Archives /// May, 2012
January 3rd, 2008
Vancouver Relief
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It seems fitting to inaugurate the new re:place website with an image of one of the most influential factors determining local city life and character – topography.
The above is a cartographic relief image of Vancouver. It depicts the topographic elevations/contours of the terrain and is shaded to emphasize its corresponding landforms (the steeper the slope, the darker the shading).
February 1st, 2008
Vancouver’s Block Structure
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Blocks are a part of a city that most of us take for granted. Yet they play a critical part in how we experience the city - the distances we walk, the views we see, how we orient ourselves.
There is a common misconception of this city that I hear frequently from those that live here: that Vancouver is simply a straightforward grid laid on top of the hilly terrain. Although there is some truth to this belief, the city’s structure is a lot more subtle that.
March 6th, 2008
Vancouver extruded density map
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Since publishing my first EcoDensity article (that was subsequently posted on The Tyee), this map seems to have reached all corners of the Vancouver. Given the latter, I’ve been asked a number of questions about it and, thus, I think that it requires some explanation and reflection.
The Specs
The map was created from Census 2006 data that quantified the gross population density of Vancouver by the block - one of the most interesting census maps that I had encountered. The information was given originally in number of people per hectare (by block), which I then converted to dwelling units per acre (du/ac) - using the 2006 Census average of 2.2 people per dwelling.
March 26th, 2008
Vancouver – relief & block map hybrid
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Upon publishing the relief map, a little while back, I was approached by many people who wanted to be able orient themselves relative to the topography depicted. The most popular (and logical) suggestion was to overlay and label streets on the map.
Given that I wanted be a little bit more subtle and really make people engage the structure of the city, I decided to post of the block figure-ground map of the City of Vancouver. This, I thought, would make people learn streets not through names but through their physical attributes and location - Kingsway slices diagonally across the eastside reorienting the grid along its path, Cambie lies almost dead centre with its large bend curving around Queen Elizabeth Park, and so on.
March 29th, 2008
Reduce bus waits using an ordinary cellphone
By John Calimente // No Comments
Photo courtesy of Richard Eriksson
So you’re out fairly late at night and you want to take the bus home. You see a bus stop but there’s no schedule on it and no one else standing there. Is it worth the wait? How do you know? If you have a cell phone, now you can find out instantly!
April 10th, 2008
Vancouver’s Laneway Structure
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The alleys and lanes of Vancouver are a hidden aspect of the city. Yet they play a significant role in how the city works, looks and feels. Eliminated entirely from North American neighbourhoods created during the suburban expansion of the early-mid century, alleys have once again become a celebrated topic of discussion.
Recent research on urban form has demonstrated how street patterns with lanes add to the interconnectivity of neighbourhoods - giving pedestrians many more options to reach their destination. Furthermore, the inclusion of alleys within a block facilitates the creation of “friendly” home facades with porches and stoops, instead of large featureless garage doors. This, it is argued, leads to the creation of safer neighbourhoods where people have more opportunities to interact.
April 15th, 2008
Rethinking our bus stops
By John Calimente // No Comments
Photograph courtesy of Aaron Hirschfeld
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One of the reasons why SkyTrain is so popular is that you can wait in relative comfort. But there are many more people waiting at bus stops all over the region with little protection from the elements.
April 22nd, 2008
Good design elements from Vancouver’s bus stops
By John Calimente // No Comments
Photo courtesy of Brandon Yan
This column highlights a few good design elements from bus stops in Vancouver to start the discussion on how to build a decent bus stop. It shouldn’t really be that difficult, but from my experience we still have a long way to go.
May 1st, 2008
Vancouver’s park structure
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Parks are an important part of any city. Given Vancouver’s predisposition for all things natural, parks play a significant role in the perception and use of the city.
Within Vancouver’s modest footprint there are 200 parks, each with its own distinct character. This diversity of parks range in size and provide special spaces for a variety of activities. They include large destination parks, small neighbourhood parkettes, beaches, patches of remnant woodlands and ravines, and specific display gardens.
May 26th, 2008
Vancouver’s deviant grids
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Many Vancouverites think of this fine metropolis as a “grid city” - with straight north-south/east-west streets that intersect primarily at right angles. Navigating the city tends to support this observation as the majority of the most travelled streets - Broadway, 12th, Cambie, Granville - tend to run in straight lines with a few deviations.
However, travel off the beaten path slightly and one finds a surprising number of special places that break the monotony of the typical block structure. These unique places are distributed across the city and have a variety of reasons for their existence. The above map depicts all such locations.
June 3rd, 2008
A perfect streetcar stop in Tokyo
By John Calimente // No Comments
In a visit to Tokyo last month, I encountered what has to be the most amenity-rich streetcar stop that I've ever seen.
June 24th, 2008
Bring back the #14 Hastings bus route!
By John Calimente // No Comments
New banners hanging from South Granville's streetposts show a bus route that no longer exists.
June 30th, 2008
A Guide to the Inconveniences of Public Transit
By John Calimente // No Comments
Photo courtesy of YosemiteDonn
Public transit is invariably less convenient than a private automobile. While its frequency, reliability, and usability can be improved, for those used to driving, travelling by bus or train will always have certain inconveniences associated with them.
July 10th, 2008
‘Exact change only’ should be a thing of the past
By John Calimente // No Comments
It's one of those things you come to accept when using cash to take transit in Vancouver. If you only have a toonie or a $5 or $10 bill, you have to find a place where you can buy gum so you can get some change. But there are places where you can hop on a bus and not worry about such things.
July 18th, 2008
The Granville Street Bridge needs to lose weight
By John Calimente // No Comments
Photo courtesy of Vancouver Public Library - VPL#13218, City of Vancouver Engineering Department
It often happens to the over-50 set. A bit of a mid-life crisis. Too wide around the middle. Some over-50s look just fine, but the Granville St. Bridge, which turned 54 this year, is not one of them. It was overweight to begin with, and the time has come to slim it down.
September 16th, 2008
Vancouver’s east-west streets
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As the primary paths of access and circulation, streets play an extremely important role in any city - ancient and new. With this in mind, the pattern created by streets - their distribution and aligned - is significant to both the experience and functioning of a city.
Looking at a popular map of Vancouver, one is often struck by the overwhelming regularity of the street network. Looking at the grid of streets, at the scale and accuracy of these maps one assumes that these are all neatly aligned so that one can simply follow a linear path along almost every street.
This is an outright illusion.
October 28th, 2008
Promoting better manners on transit, Tokyo-style
By John Calimente // No Comments
Graphics courtesy of Tokyo Metro
Part and parcel of riding transit is dealing with the habits of other riders. However, the definition of bad manners varies from person to person. Even in ever-polite Japan, people don't automatically know what constitutes bad manners. That's why on my recent trip to Japan I was pleased to see a particularly well-done campaign by the Tokyo Metro to promote better manners on the subway.
November 3rd, 2008
Vancouver’s north-south streets
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As a follow-up to the last map depicting Vancouver’s east-west running streets, here is a drawing of all the north-south roads in the city.
Very similar to the last, one can plainly see how fragmented the street system is. In fact, it is even more discontinuous with only five streets going the full length of Vancouver - Granville, Oak (although it ends at the north at 2nd), Cambie, Knight/Clark and Boundary. Consequently, these street take the vast majority traffic that enters in and out of the city.
November 18th, 2008
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 1)
By John Calimente // No Comments
It has been more than 53 years since Vancouver’s last streetcar ran through the city. But with interest in rail growing around the region, could we be on the brink of a rebirth? If so, we have the Downtown Historic Railway to thank for getting the wheels rolling.
November 25th, 2008
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 2)
By John Calimente // No Comments
In order to turn his idea of converting the old CPR tracks running parallel to 6th Avenue St into a historic streetcar line, Dale Laird first needed some historic streetcars. And Laird knew of a couple of interurban cars that had recently returned to Vancouver after a long journey.
December 2nd, 2008
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 3)
By John Calimente // No Comments
Now that he had the support of the City of Vancouver, Dale Laird’s dream of a historic railway along False Creek was nearing reality. But time was of the essence, as the CPR was trying to rezone the land for development.
December 9th, 2008
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 4)
By John Calimente // No Comments
In an incredible coincidence, the two interurban cars coupled together for the last revenue ride run in Vancouver back in 1958 are the same ones now used by the Downtown Historic Railway (DHR).
December 16th, 2008
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 5)
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2685" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Dale Laird puts up the closing notices for the 2008 DHR season"][/caption]
The Downtown Historic Railway has been an incredible success over the past ten years. Riders love riding in the historic interurban cars. And so do all the volunteers who run the DHR.
January 13th, 2009
Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance (Part 6)
By John Calimente // No Comments
Dale Laird’s dream of a historic railway in Vancouver became a reality through the contributions of four different groups: Seattle residents Byron Cole and Dick Thrash, who owned Car #1207 and wanted it to be used by the public; BC Transit, who acquired the restored interurban car but weren’t using it; the City of Vancouver, who wanted a streetcar demonstration project; and the Transit Museum Society (TRAMS), who had the members with the expertise to operate it.
January 14th, 2009
A Song for Jorn
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2916" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="From Sydney Opera House, by Philip Drew, Phaidon Press Ltd, 1995."][/caption]
By Sean Ruthen
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet Prince…”
Perhaps it is presumptuous to say, but there is an inherent stubbornness in the enterprise of architecture. One need only think of Gary Cooper as Howard Roark in the big screen adaptation of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, standing atop his hard fought modern skyscraper as the credits roll.
January 27th, 2009
Conclusion – Downtown Historic Railway kickstarts the Vancouver rail renaissance
By John Calimente // No Comments
As an epilogue to the Downtown Historic Railway story, TransitFan asked Dale Laird, Vice-President of the Transit Museum Society (TRAMS), about potential extensions to the heritage streetcar system.
January 28th, 2009
How we get to work – transit, biking and walking in Metro Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
What better way to start off 2009 than with another map. Given how the unexpected snowy weather seemed to paralyze this fine city of ours over the holidays, I thought is would be more than fitting to see how we all get to work.
The map here - based on data from the most recent census data, Translink and Metro Vancouver information - depicts the percentage of trips made to work throughout Metro Vancouver via transit, walking and biking (combined). This is shown in tandem with the major transit lines - Skytrain, Westcoast Express, Seabus, and B-Line buses - as well as labels naming areas with high use. This is one of those deceivingly simple but extremely informative maps that speak to all types of issues - from socio-economics to sustainability. The more you study it, the more informative it becomes.
Work begins on the Urbanists Guide to Vancouver
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
The suggestions, ideas and insights are in. Now the re:place team is getting to work to compile the Urbanists Guide to Vancouver.
By the re:place team
February 20th, 2009
First steps in becoming an expert transit rider
By John Calimente // No Comments
True expertise in riding a transit system takes time, patience, and lots of careful observation. It is not achieved overnight.
March 24th, 2009
Recess
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
by Sean Ruthen
Mark Twain once said that you should never let your schooling come between you and your education. Given our present age of economic uncertainty, one could add that you should never let your employment come between you and your livelihood. Already there has been much talk of a coming creative renaissance, a regeneration of the imagination, with the promise of such fantastic and revolutionary visions as those of Etienne Boullee and Sant’Elia, to name but two whose genius was born of an idle economy.
April 15th, 2009
Vancouver’s solar neighbourhoods
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Although there is a lot of international praise for Vancouver urban design excellence, it is often focused on the events within the past three decades - starting with the development of the downtown core. Sure there is a lot to applaud, but our success is greatly the result of the fortuitous decisions made by early settlers and surveyors of the Lower Mainland. Sadly, these people are rarely recognized for their achievement that ultimately made Vancouver the exemplar of urbanism we know today. A slight variation of a few feet per lot or the decision to shorten our standard block would have lead to a very different city.
Although many of the long-term implications of the early patterning decisions were unknown and resulted serendipitously, several were made with conscious intelligence based on generally understood urbanism best practices. These often lie dormant and taken for granted until the history unfolds and we rediscover - and re-interpret - these tidbits of wisdom. In the words of well-known folklorist Henry Glassie “History is a story about the past, told, in the present and designed to be useful in constructing the future.”
April 29th, 2009
The future of urban planning is open source
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
By Erick Villagomez, re:place magazine
Cities, by their very nature, are always in a state of change. Responding to the myriad of internal and external forces placed upon them, they ebb and flow continually. At certain times throughout history, the profound changes have shaken the foundation of cities and the human made systems that create them - many of which decline as a result.
May 6th, 2009
Remembering Jane
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
By Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
Photos by Barbara Stewart
The first weekend of May this year offered Vancouver a number of activities to indulge in – a marathon, a political debate, a playoff game. For some however, it was a weekend to remember a civic hero who, for the third year in a row, has continued to inspire thousands to put on their walking shoes and go for a stroll through their city’s streets. A little over a year after Jane Jacobs' passing in 2006, residents of both Toronto and New York improvised walking tours through their local communities to honour their lost Virgil, i.e. guide of the divine comedy that is our modern city.
May 20th, 2009
Office Space
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
By Erick Villagomez, re:place magazine
Places of work are as important to the proper functioning of cities as places of dwelling, playing, and gathering. As such, how they are treated and located is of the utmost importance to municipalities around the globe.
June 3rd, 2009
Kingsway: Building footprint figure-ground
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Kingsway is one of the most significant streets in Metro Vancouver. With its rich history that pre-dates European arrival and its unique diagonal urban structure spanning three municipalities, its importance has not diminished over time. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Last year, I humbly accepted the request to teach the final studio for the Environmental Design program - ENDS 402 - at the University of British Columbia. The course is called Settlement[s] and is intended to introduce students to designing for the complexity of human habitats and connecting systems of different scales - from natural systems to parcels and buildings.
June 18th, 2009
This summer belongs to the bike
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4529" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Montreal-owned Bixi sets up a bike-sharing demonstration at Science World over the weekend."][/caption]
Article and photos by Leszek Apouchtine, re:place magazine
With city council recently approving a slew of bike-friendly initiatives, it would appear that cycling in Vancouver is about to get a whole lot easier. There is reason for optimism among the city's bicycle enthusaists that cycling is becoming a viable option for more Metro Vancouverites.
July 1st, 2009
Goodbye Arthur Erickson
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4680" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Faculty Club Garden, UBC"][/caption]
Text and photos by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
As a musician studying architecture at UBC over a decade ago, I was not overly surprised at that time to discover that singer-songwriter Paul Simon was also a musician with an architectural background. Simon was 18 years old when Frank Lloyd Wright passed away in 1959, an event which compelled him to write the song ‘Goodbye Frank Lloyd Wright’ with his musical partner Art Garfunkle. And so similarly, with the new president of the Architectural Institute of BC, Pierre Gallant, having written a poignant summation of Mr. Erickson’s career on his passing, as well as numerous other pieces in the national papers, including a piece by City of Vancouver’s head of planning Brent Toderian and an editorial in the latest Vancouver Magazine, I too would like to write a song on the passing of one of the profession’s great master builders.
July 8th, 2009
The Miss Guides
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4833" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Modern art or public nuisance?"][/caption]
Text and photos by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
“…the creative possibilities inherent in repetition, and particular environments and moments in time.” - from Dorian’s bio
Three innovative artists have arrived on the Vancouver scene, offering up a ‘happening’ in the full John Cage sense, and they are called the Miss Guides. Part walking tour and part performance art, guides Anna Swede, Dorian, and Kid Skid offer four profound vignettes of Vancouver’s current scenography in a one hour long walk (book here), proffering themselves up to the spectacle that pre-Olympic preparation has brought to our city.
July 23rd, 2009
Burrard Bridge lane reallocation first salvo in a long battle
By John Calimente // No Comments
TransitFan has been pondering the question of why the Burrard Bridge lane-reallocation trial has been drawing so much heated debate over the last few weeks. Motorists in particular have been venting a great deal of anger and frustration in the press. As someone who doesn’t drive, I found it difficult to understand why the loss of a single lane on the Burrard Bridge has meant so much, especially when the underutilized eight-lane Granville St. Bridge is only two short blocks away. Is it such big an inconvenience to spend an extra few minutes in one’s car each day? Or are there larger issues at play here?
Green Infrastructure: Paying for Utopia
By sandboxdev // No Comments
By Adam Cooper, Planning Pool
Photo courtesy of splifr
The term ‘green infrastructure’ typically conjures up ideas of LEED-buildings, green roofs, grey-water recycling and emerging clean energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. This type of ‘green infrastructure’ investment is sometimes heralded as an economic save-all, a way to meet the goals of the planning profession while investing in the world of tomorrow.
August 11th, 2009
Seattle’s Central Link light rail system finally arrives
By John Calimente // No Comments
While awaiting the imminent public opening of the Canada Line next Monday, TransitFan decided to check out the history behind a major new addition to Seattle's transit system: the Central Link light rail system.
August 20th, 2009
Pedestrians need their share of the road
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5331" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="The needs of pedestrians need to be considered along with cyclists."][/caption]
By Jayalath (Jay) Ameresekere
Photos by Leszek Apouchtine
Planners and Engineers have, in the past, tended to be more concerned with the ease and comfort of the motorist to the detriment of other road users. This trend seems to have changed over the years and today we find greater attention being paid to non- motorized transport, mainly the bicycle. Bicycle lanes have become almost an integral part of road planning and it is easy to understand how this came into being. Cycling as a mode of transport is backed by environmentalists as it does not ‘pollute’ in the way a motorcar does, by physicians as it is a very beneficial physical exercise and by cycling enthusiasts. It has even been transformed into an international competitive sport. In the city of Vancouver, I have observed numerous signs displaying figures of a motor car and a bicycle with the caption “Share the road”. While this kind of sharing is to be commended, I was intrigued by the omission of the pedestrian from this sign; after all, the pedestrian is the first user of the road, having been a road user even before the wheel was invented.
August 26th, 2009
Where are the kids? – Children under three years old
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
We’ll take a break from the Kingsway theme in Cartographically Speaking and start introducing these on a more casual basis. Let’s jump to a different theme altogether - children.
We all know that children play an important role in our cities. Given that I’ve discussed it at length in some of my past articles regarding housing affordability, diversity and families, I won’t bother repeating it here.
Needless to say that seeing the spatial distribution of children across a city is particularly interesting because it can - and does - speak to a number of key issues relevant to the health of a city. Income, ethnicity, density, affordability, house types….are just a few.
September 9th, 2009
Where are the kids? – Children three to five years old
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The last map we looked at a couple of weeks ago, discussed the pattern of distribution of children under three years old. In keeping with the data provided by Chad Skelton in his series, today we are going to look at the next group of children - preschoolers ranging from three to five years of age.
It would be helpful to quickly re-explain the main elements of the graphic. Each map depicts City of Vancouver’s 22 city-designated ...
September 16th, 2009
Performing Infrastructure
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5542" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Edmonton's Gallagher Park at the 2009 Folk Music Festival"][/caption]
With growing national interest in funding infrastructure projects to kick start our lumbering economy, Sean Ruthen considers another type of infrastructure requiring funding - Performance Infrastructure.
By Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
September 24th, 2009
Canada Line brings the city closer together
By John Calimente // No Comments
Well it's been a little over a month since downtown Vancouver was reconnected with Richmond by a rail line. For the first time in 50 years, since the demise of the Vancouver-to-Steveston 'Sockeye Special', one can board a train downtown and within 25 minutes be in the centre of Richmond. TransitFan is so happy that he's a bit overwhelmed.
Where are the kids? – Children six to twelve years old
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Continuing our series looking at the spatial distribution of children across Vancouver, we’re now going to turn our attention to the next group of kids - elementary school children ranging from six to twelve years of age.
In order to delve more quickly into the content of the graphic and avoid ongoing repetition about how the graphics were structured and represented, I’ll refer any new readers to either of my first two posts of the series for an indepth explanation - here and/or here.
October 8th, 2009
Where are the kids? – Teenagers thirteen to eighteen years old
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Finally, we turn our gaze to spatial distribution of the last group in our cartographic series of children in Vancouver: teenagers from thirteen to eighteen years of age.
Like last time, those newcomers interested in a more in-depth explanation how the graphics were structured and represented, should refer to one of my first two posts of the series - here and/or here.
To the map….at first glance we see an overall pattern similar to that in the last age category: with the distribution of above average neighbourhoods being relatively equal on the east- and westside, and the communities immediately around False Creek at the bottom of the pack.
October 15th, 2009
Delirious Vancouver
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5987" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Some of Vancouver's 27 view cones"][/caption]
As a kickoff to the upcoming public hearing regarding Vancouver's view cone policies, Sean Ruthen describes the debate that took place on October 5th between Larry Beasley and Richard Henriquez.
By Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
October 22nd, 2009
Where are the kids? – Epilogue
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
At last, we’ve reached the end of our child-tracking journey. As I mentioned in the last piece, I want to end off by looking at the all of the children spatial distribution maps together in order to see any larger patterns. But before we launch into the graphic, I’d like to touch upon one of the aspects that I’ve repeated a few times throughout the series and that serves as the foundation of the map we see here: more specifically, in going through the age categories from youngest to oldest, we simultaneously went through the spatial distribution of children back in time from most recently born.
October 28th, 2009
TownShift: A Surrey Odyssey
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6229" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Surrey Museum by the Iredale Group"][/caption]
Can we build livability, walkability, sustainability, and residential density around the shopping mall, along the retail strip, beside the rec centre, down the street from bungalows? The City of Surrey presents an ideas competition, as previewed by re:place.
Text and photos by Sean Ruthen
November 4th, 2009
No campfires, just lots of great ideas at TransportCamp
By John Calimente // No Comments
TheTransitFan takes us through the goings-on at the TransportCamp: A Sustainable Transportation Unconference that took place last Friday, October 30th, 2009 at BCIT.
By TheTransitFan, re:place magazine
November 12th, 2009
Planning the way to a better world
By Vanessa Kay // No Comments
Planning Pool shares the highlights of the Canadian Institute of Planners Conference. Although the conference was in Ontario, BC was the topic of much conversation.
By Daniella Fergusson and Vanessa Kay, Planning Pool
November 18th, 2009
Juhani Pallasmaa: Architect of the Senses
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
With the recent visit of Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa to the UBC School of Architecture (SALA), many in Vancouver's architectural community had the pleasure of joining the seventy-three old award winning architect for an evening's presentation of his work at the Vancouver Playhouse.
By Sean Ruthen
December 8th, 2009
Modern streetcars debut in Vancouver
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6732" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="The unloading of the new Bombardier Flexity streetcar arriving from Brussels. Photo by TheTransitFan"][/caption]
It's been a long wait. Sixty-five years in fact, since Vancouver last experienced the thrill of seeing brand-new streetcars travel our streets. The wait ended today, and I wouldn't have missed it.
By TheTransitFan, re:place magazine
December 10th, 2009
Are gas stations becoming an endangered species?
By John Calimente // No Comments
This piece investigates the phenomenon of closing and abandoned gas stations over the past decade, and asks whether this is part of a larger trend.
By John Calimente, re:place magazine
January 13th, 2010
The Gallery in the City
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7008" align="alignleft" width="269" caption="AGO stair overlooking Grange Park"][/caption]
With the recent reopening of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, along with a newly renovated Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, re:place contributor Sean Ruthen ponders the role of the art gallery in the city, as well as the future of our own Vancouver Art Gallery here in the Lower Mainland.
Photos and text by Sean Ruthen
January 20th, 2010
Building Evolution
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7213" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo courtesy of City of Vancouver (media centre)"][/caption]
How do current practices of planning and regulation affect the evolution of buildings and cities? Erick Villagomez looks at the nature of urban evolution over history and offers the development of Olympic Village as an interesting point of reflection about the pros and cons of contemporary methods of directing the city form.
By Erick Villagomez, re:place magazine
February 11th, 2010
The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver Part 1: Food and Drink
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Although re:place may not be the first site one would turn to when looking for a dining guide, there is no doubt that going out to restaurants or other spots to grab a drink or a quick bite are an important aspect of city life. Therefore, for the first installment of The Urbanist's Guide to Vancouver, we present a list of some of the most interesting, unique and delicious spots to beat your hunger in Vancouver as chosen by you, our readers.
By the re:place team and re:place readers
March 10th, 2010
Operating the Olympic Streetcar Line
By John Calimente // No Comments
Vancouver's Olympic Line streetcar drivers may have had years of experience driving heritage streetcars and city buses, but a modern streetcar is a different piece of equipment. TransitFan talks with Bombardier's Russ Hoas, chief instructor of the Olympic Line, about getting the drivers trained and ready.
By John Calimente re:place Magazine
March 20th, 2010
The Miss Guides Part II
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Since last summer, Vancouver has been home to three performance artists who call themselves The Miss Guides - Natalie, Katherine, and Sean, also known as Dorian, anna swede, and Kidskid – have been using the downtown streets of Vancouver as their canvas, with the city's storeys and their stories as their inspiration. Not to be confused with other walking tours, architectural or otherwise, regularly put on by the likes of the Gastown Business Improvement Society and Architecture Institute of B.C., a walk with The Miss Guides is a strolling theatre, an insightful performance of wit and revelation, with surprises for both the tourist and local alike.
Review by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
March 31st, 2010
Vancouver Becomes a Transit City for 17 Days
By John Calimente // No Comments
It was a cool experiment, and perhaps North America's largest traffic trial ever. Take one auto-oriented-but-making-progress city and for 17 days remold it into a transit city. Happily, it worked beyond anyone's expectations. Now it's time to take what we've learned to improve Vancouver's transportation system.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
April 7th, 2010
Vancouver’s 1975 downtown transit plan
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8176" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Transit service map circa 1975."][/caption]
In 1975, the Bureau of Transit Services prepared a transit service plan for downtown Vancouver. Now that 35 years have passed, it's time to look at what actually got built.
By John Calimente, re:place magazine
April 26th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1966
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Centennial Fountain at Hornby and Georgia. Photographed here in 1969, it was built in 1966. Item # CVA 780-62.
In 1966, Grouse Mountain’s first skyride started, two important city attractions opened and it was a popular year for fountains.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
May 3rd, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1967
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Pender and Carrall Sts in the 1960s. A transportation plan in 1967 proposed great changes in this neighbourhood. Photo by Walter E. Frost. Item # CVA 447-346.
1967 was Canada’s centennial, which saw several well-known performers descend on the city. It was also a pivotal year in the fight to save Strathcona from a freeway.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
May 6th, 2010
Is this Canada’s Most Affordable Green Home?
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8445" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Zigloo Domestique is a custom home in Victoria, B.C. Architect Keith Dewey reused eight 20-foot-long shipping containers to create its frame."][/caption]
How Victoria designer Keith Dewey transformed eight used shipping containers into an airy residence. Second of three parts.
By Monte Paulsen, The Tyee
Photos courtesy of Keith Dewey
May 10th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1968
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The 900 block of Granville Street in 1968. Item # CVA 780-52.
In 1968, a B.C. skier struck gold at the Olympics, a few local landmarks were opened and a new force in civic politics was born.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
May 12th, 2010
Homeless Housing For Less
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8483" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Container housing manufacturer MC Quarters offered to build this 43-suite supportive housing complex on a city-owned site at the corner of Princess Avenue and Powell Street."][/caption]
Proposals to build free or low-cost homeless housing said to be 'stalled' by the province. Last of three parts.
By Monte Paulsen, The Tyee
May 17th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1969
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. Item # CVA 780-287.
It was a busy time for film production in Vancouver, a local writer had a best-selling novel and the Bloedel Conservatory opened in this year that man first walked on the moon.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
May 24th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1970
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Burrard and Georgia in May, 1970. Item # CVA 447-363. Photo by Walter E. Frost.
In 1970, Greenpeace was born and the brand-new Vancouver Canucks hit the ice. The city also lost a very important individual who was essential for recording the history of Vancouver.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
May 26th, 2010
Water Footprint: Metro Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Water plays a central role in human culture. From its use in religious rituals to the creation of modern products the importance of water is unquestionable. Only a small fraction of the Earth’s surface water, however, is available for human consumption. Until relatively recently, there was enough water between this surface water, ground water (i.e. aquifers) and hydrological cycle to provide humanity with all it required to live daily life.
The ...
May 27th, 2010
Transit flies high post-Olympics
By John Calimente // No Comments
Well I spoke too soon! At the end of my last column I said "...life has returned to 'normal' in the region..." after the Winter Olympics. Well the 'normal' in Vancouver may have shifted ever so slightly. Transit use was up 19.3% in March! Now how does Vancouver hold onto those riders?
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
May 31st, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1971
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Pender Street in Chinatown in 1972, which was now part of a designated historic area. Item # CVA 780-447. Photo courtesy of Vancouver Archives.
In 1971, Greenpeace was making waves, there was a riot in Gastown and the CBC started filming a very popular series on the Sunshine Coast.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
June 7th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1972
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
City of Vancouver Archives, opened in 1972. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
In 1972, the NPA’s reign was over, the City Archives were officially opened, Gastown got a facelift and workers were guaranteed a minimum wage of $2 an hour.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
June 15th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1973
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Granville Island, photographed here in 1917, would see major transformations begin in 1973. See details below. Item # Wat P93.
This year saw the start of the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association, the Agricultural Land Reserve and ICBC. It was also the year that would change Rick Hansen’s life.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
June 17th, 2010
Personalizing Space
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
City spaces are at once permanent and ephemeral. This photo essay looks at the how our spaces are used in unexpected ways.
Images and Statement by Lisa Parker
June 21st, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1974
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Credit Foncier Building, photographed in 1974, was designated this year as a Heritage Building. Item # CVA 778-212.
In 1974, the Whitecaps hit the field for the first time, important structures were protected as Heritage Buildings and Vancouver finally had its first neighbourhood pub.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
June 23rd, 2010
Vancouver Police Museum a bloody good time
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9056" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo by Liam Lahey"][/caption]
An arresting affair indeed. Housed in Vancouver's original city morgue, the city's Police Museum is as much about modern forensics as it is about the history of policing in B.C.
By Liam Lahey, re:place Magazine
June 28th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1975
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A painter at VanDusen Gardens in July, 1975. Item # CVA 1502-425.
It was in 1975 that it became easier to get to the airport, VanDusen opened and there was a dramatic standoff at the BC Penitentiary.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
June 30th, 2010
Notes from Barcelona
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8894" align="alignleft" width="298" caption="'La Pez' by Frank Gehry in Barceloneta"][/caption]
Having recently returned from Barcelona, Sean Ruthen of re:place magazine presents a monograph of architecture from that city, and ponders how we in the West could learn a lesson or two from Barcelona’s transformation as rough-and-tumble industrial port town to the host of the 1992 Summer Olympic games.
Text and photographs by Sean Ruthen, re:place Magazine
July 4th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1976
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The 1000 block of Robson Street in February, 1976. Item # CVA 780-406.
In 1976, ICBC rates skyrocketed, the Museum of Anthropology got a new home and an earthquake rocked the area.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
July 8th, 2010
Making Space for a Kiosk/Cart Culture from Portland to Accra
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9198" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Portland food carts."][/caption]
Kiosks are an opportunity to increase richness in our urban fabric, promote experimentation and deliver goods/services in walkable locations while providing economic development. Urban designers and planners should consider them in their plans, and look for ways to encourage innovation in kiosk design and placement.
Photos and article by Stacy Passmore, re:place Magazine
July 12th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1977
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A view of downtown Vancouver from Cambie Bridge in June 1977. Photo courtesy of Vancouver Archives. Item # CVA 780-1.
It was 1977 that the SeaBus started sailing, Terry Fox’s life was changed forever and two important cultural centres opened.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
July 14th, 2010
Freeways, funding, and a flawed 1962 rail plan for Vancouver
By John Calimente // No Comments
This week we look at another transit plan for Vancouver in the context of the freeway debates of the 1960s. Created by the British Columbia Research Council for the Department of Highways, Rail-Rapid Transit for Metropolitan Vancouver examined the feasibility of including a rail-rapid transit system as part of its plan for a freeway and bus rapid transit system.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
July 19th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1978
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The 100-block of East Pender Street in April 1978. Item # CVA 780-470.
This year laid the groundwork for the biggest event in Vancouver at the time. A famous restaurateur also passed away and the Whitecaps had a record-breaking season in 1978.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
July 27th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1979
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
View of Burrard Street from Pender Street in May, 1979. Item # CVA 780-45.
In 1979, a former premier and a local hockey star passed away. It was also the year that the Granville Island Public Market opened and possibly the start of Hollywood North.
By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
August 5th, 2010
Homeless Voyeurism
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Perhaps the fascination is the difference from our normal day-to-day lives. We’re repulsed, but we feel sorry for them. We don’t want them around, but feel we should help. Somehow. Some of them are very resourceful in their use of materials. Some are plain crazy, or have priorities very, very different from ours.
Images and Statement by waferboard
August 12th, 2010
Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland: A comparison of real estate and economic strength
By John Calimente // No Comments
Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are three cities linked geographically, climatically, and culturally. It often seems that we have more in common with each other than with cities on the rest of the continent. But how do we really compare? The Urban Land Institute's recent Young Leaders Group Conference in Vancouver was a good chance to find out.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
August 18th, 2010
Policy, Density and Population Distribution
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
To most users of the urban landscape, cities are cacophonous and chaotic entities that somehow manage to hold their daily lives together in a relatively ordered way. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Cities are highly ordered and regulated organisms founded on several clearly conceived intentions - some bad, some good, most somewhere in between. It’s the convergence of these many intentions - manifested physically - that give cities their messiness and excitement.
Since the rise of the first urban centre, people have sought to control these complex creatures through various means, with mixed results. Our current method - through legal regulations, bylaws and policies - represents humanity’s most sophisticated attempt to-date. To the point that nothing about the modern city can truly be said to be chaotic in any typical sense of the word.
August 26th, 2010
The Canada Line – One year, 36 Million Boardings
By John Calimente // No Comments
Has it been only a year since the Canada Line opened? Indeed, it was just last August that this major infrastructure project was completed, connecting downtown Vancouver with City Hall, Cambie Street, Richmond, and the Airport. It's time to take a look back at the first year of operation.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
September 2nd, 2010
Mountain and Ocean Tax: The Vancouver Standard from a Winnipeg Perspective
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9697" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photograph by Lisa Ewasko"]
[/caption]
A look at Vancouver through the eyes of a fellow Winnipeg resident.
By Lisa Ewasko, re:place Magazine
September 8th, 2010
Pakistan Floods in British Columbia
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
We are constantly bombarded by all forms of media and information. Within this cacophonous blitz, we are - somewhat unfairly - asked to filter out that which is meaningful to us and continue going about our daily lives.
Given the nature of the stories it covers and the fact that it’s one of the main sources of information for the public at large, the News should be particularly sensitive to ensure that they make an impact on their local communities. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case. Relying dominantly on photographs, spoken words, and the occasional map of a location affected by a particular event, the news - online, printed, and on television - doesn’t take any additional measures to make things more locally relevant.
September 16th, 2010
Does Vancouver still need one way streets?
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9780" align="alignleft" width="289" caption="Photo by skonen_blades"][/caption]
Like many cities in North America in the latter half of the 20th century, Vancouver converted a number of its streets to one way streets to allow commuters to escape the downtown core faster. But with a downtown core that has added over 25,000 people over the last 10 years, faster moving cars is not something we should be encouraging. It's time to convert those one way streets back.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
September 23rd, 2010
High time Canada reviewed oil transport laws
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9844" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons"][/caption]
As dirty crude from the Alberta oilsands is pipelined to Vancouver's shores and oil tanker traffic is on the rise in the Burrard Inlet, what's preventing another Exxon Valdez from unfolding?
By Liam Lahey, re:place Magazine
September 27th, 2010
A Call for Help from Chuck Davis
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Chuck Davis recently spoke at a forum Sam Sullivan had launched on civic betterment at The Playhouse. Davis was the last of eight speakers to present and spoke publicly about his physical health and illness. This is what he said:
By re:place Editors (with permission from Chuck Davis)
[Editor's note: It is with great sadness that we here at re:place post Chuck Davis' speech given last week at The Playhouse. As our readers know, Chuck has been one of our strongest supporters from the moment we started our initiative, and is the contributor for our well-known and loved A Year in 5 Minutes column. We've known about his physical condition for months but were as surprised as everybody else in receiving the most recent diagnosis.
September 30th, 2010
Trolley buses return to Granville Street
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9871" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Trolley on Granville. Photo by John Calimente. (Click to enlarge)"][/caption]
After years of construction, hordes of Olympic visitors, and a number of chainsawed trees, Vancouver's beloved trolley buses returned to Granville Street on September 7th. It was a beautiful sight.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
Trolley buses return to Granville Street
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9871" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Trolley on Granville. Photo by John Calimente. (Click to enlarge)"][/caption]
After years of construction, hordes of Olympic visitors, and a number of chainsawed trees, Vancouver's beloved trolley buses returned to Granville Street on September 7th. It was a beautiful sight.
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
October 7th, 2010
Architecture Canada in Metro Vancouver
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9938" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Bing Thom presenting the design of the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. to attendees of the Second Annual Architecture Canada Awards dinner."][/caption]
With the recent Second Annual Advocacy Awards of Excellence presented by the Metro Vancouver Chapter of the RAIC/Architecture Canada, keynote speaker Bing Thom presented his recently opened Arena Stage in Washington D.C.
Text and photograph by Sean Ruthen
October 10th, 2010
Metro Vancouver incoming immigration population – ANIMATED
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As mentioned in the last piece on the distribution of immigrant populations throughout Metro Vancouver, analysing the Census 2006 information statically - with the data for 1981, 1991, 2001, and 2006 integrated into a single map - shows a different picture of looking at the same information in sequential order. By virtue of the fact that the static image layered a higher density of information, many patterns were made more explicitly visible.
However, the latter came at the cost of eliminating any changes over space and time. Something which is equally as fascinating, to my mind, as the original map. Although I tested out a number of graphic options that tried to layer all the data while showing temporal/spatial changes in one static image, I didn’t find a cartographic solution that showed the information well. So, I decided instead to create this animated version of the incoming immigration population. For reasons of consistency, I’ve kept the same graphic language and elements of the static map, adding a temporal aspect to their inclusion. For example, dense clusters and infrastructure is labeled based on the time of their appearance.
October 14th, 2010
Metro Vancouver Incoming Immigrant Population from 1981 to 2006
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Our country prides itself on its ethnic diversity. This goes hand-in-hand with a general openness to immigrants who bring the many wonders that their respective cultures have to offer, from all corners of the globe.
More often then not, our cities are the first stop for immigrant populations looking to come into Canada. This is no surprise since urban environments offer the wide range of services, amenities, and employment opportunities necessary to ease the transition into an unfamiliar cultural environment.
Over the past few decades, Vancouver has grown as a significant landing pad for incoming immigrant populations and although the locations where incoming immigrants chose to start their lives in the city are somewhat known, they are really only discussed in general terms and often in reference to “cultural pockets” that have matured enough to be readily visible.
October 28th, 2010
Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
With the recent panel discussion at the Vancouver Playhouse of Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around, re:place was there as both panelist and audience - with editor Erick Villagomez providing one of the four presentations along with David Byrne, Amy Taylor, and Mayor Gregor Robertson.
Text by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
November 4th, 2010
Riding the Amtrak Cascades to Portland for Railvolution
By John Calimente // No Comments
My October 16th trip to Portland for the Railvolution conference was going to be my last chance to ride the Amtrak Cascades train direct from Vancouver to Portland. Luckily, a last-minute reprieve means that we have at least another year to enjoy it. A short travelogue of the 8-hour trip.
by John Calimente, re:place Magazine
November 10th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1980
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Carnegie Building, photographed here under construction in 1902, reopened in 1980. Item # CVA 1376-27.
1980 saw the start of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope, Vancouver was granted the honour of hosting Expo and the Stanley Park seawall was finally completed.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from Chuck Davis)
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives
[EDITOR'S NOTE: As promised, we've been working to continue providing the great research of Chuck Davis and are happy to give our readers - and Chuck fans - the first of many upcoming Year in 5 Minutes installments. As mentioned previously, we will by posting them intermittently, but rest assured that they are in queue!]
November 18th, 2010
Amtrak Cascades to Portland for Railvolution (Pt.2)
By John Calimente // No Comments
October 16th was my first opportunity to ride the direct Amtrak Cascades train from Vancouver to Portland. Part one is here, read on for part two.
by John Calimente, re:place Magazine
November 25th, 2010
Remembering Chuck Davis (November 17, 1935 – November 20, 2010)
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A personal reflection on Chuck Davis....
By Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
December 2nd, 2010
Infiltrating Spaces
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_10436" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo at the lowest level of the William B Rankine Generating Station in Niagara Falls - by Michael Cook."][/caption]
Urban explorers live and spelunk by their own code of conduct.
By Liz Clayton, originally printed in Spacing Magazine
Photo by Michael Cook
December 9th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1981
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Kwantlen University College's Richmond campus. Photo by Arnold C, wikipedia.
