The rise of the sharing economy has caused tidal waves throughout a variety of industries, and real estate is impacted by the entirety of the sharing economy perhaps more than any other industry. While taxis and hotels feel pressure from companies like Uber and AirBnB, real estate and urban design are directly impacted by ALL of these businesses. Changing how people pay for, interact with, and traverse space will drastically alter what is profitable and unprofitable practice in the various segments of the real estate industry. Subsequently, architects, designers, engineers, planners, investors, and developers all stand to gain or lose based on how they identify with and respond to this prolific change in how people are doing things.

For two days this past week, entrepreneurs and investors from across Atlantic Canada convened on downtown St. John’s to talk about the growth of the startup culture in our region. Over 300 attendees, including ecosystem support groups, government, and service providers joined the conference to discuss what exciting businesses are growing in Atlantic Canada, and how we as an ecosystem can support them. The Invest Atlantic Conference held its first ever event in Newfoundland, and organizers exclaimed that the show was a resounding success.

There has been a lot of talk about Houston since Hurricane Harvey hit. Interestingly enough, one of the main topics I have seen (and this might be largely because of who I follow on Twitter) has been how planning impacted the way the storm effected the city. Certainly Houston was in trouble either way, but has planning (or a lack there of?) resulted in Houston getting hit even harder?

As Urban East begins operating, it is exciting to think about the words of Jane Jacobs, considered by many to be the mother of modern-day urban planning.

“Designing a dream city is easy; rebuilding a living one takes imagination”