Recently, a number of developer–sponsored articles have surfaced on Vancitybuzz. Sponsored content is certainly not a new phenomenon, however its advent within this particular news source gives me pause to reflect.
Vancitybuzz is the largest digital publication in Western Canada, and has over two million monthly unique visitors (many of whom are young). VCB is uniquely postured to monopolize itself as the go-to news source for our next generation, and this leads me to speculate on how we will use the news to perceive our city in the future.
At the moment, no major publication in the city has managed to elevate itself to a point where one can expect consistent, critical reviews of architecture or homes in our city. The news often appears entirely controlled by the real-estate industry; one need only take a cursory glance at The Vancouver Sun’s Homes section to read between the lines. Is it not suspicious that Architecture is a subsection of Business on Vancitybuzz?
Where will people turn to in the future for the dissemination of critical discussion towards our urban arena?
I have read a lot excellent articles here.
It iis really worth remembering
for revisiting.
Interesting…you may mean vancitybuzz’s readership is Lower Mainland or GVRD based. In Calgary, I never hear the publication referenced nor discussed. Not surprising. I bet a huge hunk of Calgarians haven’t even heard ot the e-publication nor care at all. Most definitely those living in more rural areas of Alberta, wouldn’t give a hoot.
However very true about local developer sponsored content or at least the architectural world soft pedalling their perspectives. (Some good , while others are half-baked. Don’t talk about liveable streets if I can’t even see where bicyclists can be in the artistic renderings.) While many regular readers here may understand about densification, transit-oriented development and controlling sprawl, there’s another bigger world just sees it as social engineering which to them, includes whichever developers are designing in this way.