As the city’s population dipped in 1981, most of the suburbs were seeing a huge increase in their number of inhabitants. This year also saw the death of a Canadian hero.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from Chuck Davis)
Photos compiled by Leszek Apouchtine
December 16th, 2010
High(er) Speed Rail May Yet Reach Vancouver
By John Calimente // No Comments
As always, events south of the border will have an immediate impact upon Canada. In the case of high(er) speed rail, the recent announcement of $161 million in funding for rail on the Cascades corridor could have a hugely positive outcome for Vancouver. After all, we only have 65 km of the route to upgrade.
by John Calimente, re:place Magazine
December 23rd, 2010
Boat Buses
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
What can cities learn from the public transit in Abidijan, Ivory Coast? Marco Chown Oved gives us a glimpse into their system of bateaux buses.
Photo and article by Marco Chown Oved, originally printed in Spacing Magazine
December 30th, 2010
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1982
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Coach Roger Neilson and his Stanley Cup finalist Vancouver Canucks. Photo courtesy of Canucks Central.
This important year saw the temporary Arts, Sciences and Technology Centre - the precursor to Science World - open downtown. The groundbreaking for the Skytrain Expo Line also occurred and the Vancouver Canucks reached the Stanley Cup finals. Serial killer Clifford Olsen also pled guilty to the murder of 11 Vancouver-area children.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from Chuck Davis)
Photos compiled by Erick Villagomez
January 6th, 2011
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1983
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Vancouver Art Gallery. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The year 1983, saw the creation of the Province newspaper in tabloid format, the formation of the Green Party, the opening of the first Earl’s Restaurant, and transformation of the Old Courthouse into the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from Chuck Davis)
Photos compiled by Erick Villagomez
January 20th, 2011
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1984
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Pope John Paul II in Vancouver. Photo courtesy of Joe Marquette
This year saw the well-received arrival of Pope John Paul II - his first visit to Canada as well as the debut of the Jackson Five at BC Place. It’s also the year Bill Reid’s renowned Chief of the Undersea World sculpture was unveiled in front of of the Vancouver Aquarium.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from the late Chuck Davis)
Photos compiled by Erick Villagomez
January 25th, 2011
The top reads of 2010
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Another year has passed and it's time for the third annual list of our favourite reads from the past year.
By the re:place team
January 27th, 2011
Arriva Ristorante Italiano – Lessons on turning corners at laneways
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Although responding to street intersections through thoughtful urban design and architecture is quite common, treating the intersection of laneways and streets with the same respect is rare. Yet, examples of the latter do exist in the everyday urban landscape. One such precedent is the Arriva Ristorante building on Commercial Drive.
By Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
Seeing: Arriva Ristorante Italiano – Lessons on turning corners at laneways
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Walking along Commercial Drive between Graveley St. and Grant St. - one block north of 1st Ave. - one passes a relatively unassuming building. Located on the west side of the street at the corner of the mid-block laneway, it is known for the quality of the Italian food within, much more that the architecture that houses it.
Yet, despite all that is unremarkable about the building, the design of the Arriva Ristorante Italiano holds a wisdom that planners and designers can and should learn from - particularly with respect to how a building can meet a laneway with intelligence and dignity.
February 3rd, 2011
Jan Gehl: Cities for People
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Much like Juhani Pallasmaa wowed the crowd at the Vancouver Playhouse over a year ago and David Byrne a few months past, Jan Gehl inspired a capacity house of planners, architects, educators, and cycling advocates on a rainy winter’s night two weeks ago - presenting his vision of incremental change for our burgeoning cities, and heralding a more people-scaled built environment sympathetic to the plight of the modern city dweller.
By Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
February 10th, 2011
Can Vancouver become ‘the best place on Earth’?
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
Is Vancouver truly the 'best place on Earth' to live? No it isn't. But it has the potential.
By Liam Lahey, re:place Magazine
February 17th, 2011
A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1985
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11043" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Image courtesy of the Rick Hansen Foundation."][/caption]
1985 saw Rick Hanson’s epic around-the-world Man in Motion tour begin from Oakridge Mall. It also marked the opening of of Skytrain Expo Line and the Lonsdale Quay Market.
Compiled by John Calimente (with permission from the late Chuck Davis)
Photos compiled by Erick Villagomez
February 24th, 2011
The Colourful Buses of Seoul
By John Calimente // No Comments
Transit systems always want to paint their buses in matching colours so that riders can spot them easily. But what if different bus colours could tell you roughly where they are going? Seoul, Korea has done just that.
By John Calimente, re:place magazine
March 3rd, 2011
The Social Life of Public Space in West Africa
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11163" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana"][/caption]
Little is written in the public spaces within the context of West Africa. As this piece discusses, however, engaging this topic opens up important issues of cultural bias, the importance of streets, and alternative views on the value of formally planned public spaces.
Article and photos by Stacy Passmore, re:place Magazine
(as originally posted on Planning Pool)
March 10th, 2011
Honk if you love honking
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11203" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons."][/caption]
Can Abu Dhabi transform itself from a city for cars to one for people?
By Jessica Hume, re:place Magazine
(as originally printed in Spacing Magazine)
March 17th, 2011
Learning from Japan
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11237" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons."][/caption]
Metro Vancouver shares the many of the seismic realities as Japan, so why aren't we doing anything about it?
By Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
March 24th, 2011
TownShift: Connected
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11326" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Cloverdale winner"][/caption]
“The city to come…
Cities have changed. Their appearance has changed as has the way they are inhabited by people. Above all, cities have become privileged places where the universe of the global encounters the reality of places. After 30 years talking about urban globalization and planetary flows, technological utopias and the homogenization of the world, it turns out that what the city actually shows us is the combination of these qualities, with the ubiquitous and continued presence of the residue of the particular place.
The city to come isn’t global, as we have thought; the city to come is local. Maybe more local than ever…”
- the mission statement of ‘Local Local’ - Barcelona, 2010
Text by Sean Ruthen
March 31st, 2011
What’s with our ‘fracking’ water?
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11363" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Photo courtesy of Bouke Salverda"][/caption]
In B.C., natural gas companies don't have to get water permits from the provincial Ministry of the Environment as they pump unrecorded tonnes of it underground.
By Liam Lahey, re:place Magazine
April 7th, 2011
Translink UBC Line: A Light Rail Transit vs Subway Faceoff
By Brian Gould // No Comments
TransLink's public consultation process on the UBC Line took a step forward this past week with a series of workshops and the start of an online questionnaire. There are, all told, seven alternatives and three more sub-alternatives still in the running as of Phase 2, so it's not hard to feel a little lost.
By Brian Gould, re:place Magazine
April 14th, 2011
Mappa: The Cartographic Cloth
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
The word "map" has its origins in the Latin word "mappa" which refers to a cloth square or napkin. My long-term interest in textile as a language of visual narrative has led me to explore the commonalities of maps and embroidery. Each discipline prizes extreme detail, edited information and events, the tendency for exaggeration and bias, and the potential for revision. These shared traits have informed this body of work.
Images and Statement by Bettina Matzkuhn
April 21st, 2011
Steam Work
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Surely, my proximity to one of Vancouver's biggest, and most baffling, tourist attractions, the Gastown Steam Clock, which of course is no longer actually powered by the steam it emits- would be the impetus for my brief fascination of the ambiguously iconic steam vents that dot our city. But I've been paying close attention to the material makeup of this mill town cum millennial hideaway for a decade now.
Images and Statement by Sean Orr
April 27th, 2011
The Cambie Street Corridor and the Future of Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
This interview with Brent Toderian, Vancouver's director of planning, discusses the recently released draft of the Cambie Corridor Plan, the future of Vancouver and the approach to city planning.
By Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
May 6th, 2011
Vancouver Turns 125, Public Transit 121
By John Calimente // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11639" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vancouver's first streetcar line under construction"][/caption]
We kick off Vancouver's quasquicentennial year with a look back at the opening of Vancouver's first public transit system, a mere four years after its incorporation. Historic information is from Henry Ewert's 'The Story of the B.C. Electric Company'.
By John Calimente, re:place magazine
June 4th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: the magazine launches first national issue
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
This weekend's Spacing Saturday is a special one: we focus on the magazine's first national issue that is set to hit newsstands on Monday.
While the look and feel of the magazine is no different than the local Toronto edition, the content has expanded to look at the joys, obstacles, and politics affecting all of Canada's large urban centres. Articles touch on topics like street performing in Victoria, Calgary's plans to support its arts community, how Ottawa's marathon is becoming more urban, and why the seasonal pedestrian mall on rue Ste.-Catherines has been a boon for local businesses.
We even created four regional covers for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver (see the slideshow above).
The magazine is being launched on Tuesday in Toronto at the Design Exchange. All across Canada, starting this Monday, you'll be able to pick up an copy of the issue at all of our regular stores plus 85 new locations: every Chapter's/Indigo store across the country.
To celebrate this special issue, Spacing is hitting the road and hosting a series of events in 10 cities across the country — called the Spacing Road Show — in June and July. Hopefully you can catch us in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. Keep an eye on our blogs, Facebook page and Twitter account to learn more about these parties.
Check out the web page to find out about the articles and features in this special national issue.
June 6th, 2011
Serving Surrey: Rapid Transit South of the Fraser
By Brian Gould // No Comments
Following a similar format to the UBC Line study for the Broadway corridor in Vancouver, TransLink's public consultation focus has shifted to the southeast fringe of Metro Vancouver's rapid transit system. Building off SkyTrain's beachhead in Surrey City Centre are many options to bring improved service - be it LRT, BRT, SkyTrain, or some combination thereof - to much of Surrey and Langley.
By Brian Gould, re:place Magazine
June 8th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Three-way streets, Before I Die, Public Space Music Videos
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Kottke highlights Ron Gabriel's video - 3-way Street - a look at bad interactions between cars, bikes, and pedestrians at a typical NYC street intersection. It offers a visually interesting perspective on the ways modes interact and conflict.
• Artist Candy Chang shares some notes on her recent public space project, Before I Die. With permission from the building's owner, Chang's chalkboard invited citizens to share their preferred ending to the sentence "before I die…". Says Chang of her project, "I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings."
June 15th, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: International streetscapes, Montreal parks and too many bikes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Montreal artist, Martin Reisch, is celebrating vintage girls in classic Montreal parks. His series of thirty second shorts showcases beautiful Montreal bands in the city's spectacular parks.
• Portland, OR - famous for its cycling infrastructure and spinoff cycling industry - is the proud home of a new "bike bar", Hopworks. The small restaurant features a variety of bike-friendly features including: a bike frame canopy, 75 bike parking spaces, bike tools and loaner u-locks. (BikePortland.org)
• Vélo Quebec wants to invite cars and bikes to the same venue. Copenhagenize shares a cute video from Vélo Quebec asking if these vehicles get along so well in our garages, why not on the road?
June 16th, 2011
A Letter from re:place and Spacing
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
After months of discussions and planning, re:place and Spacing Magazine have an exciting announcement!
By the re:place Magazine & Spacing Magazine Editors
The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future – Part 3
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11901" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Image of Urban Pulse proposal for Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. Courtesy of UBC's LARC502B Landscape Architecture studio class."][/caption]
This is the third and final part of a series - in tandem with In Focus photo essays - looking at the past, present and future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
By Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The Georgia and Dunmuir Viaducts Re-imagined
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11896" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Image of Urban Pulse proposal for Georgia Viaducts."][/caption]
In conjunction with the third part of The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future series, this photo essay look at the proposals put forth by Alyssa Schwann's LARC502B Landscape Architecture studio class at the University of British Columbia. The class looked at re-imagining the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
Images provided by UBC's Landscape Architecture LARC502B studio class
Text by Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future – Part 2
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11826" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Image courtesy of the UBC LARC502B class"][/caption]
This is the second part of a series - in tandem with In Focus: The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts photo essay - looking at the past, present and future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
By Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
In conjunction with the second part of The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future series, this photo essay looks current images of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
Photo provided by UBC's Landscape Architecture LARC502B class
Text by Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future – Part 1
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_11719" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Panoramic of the Georgia Viaduct circa 1921. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver Archives (Item #: PAN N221)"][/caption]
This is the first part of a series - in tandem with In Focus photo essays - looking at the past, present and future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
By Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The First Georgia Viaduct
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Working in tandem with the first part of The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future series, this photo essay looks at archival images of the original Georgia St. Viaduct.
Images supplied by City of Vancouver Archives and compiled by Isaac A. Vanderhorst
Text by Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
Vancouver City Nights
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
These photos showcase some of the areas around the city of Vancouver at night.
Images and Statement by Kirk Takei
Margins of the Functional
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
This series of photos was taken in and around Vancouver over the last two years. Filtered from over two hundred images, I selected these as the core of an exhibition I called "Development: A Pedestrian View", my first solo showing of photographic works which was mounted at Britannia Art Gallery in January 2010.
Statement and Photos by aXo
The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver Part 4: Explorations
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
For the final part of the Guide, re:place looks at some of the wonderful suggestions you had for learning more about the our city.
By the re:place team and re:place readers
The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver Part 3: Indoor Spaces
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
This week, re:place goes out of the cold and looks at some of the most interesting indoor places. Whether you want to shop, check out live music, learn about the city's history or see some amazing architecture, this list takes you to some of the best spots in the city.
By the re:place team and re:place readers
The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver Part 2: Outdoor Spaces and Meanders
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
For the second installment of The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver, we present a list of some of the great and interesting public spaces in and around Vancouver.
By the re:place team and re:place readers
The Urbanist’s Guide to Vancouver Part 1: Food and Drink
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Although re:place may not be the first site one would turn to when looking for a dining guide, there is no doubt that going out to restaurants or other spots to grab a drink or a quick bite are an important aspect of city life. Therefore, for the first installment of The Urbanist's Guide to Vancouver, we present a list of some of the most interesting, unique and delicious spots to beat your hunger in Vancouver as chosen by you, our readers.
By the re:place team and re:place readers
June 17th, 2011
Reservoir
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Delve into the mysterious and surreal urban imagery of Dutch photographer Bas Princen's most recent book, RESERVOIR.
Photos by Bas Princen, edited by Moritz Kung (Hatje Cantz, 2011)
Reviewed by Ellen Zeigler
Cities for People
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
With the challenges of urbanization increasing worldwide, Jan Gehl's most recent book - Cities for People - is a call to ensure that we keep the human experience at the forefront of our city planning and urban design decisions.
Author: Jan Gehl (Island Press, 2010)Reviewed by Erick Villagomez
Narrow Houses: New Directions in Efficient Design
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
With growing interest in compact and narrow urban housing, Avi Friedman's most recent book - Narrow Houses - is a timely and well-written complement to his well-known publications.
Author: Avi Friedman (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010)Reviewed by Ellen Zeigler
Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
"To Jane Jacob’s three traditional urban values of civic space, human scale and diversity, the current environmental imperative adds two more: conservation and regionalism." -Peter Calthorpe
Peter Calthorpe (Island Press, 2011)
Reviewed by Laura Kozak
Down Detour Road
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Eric Cesal shares his personal account of the direction the profession of architecture needs to move to on the heels of the recent financial collapse, in his most recent book Down Detour Road.
Author Eric J. Cesal, (MIT Press, 2010)
Reviewed by Joshua Jordan, re:place Magazine
Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post-carbon World
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
With years of research and experience in designing sustainable urban landscape, University of British Columbia Professor Patrick Condon shares what he has learned in his most recent book.
Author: Patrick Condon (Island Press, 2010)
Reviewed by Ellen Zeigler
Le Corbusier: Homme de Lettres
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
"Known for his modern architecture, numbering fewer than sixty buildings, Charles Edouard Jeanneret/Le Corbusier (1887-1965) also wrote some fifty or so books during his lifetime, hundreds of articles, and thousands of letters. His writings reveal a certain randomness of form – travelogues of beloved places visited, lectures recorded and then transcribed, projects in need of defense, catalogues of expositions, and journal articles to sway public opinion. All of his books and articles contain persuasive arguments, calling out to the reader to adopt a new set of tools and a mentality appropriate for a new machine age…”
- from the first chapter
Edited by M. Christine Boyer (Princeton Architectural Press - 2011)
Review by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
Partnerships in Urban Property Development
By John Calimente // No Comments
Property development is a fascinating game with a range of players that increases with the size and complexity of the project. Things get even more complicated when developments are created by the private sector for public sector. The authors try to clarify these relationships in Partnerships in Urban Property Development.
Authors: Nigel Dubben and Brendan Williams (Wiley, 2009)
Reviewed by: John Calimente, re:place magazine
Pamphlet Architecture 31: Coupling
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
A gallery and manifesto for a team of multi-titled architectural strategists: COUPLING offers both a graphically thrilling presentation of large scale projects from a brilliant Canadian group, and a digestible glimpse of their place in contemporary geographical theory.
Author: Lateral Office (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
By Joshua Jordan, re:place Magazine
(re)Designing Nature: Current Concepts for Shaping Nature in Art and Landscape Architecture.
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
Given our ecological pressure and current drive towards urbanization, seeking to reevaluate the divisive relationship between the built world and nature seems to be of the upmost importance. Hatje Cantz's newest title contributes to how this can occur in (re)Designing Nature: Current Concepts for Shaping Nature in Art and Landscape Architecture.
Authors: Susanne Witzgall, Florian Matzner, and Iris Meder (Hatje Cantz, 2011)
Reviewed by Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning
By Kevin Zhang // No Comments
The quest to integrate a rapid urbanization with natural living systems is a top priority for cities around the globe. Tim Beatley's attempts to move the theoretical to the practical in Biophilic Cities.
Author Timothy Beatley (Island Press, 2010)
Reviewed by Kevin Jingyi Zhang
The Changing City
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
A fine-grain tour of Vancouver’s central areas, divided into twelve neighborhood walks, John Atkin and Andy Coupland’s new book The Changing City takes stock of the ever-evolving architectural assemblage that makes up Vancouver in 2010.
Author: John Atkin and Andy Coupland (Steller Press, 2010)
Review by Laura Kozak, re:place magazine
The Viaducts: Past, Present and Future – Part 3
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
This is the third and final part of a series - in tandem with In Focus photo essays - looking at the past, present and future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
By Brian Gould and Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The first part of this series traced the history of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts from a single, rickety bridge over industrial lowlands to a pair of oversized relics in the 1960s automobile-centric style. The second part of this series caught up with the current discussions of their place in Vancouver, positioned as ...
June 19th, 2011
ROAD SHOW: In Saskatoon tonight, Edmonton & Calgary this week
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
This week the Spacing Road Show kicks into high gear with events in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Calgary.
SASKATOON
When: Monday, June 20, 7-10pm
Where: Persephone Theatre, 100 Spadina Crescent East
Cost: $5 (gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
PARTNER: ...
June 22nd, 2011
World Wide Wednesday: Swings, Shifts and Copycat Towns
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• At Project for Public Spaces, Gary Toth writes about an exciting initiative he's been part of called the Strategic Highway Research Program. The program breaks the traditional highway planning paradigm to embrace ideas such as shared-decision making and community building.
• The awesomeness of swings is undeniable. NOTCOT celebrates artist Jeff Waldman's project to install swings in all sorts of unexpected locations. The playful results are captured in pictures and videos.
• Spurred by numerous pedestrian fatalities, Chicago is beginning to develop a Pedestrian Master Plan. The city is home to some of the highest pedestrian fatality figures in the U.S. To combat these numbers, planners will consider countdown timers, curb bump-outs and medians - among other interventions. (Chicago Tribune)
ROAD SHOW: Edmonton tonight! Calgary on Friday, Vancouver on Tuesday
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Over the next week the Spacing Road Show is kicked into high gear with events in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS AN EVENT IN EDMONTON TONIGHT
EDMONTON
When: Wednesday, June 22, ...
June 24th, 2011
ROAD SHOW: Calgary tonight & Vancouver on Tuesday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Spacing Road Show has kicked into high gear with events in Calgary tonight and Vancouver on Tuesday. The Victoria event is the following Tuesday.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS AN EVENT IN CALGARY TONIGHT...
June 27th, 2011
June 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
City comes alive with sounds, smells of festivals [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
The New Yorker Hearts Suburbs [The New Republic]
Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Alternatives [The New York Times]
Pamphlet Architecture 31: New Haitian Villages
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Author: Steven Holl (Princeton Architectural Presss, 2011)
Reviewed by Ellen Ziegler, Spacing Vancouver
Pamphlet Architecture 31: New Haitian Villages (PA31) is thirty-first in this series of small, concise publications that, under the guidance of Steven Holl, have been documenting architectural proposals, cultural dialogue and history since 1977. Similar to previous issues of Pamphlet Architecture, New Haitian Villages maintains a balance between contextual information and tangible design solutions for culturally relevant topics. However, unlike many of its predecessors, PA31 deals directly with a current event and a situation of international significance that calls for action from architects, designers, politicians and citizens alike.
