This jam brings together Julien Thomas, CoV’s passionate Parks Board and Engineering staff and -you- to generate ideas for turning some of Vancouver’s streets into park land. In support of Vancouver’s greenest city goals, we will focus on how to increase access to nature and consider things like accessibility, history, food production, play, ethnobotany, spatial poetics and more. The way we’ll do this – is by using the Green Streets game which leads us through collaborative role play scenarios in order to design a shared vision for the future of specific communities.
Bring food & drink to share – this is a potluck affair! All are welcome – come armed with a playful spirit, an open mind, potluck food, and of course – ideas!
The Vancouver Design Nerds are a network of collaborating designers and artists who share a desire to engage design opportunities with a spirit of creative play and to challenge the normative environment of the city. The diversity of the group enriches the design process and propels discussion far beyond the prescribed parameters of a project, revealing opportunities and unanticipated, often surprising results.
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.
If you've dreamed of living in LEGO paradise since you were a child, Dwell has the home for you. In partnership with Pacific Standard Time, the magazine launched a challenge to architects and lego-tects alike to construct a model of an original home inspired by Californian mid-century modern architecture using only using LEGO bricks. The results are well worth checking out.
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
Members of the Yip Sang family in front of the Wing Sang Building 1901, photo courtesy of Henry Yip.
Since May is Asian Heritage Month I thought it was the perfect time to spend a day in Chinatown rather than dip in and out of the area as I tend to do.
Our Chinatown is gaining national and international recognition. Last October the Feds designated Chinatown a National Historical Site. In November, the National Geographic named the Dr. Sun yat-sen Gardens one of the top 10 city gardens in the world. It’s long overdue recognition for one of the largest and oldest Chinatowns in North America.
On the surface not a lot has changed in the last 20 years or so. There are the dim sum restaurants, herbal shops, tacky ornament shops and the in-your-face production of food—duck and pig carcasses, live bullfrogs in buckets on the sidewalk, tanks full of exotic fish and an array of fruit and vegetables still a long way from mainstream.
LOCAL
• North Shore Area Transit Plan – another chance to provide your feedback [The Buzzer Blog]
• Park board commissioner defends Cactus Club [Vancouver Courier]
• Downtown Vancouver is home to 176 people per hectare: CUI report [OpenFile]
• TransLink to eliminate TaxiSaver program, enhance HandyDart service with savings [Vancouver Sun]
• Why Vancouver will be uninhabitable [Price Tags]
• Hoping for the best in the Heights [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• World’s Subways Converging on Ideal Form [Wired]
• Olympic Orbit Tower: Art or Eyesore? [Architect Magazine]
• ArtPlace Looks Back at 2011 and Forward to 2012 [ArtPlace]
• Why The Bay Area Should Have 11 Million Residents Today [Forbes]
• Housing Recovery Tied to Walkability, But It May Depend On Where You Are [The Atlantic Cities]
• What can we do about urban food waste? [Observatory: Design Observer]
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
It's been in international headlines throughout the past few weeks over false reports that it will be changing its name, but this tiny Austrian hamlet has been "Fucking" (or close to it) since the Dark Ages.
Please join us on Saturday May 19th at the Roundhouse Community Centre from 1:00 PM - 4:30 PMto discuss what healthy water means to us all! Everyone is welcome to this free event. Snacks / Wheelchair accessible / ASL Sign Language Interpretation
Speakers:
Chief Bill Williams - Squamish Nation - Local Water Issues
Celia Brauer- False Creek Watershed Society - sewers, runoff, beach health, our special events, engaging the public
Bryn Davidson - St. George's Creek Blueway - daylighting a city street
Christianne Wilhelmson - Georgia Strait Alliance - sewage treatment in Vancouver
Dr. John Richardson - Professor Forest Science UBC - The Fraser River - North Arm and Estuary health
Ben West - Wilderness Committee - tankers in Burrard inlet
Dr. Jonn Matsen - Squamish Streamkeepers - the return of herring to Howe Sound
Andrea Reimer - City of Vancouver Councillor - Greenest City Initiative - Water Advisory Council discussion
There will be presentations, Q & A, breakout discussions, First Nations participation, environmental group tables etc.
The film will be "Rise of the Salmon People" by Jeremy Williams
Partners: City of Vancouver Greenest City, City of Vancouver - Sewers and Water, St. George's Blueway, Wilderness Committee, Georgia Strait Alliance, Roundhouse Community Centre, Village Vancouver, North Shore Wetland Partners, City Studio, Gibby's Field.
Table displays by: Hastings Park, Still Moon Society (Renfrew Ravine), Camosun Bog, BC Water and Waste Association, Salmon are Sacred, White Water/ Black Gold, St. George's Creek Blueway, Gibby's Field, Georgia Strait Alliance, North Shore Wetland Partners/Squamish Streamkeepers, Village Vancouver, Stop the Pave/ Burns Bog, False Creek Watershed Society, FCWS Community Mapping Project, VAPOR (Jet fuel at YVR), Wilderness Committee, Stream of Dreams and more
Walking the streets of Marpole. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas.
[Editor's Note: We are happy to present the first of a three InDepth Features covering a trio of special Jane's Walk neighbourhood tours around Marpole, Grandview-Woodland, and the West End. These were organized as a unique partnership between the City of Vancouver, Museum of Vancouver and Spacing Vancouver, in light of the ongoing Community Plan process currently happening in each important district. This will be followed by podcasts of the tour, if you missed the Walks, and a final dialogue event on June 19th. Stay tuned for more information.]
This year, the City of Vancouver will be starting community plans for three neighbourhoods: Marpole, the West End and Grandview-Woodlands. In addition to the usual open houses and community meetings, the City has been using its new Public Engagement Division (within its Communications Department) in innovative outreach.
On May 6th the City, Museum of Vancouver, and Spacing Vancouver partnered with local residents and designers to hold walking tours of the three neighbourhoods as part of Jane’s Walk. The Marpole walk was hosted by landscape architect and urban designer Margot Long, and local resident Jo-Anne Pringle. Lil Ronalds, the City planner working on the Marpole plan, and City Councillors Heather Deal and George Affleck also attended.
Some of the residential streets within Marpole have significant tree canopies. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas.
One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Marpole is economically and socially diverse. Primarily a residential neighbourhood, it is bounded by 59th Avenue, Ontario Street, the Fraser River and Granville Street. This massive area is intersected by several major arterials—including Oak Street, 70th Avenue, and Marine Drive—which contribute commercial and industrial land uses, but have also led to physical and social barriers within the neighbourhood. The legacy of streetcar routes and a branch rail line from Steveston to Vancouver are also evident in the existing land use and street patterns: the Metro Theatre being the last reminder of a thriving commercial hub generated by the interurban rail line.
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]
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!
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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