[URBAN NOTE] Ten city links: Laval, Calgary, Vancouver, Cleveland, Machu Picchu, London, Görlitz …

• The Québec city of Laval now has a cemetery where pets can be buried alongside their owners. CBC reports.
• Talk of Alberta separatism has already cost Calgary at least one high-profile non-oil investment, it seems. Global News reports.
• A new piece of public art in Vancouver, a spinning chandelier, has proven to be a lightning rod for controversy. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities looks at the continuing fight against lead contamination in Cleveland.
• Machu Picchu was built in a high remote corner of the Andes for good reasons, it is being argued. The National Post reports.
• Wired looks at how rivals to Uber are currently fighting for dominance in London, here.
• Guardian Cities shares a cartoon history of the birth of Nairobi, here.
• The east German city of Gorlitz offered interested people one month’s free residence. The Guardian reports.
• JSTOR Daily notes that Hong Kong was born as a city from refugee migrations.
• Is Tokyo, despite tis size and wealth, too detached from Asia to take over from Hong Kong as a regional financial centre? Bloomberg View is not encouraging.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Montréal links

• Renovating the Oratoire St. Joseph will surely be costly. CTV News reports.
• CBC Montreal looks back to when the Montreal Expos seemed like they might not be bought.
• Le Devoir notes how, in Québec, the Liberals are concentrated on the islands of Montreal and in Laval, in their fortress.
• An old Montreal metro car has been repurposed as a hangout for Polytechnique students. CBC reports
• CBC Montreal reports on the proposal of Matt McLauchlin to name a plaza at Frontenac metro station after murdered activist Joe Rose. I like the idea.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Canada humour, Guelph, Batawa, Laval, McAdam

• The Beaverton gets it right, I think, with this fictional sketch of a man from Smiths Falls who is seen as becoming a big-city type by moving to Brockville.
• That Guelph now has a space for the sacred fires of Indigenous peoples is surely a good thing. Global News reports.
• Urban Toronto reports on the unexpected modernist homes in the cottage country community of Batawa.
• La Presse reports that, to cope with winter snow, the city of Laval had to order salt from Morocco.
• This Global News article looks at how residents of the New Brunswick community of McAdam are trying to save it from decline.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Kitchener-Waterloo, Bowmanville, Kingston, Laval, Québec City

• Grand River Transit, in Kitchener-Waterloo, is running a contest giving a winner a chance to ride the first Ion train. Global News reports.
• Can the eastern GTA city of Bowmanville get included in Metrolinx’s plans for GO Transit expansion? Global News reports.
• Kingston, Ontario, is preparing for a new tourist season, capitalizing on its many museums and history sites. Global News reports.
• Le Devoir reports a new REM train station in Laval might be in a flood risk area.
• This year, Québec City is trying to balance the needs of tourists and residents in Vieux-Québec. CTV News reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Pittsburgh, Montréal, Brande, Cork

• Bloomberg notes that, while New York City is gaining jobs, it is losing residents because of its housing crisis.
• CityLab takes a look at patterns of crime and race and violence in greater Pittsburgh.
• La Presse notes that Montréal, picking up from neighbouring Laval, has started a process of public consultations to try to come up with a common image of the metropolis’ future.
• Guardian Cities notes that fashion giant Bestseller plans on building its skyscraper headquarters, 320 metres tall, in the rural Denmark town of Brande.
• This Irish Examiner article, part of a series, considers how the Republic of Ireland’s second city of Cork can best break free from the dominance of Dublin to develop its own potential.