June 28th, 2011
June 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Bike-friendliness of Vancouver neighbourhoods mapped by UBC [Globe and Mail]
What "bikeability" looks like in metro Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
Below the Sill Plate: New Orleans East Struggles to Recover [Places: Design Observer]
The Self-Sustaining, Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter: We’re Going to Need It [GOOD Magazine]
School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis – Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing
By Vanessa Kay // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_360" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption=" Edith Cavell Elementary School in Vancouver during its experimental two-week spring break earlier this year – an attempt by the school board to cut costs."][/caption]
[Editors Note: this is a revised version of a four-piece series originally published on Planning Pool]
Recent years have not been easy for public schools in Vancouver. A local newspaper identified threatened school closures as one of the top news stories of 2010. While the Vancouver Board of Education finally placed a moratorium on proceeding with school closures until 2012, the need to consider closing schools at all seems strange in a city whose overall population is growing by over 1% annually.
Demographic shift – “low birth rates and an aging population” – is perhaps the most frequently cited explanation for school closures and other measures to scale back school services. The overall population of Canada, like that of many other “developed” countries, is indeed aging. But local demographic trends are more nuanced. Adults of all ages selectively decide where within a city, region or country to settle, whether they have kids or not.
The Vancouver School Board’s complaints of declining enrolment made me wonder whether families with kids might be leaving the City of Vancouver for its suburbs in increasing numbers. This would leave the central City with a population made up of even greater proportions of childless households and retirees than could be explained by nation-wide demographic shift.
ROAD SHOW: Spacing hits Vancouver tonight!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
To coincide with the launch of Spacing's first national issue, the magazine is hosting events in 10 Canadian cities this summer. The Spacing Road Show is sponsored by BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners and supported by Autoshare and the Canada Council for the Arts.
When: Tonight! 7-10pm
Where: Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 West Hastings St.
Cost: $5 (gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
PARTNER: City of Vancouver
Panelists: Erick Villagomez (Spacing Vancouver), Gordon Price (SFU City Centre), Erin O'Melinn (Vancouver Public Space ...
Spacing Vancouver has finally arrived!
By Matthew Blackett // 11 Comments
Today, the Spacing family would like to welcome our newest sibling: Spacing Vancouver!
The editors and contributors of Spacing Vancouver will take a critical look at how Canada's third largest urban region is building and designing its city. Cities across Canada have a lot to learn about how Vancouver is designing one of the most livable and beautiful cities in North America.
Spacing is lucky to not be starting this Vancouver blog from scratch — we've absorbed the wonderful team at re:place magazine. To see why Spacing and ...
June 29th, 2011
June 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
‘An exercise in place-making’ [Globe and Mail]
Vancouver's riot and the perils of naivete [Crosscut]
Surveillance cameras deployed in Vancouver despite mayor’s denial [Vancouver Courier]
Urban picnic among VIVA Vancouver’s outdoor events [Vancouver Courier]
Council rival demands that Vancouver mayor’s role be part of review [Globe and Mail]
Vancouver city manager to give report on Stanley Cup riot [Vancouver Sun]
Transportation minister optimistic Evergreen Line will go ahead [Vancouver Sun]
Public art works on move [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
Constructive criticism: New York's architecture comes down to earth [Guardian]
Cities are the Key ...
World Wide Wednesday: Brains, Sprints, Ads and Bridges
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• City brain, country brain. The impact of city life on mental health has been a favourite topic of social scientists for some time. Now neuroscientists are taking up the cause. Nature describes the work of Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. Studying images of urban and rural brains, Meyer-Lindberg is demonstrating that neural structures respond differently to stress in these two populations.
• Seven interns from the D.C. area completed the Smithsonian Sprint this week. The challenge: visit 17 Smithsonian museums in one day. While the interns took in some of the region's greatest cultural opportunities, they don't recommend the Sprint to others. Facing transportation hold ups, the interns spent a mere 15 minutes in each. (Smithsonian Mag)
• Paris is taking strong steps to reduce advertising on city streets. The new rules place restrictions on the size, location and illumination of future signage. (The Guardian)
June 30th, 2011
June 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Smokers may be asked to butt out in Metro Vancouver parks [Vancouver Sun]
Spacing Road Show [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
The greenest house in L.A.? [The Los Angeles Times]
‘Parklets’ Create Public Space, 120 Square Feet at a Time [California Planning & Development Report]
Interstate bike highway effort reappears [Sustainable Business Oregon]
If baby boomers stay in suburbia, analysts predict cultural shift [The Washington Post]
Stockholm's 'war on cars'[Crosscut]
Baron Gallery: Walking tour of Gastown with John Atkin
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As part of the Intersections- Historical, Architectural Paintings of Vancouver Exhibition featuring paintings by Tom Carter at the Baron Gallery, you are invited to attend a guided historical walking tour around Gastown with John Atkin. The tour will begin at the Baron Gallery (where participants will meet up) and will end at the Ovaltine Cafe with milkshakes.
Date: July 10, 2011
Time: 1pm (Group meets at Baron Gallery)
Price: $10 per person
Please visit Baron Gallery website for more information and RSVP to info@barongallery.ca
The Biggest, Baddest Bike-Share in the World: Hangzhou China
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
by Streetfilms
Thoughts on the top-ten list of Vancouver’s public spaces…
By Vancouver Public Space Network // 4 Comments
[The following is a transcript of the presentation given by Vancouver Public Space Network Chair Erin O'Melinn at the launch of the first national issue of Spacing magazine - and the roll-out of the Spacing Vancouver blog. Presenters were asked to respond to the top-ten best public spaces list contained in the magazine, while also linking the notion of public space to transportation planning. The story first appeared on the VPSN's PubliCity blog.]
...So I looked at the Vancouver top ten public spaces in Vancouver as juried by Spacing Magazine (which just launched nation-wide!), and it immediately made me conjure up a mental map of where these spaces were located in this city. A few things struck me as a result.
The Spacing Magazine Top-10 List of Vancouver Public Spaces
Seawall
Granville Island
Stanley Park
Vancouver Art Gallery Stairs
Pioneer Place/Pigeon Park
Commercial Drive
English Bay First Beach
Victory Square
Kitsilao Beach Park
Robson Square
Why aren’t the spaces more spread across the city? This seems to be an useful point of departure for my presentation. I have come up with a few more questions as a response to this initial query.
July 1st, 2011
July 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Vancouver city councillors weigh in on riot [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
Open Source Urbanism [Domus]
Increasing Public Transport Use with Smart Campaigns [The Dirt]
The Uneven Aging and "Younging" of America: State and Metropolitan Trends in the 2010 Census [Brookings Institute]
A storied railroad tunnel in the Cascades reopens for hikers [Crosscut]
July 2nd, 2011
July 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Pride, bikes and riots: When the mayors of Toronto and Vancouver talk [Globe and Mail]
In your backyard: Take a stroll through the idyllic streets of Dunbar [Vancouver Sun]
Leg in Boot Square [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
City needs to get in gear over offer from injured bicyclists [The Seattle Times]
+ Pool [Metropolis Magazine]
Green cities span coasts, as eco-efforts intensify [USA Today]
Spacing Saturday: Walk the Region, Moving Day and the World’s Biggest Bike Share
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing Saturday celebrates Canada Day by going coast to coast. Welcome to west coast readers on the brand new Spacing Vancouver!
The Vancouver Public Space Network responds to the selection of Vancouver's top ten spaces in the current issue of the Spacing Magazine with a reflection of what the selection says about our psyche towards public space.
Caroline Toth launched the Video Vancouver feature this week with a link to an incredible video about the hugely successful and innovative bike share program in the historic city of Hangzhou, China. The program aims to expand to 175,000 bikes by 2020.
Regional planning was a big theme on the Montreal blog this week as organizers push forward with Walk the Region, a three day walking tour across the entire Montreal Region from Oka to Mont Saint-Hilaire. Alanah Heffez also provided an update on a snag in planning for the event while Joel Thibert used The Regionalist column to make the case for why Montreal needs a regional plan.
Alanah Heffez looks into the seemingly curious tradition of Montreal's July 1st moving day by examining the day's origins over 260 years of advocacy for tenant's rights.
While researching the best cycling route to the Ottawa airport Eric Darwin discovers the best way is not one mapped by the City but one where space for cyclists exists in practicality but isn't officially recognized.
Crystal Melville reflects on her experiences riding Halifax's Metro Transit and profiles It's More Than Buses, a series of events centered around creating a new transit vision for the city focusing on exploring the options, designing the network and mobilizing public support.
July 3rd, 2011
July 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CANADA
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Greening Cities [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
Car Clash: Europe vs. the U.S. [The New York Times]
This is your brain in the city [Per Square Mile]
Across Europe, Irking Drivers Is Urban Policy [The New York Times]
July 4th, 2011
June 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Oxford to build Vancouver tower [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. finds success with controversial carbon tax [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Bike-sharing gears up in U.S. as gas prices soar [McClatchy]
• Good schools should be part of Seattle's density agenda [Crosscut]
School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis – Part 2: Intergenerational Communities
By Vanessa Kay // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_416" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="False Creek North was Vancouver’s first high-rise downtown neighbourhood to intentionally include families with young children. Photo courtesy of Dani0010."][/caption]
[Editors Note: this is a revised version of a four-piece series originally published on Planning Pool. You can read the first part here.]
To serve a community sustainably, elementary schools require relatively stable populations of children within their catchment areas. Seniors’ centres require relatively stable populations of seniors. Similar principles apply to other types of social infrastructure that represent significant community investment, such as childcare centres, recreation centres, and health care facilities.
Jane Jacobs’s prescription for economically vibrant districts was diversity of habitat for businesses. A mix of type, quality and age of buildings allows enterprises of all sizes and stages to thrive. Neighbourhood planning that follows the related principle of providing habitat for a diversity of households could allow both urban and suburban neighbourhoods to foster more stable and resilient intergenerational communities that are able to make efficient use of social infrastructure over multiple generations.
Unfortunately, in many core cities, insufficient affordable and suitable housing for families provides a push for young families to leave urban neighbourhoods for the suburbs.
July 5th, 2011
July 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Quebec City, Montreal 'most livable'; Vancouver highest cost of living: survey [Vancouver Sun]
• Liveable v lovable [Financial Times]
INTERNATIONAL
• Replay: Picture-Perfect Portland? [Urbanophile]
• America’s One and Only Personal Rapid Transit System [Governing Magazine]
• How Seattle finally built its waterfront park [Crosscut]
Fast-Forward Urbanism: Rethinking Architecture’s Engagement with the City
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Editors: Dana Cuff and Roger Sherman (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
In his well-known 1978 book - Collage City - architectural theoretician and critic Colin Rowe observed that the problem of architecture in his day was its perpetual fluctuation “between a retarded conception of science and a reluctant recognition of poetics.” The twin towers of the World Trade Center had been standing for five years, and the levees of New Orleans had yet to be tested. Still, the problems of the city were as challenging for him then as they are now almost 35 years later.
With the ten year anniversary of 9/11 just months away, Princeton Architectural Press and cityLAB present us here with Fast Forward Urbanism: Rethinking Architecture’s Relationship with the City - a treatise that asks some very tough questions regarding urban landscape and the buildings that create it. In many ways, the book is a call to arms, a current and concise statement of the direction architecture and its allied arts needs to go in quickly, lest they be disenfranchised by the economic and civic forces that are presently shaping our cities.
As editors Dana Cuff and Roger Sherman believe, the city is and always has been a paradox for the architect, “it intrinsically demands design, yet inherently resists it.” To demonstrate, the editors have assembled a formidable group of designers and essayists to sound this clarion call for change - the resulting book comprised of ten essays with accompanying projects, including Will Alsop’s Sharp Centre in Toronto.
July 6th, 2011
July 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayor, feds announce completion of Stanley Park improvements [Vancouver Sun]
• Downtown Eastside shelter will remain open for year [Vancouver Sun]
• Street carts may be rolling in to Richmond along Canada Line [Vancouver Sun]
• Column: Does Vancouver match the criteria for ‘world-class’? [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• New ideas for sustainable architecture in the Americas [Guardian]
• Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza: A Historic Step Toward Urban Excellence [City Parks Blog]
• London Tubemap [Mark Noad]
World Wide Wednesday: Renegade infrastructure funding, Brazilian street art, ant planning
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• A group of injured cyclists in Seattle is so mad about poor infrastructure at the city's most dangerous intersection that they are willing to pay the cost of the improvements themselves. Their winnings from a recent lawsuit will more than cover the $13,000 price tag to fix the intersection where it's estimated that one cyclist is injured every day. (Seattle Times)
• This Blog Rules showcases some amusing street art from Brazil's 6emeia Project.
• Are ants genius urban designers? BLDGBLOG poses the question, after the work of Professors Graham Currie and Martin Burd from Melbourne's Monash University suggests that ants may be on to something: "Ants [move] in an orderly fashion, and never [seem] to panic, even when there [is] danger or congestion."
July 7th, 2011
July 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Architect douses Little Mountain tower rumour [Vancouver Courier]
• Mayors propose gas tax to fund transit line [Globe and Mail]
• Crosscheck: Counting carbon in B.C. [Globe and Mail]
• Tsawwassen's 'hidden jewel' of Centennial Beach gets polishing [Vancouver Sun]
• You tell me: Where is Metro Vancouver's best beer patio? [Vancouver Sun]
• 270 square feet of home sweet home? That’s life in Vancouver [The Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• City and Suburban Crime Trends in Metropolitan America [The Brookings Institution]
• Women, Uneasy, Still Lag as Cyclists in New York City [...
Free Outdoor Movies Vancouver 2011!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Our apologies for being a tiny bit late on this one everybody...the Spacing Vancouver launch has been monopolizing our time here. Nonetheless, every year we pass along the dates and venues for the amazing Free Outdoor Movie events (put together by FreshAirCinema and various partners) happening in and around Metro Vancouver.
This year, there are a lot of movies happening throughout the region so be sure to attend. Here are the dates and times of these fun events. As usual, this list is constantly being be updated and revised as more movies are announced so keep checking their website or follow their twitter feed @OutdoorMoviesBC for up-to-the-minute information! All movies start at dusk, and are subject to weather conditions. We'll do our best to keep on top of things here, but for the time being here is what’s currently schedule:
July 8th, 2011
July 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mayors vote to hike gas tax to fund Evergreen Line [Vancouver Sun]
• Mayors favour gas tax, but differ on road tolls and vehicle levies [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Eastward-Moving House [Places: Design Observer]
• How the Great Reset Has Already Changed America [The Atlantic]
• L.A. Prepares for Worst and Hopes for Best in Freeway Shutdown [The New York Times]
• Second world war bombers changed the weather [New Scientist]
• Tender Noise: Sensing and Mapping the Ambient Noise in San Francisco [Information aesthetics]
• People Movin: Revealing the Immigration Patterns ...
Vancouver Design Nerds/Livable Laneways – Laneway Markets
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
A combined group of Livable Laneway enthusiasts and the Vancouver Design Nerds has been selected by the City’s VIVA Vancouver program, which is intended to reallocate roadways for public spaces. Our proposal is to transform a commercial laneway into a public space and summer night market. The laneway is located at the heart of Mount Pleasant near Broadway and Main Street. It is the north/south directed commercial laneway west of Main Street that runs between Broadway and 8th Avenue (adjacent the Chutney Villa and Reno’s). It is in this laneway ...
July 9th, 2011
July 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Finally – a place to park your interplanetary space cruiser, thanks to TransLink [Globe and Mail]
• Regional Cycling Strategy [The Buzzer Blog]
• More Olympic Village businesses to open next year [Vancouver Courier]
• Neko Case celebrates Vancouver’s 125th birthday [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom named one of North America’s 10 most influential clubs [Vancouver Sun]
• Summer Live festival draws thousands to Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Iain Sinclair on exposing the dark side of east London's redevelopment [Metro]
• The Coolest and Best City Videos [The ...
July 10th, 2011
July 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Revitalizing City Communities with Parks [Planet Forward]
• Slums, Titles and the World's Simplest Zoning Code [Old Urbanist]
• Reading L.A.: Mike Davis, 'City of Quartz' and Southern California's 'spatial apartheid' [The Los Angeles Times]
July 11th, 2011
July 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CANADA
• More Roads May Pave The Way To More Traffic [NPR]
INTERNATIONAL
• Boosting the Urban IQ [Change Observer]
• Video reveals gas leaks under US cities [New Scientist]
• Australia is first nation to put a price on carbon [New Scientist]
Metro Vancouver Mayors Make Bold Bid to Fund Regional Transit
By John Calimente // 1 Comment
Poor Evergreen Line. You've been talked about for so long that we thought you'd already been built. But no, here it is 2011 and all we have is a project office.
Let's back up a bit. The Evergreen Line was originally supposed to have been the second phase of the Millennium Line, which now stretches from VCC-Clark station in Vancouver to Columbia station in suburban New Westminster. Phase two was supposed to push east, connecting the 11 kilometres between Lougheed Town Centre and Coquitlam, but due to a change in government and higher than anticipated construction costs, it was never built, save for a portion of a station at Lougheed. The 97 B-Line express bus service was put into place at the time of the completion of the Millennium Line, but with 17 stops along the way at a travel time of about 30 minutes (double the time of an automobile trip), it hardly qualifies as an express service.
July 12th, 2011
July 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayor open to finding more funds for Pride parade [Globe and Mail]
• Toronto trumps Vancouver as country's most expensive city [Globe and Mail]
• City plans to install water meters on single-family homes [Vancouver Sun]
• City considering pilot project to fully recycle food scraps [Vancouver Sun]
• Learning Curve [Canadian Architect]
INTERNATIONAL
• New Era Set For 9/11 Site [The Wall St. Journal]
• Californians are paying a high price for a low car tax [The Los Angeles Times]
• Black women take their place in D.C.’s bike lanes [...
Building Type Basics for Transit Facilities
By John Calimente // 1 Comment
Author: Kenneth W. Griffin (John Wiley & Sons, 2004)
We've all been in poorly designed train stations. Inadequate lighting, narrow platforms, oddly designed elevator configurations, confusing directional signage and many other design faux pas can probably be found at a station near you. In Vancouver, the elevators in the Expo Line stations are one of my pet peeves: incredibly slow, small, and beyond that, simply hard to find. I don't know how many people the designers were expecting to ride the line, but they certainly didn't anticipate many people riding the elevators. ("Bicycles? On the SkyTrain? No one rides bikes anymore...")
A handy guide to designing transit facilities such as this one, written by Kenneth Griffin, probably didn't exist at the time. Griffin is a principal architect for DMJM+HARRIS who has designed a number of rail transit stations and intermodal transit centres in North America and Asia, including the Long Island Railroad passenger terminal at Grand Central Station. The book provides guidelines and practical advice for creating better transit facilities, which usually involves making good design decisions at an early stage of the game, preferably before any concrete has been poured.
Release: AIBC Architectural Walking Tour Highlight – Victory Square & Gastown
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
This summer, discover a unique view of Vancouver`s Victory Square and Gastown neighbourhoods with an Architectural Institute of British Columbia walking tour. A knowledgeable guide will take you through one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, sharing architectural highlights both historic and new. See the city like never before. These hour-and-a-half tours run throughout the months of July and August at a cost of only $10 a person.
For a complete tour description and for scheduling information, visit the AIBC website or call (604) 683-8588 ext 325.
July 13th, 2011
July 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Transit taxes odious but necessary for growth of our city [Vancouver Sun]
• Proposed TransLink strategy would make region a bike haven [Vancouver Sun]
• Deconstructing STIR: Vancouver’s Tax-Cuts-for-Developers Housing Strategy [The Mainlander]
• I Love Transit Week 2011: why Gordon Price loves transit [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver green push goes to the next level [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver pushes municipalities to install water meters [Vancouver Sun]
• Proposed TransLink strategy would make region a bike haven [Vancouver Sun]
• Lessons from the West End – 1(a) [...
World Wide Wednesday: Transfer Accelerators, London Tube Map
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• A California man is facing jail time for disobeying local building codes in the construction of his home. The thirty year project includes a replica of a 16th century Viking house and a mobile home refashioned into an antique railroad car. (Salon)
• Passengers using the Overvecht railway station in Utrecht now have a more playful way to make their train on time. A new "transfer accelerator" (slide) has been installed and is getting positive reviews from passengers and the surrounding neighbourhood. (Pop-Up City)
July 14th, 2011
Queens Prerogative: Another Cycle Track in NYC
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Queens Plaza Protected Cycletrack is Open For Business from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
July 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver brings back anti-graffiti program after budget cutbacks lead to resurgence [Vancouver Sun]
• Video: Mayor Gregor Robertson pushing Vancouver to be 'greenest city' by 2020 [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver to include citizens input in naming streets [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver green push goes to the next level [Vancouver Sun]
• Wildlife wandering in the city unlikely to get out alive [Vancouver Sun]
• Payphones not worth the hassle, say DTES merchants [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Down with the Plan? [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Australia Is About To Have A Totally Reasonable Climate Policy ...
