David Wachsmuth
@davidwachsmuth.bsky.social
Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance, McGill University
I was thrilled to attend the launch of the BC Public Lands Map today—a huge step forward for accessible, open housing and community data. Congrats @ubchart.bsky.social!
BC Public Lands Map | Housing Assessment Resource Project (HART)
The BC Public Land Map (BCPLM) is a first-of-its-kind tool that maps public lands across British Columbia, helping governments and the housing sector identify sites suitable for affordable housing development.
hart.ubc.ca
Out today! Our report for CMHC reveals stark differences in tenant protections across Canada, asking who might be at higher risk of eviction? We assess the strength of rent controls & eviction protections for each province & territory. newhousingalternatives.ca/jurisdiction...
Jurisdictional Differences in Eviction Risk Across Canada - New Housing Alternatives
The report reveals stark differences in the strength of tenant protections across Canada, asking who might be at higher risk of eviction?
newhousingalternatives.ca
Canada has plenty of quality housing data, but it's scattered across sources, formats, and agencies, and making sense of it has often required a dedicated analyst. We built something to change that. The Canadian Housing Observatory (CHO) launches on May 20th at cho-ocl.ca.
On our @spacingradio.bsky.social housing series The Overhead, we talk about decommodifying housing. Housing is big money, and it’s leading to unaffordable rents and displacement. Is there an alternative? spacing.ca/national/202...
The Overhead: Decommodifying Housing - Spacing National
THIS EPISODE: Decommodifying Housing On previous episodes of this series, we’ve talked about the impact of an over-financialized housing market. It adds to the affordability crisis, and leads to evict...
spacing.ca
I wrote a comprehensive introduction to basic information theory, with added context from social scientists of the cybernetics movement (Gregory Bateson) & later (Katherine Hayles). It covers everything from bit encoding to comparative metrics like cross-entropy. mikaelbrunila.com/information-...
From Bits to Embeddings – A Critical Introduction to Information Theory
A comprehensive introduction to classical information theory as conceived by Claude Shannon and its connections to neural networks and large language models today.
mikaelbrunila.com
What an amazing and terrifying story from @nickhunebrown.bsky.social !
Nick Hune-Brown@nickhunebrown.bsky.social · 9mo agoA few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...
Really thought we might see a George Bell drop kick there!
"For housing-first to succeed, we need housing first"—key insight from our BSH panel at #CAEH2025 With fed budget next week and $13B committed to affordable #housing and homelessness, the sector is mobilized. Full reflections:
Reflections from CAEH 2025: A Sector United for the Right to Housing
This week, the Balanced Supply of Housing team attended the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) conference, and we left energized, inspired, and reminded of something crucial: we are part of…
buff.ly
If you are interested in data, large language models (LLMs), and historical/critical accounts of technology, go check out @mikaelbrunila.bsky.social's new article out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social!
Mikael Brunila@mikaelbrunila.bsky.social · 10mo agoChapter three from my thesis is finally out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social! I explore the parallels between the "bit" and the "embeddings" that are a foundational structure in Large Language Models, showing how the latter endow tech companies with what I call "cosine capital." bsky.app/profile/bigd...
Chapter three from my thesis is finally out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social! I explore the parallels between the "bit" and the "embeddings" that are a foundational structure in Large Language Models, showing how the latter endow tech companies with what I call "cosine capital." bsky.app/profile/bigd...
Big Data & Society@bigdatasoc.bsky.social · 10mo ago🚨 New in Big Data & Society 🚨 "Cosine capital: Large language models and the embedding of all things" by Mikael Brunila doi.org/10.1177/2053... Proposes “cosine capital” to describe how LLM embeddings commodify language and data, reshaping power, abstraction, and AI economies.
New article: Martine August and I's paper on financial landlords and rents in Toronto is out in @economyandspace.bsky.social! We show how financial landlords charge the highest rents, rent premiums, and rent increases out of all types of landlords. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
In my new role at Dal Legal Aid, I’ve been thinking a lot about evictions lately. And what I’ve been finding is that there is a dearth of data in Canada about the level and nature of evictions in Canada. This podcast episode is all about what we *do* know…(it’s not great) bsh.ubc.ca/episode-11-t...
Listen to the Overhead Episode 11: Tracking Evictions Across Canada
Evictions are a problem for renters across the country, but they're difficult to quantify and many go unreported. Hear from BSH researchers Alexandra Flynn and David Wachsmuth for more on the topic.
bsh.ubc.ca
So well deserved!!! Congrats, Craig!
Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART)@ubchart.bsky.social · last yr.Congratulations to our Associate Director, Craig E. Jones, for receiving the @opendatasociety.bsky.social's Leader of the Year Award for his exceptional contributions to open data in Canada. To learn more and explore HART's tools for yourself, visit hart.ubc.ca
Looks awesome, and proud to see 66.7% of panelists are McGill MUP grads!
Balanced Supply of Housing@bshnode.bsky.social · last yr.📣 Two weeks away! Join us for our next Research in Progress webinar on "Holding Ground: BIPOC-led CLTs and Resisting Gentrification" with researchers @e_ezvan, @janeobd, and Nat Pace from the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts (CNCLT). Register here 👉 buff.ly/IdmqWqJ
We have a new episode of The Overhead for you! How do evictions change from province to province? Are evictions caused by poverty, or do they cause poverty? All that and more: spacing.ca/national/202... @bshnode.bsky.social
The Overhead: Tracking Evictions Across Canada - Spacing National
THIS EPISODE: Tracking Evictions Across Canada Evictions are a problem for renters across the country. As we explored in the last episode: part of tackling the housing crisis requires improving “secur...
spacing.ca
What can we learn about eviction policy by comparing provinces and municipalities? Be the first to hear from experts Alexandra Flynn and @davidwachsmuth.bsky.social on the challenges of tracking evictions in our latest episode of the Overhead with @spacingradio.bsky.social. https://buff.ly/3D78t0W
This is such an excellent and perceptive essay on the politics of AI. Historicization and politicization in one package. Highly recommended!
Mikael Brunila@mikaelbrunila.bsky.social · 2y agoA convergence between AI & cryptography is necessary to break with AI as surveillance. The key metaphor is "tunneling": Cultivating many models & peer-to-peer training strategies, small models, encrypted models... How do we build this? How do we direct funds here? www.e-flux.com/journal/151/...
I'm so happy to see my dear friend @sethjprins.bsky.social;;s new book! When it comes to measuring cause and effect, Seth is one of the clearest, more rigorous thinkers out there. Don't sleep on this text!
Seth J. Prins@sethjprins.bsky.social · 2y agoIt’s here!
We put together a starter pack of some of our favourite commentators and policymakers on housing in Canada (those who have made the jump to bluesky!) Follow these folks for meaningful engagement on housing in Canada. go.bsky.app/LrYY3kV
Another revised All Things Urban and Housing @bsky.app Starters Pack 3.0!...at least from my perspective + bias Welcome @davidwachsmuth.bsky.social + @jdhulchanski.bsky.social !!! go.bsky.app/3hpC7aT
