloween news, StatCan continues to report long-term declines in paranormal activity in homes across Canada. *
* except in Nunavut
** use with extreme caution, StatCan's paranormal activity detector might have gotten itself caught in an infinite paranormal feedback loop
* except in Nunavut
** use with extreme caution, StatCan's paranormal activity detector might have gotten itself caught in an infinite paranormal feedback loop
November 9, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Late Halloween news, StatCan continues to report long-term declines in paranormal activity in homes across Canada. *
* except in Nunavut
** use with extreme caution, StatCan's paranormal activity detector might have gotten itself caught in an infinite paranormal feedback loop
* except in Nunavut
** use with extreme caution, StatCan's paranormal activity detector might have gotten itself caught in an infinite paranormal feedback loop
Discretionary zoning is a fertility drug for NIMBYs, AI powered automated objection letters just takes this to the logical conclusion.
AI-powered nimbyism could grind UK planning system to a halt, experts warn
Tools that help people scan applications and find grounds for objection have potential to hit government’s housebuilding plans
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Discretionary zoning is a fertility drug for NIMBYs, AI powered automated objection letters just takes this to the logical conclusion.
Great event put on by @visionzerovancouver.ca
November 9, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Great event put on by @visionzerovancouver.ca
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Happy to tour visiting authors & @thewaroncars.bsky.social podcasters @sgoodyear.bsky.social and @brooklynspoke.bsky.social around some key central Vancouver city-building this morning, before their book event with @visionzerovancouver.ca tonight! (some tickets left, apparently)
Great conversation!
Great conversation!
November 8, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Happy to tour visiting authors & @thewaroncars.bsky.social podcasters @sgoodyear.bsky.social and @brooklynspoke.bsky.social around some key central Vancouver city-building this morning, before their book event with @visionzerovancouver.ca tonight! (some tickets left, apparently)
Great conversation!
Great conversation!
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Canada's provincial economic accounts came out this week—in 2024, all provinces & Nunavut grew!
Fastest: Nunavut (6.9%), PEI (3.8%), Nova Scotia (3.1%), Alberta (3%), Saskatchewan (3%)
Slowest: Yukon (-2.5%), NW Territories (-0.8%), British Columbia (1.1%), Ontario (1.6%), Manitoba (1.7%)
Fastest: Nunavut (6.9%), PEI (3.8%), Nova Scotia (3.1%), Alberta (3%), Saskatchewan (3%)
Slowest: Yukon (-2.5%), NW Territories (-0.8%), British Columbia (1.1%), Ontario (1.6%), Manitoba (1.7%)
November 8, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Canada's provincial economic accounts came out this week—in 2024, all provinces & Nunavut grew!
Fastest: Nunavut (6.9%), PEI (3.8%), Nova Scotia (3.1%), Alberta (3%), Saskatchewan (3%)
Slowest: Yukon (-2.5%), NW Territories (-0.8%), British Columbia (1.1%), Ontario (1.6%), Manitoba (1.7%)
Fastest: Nunavut (6.9%), PEI (3.8%), Nova Scotia (3.1%), Alberta (3%), Saskatchewan (3%)
Slowest: Yukon (-2.5%), NW Territories (-0.8%), British Columbia (1.1%), Ontario (1.6%), Manitoba (1.7%)
Fun night out at the Jade Music Fest. Still more shows coming up tomorrow.
November 8, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Fun night out at the Jade Music Fest. Still more shows coming up tomorrow.
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Thanks to this bussin new #rstats 📦 by @hadley.nz,
you can now yeet rows and vibe_check columns in your data frames, no cap
hadley.github.io/genzplyr/
you can now yeet rows and vibe_check columns in your data frames, no cap
hadley.github.io/genzplyr/
dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap
`genzplyr` is an alternative syntax for `dplyr` that replaces boring old function names with GenZ slang. Your data wrangling is about to hit different.
hadley.github.io
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Thanks to this bussin new #rstats 📦 by @hadley.nz,
you can now yeet rows and vibe_check columns in your data frames, no cap
hadley.github.io/genzplyr/
you can now yeet rows and vibe_check columns in your data frames, no cap
hadley.github.io/genzplyr/
{cancensus} v0.5.10 is now on CRAN. This is a maintenance update focused on some small tweaks and improvements in the documentation.