Release: Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, Brad Cran, announced details today for the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference which will be an unprecedented collaboration among Vancouver’s poetry communities to create a four-day literary event at SFU Woodward’s from October 19-22, 2011.
“This poetry conference will gather together a wide range of poets from across North America,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “We are proud to support this unique artistic project during our year as Cultural Capital of Canada.”
Programming will include daytime seminars and discussions that explore the poetics of everything from the avante garde to traditional poetic forms. In the evenings the wide array of poets will perform in cabarets as part of the Vancouver International Writers Festival.
Keynote poets include Governor General’s Award and Griffin Prize winner Don McKay; the esteemed American poet Fanny Howe, winner of the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; and, Martin Espada who has been hailed as the Latino poet of his generation and the Pablo Neruda of North American authors.
July 15th, 2011
July 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Riding Vancouver's Streets into the Future [The Tyee]
• Two Vancouver neighbourhoods targeted for expanded food scraps pickup [Vancouver Courier]
• Real life superhero takes to Vancouver's streets [Globe and Mail]
• Cost of Metro services could rise 44 per cent over five years [Vancouver Sun]
• City hall promises 'green jobs' in environmental plan [Vancouver Courier]
• Hume: Income polarization is a recipe for class war [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• How to make a National Park in a few (not so) easy steps [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Where Would Hemingway Go? [The ...
July 16th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Bold Transit Funding, Neighbourhood Memories and the Car in the City
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Feet hit the pavement for Walk the Region last weekend and Alanah Heffez provided two posts this week reflecting on the experience. The first gives some initial observations about the walk itself while the second discusses some great revelations regarding density and intricacy.
Spacing profiles a new exhibit at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal which looks at the personal memories of three Montreal neighbourhoods that were swept off the map between 1950 and 1970 to make way for modernist megaprojects.
In a city lacking in common street furniture, Eric Darwin reports on a recent spate of shop owners setting out their own informal public sidewalk seating along the lines of the approach taken in New York's Times Square. The project has been blessed by a blind eye from the City.
In cycling heavy downtown neighbourhoods, the City of Ottawa's recent removal of parking meters is causing a chronic shortage of bike storage space, something that Spacing's Eric Darwin predicted over a year ago.
Jim Guild analysis and explores the opposition to a controversial road widening plan that would significantly impact existing neighbourhoods for the benefit of suburban commutes.
My City Lives presents the sixth installment of the 'David Miller, Transit Mayor' series. This installment features a candid interview with Miller reflecting on the role of the automobile in the city during a winter drive to the lakeshore.
Perpetually stuck in 1973 Mayor Bert Xanadu takes readers through a thoughtful reflection on his experience with the conversion of Lower Yonge Street into a pedestrian only space in the summer of 1971. Xanadu shares the lessons learned from the project and plans moving forward.
July 16, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver Folk Festival loses acts as musicians denied entry to Canada [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver wants to catch up to other communities’ recycling levels [Globe and Mail]
• Belcarra: A little piece of paradise [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro directors want more say in TransLink’s plans [Vancouver Sun]
• No Visible Majority [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Public input needed to help shape local landmark [Edmonton Journal]
INTERNATIONAL
• S.F. parklets emerge as neighborhood fixtures [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Who owns Spiral Jetty? [Reuters]
• Hey, city parks, it's time to get into better ...
Critical Mass 20th anniversary book – call for submissions
By Jackie Wong // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_1315" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo courtesy of Will Keats-Obsorn from the Vancouver Critical Mass flickr pool."][/caption]
When writer and community organizer Chris Carlsson proposed that the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) start a group ride home together on the last Friday of the month, the idea was cautiously embraced by the ad-hoc group of cyclists who would meet at the back of a Chinese restaurant in the early 90s.
The SFBC had no interest in sponsoring the event, Carlsson says, but that decision set the course for the spirit of the ride: it would be a spontaneous, unstructured event powered by the collective energy of its participants.
On the last Friday of September 1992, a group of 48 cyclists gathered at the foot of Market Street in San Francisco for its first group ride that would become a monthly tradition. Critical Mass was born. The event soon spread to other cities, and the number of participants grew exponentially with each ride.
July 17th, 2011
July 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
East Vancouver community book exchange project helps bring neighbours together [Vancouver Sun]
Eco-friendly Port Moody ‘getting into people’s kitchens’ [Globe and Mail]
Metro building new fish ladder in Burnaby [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
Hunters Point redevelopment given OK to progress [San Francisco Chronicle]
L.A. Planning Director LoGrande Navigating the City’s Challenges [The Planning Report]
July 18th, 2011
ROAD SHOW: Ottawa on Tuesday and Montreal on Wednesday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
When: Tuesday, July 19, 7-10:30pm
Where: National Arts Centre, 4th Stage 53 Elgin St.
Cost: $5 (gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
PARTNER: National Arts Centre
Panelists: Matthew Blackett (Spacing publisher) moderator, George Dark (partner at Urban Strategies, urban designer & landscape architect), Allegra Newman (community planning advocate), Evan Thornton (Spacing Ottawa editor)
MONTREAL
When: Wednesday, July 20, 6:30-9pm
Where: 690 Sherbrooke Street West with event on Victoria Street (adjacent to the McCord Museum) between Sherbrooke and President Kennedy
Cost: Free! $5 ...
July 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A century ago, B.C. cared about its parks [Globe and Mail]
• Living it up with VIVA Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• "Neon and rain are the two sexiest things" [OpenFile]
• Impasse ends as Metro Vancouver and Coquitlam agree on regional growth strategy [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Fusion Businesses and the Cities of Tomorrow [Sustainable Cities Collective]
• Rogers rejects call for more garden cities [Building Design]
• We Are Approaching Peak Car Use [Fast Company]
• Light rail station: Roosevelt wants even more shops, housing [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
• Writing code ...
Origami City: Transportation 2040 planning to bring Vancouver closer together
By Brian Gould // 2 Comments
When Spacing made its formal debut in Vancouver this June, the city's new urban generation was able to make good use of the bar on one side of the room and the city's transportation planning team on the other. The unusual juxtaposition worked all the better because the city's engineers and planners were there to talk about the same thing everyone else was: building a transportation system to enable the kind of city we want to live in. That discussion continues until the end of the month with preliminary public consultation, including a survey, for Vancouver's new long-range transportation plan.
Brent Toderian, Director of City Planning, spoke of moving "beyond how people move in space, to how people can 'be' in space," summing up the latest step forward that Transportation 2040 seems to represent. Vancouver has developed quite the reputation for its brand of city-building, but it took a legendary planning effort and a realignment of priorities to produce the city we enjoy today. It also took a leap of faith.
July 19th, 2011
July 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Moving Forward with transit in Metro Vancouver: an update on TransLink’s 2011 base plan and supplemental plans [The Buzzer Blog]
• Port, city, passes buck on trucks [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Toronto has strongest economy among Canadian cities; Vancouver at 7th [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• How Wifi is Reinventing Our City Parks [Time]
• A vision of South Station as indoor park [The Boston Globe]
• Retrofitting cities for aging Boomers [Crosscut]
Release: VIVA Vancouver events
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
VIVA Vancouver is transforming street spaces into people places and giving you extra space to walk, bike, dance, skate, sit, hang out with friends and meet your neighbours. Every weekend on downtown Granville Street this summer, it will play host to community events and more. This summer, also expect VIVA Vancouver to hit your laneways and streets in Mount Pleasant in July and Cambie Village and Collingwood in August.
Remixing Public Space in Vancouver
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Fresh Media is a group of Vancouverites who celebrate innovation and independent media. A project of OpenMedia.ca, their aim is to re-imagine and re-create what Canada’s media-scape looks like. This past Monday, the team held their 6th ReMixology event at the recently opened Vinegar Warehouse near Raymur and E Cordorva Street in Vancouver. ReMixiology is a series of events where media innovators and social change makers mix it up and look at ways to promote social change. Spacing Vancouver was a proud media sponsor of the event.
Edition #6 was of special interest to Spacing readers as it focused on “taking media to the street.” The central theme of the evening was “What happens when media in public space is remixed?” The event looked at how both old AND new media tools can be used affect public space and generate conversations in order to promote critical thinking and civic engagement.
No More Play: Conversations on Urban Speculation in Los Angeles and Beyond
By David Peacock // No Comments
Author: Michael Maltzan (Hatje Cantz, 2011)
Through conversations with a photographer, journalist, urban planner, futurist and a number of architect-cum-academics, Michael Maltzan tries to define the dynamics of the City of Los Angeles in No More Play. Fabulous Photos by Iwan Baan engage readers in this sweeping narrative, exposing human interaction with L.A.’s horizontal laboratory of cars, highways and urban ecology.
No more Play is not a book about buildings. Rather, it offers readers a submersion into L.A.’s sea of cultural influence and gives a look at the mechanisms that spur its rapidly changing urban landscape. Each voice offers a personal account that speaks to the past, present and future of Los Angeles, as well as to the world beyond. Catherine Opie, Matthew Coolidge, Mirko Zardini, Edward Soja, Charles Jencks, Qingyun Ma, Sarah Whiting, James Flanigan, and Charles Waldheim describe the events, places, industries and ideas that are the basis for one of the world’s most flagrant economic and cultural cities.
July 20th, 2011
July 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Steam-powered treasure moored in Vancouver’s False Creek [Vancouver Courier]
• B.C.’s open-government websites called a good start, but more work needed [Globe and Mail]
• Tour the Downtown Eastside's $10 million facelift [OpenFile]
• How to save the Pantages Theatre: Expropriation [The Mainlander]
• East Vancouver school grounds to be transformed into "natural playground" [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver approves three-tower development in Marpole area [Vancouver Sun]
• Mayor Watts comes out swinging on the gas tax [State of Vancouver]
• Does Metrotown Work? [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• 'Carmageddon's' good karma [...
World Wide Wednesday: Climate bowls, city cams and carmaggedon
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• For those of you wishing for an altered clime this week, consider the wisdom of your Inca ancestors. Over at BLDGBLOG, they've got a neat profile of enormous weather bowls - landscaped pits which created microclimates ideal for different Incan crops. The author questions to what extent the climate is a component of the historical of the value of the site. Is it a stretch to imagine that the fight against climate change could be seen as an act of historical preservation?
• If you're looking for a more modern solution, solar panels may be your answer. A recent study from UC San Diego found a 5°F reduction in temperature inside buildings with solar panels. Raised and tilted panels create an even more dramatic reduction, while white roofs are the most effective at reducing temperatures in the floors below. (GOOD)
• Fast Company profiles NYC's politically favourable alternative to congestion pricing: Midtown in Motion. The $1.6 million real-time traffic management system allows traffic engineers to adjust traffic signals in response to congestion data collected by sensors and cameras. This data is also available to drivers who want to avoid jams.
July 21st, 2011
July 21, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
LOCAL
• A Friendly Invasion from Spacing [The Tyee]
• Historic rock garden in Stanley Park gets recognition [Vancouver Courier]
• Mayor's wild green plan will cripple city, citizens [Vancouver Courier]
• Crosscheck: The greenest province? [Globe and Mail]
• Former B.C. mayor honoured over efforts for Japanese Canadians [Globe and Mail]
• Ghostly signs of Vancouver's fading history [OpenFile]
• Good News from City Hall [Price Tags]
CANADA
• TTC operations are next stop on city's cost-cutting route [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• City gets street smart [New York Post]
• To ...
Hammock Coffee Table in the City
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Hammock Coffee Table in the City from Distortion Productions on Vimeo.
ROAD SHOW: Last stop, Halifax (on Monday)!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
The tenth and final stop on the Spacing Road Show hits Halifax on Monday. Make sure to come out!
When: Monday, July 25, 6:30-9pm (panel starts at 7pm)
Where: The Hub, 1673 Barrington St.
Cost: free ($5 gets you copy of magazine)
Facebook: RSVP to our event listing
Panelists: Matthew Blackett (Spacing publisher) moderator, Cyndi Rottenberg-Walker (partner at Urban Strategies, urban planner), Tim Bousquet (news & environment editor at The Coast).
Release: San Francisco Bay Area Hosts First International Green Schoolyard Conference
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Berkeley, July 21, 2011—Around the globe schools are tearing up their cement yards and replacing them with green gardens. Schools in many different countries are leaders in this field, finding innovative ways to weave curricula into their landscapes, diversify their recreational offerings, enhance their local ecology, and reflect their unique location and cultural context. The first international green schoolyard conference to celebrate and exchange ideas will be held this fall, September 16–18, in Berkeley and San Francisco, California. The conference—Engaging Our Grounds—is being organized by New Village Press, Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, and Bay Tree Design, inc.
July 22nd, 2011
July 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Law and Order and Parking Lots [Sightlines]
• West End residents rally against rezoning [Vancouver Courier]
• Vision Vancouver stands by bike lanes [Globe and Mail]
• Councillor seeks single body to advocate for arts and culture [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver city council calls for public input on viaducts [Vancouver Sun]
• Unwanted backyard fruit finds its way to Vancouver's inner city [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver airport turns 80 [Vancouver Sun]
• In Search of the Bike Lifestyle [The Tyee]
• The cost of cultivating sports culture [Price ...
July 23rd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Transportation 2040, New Regionalism and Guerilla Gardening
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Noting that cities no longer compete with their suburbs but with city regions around the world, Joel Thibert uses the The Regionalist column to reflect on the need for a new regional perspective that responsibly balances a common interest with effective government.
Alanah Heffez reflects on the immensely successful Spacing Roadshow stop in the city which saw observers spilling out of the building and great presentations about the intricacies of Montreal.
Continuing a series of posts from his European travels, Clive Doucet reflects on the Italian city of Ravenna and contrasts the candidate for European Cultural Capital to Bologna, its gritty neighbour.
Daniel Rotsztain looks at a marvelous plot of guerilla gardening in the Far North End of Halifax and uses it to talk about guerilla gardening as the nexus of do-it-yourself city planning and urban agriculture.
Jessica Lemieux tracks Toronto's ambitious goal to double its tree canopy in the next 40 years by looking at the challenges and benefits of urban forestry as well as the efforts of local community groups.
In the final installment of David Miller: Transit Mayor, the former mayor talks about his favourite place in Toronto and what it says about the city's successes and the path it will need to take in the future.
July 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
LOCAL
• Sole links in Vancouver's 1960s freeway plan may be razed [New Urban Network]
• Vancouver aims for massive expansion of social housing stock [Vancouver Courier]
• Impact of Vancouver bike lanes 'moderate' on downtown businesses, study says [Vancouver Courier]
• City drastically reduces housing goals [The Mainlander]
• New trail linking Fort Langley and Golden Ears Bridge opens Saturday [Vancouver Sun]
• Bike lanes: Here to stay, with tweaks to reduce business losses [State of Vancouver]
• Hornby Cycle Track Update – 9 [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Interview: REBAR makes simple yet powerful ...
July 24th, 2011
July 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CANADA
• Central Canada could win big in the battle of shipyards [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Jane Jacobs on Neighborhoods, Placemaking & Active Living [SustainableCitiesCollective]
• Chicago’s New Protected Bike Lanes [The City Fix]
July 25th, 2011
July 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Bike lane connects to Spirit Trail [Vancouver Sun]
• City drastically reduces housing goals [The Mainlander]
• Sell naming rights to Skytrain stations, says Surrey mayor [Vancouver Sun]
• City to create 38,000 affordable-housing units as part of plan to end homelessness [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Assuring Sustainable Third Places in the City [Sustainable Cities Collective]
• Urban Green Space Key in Improving Air Quality [TheCityFix.com]
• Playing chicken with Metro buses [Crosscut]
• Bucking the trend of Olympic waste [New Scientist]
• Twisty Little Passages [BLDGBLOG]
Price Points: Emery Barnes
By Gordon Price // No Comments
[Editor's Note: We at Spacing Vancouver are delighted to announce our newest regular column - Price Points! Each week, SFU City Program Director, Gordon Price (Price Tags) will select an image from his massive archive of amazing photographs and explain the reason why. Simple, fun, and informative, we're extremely excited to have Gordon share his insights through Price Points with our Spacing Vancouver readers.]
WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?
A scene in one of the City's newest ...
Vancouver’s Hornby and Dunsmuir Separated Bike Lanes: Ridership Climbing, Business and Auto Impacts Negligible
By Brian Gould // 12 Comments
[caption id="attachment_1493" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Saturday Afternoon on Hornby Street (Photos by Kathleen Corey and Brian Gould)"][/caption]
[Ed: A video montage of the lanes is also available -bg]
Several bike lane related reports and surveys will hit council on Thursday, providing statistics galore. Some, like the June-to-June midweek ridership increases of 50% on Dunsmuir, show clear benefits. Others, like the economic impact study results, rely on merchants' anecdotal reports to estimate a 4% decrease in sales - meanwhile, vacancy rates on Hornby are down from last year's 12% to 2%. The positive results are recognized not only by cyclists but by area visitors as well, with support for the Hornby lanes up to 64%.
Numbers aren't required to see that the lanes are increasing ridership by making cyclists feel safe - that takes only a bike ride to find out. Unfortunately, those among the entrenched 28% opposition are also least likely to take this opportunity. If they did, they'd find an easy and protected False Creek crossing on the Burrard Bridge tying into the Hornby lanes and a quick and seamless route from quiet streets on Union and Adanac, over the Dunsmuir Viaduct, and into the heart of downtown. They'd also find plenty of other Vancouverites to keep them company.
July 26th, 2011
July 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The 2011 CUTA BC Youth Summit is looking for volunteers! [The Buzzer Blog]
• New housing project opens in Downtown Eastside [Vancouver Courier]
• Incinerator plan has Metro Vancouver politicians feeling ‘sabotaged [Globe and Mail]
• After smoke from Vancouver fireworks clears, a profit possible this year [Globe and Mail]
• The future of local? [Open File]
• Vancouver's housing plan to include rent banks, limits on profits [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Inviting Them In: Using Story as a Planning Tool [Planning Commissioners Journal]
• Could cities' problems be solved by urban acupuncture? ...
Reveal: Studio Gang Architects
By Rebecca Esau // No Comments
Author: Jeanne Gang, (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
The Chicago School refers to a group of architects active during the early 20th century, including H.H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, who were among the first to promote new technologies of steel construction systems while pioneering new aesthetics paralleling European Modernism. Based out of Chicago, the collaborators at Studio Gang Architects are enterprising the history of the Chicago School with their contribution to contemporary architecture. Jeanne Gang leads innovation and architectural style with projects ranging from all scales and uses of buildings, to material investigations and installations. Reveal is a monograph that plots its course through architecture’s current milieu with immediacy and intention.
July 27th, 2011
July 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Approved development divides Arbutus Ridge residents [Vancouver Courier]
• No compensation for Vancouver businesses claiming losses from bike lanes, says mayor [Vancouver Courier]
• Province approves Metro Vancouver's plans to build waste incinerator [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Cadastre by comic book [At Lincoln House]
• Addressing the Obesity Epidemic: A New Role for Urban Planners [Colab Radio]
World Wide Wednesday: Bamboo bike, sea spires and quiet time
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Yes, Virginia, there is a bike tree. Design student Alexander Vittouris coaxed a bamboo stalk to grow into a bike frame shape - the Ajiro. Grist wonders whether we might see fields of bamboo bikes in the future.
• Artist Cliff Garten's Sea Spires installation in Long Beach, California gives new meaning to the "bus stop" concept. Commissioned by Long Beach Transit and the Arts Council for Long Beach, the sculpture enhances the transit experience at East 2nd Street and East Marina Drive. Officials in Long Beach hope that the installation "encourages pedestrians, drivers, and transit riders alike to reflect upon the power of art to enhance urban communities". (Contemporist)
• In Abu Dhabi, a new master plan for the suburban communities of Baniyas and South Wathba will revitalize and reintegrate the neighbourhoods with the metropolitan area. The neighbourhoods are currently separated by a major highway. The plan attempts to restore balance through growth and mixed use development. (The National)
July 28th, 2011
July 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city hall packed for Shannon Mews rezoning hearing [Vancouver Courier]
• TransLink warns it needs funding ahead of mayors’ meeting over gas, property taxes [Vancouver Sun]
• West End civic report calls for renter protection, more green space [Vancouver Sun]
• Open Letter: Support for the Gas Tax [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Spontaneous works of art brighten an otherwise urban blandscape [The Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• Why America’s Young And Restless Will Abandon Cities For Suburbs [New Geography]
• How to grow a Garden City [New Urban Network]
• 15M and YES WE ...
