May 16th, 2012
LOCAL
• New wayfinding signage is going up around the region [The Buzzer Blog]
• The Name “Grandview” [Grandview Heritage Group]
• Vancouver city staff make multimillion-dollar decision without minutes [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver council limits developer incentives to rental-only construction [Globe and Mail]
• Hot tub benches and digital graffiti: VIVA Vancouver summer street projects announced [OpenFile]
• COUNTERPOINT | Allen Garr attacks the poor, loses all credibility [The Mainlander]
• Former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan bringing diverse speakers together [Vancouver Sun]
• The Big Download Whacks Cities [The Tyee]
• Burnaby's director of planning and building retires after 39 years [Burnaby Now]
• Advocates fear TransLink bus service will suffer [Surrey North Delta Leader]
CANADA
• Canada ready to open its doors to more immigrants, Kenney says [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Neglected, Rotting Trees Turn Deadly [The New York Times]
• City, Museum or Amusement Park? The Problem With Venice [Next American City]
• The Limits of Density [The Atlantic Cities]
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May 15th, 2012
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
From the makers of Walk Score and just in time for "Bike to Work Week" comes Bike Score - the online tool for assessing neighbourhood bikeability. The tool uses data including the locations of bicycle infrastructure, amenities and hills. And Canadian cities are featured too!
With files from the Calgary Herald and Forbes
Image from Bike Score
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca
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Authors: Stephanos Polyzoides, Roger Sherwood, and James Tice (2nd Edition, Princeton Architectural Press, 1992)
Houses constitute that vast majority of our built landscape. In the context of the city, individual homes are not as relevant as the larger environments they create in aggregate— that is, the spaces they form as a whole and the relationships they structure. In this respect, the buildings that house us have the important role of defining the character of a cities and neighbourhoods in which we live, over and above dictating how the city functions.
Over our six thousand year "civilized" history, humanity has tested countless house types. From the African BaMbuti Pygmy beehive hut to the freestanding single-family dwellings of North America, each house type was developed in response to the culture, technology and environment within which it lay.
As with any other experiment, certain house types have endured longer than others - crossing the boundaries of culture and time. The courtyard house is one of these special dwellings. Generally speaking, a courtyard house is one in which the enclosed spaces of a home are distributed around a central courtyard. Their first appearance goes back to the first urban centers in human history, including Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Over time, this house types has proven to be extremely robust—with thousands of years of use and adaptation to different conditions. Only recently, within the past couple of centuries, has the courtyard house fallen from popularity in favour of the freestanding home.
This neglect seems to be dissipating, however, as cities struggle to find house types that facilitate the creation of more compact, less energy-intensive developments that can adapt to different uses and households in an affordable and humane way. So, it is at times like this, that exemplary books of the past—such as Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles: A Typological Analysis—can be truly admired for their insight and relevance, decades after they were written.
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LOCAL
• Vancouver farmer's markets spring to life [Vancouver Courier]
• Global warming increasing by 400,000 atomic bombs every day [Vancouver Observer]
• Vancouver's "Bike Score" heat map shows the city is one of Canada's most bicycle-friendly [OpenFile]
• Living car free in Surrey [Civic Surrey]
INTERNATIONAL
• Atlantic on the move [The Los Angeles Times]
• Density Without High-Rises? [Citiwire.net]
• Just How Bad Is Noise Pollution for Our Health? [The Atlantic Cities]
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May 14th, 2012
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Did you ride your bike to school as a kid? According to this piece on NPR, back in 1969 nearly half of children got to school on foot or by bike. Today, that figure is closer to 13%. Reporter David Darlington talks about what has changed - from concerns about liability to sprawling neighbourhood design to a changing understanding of bikes as recreation rather than transportation.
Image from sfbike
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca
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Dubai Marina is one of the defining places of its own city, while also being remarkably similar to Vancouver's False Creek. (Image: Dmitry Moiseenko - AirPano.com)
On April 19th, developer-designer Stanley Kwok sat down with architecture critic Trevor Boddy as part of the Museum of Vancouver's presentation of the Maraya Project to discuss his perspective on the built landscape—more specifically his two most notable waterfront mega-projects: Vancouver's Concord Pacific in North False Creek and Dubai's Emaar Dubai Marina.
Part One of this InDepth Feature, explored the career and political wrangling used by Stanley Kwok to become one of the most influential players in shaping North East False Creek's Concord Pacific—Vancouver's most iconic development model. In this part, we will peer through to the other side of the looking glass at the United Arab Emirates and see, not only how the urban design of Vancouver was emulated in Dubai Marina, but how Vancouver planning and planners became an integral and lasting influence on the new Middle East.
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Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
We’re a group of West End renters interested in building a web site and undertaking related activities to provide information to BC renters.
In order to make sure the site meets a wide range of needs, we need input from apartment renters in Vancouver. So we’re holding a series of focus groups to present the ideas and get feedback on the proposed web site, its content and other potential services and activities.
Would you be interested in participating in one of these focus groups?
CONTACT US!
bcrentersgroup@gmail.com
604.696.9454
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LOCAL
• Langley Township 'not District 12' [Globe and Mail]
• Natural-gas plans could alter B.C.'s climate-change goals [Globe and Mail]
• Is the 'Living Wage' Enough? [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• In Beverly Hills, Preservation Gains a Toehold [The New York Times]
• Walk Score Launches Bike Score [The Atlantic Cities]
• Louis Curtiss, the Boley Building, and the Invention of the Glass Curtain Wall [Places: Design Observer]
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May 13th, 2012
Image courtesy of Erick Villagomez.
Sunday, May 13, 11 am - 3 pm - Grandview-Woodland Open House - Mother's Day Edition
We'll be having a fun, family-friendly Open House at the Waldorf Hotel. Drop by and join us for face-painting, button-making, asset mapping and more. We'll have an assortment of Waldorf 'bits and bites' to snack on (brunch specials also available), the awesome sounds of Joaquin Gonzalez Cardona, guitarist, and an opportunity to learn more about the community planning process and how to get involved.
Takes place at the Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings Street
Wednesday, May 16, 5 - 9 pm - Grandview-Woodland Open House - Weeknight Edition
More Open House fun, this time at Café Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive). Another great chance to share your ideas on the future of the neighbourhood.
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LOCAL
• COUNTERPOINT | Allen Garr attacks the poor, loses all credibility [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver's second oldest fire station reopens in Renfrew-Collingwood area [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• First Look at NBBJ’s New Amazon Complex in Seattle [The Architect's Newspaper Blog]
• Habitat for Humanity Tries Big-Scale Approach to Housing in Oregon [The New York Times]
• Do the density, but spare the hi-rises [Crosscut]
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