Author Archives: urbanrenaissanceinst

Planners from hell -Rules are rules — or are they?

Posted on September 21, 1996 by urbanrenaissanceinst

(September 21, 1996) Rules are rules – or are they? Municipal governments have given the world more than their fair share of procedures, bylaws and regulations. So you would think they’d be the first to play their own rules. Well, think again. Continue reading →

Posted in Regulation | Leave a comment

Book reviews

Posted on September 21, 1996 by urbanrenaissanceinst

(September 21, 1996) Traditional morality has been eroding since the 1920s. But even as the grasp of right and wrong has weakened in the social sciences and humanities, evolutionary biology is laying the foundations of a new body of natural law. Good Natured is a cornerstone in this edifice. Continue reading →

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To have or have not

Posted on June 21, 1996 by urbanrenaissanceinst

(June 21, 1996) Hilary, whom I see once or twice a year on her visits to her middle-class parents in Toronto, is very much like them, except that she is poor. Continue reading →

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Planners from hell – They drive horses, don’t they?

Posted on June 21, 1996 by urbanrenaissanceinst

(June 21, 1996) Carl Wagler was born on the same rich, rolling farmland near Stratford, Ontario, that his Amish father and grandfather had farmed before him. And he would have liked to live out his life there. Continue reading →

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Birth of a notion

Posted on June 21, 1996 by urbanrenaissanceinst

(June 21, 1996) The pregnant woman is wide-eyed with bewilderment. Her husband stands behind her, his hands gripping the back of her chair, his face blank with amazement. Across a desk, their doctor faces them and announces: “The good news is, you are having a healthy baby girl. The bad news i, she’s a congenital liar.” Continue reading →

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