July 29th, 2011
July 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Little Mountain development remains in limbo [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver to beef up police presence for Celebration of Light [Globe and Mail]
• Why do Vancouver cafes close so early? [OpenFile]
• 38,000 affordable homes in 10-year Vancouver city plan [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Asia Theme Park Boom Is Big Business for Designers [Architectural Record]
• S.F. Downtown Plan at 25: foresight and futility [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Is it Time to Retire Jane Jacobs' Vision? [Governing Magazine]
• Five new Seattle creative spaces to watch [Crosscut]
How to Transform an Alleyway into a Thriving Public Space
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
Peek down an alleyway in any city and what will you find? Shadows, garbage bins, concrete, perhaps danger. With an aim to demonstrate how to transform these oft-ignored corridors into attractive, thriving public spaces, Livable [sic] Laneways and the Vancouver Design Nerds teamed up to give an alley in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood a makeover.
This Saturday, July 30, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the last of three artful events the two organizations have been co-hosting in conjunction with VIVA Vancouver will be held near the Main Street and West Broadway intersection - in the north-south laneway next to the historic Lee Building, a few steps west of Main.
Local businesses open up their back doors. Musicians will perform as artists and designers dress up an otherwise drab alleyway for the public to enjoy.
July 30th, 2011
July 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• East Vancouver art institution moves to Coal Harbour [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver’s food-cart experiment keeps on giving [Globe and Mail]
• Metro Vancouver growth strategy approved [Vancouver Sun]
• SoMa: Main Street’s commercial heart [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Calgarians pay the most to drive [Money]
INTERNATIONAL
• White flight - to the city [The Los Angeles Times]
• Implausible Futures for Unpopular Places [Places: Design Observer]
• NIMBY Nation: Mad as hell and I don’t blame ‘em. For now. [PlaceShakers]
Spacing Saturday: Urban Laneways, Rethinking Density and News Café
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Guillaume St-Jean used the Montage du Jour feature this week to present a series of incredible comparisons, showing the evolution of Montreal streets over the last 50 years.
Jonathan Lapalme contributed some great photography from around Montreal to the Photo du Jour series.
In a little piece of car share geekery Spacing compares the design details of two leading car share organizations in Toronto and Ottawa.
Media organizations often set up shop is busy urban areas only to fail to engage with the street beyond using its activity as a backdrop. Evan Thornton uses the Winnipeg Free Press News Cafe as an example of the kind of media hub that should be tried in a city like Ottawa.
Sean Gillis engages readers on an important question of how we think about density. Noting that we often confuse height with density, Gillis demonstrates that high density can be achieved without tall buildings.
The Globe and Mail announced plans this week to add to the skyline with a new office tower at the site of its headquarters at Front and Spadina. Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to talk about the history the site and its future potential.
Luca De Franco's Headspace feature this week talks with Eric Kamphof, general manager of Curbside Cycle, to share some great insights into the long running evolution of cycling in Toronto and how to achieve "barrier-free cycling."
July 31st, 2011
July 31, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• The Olympic Park: Will we love it? [London Evening Standard]
• An Urban Jungle for the 21st Century [The New York Times]
August 1st, 2011
August 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver looks to demolish two downtown viaducts [Crosscut]
• Vancouver's first public event since riot goes off without a hitch [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver mayor may pay the political price for bike lanes [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. mayors divided on TransLink’s funding plan [Globe and Mail]
• Why You Should Care About the Eastern Core Strategy [The Mainlander]
• Down and Out in Abbotsford, BC [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• NYC Biking is Up 14 Percent From 2010; Overall Support Rises [Transportation Nation]
• Through culverts to the sea [The ...
Community Led Consultations: Lessons from Marpole
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Despite a rich history that goes back hundreds of years, Marpole is one of those places in the city that has managed to stay under the radar. Located along Vancouver's south-western edge, it is currently home to a diverse residential community of young families, seniors, business professionals and newcomers to Canada.
While its reputation as a quiet, serene place has attracted many residents, it has also its downside. Decades of auto-oriented transportation infrastructure planning have not been kind to the the area, making it the only Vancouver neighbourhood disrupted by three major arterials - Granville St., Cambie St. and SW Marine Drive - as well as the most heavily trafficked road in the city, Oak Street. The heavy traffic volumes are intimately connected to the Oak Street and Arthur Laing bridges that connect Vancouverites to Richmond and beyond.
The creation of the Arthur Laing bridge (and the on-/off-ramps that support it), in particular, had a devastating effect on the neighbourhood - burying important First Nations sites under asphalt and severing the original European settlement of Eburne from any meaningful ties to the larger city.
Price Points: Pride at Sunset
By Gordon Price // No Comments
WHAT'S THIS ABOUT:
Is this the best fairground in British Columbia?
It's Sunset Beach field - normally one of the expansive spaces found along the seawall, just west of the Burrard Bridge (map here), used for pick-up soccer and inline hockey.
On this day, July 30th, it's the celebration space at the end of the Pride Parade, Vancouver's biggest, in which several thousands of people, many shirtless, come to learn useful things about the LBGT community. And to check each other ...
August 2nd, 2011
August 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Sense of place: Networked art probes virtual worlds [New Scientist]
• Plan to revitalize industrial land progressing [Globe and Mail]
• Preserving a modernist Trend House [Globe and Mail]
• Behind the bustle at Chinatown's Night Market [OpenFile]
• No Rest for the Weary in Surrey, BC [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Capital values [The Economist]
• The Big Bore and the Big War [Crosscut]
Model Making
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
Author: Megan Werner (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
"A physical model is the material embodiment of an idea, and therein lies its magic. By becoming real, it gives life and actuality to an idea in a way that two-dimensional expressions rarely can. While a drawing might prefer, for example, a specific angle of view, the model often has no such luxury. With its three-dimensionality, its reaction to light and materiality a model is perceived in innumerable and unpredictable ways."
- Emily Abruzzo, From the Foreward
August 3rd, 2011
August 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Shannon Mews rezoning approved to dismay of opponents [Vancouver Courier]
• Panel rejects old Pantages site plan [Vancouver Courier]
• Open data, open government [Globe and Mail]
• Social housing, community, and Vancouver's political "confidence" [OpenFile]
• Building a sky-high community garden [OpenFile]
• Finding Shelter in Vancouver, BC [The Tyee]
CANADA
• Passage on an urban graveyard train [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Questions dog Detroit Works plan: Advocates want to see long-term strategy [Crain's Detroit Business]
• What Does Fiction Know? [Places: Design Observer]
• 'Parkmobiles' bring taste of nature ...
World Wide Wednesday: Container markets, miniature cities, all-door boarding
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• This weekend, Brooklyn saw the long awaited opening of the DeKalb Market - a collection of storefronts housed in discarded shipping containers. Inhabitat argues that the site functions as an outdoor community centre, hosting entrepreneurs of the new economy alongside relics of the borough's past.
• The Onion pokes fun at the disrepair of America's transportation infrastructure: "Al-Qaeda Claims U.S. Mass Transportation Infrastructure Must Drastically Improve Before Any Terrorist Attacks"
• German street artist EVOL has installed four blocks of cityscape below ground outside Hamburg. The installation provides a unique godzilla-esque experience for observers. (Colossal Art and Design)
August 4th, 2011
August 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Shannon Mews Rezoning Passes Despite Citizen Opposition [The Mainlander]
• Letting go of the suburban dream [Globe and Mail]
• Critics skeptical of Metro Vancouver's ecological health action plan [The Georgia Straight]
INTERNATIONAL
• In San Francisco, All-Door Boarding Catches On [the transport politic]
• To Save Our Cities, Put Children First [Yes! Magazine]
• Why Did America Destroy Its Great Cities? [The Huffington Post]
• When Poverty Grows in the Metro, it Grows in Both Cities and Suburbs [Metro Trends]
• Amazon's new campus: stiff architecture that stints on the fun [...
Release: Culture Days – Last Call to Participate
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CULTURE DAYS - SEPTEMBER 30, OCTOBER 1 & 2, 2011
Last Call to Participate in the Activity Registration Promotion;
Closes Midnight ET August 5!
If you’ve been thinking about registering an activity but haven’t done so yet, now is the time! All those who have registered an activity by midnight ET, August 5, 2011 will be entered into the Culture Days Activity Registration Promotion, where your activity could be featured in a Culture Days ad within The Globe and Mail.* This is a perfect opportunity to gain more exposure for your activity! Register now!
Vancouver’s Dunsmuir and Hornby Separated Bike Lanes
By Brian Gould // 5 Comments
[Ed: here's an extended clip of the morning rush at Hornby and Georgia -bg]
Composed out of a few hours filming on Thursday, July 28, 2011, this video for Spacing Vancouver takes a look at the year-old (Dunsmuir) and six-month-old (Hornby) separated bicycle lanes through downtown, building on last week's feature on the lanes. This video is available in HD at its Vimeo page.
August 5th, 2011
August 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Chinatown celebrates 125th birthday [Vancouver Courier]
• Pedestrian deaths prompt Vancouver council into action [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Tech And The City [Design Mind]
• The Importance of On-Street Parking [The Original Green Blog]
August 6th, 2011
August 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Story tellers [Vancouver Courier]
• “Wait for Me, Daddy”: Culture runs deep in Vancouver suburbs [OpenFile]
• The ghost ships of Royston [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• D.C. feeds the alfresco frenzy [The Washington Post]
• Towns change programs, enlarge street signs to adapt to an older population [The Washington Post]
• Antonio Villaraigosa pushes bus-only lanes as MTA chairman [The Los Angeles Times]
• Why the waterfront tunnel is key to the region's economy [Crosscut]
• Thank climate change for the rise of humans [New Scientist]
• The Pitch: A One-Stop Mobile ...
Spacing Saturday: Surprise Appearances, Making Space for Recreation and a Resident’s Alliance
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Joel Thibert looks back to the work of planner Artur Dickson to make the case for a more integrated approach to planning for recreational space. Arguing that allocating exclusively to recreation degrades the natural landscape and its benefits to us, Thibert advocates for recreational planning that allows for both work and play within the urban environment itself.
In light of the spat of infrastructure failures in the Montreal area Alanah Heffez looks at the details of how our bridges are built, issues around their lifespan and the challenges to their upkeep and care.
Mike Bulthuis looks at the public square at the corner of Rideau and Colonel By which is currently subject to plans by the National Capital Commission to revamp the space into a monument to Lord Stanely. Bulthuis delves into the history of the space and the story of how it lost its role of hosting the memorial to Terry Fox.
Eric Darwin zooms in on the area surrounding Westboro Station on Ottawa's Transitway to look at the history of less-than-successful attempts at transit oriented development. The reflection comes as demolition of old buildings near the station presents a new opportunity for successful intensification.
Malanie Labelle critiques the new Holman Grand Hotel building in downtown Charlottetown and the perceived 'bait and switch' practice of the developers to produce a building without several of the redeeming features of its original design.
Daniel Rotsztain reports from the Sappy Fest Six festival in downtown Sackville, New Brunswick where Arcade Fire made a surprise appearance as the closing act. Rotsztain reflects on how Arcade Fire a used suburban themes to resonate with a generation that grew up in a largely suburban country.
Jake Schabas looks at the similarities between rumored attempts to replace the Chief General Manager of the TTC and the recent decision of the Chairman of New York's MTA to pack his bags for Hong Kong, using both cases as evidence of the high value of people who can manage financially strained transit systems.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to discuss a recently adopted Toronto policy requiring buildings greater than 1000 square meters to clearly display the name of their architect. Bozikovic hopes this will help call out bad architects as well as celebrate good ones.
August 7th, 2011
August 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Seawall Interruptus: Coal Harbour Connection now open [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Six Years Later: Katrina Cottages take hold [PlaceShakers]
• Brooklyn Receives First DOT Sanctioned “Pop-Up” Cafe [Pattern Cities]
• Hong Kong's formula for transit that makes money [Crosscut]
August 8th, 2011
August 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Anthropologist believes he has found B.C. village that may be 10,000 years old [Globe and Mail]
• Canada Line on right track for success in Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• TransLink to expand Canada Line service [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Montrealers unnerved by a city collapsing around them [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• New York City Council Passes Two Bills to Encourage Urban Farming & Rooftop Greenhouses [Inhabitat]
• The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread [The New York Times]
• Sonic Spatialization: Constructing and Deconstructing Our Sonic Environments [Design Under Sky]
• Nature's ...
Thinking outside the (newspaper) box
By Chris Quigley // 3 Comments
Though the summer weather has stayed away, Vancouver is experiencing a growth in street activity. The increased number of specialist food vendors is being rightfully celebrated as the city's foodie culture breaks out into the street. Parts of downtown and beyond are also regularly closed to improve the pedestrian experience as part of the 'VIVA Vancouver' initiative. Downtown Granville Street, for example, is pedestrianized at weekends to accommodate street entertainment and outdoor seating. Yet despite this resurgence I feel something is missing from Vancouver's public spaces. Newspaper kiosks.
To a European urbanist the prevalence of newspaper boxes in a city is strikingly impersonal, not to mention lacking in choice and design. This may be a strange time to be defending print media, but the kiosk is not dead (at least not yet) and can be a tool for enriching Vancouver's public spaces.
Meet Your Fellow Vancouver Urbanists This Sunday
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
As great as learning about our great city online can be, nothing beats getting together and sharing our experiences in person. Vanouver readers are invited to do just that this weekend at the monthly Vancouver Urbanist meetup.
Join your fellow urbanists this coming Sunday (August 14th) from 3-5pm, for a few beers and a lively discussion about urbanism in Vancouver and cities in general.We'll be meeting at the Irish Heather Gastropub in Gastown (212 Carrall Street)
Feel free to drop in when you can. We'll be there ...
August 9th, 2011
August 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city planners court resident input for neighbourhood plans [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver housing plan sets stage for debate on homelessness [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver’s tricycle delivery system not child’s play [Globe and Mail]
• City of Surrey mulls over buying 243 hectares for new parks [Vancouver Sun]
• A Distant Mirror: 40 Years of Urbanism in Vancouver [Raise the Hammer]
INTERNATIONAL
• ‘Where Children Sleep’ [The New York Times]
• Redefining Creative Space [Urban Land]
• El Camino Real: Can planners take the high road? [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Critic's ...
Re:post – No Room to Rent in the Livable City
By Jackie Wong // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_1939" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Rental housing in Vancouver: 'A downward spiral.' Photo by Marlis Funk."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of cross-posts with The Tyee looking at "renovictions" in Vancouver. Survey after poll after review lauds Vancouver as North America's most 'livable' -- home to some of the most desirable addresses on Earth. Yet for up to half of Vancouver city residents and thousands of other householders across Metro who rent rather than own their accommodation, finding a place to come home to in the continent's most-envied urban region can seem like the proverbial haystack-hunt for a needle. And once found, rental tenancy can end abruptly even when renters follow all the rules. In this latest Tyee Fellowship series funded by readers, journalist Jackie Wong investigates.]
Carolyn Ali didn't expect to be a boomerang kid in her late thirties. She's worked for a decade as a freelance writer. In recent years, as her husband battled an illness that limited his ability to work, her job has been the couple's chief source of income. Their $850-a-month one-bedroom apartment in Kitsilano was small, but close to the weekly newspaper where Ali works part-time as an editor. Then in late April they received an eviction notice, their second in five years.
Neither order had anything to do with the couple's conduct. For 15 years they always paid their rent on time and made a point of building positive relations with landlords. On both occasions they were told to vacate their suite so the building's owners could move their own families in. Now, fed up with a system they feel is hostile to long-term tenants, the two are packing up to exit the rental market the only way they can: they're moving in with Ali's parents.
In the Wilds: Drawings by Nigel Peake
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Into the Wilds is an incredible collection of hand-drawings by Irish artist, Nigel Peake. Created over the course of three months, Peake uses illustrative architectural drawings to tell a story of the remote countryside he grew up on. Depicting footprints of a single bird or aerial drawings of the farm field, Peake expertly moves between scales. Pattern, fragments, structure and order are key elements in the graphic language that he uses to tell his story.
Price Points: Skaters on the Seawall
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?
Just a few of the hundred or more skateboarders who were rolling towards Brockton Point on the Stanley Park Seawall (map here) to join in the 125th birthday party of the City of Vancouver a month ago. (Question: what's the collective? A flip of skaters? A slam? A kick?)
Their sense of joy is obvious: youth, movement and comaraderie.
No idea what this group was or where they were coming from. But they're clearly organized 'cause they're all wearing helments. ...
Re:post – Thrown Out: Fight Grinds on Against ‘Renovictions’
By Jackie Wong // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_1969" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="After the landlords they'd fought for years sold their building, tenants of The Seafield hope for a new era of peace. Photo by Marlis Funk."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: Vancouver revels in its reputation as North America's most 'livable’ city. Yet for as many as half of Vancouver's households and thousands of others across Metro who rent rather than own their accommodation, finding a place to come home to can mean a nail-biting search. More worrisome still, even once an affordable rental has been found, it can be abruptly snatched away again. In this installment of our latest reader-funded Tyee Fellowship series, journalist Jackie Wong investigates one common practice that has a growing number of renters up in arms. (Read her first report here.)]
The hallways in The Seafield apartment building have been stripped of their carpets. Pebbles and dust line the dark walls. It's the first day of March, and the 80-year-old, 14-unit walkup in Vancouver's West End is in rough shape -- in more than one sense. For two and a half years, the Pendrell Street dwelling has been the site of a vocal battle between the people who until recently owned The Seafield, and the people who live there.
Brothers-in-law Chris Nelson and Jason Gordon purchased the building for $3,447,000 in July 2008, through their company Gordon Nelson Inc. (GNI). Over the following months GNI issued a number of eviction notices, claiming it needed the suites vacated in order to renovate the elderly building.
August 10th, 2011
August 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver gets a new faux summertime beach [Vancouver Sun]
• Connections: What They Don’t Say [Price Tags]
• PRT at Heathrow [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Panic on the Streets of London [CommonDreams]
• What is the function of art in public spaces and how does it connect to or actively serve people? [Glass House Conversations]
• Site utility boxes in SF by design, not chance [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Ethiopia Moves Forward with Massive Nile Dam Project [National Geographic]
• The tunnel vote: the end is near! [Crosscut]
World Wide Wednesday: Luminaires, Luminato, Graffiti Surge
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• The New York Times covers the surge in graffiti being reported in many US cities. Officials from L.A., Portland, OR, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, New York, and Seattle attribute the increase to a tough economy, the summer recess, and the glorification of street art in popular culture.
• A new traffic device called the "Intersector" is attracting new cyclists to the streets of Pleasanton, CA. The military-developed technology detects approaching cyclists and holds lights green until they pass through the intersection. City officials report that the device has been well received by cyclists and drivers. (Toronto Star)
• New York City has set a new standard for scaffolding design following an international competition. The winning design, the "Urban Umbrella" lifts the structure above the pedestrian head and allows more natural light to reach the sidewalk. (NY1)
Re:post – Landlords See a High Price to Cheap Rent
By Jackie Wong // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_1991" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="For years, tenants at The Seafield fought with landlords Gordon and Nelson before the building was sold in 2011. Photo by Marlis Funk."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: As many as half the households in the city of Vancouver, and thousands more across Metro, rent rather than own their accommodation. But for some, freedom from a mortgage comes with mounting insecurity over whether they'll face eviction. Meanwhile, finding an affordable place to call home can mean a nail-biting search. In yesterday's installment of our latest reader-funded Tyee Fellowship series, journalist Jackie Wong heard from tenants who blame the crisis in Vancouver rental housing on grasping landlords. In this report, she hears from landlords -- and gets a different take on the situation.]
A vintage road bike leans against the wall outside the Gastown headquarters of Gordon Nelson Inc. (GNI). The office door is inscribed with "Internet Gaming Partners," the name of the online gaming company brothers-in-law Jason Gordon and Chris Nelson own in addition to their namesake rental property management firm.
Gordon, 39, is dressed in black tie evening wear -- a holdover from last night's festivities at the father-daughter dance he attended with his young daughter, Lucy, who accompanies us on the interview.
