Final report
Final report is available here.
introduction
This project critically examines the City of New Westminster’s current Zoning Bylaw to understand if and how the City’s land-use regulations are contributing to and perpetuating inequity within the City. Problematic regulations that act as systematic barriers to some are identified and recommendations are provided for the City to move towards a high level of inclusivity.
POSTER FINAL
goals and outputs
The goals of this project are to examine the equity implications of the current Zoning Bylaw of the City of New Westminster, to study how zoning and land use regulation can be leveraged to promote inclusivity and equity and to provide recommendations for the City's future reviews and updates on its Zoning Bylaw.
With an institutional analysis framework as a fundamental approach to our project, we studied the City's zoning regulations by
- reviewing the development history of the city prior to and after the adoption of its first Zoning Bylaw,
- conducting a literature review of planning practices and case studies of different zoning approaches and their impact on increasing equitable outcomes through zoning,
- analyzing the spatial patterns of demographic and socio-economic data that reveal the equity outcomes of the current Zoning Bylaw, and
- interviewing city staff who interface with the Zoning Bylaw.
We suggested that the Zoning Bylaw and its application should be more accessible, flexible and adaptable in order to increase its equity outcomes. A comprehensive rezoning process to update the City's Zoning Bylaw and regulations is recommended to move toward the City's equity goals.
my roles in this project
My roles in this project include the following:
- conducting initial literature review focusing on the City's policy and land use regulation context,
- searching spatial data for demographic analysis,
- interviewing city staff and analyze qualitative data from interviews,
- preparing contents for the final report,
- formatting the final report and designing the cover page, and
- designing the poster for final presentation.
Learning Significance