Luciano Loi

OTTAWA, TORONTO, CALGARY: New homes, and new or renewed forms of homes, are a year-round attachment of Canadian home-and-garden journalism. Generating newspaper attention recently was the growing appreciation for the townhouse in Ottawa, top; the showhome of a highrise-development in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, above left; and a showhome for a tract-housing development in north Calgary. You can learn a lot about your town when you read the out-of-town newspapers. Consider this, from the Ottawa Citizen townhouse story: "To a large extent, their proliferation comes from the maturing of Ottawa as an urban centre and the municipality's professed commitment to housing intensification to combat urban sprawl." Every life-long Ottawa resident who thinks a townhouse an exemplar of intense residency owes himself or herself a trip to Vancouver or, perhaps, a moment's reflection on those television skyshots broadcast between Winter Games coverage.

The judges in an annual residential and renovation industry competition called the SAMs have named the Dockside Green Partnership of Victoria Canadian builder of the year, the Canadian Home Builders' Association says.

PETER SIMPSON -- peter

Vancouver -- 971 East 26th, above

Metropolitan Vancouver builders started the construction of 1,402 homes last month, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports. That total is 700 more than the February 2009 total, but more than 1,000 homes fewer than the February 2008 total.