August 11th, 2011
August 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Locals check out Vancouver's artificial beach [Globe and Mail]
• Tools of a Different Trade [The Dependent]
• Case against bike lanes has not been made [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Mapping the riots with poverty [The Guardian]
• Riots: Sennett, Rykwert, Till, de Botton and Tavernor on why Britain is burning [The Architects' Journal]
• Scarcity is breeding creativity in collaborative communities [Crosscut]
My Grandview: A Walking Tour with Michael Kluckner
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Join Heritage Vancouver first President Michael Kluckner for a unique look at Vancouver Grandview neighbourhood. You will roam through the blocks between Pender and Victoria Drive and First Avenue east of Commercial Drive, examining rows of builders’ houses, the scattered mansions of a century ago, surviving corner stores, apartment buildings and the Franciscan monastery. All in all, one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in Vancouver.
DATE: Saturday, August 27th – 10am to 12pm
LOCATION: Tour will begin and end at the corner of Pender Street and Victoria Drive. ...
Release: PICNURBIA
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_2017" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo by Krista Jahnke."][/caption]
PICNURBIA
In the summer, the downtown area of Vancouver is crowded with people from a wide variety of backgrounds who move at different paces through the streets, some on weekly errands, others exploring for the first time. Yet there are few places to pause for a moment to have a break from shopping or enjoy a sandwich during the lunch hour. PICNURBIA addresses this shortage of ‘place’ by creating an inland zone for people to gather, relax and picnic in the heart of downtown.
Re:post – Inside BC’s Secretive Landlord-Tenant Dispute Process
By Jackie Wong // 1 Comment
[Editor's note: Half of Metro Vancouver's households are renters. Private property owners provide most of the apartments they live in. If either side has a complaint about the other, the dispute is likely to end up before the provincial government agency in charge of landlord-tenant issues. What happens next is anybody's guess. In this latest installment of her Tyee Fellowship series on Vancouver's rental housing crisis, Jackie Wong gets a rare glimpse inside the Residential Tenancy Branch.]
Every business day, dispute resolution officers working for the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) -- the arm of the provincial government that polices landlord-tenant conflicts -- convene arbitration hearings across the province. What goes on in them is difficult to know.
Even seasoned veterans say the agency is shrouded in mystery. "The RTB is Fort Knox," tenant activist Christine Ackermann tells me. "You can't get in. You can't get information. They won't release it."
August 12th, 2011
August 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Quake could cause Vancouver city hall data quagmire [Vancouver Courier]
• Crazy STIR Program Will Not Die [The Mainlander]
• Vision Vancouver too focused on green economy, NPA's Suzanne Anton says [Vancouver Sun]
• Lam and Liu, Architects for Humanity [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Will The London Riots Be The Turning Point For Facial Recognition As A Crime-Fighting Tool? [Forbes]
• IBM Partners With Portland To Play SimCity For Real [Fast Company]
• Money Savers and Crowd Pleasers With Cloven Hooves [The New York Times]
• Seeing cities as the environmental solution, not ...
Re:post -Landlords and Tenants Agree: Market Can’t Fix Itself
By Jackie Wong // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2033" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Change federal tax policy for rental-market reform: Maureen Enser, Urban Development Institute. Photo by Marlis Funk."][/caption]
[Editor's note: More than a third of Metro Vancouver's households are renters. And urban planners say the region needs some 6,000 new rental units a year to keep up with the number of people moving here. But construction is falling far short. Previous installments in this reader-funded Tyee Fellowship series investigated Vancouver's rental housing crisis from the standpoint of tenants, landlords, and the provincial agency in charge of settling disputes between the two. In her final report, journalist Jackie Wong explores what veterans of the rental wars say needs to change to make sure Vancouver's renters and landlords both get a fair shake.]
When I meet Martha Lewis in the downtown office of the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC), her exhaustion is obvious. "I'm feeling fed up today," she sighs. Adding to her weariness, she's just heard about federal budget estimates that predictably project a further drop in federal investment in housing and homelessness programs.
TRAC distributes free information on residential tenancy law in 18 languages. Its staff holds regular legal education workshops and advocacy training sessions.
August 13th, 2011
August 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Surrey Rapid Transit – May/June 2011 summary report and UBC Line Rapid Transit March/April summary report [The Buzzer Blog]
• Case against bike lanes has not been made [Vancouver Sun]
• Metrotown the most transit-friendly neighbourhood in the region [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver's most child-friendly neighbourhoods [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• In Ontario, gloomy skies for solar power [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Seattle Shows Cities the Way to Carbon Neutrality [GOOD Magazine]
August 14th, 2011
August 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Speed of London rioters' punishments put Vancouver to shame [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Car, bike sharing programs gearing up as Canadian gas prices spike [Canadian Business]
INTERNATIONAL
• No more ride free zone in downtown Seattle [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
August 15th, 2011
August 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• City limits [The Economist]
• BART Redesign: Plans For BMW-Designed Fleet Of The Future Revealed [The Huffington Post]
• How America Could Collapse [AlterNet]
Price Points
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
What's this about?
Yes, it's a gas station. Not much different than the other 12,684 stations in Canada.
But this one is exceptional: it is one of only two on the Downtown Peninsula of Vancouver (map here). The other is at Davie and Burrard.
These pumps serve a population of over a hundred thousand. And even though a lot of those who live on the peninsula don't have cars, this is also the first gas station immediately visible from the road for drivers on Highway 99 coming from the north as far as Squamish - about 50 kilometres away.
And yet it's not that busy.
Tom Carter: At the Intersection of Art and Urbanism
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2062" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Painting by Tom Carter: Victory Square acrylic on canvas 48”x60”. In the collection of the Bank of Montreal."][/caption]
Art and urbanism rarely intersect. Sure, people talk about the ‘art of’ city planning; and street art is a staple of many cities. But capital ‘A’ fine-art rarely captures the intricacies of the urban environment. Tom Carter—a Vancouver painter and musician—is changing this. Unlike other local artists who focus on Vancouver’s natural beauty or aboriginal heritage, Tom is best known for his paintings that explore the sombre, gritty, working-class environment of cities, usually Vancouver.
Before turning to his easel, Tom owned and managed a recording studio for twenty years. Although he grew up in the suburbs and spent most of his early life in the suburbs, he always wanted an urban life. When he sold his studio a few years ago, Tom wasted little time in buying a downtown loft. As he made the move, he realized that he was the same age his grandfather was when he made a significant change, a generation earlier.
August 16th, 2011
August 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Despite critics, Vancouver will keep its cycle tracks [New Urban Network]
• Heritage foundation touts laneway housing in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• South Cambie neighbourhood has most bike commuters [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
Schools of fish help squeeze more power from wind farms [BBC News]
Presto, Instant Playground [The New York Times]
Desperately Seeking a Bloomberg for the ‘Burbs [The Brookings Institution]
Village 113 [Places: Design Observer]
From the Stacks: Crabgrass Frontier- The Suburbanization of the United States
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[Editor's Note: In the rush to get the latest books, we often forget some of the classics. This is why we've created "From the Stacks"...and we're putting a call out to anybody and everybody who has recommendations of older works worth revisiting today. Better yet, if you're willing to blow the dust off your old favorites and punch a few keys on it, we'd love to take a look!]
Author: Kenneth T. Jackson (Oxford University Press, 1987)
Flying over any of the countless cities throughout North America, one can’t help but be impressed (and/or scared) with how vast our metropolitan areas have become. Freestanding buildings - set within an intricate web of interconnected highways and arterials - stretch out as far as the eye can see and make up the majority of the built world we live in. These are the suburbs…the most contested and debated places in the urban landscape today.
Release – A Sign for the City
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A Sign for the City, a year-long public art project by Sabine Bitter/Helmut Weber, continues in transit shelters August 15.
The regular nightly boom of Vancouver's Nine O'clock Gun is a familiar sound to those within hearing range of Stanley Park's historic cannon.
From May 2011 to April 2012, A Sign for the City appropriates this marker of time, dedicating the sound of the blast each day to a particular cultural, social or political figure or event in Vancouver and B.C.’s history as a reminder of complex cultural histories of this place as well as a marker of time to measure our own lives.
#urbnpalooza 2011
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2114" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image courtesy of Wikipedia."][/caption]
We are an emerging group of local urbanists that are in search of spirited debate and lively discussion on the future of development and decision-making in Vancouver. Towards this end, we're organizing what has been promised as an ‘epic’ tweet-up called #urbnpalooza.
WHEN: Wednesday, August 17, 2011
WHERE: W2 Media Cafe, #250-111 W Hastings Street, Vancouver
WHEN: 6-9pm
ADMISSION: free
Organizers include Andy Yan (BTA Architects), Lindsay Brown (OunoDesign), Linus Lam and Denise Liu (Edison and Sprinkles, Architecture for Humanity Vancouver), and Neal LaMontagne (City of Vancouver).
For ...
August 17th, 2011
August 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Suburban planners struggle to boost cycling [Globe and Mail]
• New Surrey library to lend people out as ‘living books’ [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Do we have to learn to live with slums? [BBC]
• Living Architecture in Europe [The Wall St. Journal]
• Judge Rejects Groups’ Effort to Remove Bike Lane [The New York Times]
• The Tunnel: An earth-moving election for Seattle [Crosscut]
• The ASCE Infrastructure Cult [New Urban Network]
World Wide Wednesday: Cycling monuments, Endangered places, Pop-Up Playgrounds
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• The Guardian's Jane Madembo offers a moving portrait of the role of the bicycle in liberating her from the ordeals of Harare's public transit system.
• ArchiCentral shares the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the most endangered places in the US. Among the sites at risk: John Coltrane's house in Dix Hills, NY; China Alley, CA; Bear Butte Meade County, SD.
• Pop-up stores are a low cost way for companies to test out a location temporarily. In New York, public health and transportation advocates are appropriating the model to increase physical activity in low-income areas. Pop-up playgrounds shut down streets temporarily to provide play space and recreation facilities to children who need it most. (NYT)
Release: Adorno and Nose
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Adorno and Nose by Doupé and Whitman launched into transit shelters August 15
A new project by the City of Vancouver Public Art program invites the public to whistle - or sing - while they wait at bus stops across Vancouver. Adorno and Nose, a series of ten songs composed and illustrated by Barry Doupé and James Douglas Whitman, will be installed from August 15 to October 2, 2011 at 10 locations (listed below) and is one of 13 new public art projects commissioned by the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program for Vancouver 125.
August 18th, 2011
August 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Report targets renter grievances in Vancouver neighbourhood [Vancouver Courier]
• Whalley neighbourhood has fewest university degrees per capita [Vancouver Sun]
• New carving to stand tall in Stanley Park [Vancouver Sun]
• David Suzuki: Building bike lanes pays dividends [The Georgia Straight]
INTERNATIONAL
• Urban Areas Defy Crime Trends [Governing]
• Better Smarter Cities [Scientific American]
• Slumlands — filthy secret of the modern mega-city [New Statesman]
Release: Re:Building Vancouver Explores the Connection Between Social Unrest and Architecture
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A new exhibit at the Architectural Institute of British Columbia Gallery offers a unique perspective on social unrest: the connection between human behavior and our urban surroundings.
Titled Re:Building Vancouver, the presentation takes a unique look at the events of June 15, 2011, when rioters took to the streets of downtown Vancouver. It features insight and commentary from leading British Columbia architects and designers. Each voice offers a distinct perspective on what took place, and what it says about modern society.
Could bridge tolls solve our transit woes?
By Paul Hillsdon // 4 Comments
[caption id="attachment_2120" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Lions Gate Bridge toll booths – Flickr photo by blizzy63."][/caption]
Dianne Watts said it best when she asked whether we want to become like Los Angeles. With an estimated million more people moving into the region in the next thirty years, our already congested transport network risks grinding to a standstill if we fail to make new investments into our system. The notion of less traffic, less emissions, and better transit is something we can all get behind - the problem still remains though, how do we pay for it all?
While TransLink floats increased gas and property taxes, there’s a big pot of money the region continues to neglect: bridge tolls. The proposed 2 cent gas tax increase will raise $40 million, just over half the tab required to finance loans for the Evergreen Line. In comparison, based on preliminary calculations using public traffic statistics, if all the major crossings in the region included a $1 toll each way, we could raise an estimated $200 million annually.
Video Vancouver: Manhattan shoebox apartment: a 78-square-foot mini studio
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
August 19th, 2011
August 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Metro Vancouver facing future threat from rising sea levels [Vancouver Sun]
• Local park eases the hike for disabled [Vancouver Sun]
• Unchain Bike Sharing [Sightline Daily]
INTERNATIONAL
• Talking Bikes with Talking Head David Byrne [The Tyee]
• The end of the road for motormania [New Scientist]
• Hunter-Gatherers Show Human Populations Are Hardwired for Density [Scientific American]
• Can Suburbs Be Designed to Do Away with the Car? [Scientific American]
• Voters backing Seattle tunnel; fight may finally be over [The Seattle Times]
• Critic's Notebook: AEG's designs on downtown ...
August 20th, 2011
August 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Heritage advocate eyes boarded-up bakery sign [Vancouver Courier]
• Politics, not petition, will determine Robson Square’s future [Globe and Mail]
• The library is not just a book warehouse anymore [Globe and Mail]
• Ghost tales told at city’s oldest cemetery [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Capital Growth Scheme Creates 2,012 Public Gardens by 2012 for London [Inhabitat]
• Ciudad Nazca, the robot tracing a city in the desert [We Make Money Not Art]
Spacing Saturday: Rental Housing, Haphazard Development and Underpass Park
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Waterfront Toronto Rendering of the Future West Don Lands Neighbourhood
Alanah Heffez shares a fantastic video, dug up from the CBC archives, of Jane Jacobs making observations on Toronto and Montreal in 1969. Jacob's compliments Montreal for its lack of slum clearance while criticizing Toronto for its political elite's love affair with expensive mediocrity.
Joel Thibert clarifies his position following a recent Op-Ed piece in La Presse regarding haphazard development in the Montreal periphery, including how this development comes to be and what it says about our collective responsibility.
While a City can lay out grand plans for a fantastic new pedestrian realm, small decisions can quickly add up to negate these improvements. Eric Darwin reflects on how this is playing out in Ottawa with the awkward placement of large traffic signal control boxes.
Clive Doucet reflects on the experience of taking in a concert in a 1500 year old Roman Amphitheater and wonders what the continued use of such buildings can tell us about building longevity and how our modern structures will be used in the future.
In Saint John, New Brunswick the local airport authority has put up resistance to the the new PlanSJ community based Municpal Plan. David Drinnan looks at the politics behind the move to oppose the plan.
Emma Feltes profiles a photo exhibition on display in Halifax this week showcasing community opposition and proposed alternatives for the massive amounts of money about to be spent on a huge new downtown convention center.
Bronwyn Clement continues her Park City series highlighting some of the exciting new public spaces opening in Toronto over the next few years. This week Clement profiles Underpass Park, Toronto's first attempt at utilizing underpass space for neighbourhood connectivity in the new West Don Lands Community.
A recent cover story in Toronto Life Magazine caused a stir this week by claiming the city is in the midst of new wave of suburban flight. John Lorinc systematically refutes the article's claims.
August 21st, 2011
August 21, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• 10 great places to explore urban neighborhoods [USA Today]
• Across the Bay Area, streets are getting a makeover -- with less room for cars [The Mercury News]
August 22nd, 2011
August 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Record number of riders use TransLink in 2011 [Vancouver Sun]
• TransLink outperforms Olympic year [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Megabus – King of the Road [The Urbanophile]
• Parks and Re-creation [City Journal]
• Metro area's 50-year growth plan wins state approval; designates urban and rural 'reserves' [The Oregonian]
• Long live Seattle's other boondoggle! [Crosscut]
Price Points: Robson and Granville
By Gordon Price // 6 Comments
What's this about?
It's not often that I cheer the loss of another bit of Vancouver's past. But this block at Robson and Granville is coming down. (Map here.)
Yay!
It's a non-descript white-brick block on a great location. Photographer Alex Waterhouse-Hayward had his studio there - as did, no doubt, an eclectic group of tenants over many decades. We'll miss the unique boutiques in tiny storefronts along the Robson sidewalk, and an alluring retail underworld below - a classic example of Jane Jacobs' observation: New ideas (and ventures) need old buildings.
Funding SkyTrain’s Next 25 Years
By Brian Gould // No Comments
TransLink formally celebrated SkyTrain's 25th Anniversary this past week at the Edmonds Yard in Burnaby. As I listened to the speeches, I couldn't help but pick up on a tendency to spend more time reflecting than talking about the future. Part of this is the self-congratulatory nature of politics, but it's also a product of transit's awkward funding paradigm that keeps cities from funding their own infrastructure. As a result, the provincial and federal governments are invariably involved in what would otherwise be relatively local transportation investment.
The issue is not so much the additional layers of partisanship and politics - each of BC's three most recent governments have helped advance and construct a SkyTrain line, for example - but lenses focused on large swaths of relatively empty space used to judge spending and policy decisions. As much as Canada is an urban country, municipalities are dependent on the whims of other orders of government, with different sets of priorities. While Ian Jarvis, TransLink's CEO, spoke of shaping vibrant communities around SkyTrain stations to build ridership and a sustainable region, the Government of Canada's line revolved around efficiency, effectiveness, security, cleanliness, and prosperity.
Norquay Park: Community by Design (or design by community?)
By Cameron Barker // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Norquay Park's rain garden - a wonderful and engaging part of the innovative water management strategy used in the area. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver."][/caption]
What makes a public park successful? Perhaps we can glimpse and answer this difficult question through looking closely at Norquay Park - one of the few Vancouver parks, along with McAuley Park and Robson Park near Fraser St., abutting the heavily trafficked Kingsway and bordered by Wales Street and Rhodes Street. This parks presents a unique local case where a once neglected piece of green has become a beacon of community engagement and resident-driven design.
On July 20, 2011, the transformed park was officially opened with speeches by Lynne Yelich, Minister of Statefor Western Economic Diversification, Vancouver Deputy Mayor Heather Deal, and Park Board Chair Aaron Jasper. Cake and blue-grass music accompanied a diverse group of neighbourhood residents while government officials championed the success of the park. Children played near the new clubhouse, pop and hot dogs were sold and seniors gathered together with a common understanding that Norquay Park has become a community node instead of a passive green space with little to offer. Its success has brought residents travel from as far as Burnaby to use the park following the revitalization.
Release: City of Vancouver Poet Laureate Call for Expressions of Interest
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The City of Vancouver would like to hear from poets interested in becoming the City's third Poet Laureate. The call for nominations and submissions is open until August 24.
"Since 2007, the City of Vancouver has selected a gifted writer to represent the cultural richness of our community and we have been fortunate to draw upon the talents of Professor Emeritus George McWhirter and the award-winning Brad Cran as our Poets Laureate. Each brought their unique voice to the creative expression of Vancouver's identity and their work is an important part of our literary tradition," said Mayor Gregor Robertson.
August 23rd, 2011
August 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• On the road to another record [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver looks for financial and ecological bounce with rubber sidewalk [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver's pricey market ‘in dangerous territory,’ makes home ownership a dream: report [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver transit users to get smartphone tools [Vancouver Sun]
• Photos: Vancouver candlelight vigil in honour of Jack Layton draws hundreds [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Why industry still has a home in the post-industrial city [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Tax Bikes for Better Bike Infrastructure? [Straight Outta Suburbia]
• Feature> Home on the Rails ...
Transport for Suburbia
By John Calimente // 1 Comment
Author: Paul Mees (Earthscan, 2010)
There are certain books that I know I'm going to enjoy as soon as I see the title. Paul Mees' book Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age was one of them. Just the fact that the author uses the words "automobile age" like it was some sort of passing fad made be anticipate a good read. What I didn't expect was to have a couple of my beliefs about transit challenged.
Mees has somewhat of a reputation as a rabble-rouser - a former lawyer turned academic who left the University of Melbourne after it found him guilty of misconduct for making "derogatory and insulting remarks". Mees had harshly criticized both the director of public transport and other government officials over a supposedly independent consultant's report that included sections copied verbatim from a government memo. However, allegedly calling them "liars and frauds" definitely didn't endear him to the university. Mees switched academic institutions and is now a senior lecturer in transportation for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the the school of global studies, social sciences, and planning.
August 24th, 2011
August 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• “Vancouver – Is homeownership becoming a far-fetched dream?” [The Mainlander]
CANADA
• For Canada to arrive, it needs to be obliterated on film [Globe and Mail]
• Toronto, Montreal have longest commutes: study finds [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Big in Japan: High-Speed Magnetic Levitation Trains [Ecomagination]
• Infrastructure Whistle-Blowing [Citiwire]
• Seattle land use: Throw out the book and start fresh [Crosscut]
• Andrés Duany's Asian Problem [Observers Room: Design Observer]
World Wide Wednesday: Bike lights, car decline, rail lines
By Hilary Best // No Comments
http://vimeo.com/27280439
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• It's time for a bike light revolution! Or so say the inventors of Revolight - a bike light which mounts directly to the wheel rims for a sleek and safe design. The team is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter to further refine their prototype.