Access, retrieve, and work with Canadian Census data and geography.
Integrated, convenient, and uniform access to Canadian Census data and geography retrieved using the CensusMapper API. This package produces analysis-ready tidy data frames and spatial data in multipl...
mountainmath.github.io
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 AM
{cancensus} v0.5.10 is now on CRAN. This is a maintenance update focused on some small tweaks and improvements in the documentation.
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
We are living in a captured economy.
Another great must-watch video by @justineunderhill.bsky.social
10/10
youtu.be/_MPE3gIg-nU?...
Another great must-watch video by @justineunderhill.bsky.social
10/10
youtu.be/_MPE3gIg-nU?...
Why Everything Is So Freaking Expensive
YouTube video by Justine Underhill
youtu.be
November 6, 2025 at 4:32 AM
We are living in a captured economy.
Another great must-watch video by @justineunderhill.bsky.social
10/10
youtu.be/_MPE3gIg-nU?...
Another great must-watch video by @justineunderhill.bsky.social
10/10
youtu.be/_MPE3gIg-nU?...
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Sidewalks shouldn’t stop for side streets, pass it on
November 5, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Sidewalks shouldn’t stop for side streets, pass it on
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
In Jane Jacobs’s old neighborhood, more heritage rules will mean more exclusion and gentrification.
We know how the story ends. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
We know how the story ends. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Will heritage stop housing development in the Annex?
If a new heritage district is created, it should acknowledge the tradeoffs and explicitly define how the area will change
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 AM
In Jane Jacobs’s old neighborhood, more heritage rules will mean more exclusion and gentrification.
We know how the story ends. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
We know how the story ends. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
New post on inclusionary zoning, for my housing literature review.
IZ requires developers to provide subsidized homes in their new apartment buildings. Without providing compensation to developers, this unfunded IZ is just a tax on new housing.
1/
IZ requires developers to provide subsidized homes in their new apartment buildings. Without providing compensation to developers, this unfunded IZ is just a tax on new housing.
1/
November 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
New post on inclusionary zoning, for my housing literature review.
IZ requires developers to provide subsidized homes in their new apartment buildings. Without providing compensation to developers, this unfunded IZ is just a tax on new housing.
1/
IZ requires developers to provide subsidized homes in their new apartment buildings. Without providing compensation to developers, this unfunded IZ is just a tax on new housing.
1/
Reposted by Jens von Bergmann
Shari Eli, Nicholas Li & Janki Shah use new complete count data to assess what can & cannot be learned about socio-economic status from the Canadian census 1871-1901. They analyze the non-reporting of earnings despite having an occupation & the characteristics of people at different earning levels.
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Shari Eli, Nicholas Li & Janki Shah use new complete count data to assess what can & cannot be learned about socio-economic status from the Canadian census 1871-1901. They analyze the non-reporting of earnings despite having an occupation & the characteristics of people at different earning levels.
Great article on the bottlenecks to building better apartments in Canada. If you ask a random Canadian on the street they will tell you they want shorter high-rises, taller low-rises, and more livable apartments with cross-ventilation. Yet politicians and policymakers force the opposite.
“The era of shoebox condos is over” in the Globe and Mail today - a feature on single stair: ”Yet with features such as sprinklers, smoke-sealed doors and more reliable fire alarm systems, mid-size apartment buildings can be just as safe...”
www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe...
www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe...
The era of the shoebox condo is over. Here’s how Canada can build livable apartments
Canada needs livable apartments to help fix the housing crisis. To do that, it must change the rulebook for both condos and rentals
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Great article on the bottlenecks to building better apartments in Canada. If you ask a random Canadian on the street they will tell you they want shorter high-rises, taller low-rises, and more livable apartments with cross-ventilation. Yet politicians and policymakers force the opposite.