Back to regular schedule programming. Here is this week’s edition of news and views for urbanists.

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  Mid-rise living: A new best practice? Vancouver is eyeing a different form of development—one that achieves substantial density, but in buildings closer to the ground. (New Urban Network)

• The Enabling City: Towards a Culture of Everyday Democracy: While participation in formal politics seems to be in decline, support for democratic principles such as openness, transparency, and inclusion is on the rise almost everywhere. (CoLab Radio)

• Social Influence a Key Factor to Behavior Change in Transport: Our interactions with friends and family have a strong impact on our transportation decisions. (TheCityFix)

• Study: Building Roads to Cure Congestion Is an Exercise in Futility: Mounting evidence suggests that building new roads won’t do anything to reduce congestion. (StreetsBlog Capitol Hill)

• Canada’s cities: Poor relations: Canadian cities, faces some pressing problems and lacks the means to deal with them. (The Economist)