• A report out last week from the Brookings Institute notes a new trend in American urban life - 10% of households in the largest US cities do not have access to a private vehicle. Fred Pearce at New Scientist points to economic challenges, demographic shifts, a change in our approach to work and the embrace of a culture of urbanism as reasons why vehicle-km have declined across the west.
• High-speed rail could be a lifeline for Buffalo. A recent plan to develop the network in Western New York offers the possibility of improved economic integration with the Greater Golden Horseshoe, faster travel times, and a revitalized downtown area. But according to Ian Carlino at Artvoice, Buffalo's perception of itself as a car-town could derail these plans.
August 25th, 2011
August 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• September service changes and optimization [The Buzzer Blog]
• Non-profit grocery offers purchasing power in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• In one Richmond neighbourhood, 80 per cent of residents are immigrants [Vancouver Sun]
• Go to Surrey – 2: Civic Design Award [Price Tags]
• In Vancouver, driving trumps transit [Vancouver Sun]
• Seattle to Vancouver train remains a viable travel option [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Drivers, want more space on the roads? Push for bike lanes [Globe and Mail]
• Despite Toronto, Montreal gridlock, commuters reluctant to use transit [Globe and ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2361" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="View from Brownsville Bar Park, North Surrey, BC. 110813-12. Courtesy of waferboard."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Cities are always grappling with containing costs particularly when it concerns infrastructure maintenance. In seeking ways to stretch every dollar further, East Vancouverites find themselves the subject of a four-year experiment by way of a rubber sidewalk fashioned entirely out of recycled tires.
The City of Abbotsford refuses to be treated like refuse. That city is ...
Picnurbia/VIVA Vancouver
By Brian Gould // 2 Comments
The HD version is highly recommended and available at its Vimeo page.
***
Granville Street, despite heavy foot traffic provided by transit service, is a concrete canyon. Robson Square's pedestrian vitality, when not sapped by construction or spread over its shapeless surface, falls irretrievably into its sunken pits.
Until, that is, VIVA Vancouver brought life to both simultaneously for one short fleeting month. While Granville Street requires heavy programming to liven up even a single block, all Robson Square needs is an invitation. Picnurbia, produced by the Loose Affliates, ...
August 26th, 2011
August 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Knee deep in it: Vancouver’s sewer jobs [OpenFile]
• More than a third of Chinatown residents can’t speak English [Vancouver Sun]
• Subversive Bicycle Photos: Vancouver [Price Tags]
• World Rivers Day [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Journey to the transnational narcopolitical city [Domus]
• Whats the Capital of the World? [Intelligent Life]
• The 'road ecology' movement picks up speed [Crosscut]
August 27th, 2011
August 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Moving Forward public meetings [The Buzzer Blog]
• City, BC Housing on Little Mountain's hard lessons [OpenFile]
• Vancouver laneway housing [CNC World]
• Teenage housing nightmare part of growing Atira empire in Downtown Eastside [Vancouver Courier]
• Smart Growth = Smart Parenting [PlaceShakers and NewsMakers]
• Metro Vancouver single parents, gay males face more discrimination from landlords - UBC study [Vancouver Sun]
• Final curtain for historic Pantages theatre [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Alley, Alley, in Come Free [Sightline Daily]
• World vehicle population tops 1 billion [AutoBlog]
• In ...
Spacing Saturday: Suburban Transit, Gentrification Agents and Neighbourhood Watch
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver's Skytrain turned 25 this week, read about it on Spacing Vancouver
Alanah Hefez reflects on the conflicting role that many of us play in the upheaval which has long been changing many of Montreal's distinct neighbourhoods in 'Confessions of a Gentrification Double Agent.'
Jean Desjardins takes readers on a photographic journy along his 16km daily bike commute north of Montreal.
Alexander Laquerre launched the new series Maintenant et Avant profiling parts of Ottawa that have seen dramatic change over the last several decades. The first installment looks at 80 years of evolution on Sparks Street.
Jessica Lemieux visits the 1920's era Toronto home that it playing host to the Ravina Project; an effort to experiment with ways to make individual houses more sustainable in their energy use.
Ian Malczewski profiles the 'Through My Lens' project put on by the Toronto Urban Exchange. The project looks to encourage Torontonians to use their cameras to tell the stories of the city.
August 28th, 2011
August 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Port Mann Bridge hits 50 percent completion point [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Connections: The New Normal [Price Tags]
• Zeilgalerie Media Facade: 3deluxe [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Urban Hurricane [BLDG BLOG]
August 29th, 2011
August 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
LOCAL
• Precarity and its Vicissitudes: The Reproduction of Poverty in Vancouver [The Mainlander]
• Paving history – or protecting it? [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Portland officials find bikes they don't like: rogue ice cream sellers [The Oregonian]
• Ultra-green office building breaking ground [The Seattle Times]
• From Fuel Taxes to Mileage-Based User Fees: Rationale, Technology, and Transitional Issues [University of Minnesota: ITS Institute]
• How Seattle grew itself a new 'downtown' [Crosscut]
• The next wave of energy from the sea [New Scientist]
• An Excerpt from S P R A W L ...
Price Points: Arterial
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
Where is this?
Could be any suburban strip. The woman, unable to navigate the uneven surface of the asphalt sidewalk, is smoking grimly as she steers her electric scooter along the shoulder, confronting the traffic that crowds the road in both directions.
This is Vedder Road (map here), an historic country byway, now a south-Chilliwack arterial, only two lanes wide in this section as it funnels traffic between the Trans-Canada Highway and Cultus Lake. It is one of the saddest strips in a province full of them - every business car dependent, every subdivision feeding more vehicles into overloaded intersections.
Studio Marpole: Looking at Marpole through the eyes of UBC design students
By John Bautista // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2470" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Students of the 2011 ENDS402 - Settlements class at the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. From left to right, back row: Andrew Wilson, Ashkan Nazemi, Jasmeen Bains, Sara Kristiansen, Cameron Hardinge-Rooney, Gerard Cadger, Mark Ross, Amelia Sissons, John Bautista, Sean Ruthen (local architect). Front row: Lorraine Tong, Shawn Kay, Robyn Murray, Erik Bean, Max Hsu, Stefan Levasseur, Sandy Kim, Jason Pfeifer, Minnie Chan."][/caption]
It is customary for different groups to be involved in development projects that will greatly affect the existing urban fabric of a city or a neighbourhood. Architects, planners, developers, residents, and environmentalists - just to name a few - are your usual mix of team members. Each having their own interpretation of what a vibrant and livable place should be. Though all of them share the same fundamental goal of making a “better city”, it is not easy to reach a consensus, let alone arrive at a solution. Interpretations vary as they peer through their own subjective lenses.
In the case of Marpole and its search for a neighbourhood centre, the usual players are present. The planning process has been steady and slow-paced but rigorous - taking into consideration factors like the Cambie Corridor plan, building heights, transit use and waste mitigation.
Enter the students from the Environmental Design (ENDS) Program in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia.
August 30th, 2011
August 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver port braces for increased oil tanker traffic [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver drops from number 1 spot in livability survey for first time in nearly a decade [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Vision of How People Should Live, From Desert Revelers to Urbanites [The New York Times]
• Metro Transit: poor people stuck with the tab again? [Crosscut]
All Over the Map: Writing on Buildings and Cities
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Written by Michael Sorkin (Verso, 2011)
Thirty years and ten books later, architect and critic Michael Sorkin has given us All Over the Map: Writing on Buildings and Cities, an aptly named collection of 76 essays, whose contents oscillate between current architectural happenings and the rebuilding efforts at Ground Zero. As a NY native from Greenwich Village, Sorkin’s architecture office was mere blocks from the WTC site, and the book opens with raw expressions of his psychological well-being and the effects that the event surely must have had on him.
In the book’s introduction, where he is at his most acerbic best, he apologizes for the number of essays solely on 9/11 and the WTC site. He admits that he struggled to edit them out and at 393 pages, the book is voluminous. However, he wisely chose to keep the bulk in, allowing one to plainly see the entirety of the unruly process of rebuilding Ground Zero, from the relationship between all the players –the Port Authority and the LMDC (Lower Manhattan Development Corporation) and a group called New York New Visions – to its present state, now mere weeks away from the ten year anniversary of the tragedy.
August 31st, 2011
August 31, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
LOCAL
• Petition calls for car-free Robson Square [Vancouver Courier]
• The Economist stands by its geographically challenged Vancouver downgrade [Globe and Mail]
• Ridership increase should mean lower year-end deficit, says Translink [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• America Reaches Its Demographic Tipping Point [The Brookings Institution]
• South Lake Union's barely noticed boom [The Seattle Times]
• Sick suburbs, expiring exurbs [Crosscut]
World Wide Wednesday: Slow streets, city centre, airport bees
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Are slower streets more popular? Flickr user Eric Fischer attempts to quantify the relationship through a series of graphs which plot the number of photos/tweets per 100-ft sq. area and the indicated vehicle speed. By his calculation, 9 miles per hour is the ideal speed for a photograph/tweet-worthy street.
• Modern airports have lots of unused space. At Chicago's O'Hare airport, some of that space is being put to use for a beekeeping program. Local community groups have installed a 2,400 sq. ft. apiary, complete with 23 hives which will produce 575 pounds of honey. Other program benefits: the program trains felons in the art of bee keeping and the bees provide a useful indicator of air quality. (GOOD)
• NYT writer, Jeff Gordiner, comments on the possibility for high and low speed urban living created by NYC's High Line. On the High Line, the pace of life slows down, people sit, stroll and contemplate. Below the High Line, the loud clubs of the Meatpacking District thump. "It’s all New York, of course, both the manic and the muted; the city thrives on opposition."
September 1st, 2011
September 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver party hires firm credited with Toronto mayor’s election [Globe and Mail]
• Does ‘livable’ mean ‘unaffordable’? [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Cities in Fact and Fiction: An Interview with William Gibson [Scientific American]
• Urban Infill Could Be Key to Boosting Modular’s Meager Market Share [Builder]
• Vertical Urban Factory [UrbanOmnibus]
• Birds Are Changing Their Tune [Discovery]
Release: VPSN Robson Square Petition
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2017" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo by Krista Jahnke."][/caption]
The 800-block of Robson Street – between Hornby and Howe – is one of Vancouver’s preeminent public spaces. Located at the heart of Robson Square, the block is one of the most frequented pedestrian routes in the city and serves as backdrop for public gatherings, celebrations, rallies, cultural events, and community markets of every stripe.
On September 5, the block will re-open to traffic following post-Olympic renovations, and the character of this vibrant public space will be ...
September 2nd, 2011
September 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• New Vancouver housing complex targets mental health [Vancouver Courier]
• Strictures for Political Expression [The Mainlander]
• Robson Street's retail rent levels rebound; still far from world's most pricey [Vancouver Sun]
• Toll the HOV lanes [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Stick to waterfront plan [The Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• Skyscrapers and the World of Tomorrow [Planetizen]
• Analyst casts doubt on economic benefit of downtown L.A. stadium [The Los Angeles Times]
• Seattle's waterfront park comes into focus [Crosscut]
• Libertarians and the Urban Planning Culture War [Forbes]
• Driven to ...
Incubating Talent – City to Award Four Artist Live/Work Studios
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Initiated in 1996, the City of Vancouver Artist Live/Work Studio Program now numbers four purpose built artist live/work studios awarded to local artists. These studios provide support for Vancouver-based professional artists to pursue their practice for a period of 3 years.
Artists who demonstrate artistic excellence and financial need are encouraged to submit applications for consideration by October 7, 2011. Occupancy for the four studios will begin February 1, 2012.
September 3rd, 2011
September 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The bottom line for decent public toilets [Globe and Mail]
• New West's vacant, junky house problem [OpenFile]
• Cheap gas in north Surrey draws hundreds of giddy commuters [Vancouver Sun]
• Who Pays? [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Schooner Bay Miracle [The Original Green Blog]
• Cyclists: Danger! Doors Ahead [Grist.org]
• In Seattle, work starts on 'greenest' office building [The Los Angeles Times]
• Popsicles and the Importance of Simplicity [PlaceShakers]
September 4th, 2011
September 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Greening the concrete jungle [The Economist]
• Hot Dogs Foster Cultural Acceptance in Minneapolis [GOOD Magazine]
• Urbanism needs to move beyond city boundaries [Crosscut]
September 5th, 2011
September 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Whistler embracing cultural tourism in bid to widen its appeal [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Inside Track On New York City's High Line [NPR:All Things Considered]
• Cities now compete on how well they plan for biking-walking-transit [Crosscut]
Car share programs cost-effective and environmentally friendly option to car ownership
By Vanessa Ho // 2 Comments
If you live in the city of Vancouver, I truly believe that you do not need a car to get around. For the most part, Translink does a pretty good job getting people from Point A to Point B.
However, there are certain situations - like having a lot of groceries or needing to pick someone up in an emergency situation - where Translink doesn’t cut it and a car becomes necessary. But do you want to spend over $15,000 for a car when you only need one occasionally?
I didn’t think so. This is where car share programs enter the picture.
Price Points: Cultural Centre
By Gordon Price // No Comments
What's this about?
.
You'd know if you were part of the South Asian community, familiar with the Newton area of Surrey. In fact, you might have celebrated your marriage here.
It's the "Payal Business Centre" at 8128 128th Street (map here).
Among the offices for jewellers, lawyers, realtors and All Seasons Radiators, there are four banquet halls - all typically full on Thursday to Sunday nights, especially during wedding season. They're also used for political events, birthday parties, anniversaries and other events important to ...
September 6th, 2011
September 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver's second-oldest house to be demolished [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Stay the course on the waterfront [The Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities [The New York Times]
• Are Bike Lanes Expressways to Gentrification? [Shareable]
• The Road to Exurbia [Places: Design Observer]
Beyond the Helmet
By Cameron Barker // 1 Comment
Author: Valerie Ceppi (Valerie Photography Inc., 2010)
Valerie Ceppi is a passionate and dedicated Vancouver-based photographer who recently launched a book called ‘Beyond the Helmet.’ This photo-book focuses on firefighters in Vancouver and highlights the remarkable respect Valerie carries for the men and women who are involved in this profession.
Her creativity and desire to strengthen public knowledge of the sacrifices and commitment firefighters make towards their communities is reflected in the striking black and white photos throughout her book. Each picture depicts ...
September 7th, 2011
September 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mission closure draws fire in Downtown Eastside [Vancouver Courier]
• Mayor proposes renaming street or bike lane after Jack Layton [Vancouver Courier]
• Police, city mull end to street parties in Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Bylaw change could make it easier for Victoria buskers to make a living [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Pools Mist Names of the Dead With Grace at 9/11 Memorial [Bloomberg]
• Bolivia bans cars for 'Day of the Pedestrian' [BBC]
• Manhattan memory project: How 9/11 changed our brains [New Scientist]
• Smart Cities Will Require Smarter ...
World Wide Wednesday: Open source planning, test cities, Change by Us
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• According to the International Federation of Surveyors, approximately 70% of urban growth occurs outside of formal planning channels. Researchers at MIT have recently released an open source urban planning software to help reduce inefficiencies resulting from haphazard planning. (Fast Company)
• Place Pulse, another planning software platform out of MIT Media Labs, is also making waves. The platform uses a "hot or not" set-up, asking users to identify which of two images appears to be the safest environment. The data collected allows administrators to better understand collective perceptions of space. (Pop-Up City)
September Urbanist Meetup – Sunday, September 11, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
It's time once again for the monthly Vancouver Urbanists Meetup! Come out and join your fellow urbanists on Sunday (September 11th) from 3-5pm, for a few beers and a lively discussion about urbanism in Vancouver, and cities in general.
This month we're taking it out of downtown to one of Vancouver's most popular urban haunts— Commercial Drive.
We'll be meeting at St. Augustine's (2360 Commercial Dr). St. Augustine's is "a casual spot on The ...
September 8th, 2011
September 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Residents rally against Greenway project [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver would be wise to emulate Portland [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver the greenest city in Canada, index shows [Globe and Mail]
• Atomic Vancouver [OpenFile]
• If the viaducts come down, will cars disappear? Or does there need to be a plan for them? [State of Vancouver]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Radical Technology of Christopher Alexander [Metropolis Magazine]
• Small Places of Anarchy in the City: Three Investigations in Tokyo [This Big City]
• City growth worldwide intensifies sprawl concerns, study finds [Yale ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2634" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of dooq."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
RELEASE: New Urban Food Scraps Collection Project Gets Off to a Soaring Start
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
In just four weeks, the Food Scraps Drop Spot has diverted almost 3,000 pounds of food scraps from the landfill.
Since August 13th, residents of multi-unit buildings in the downtown communities have been bringing the food scraps that they collect over the week to the West End Farmers Market on Saturdays for composting. To date, the project had almost 600 drops, with most food scraps coming from the West End and Yaletown neighbourhoods.
“We are hitting our targets right off the bat and we expect our numbers to continue increasing ...
September 9th, 2011
September 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• New ways to find your way: An interview about TransLink’s new transportation wayfinding strategy [The Buzzer Blog]
• Home, Home on the Lane [SightlineDaily]
• Vancouver's geography reels in film industry [OpenFile]
• Building to begin on Centre for Digital Media in False Creek [Vancouver Sun]
• A Dispatch from the World's Most Liveable City [Broadsheet Melbourne]
INTERNATIONAL
• Next In Sustainable Living: Beer Bottle Houses [All that is Interesting]
• MIT's Free Urban Planning Software Will Help Build The Cities Of The Future [Fast Company]
• Geoengineering trials get under way [...
September 10th, 2011
September 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver Gets Parklets [THE DIRT]
• Appliance ‘art’ irks Vancouver resident [Vancouver Courier]
• Metro Vancouver board appears poised to ban smoking in its parks [Globe and Mail]
• Metro Vancouver denied environmental certificate for landfill [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• In traffic-choked L.A., a car lane is given to bicycles [The Los Angeles Times]
• The Newest Numbers in ‘Commuter Pain’ Worldwide [The Infrastructurist]
September 11th, 2011
September 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CANADA
• Light Shower Towers: Toronto's new park attempts to bring water back into the public realm [Water Canada]
INTERNATIONAL
• Vycon Plans to Tap Speeding Subway Trains for Immense Amounts of Kinetic Energy [Inhabitat]
• Rescuing the Rural Edge — It Takes a Village [Miller-McCune]
Release: Ecce Homo by Vancouver artist Althea Thauberger launches September 12
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
Ecce Homo by Vancouver artist Althea Thauberger will be installed on the west wall of the Canada Line at Vancouver City Centre Station on September 12, 2011.
City of Vancouver Public Art Program - Information Bulletin
The City of Vancouver Public Art Program announces a new art project for the west wall of the Canada Line Vancouver City Centre Station on Georgia Street. Ecce Homo by Vancouver artist Althea Thauberger will be installed September 12, 2011.The commission is presented by the Public Art Program in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program of InTransit BC.
Release: Heritage Vancouver presents – A Planning Tour of Vancouver’s West End
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2697" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A couple of old homes on Comox Street in the West End. Image courtesy of Wikipedia."][/caption]
Join Gordon Price, Director of the City Program at SFU, for a planning tour of Vancouver’s West End. The West End reveals about eight different architectural stages, from fine wooden mansions to functional wooden walk-ups, not to mention more highrise towers than any other neighbourhood in Canada. But how did it all come about and why?
Gordon Price explains some of the planning theory and trends that shaped the ...
September 12th, 2011
September 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Transit advocates launch campaign for property-tax hike [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Using Twitter to Encourage Engagement in Urban History [This Big City]
INTERNATIONAL
• Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium? [LA Weekly]
• Apple spaceship HQ might work in Cupertino [San Francisco Chronicle]
• The density-bashers raise some good questions [Crosscut]
Price Points: Gathering Space
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
What's happening here?
A concert, yes? In this case, MexicoFest. And the singers were pulling out all the old chestnuts - Mexican songs even gringos knew. I hadn't come here specifically to attend but was captured by the catchy music a kilometre away on the Coal Harbour seawall, and so headed for the source.
"Digital Orca" on the far right in the background gives away the location: Jack Poole Plaza on top of the new convention centre (map here). It's a big space - a trapezoid approximately 150 ...
A Brighter Future with Cities: Review of Scientific American special edition
By Chris Quigley // No Comments
Following the UN declaration in 2008 that the majority of people now live in cities, there has been an explosion of city-themed commentary in magazines, newspapers and books. The Economist and The Walrus have both run notable urban-themed issues and now Scientific American has followed the lead and dedicated the September 2011 issue to cities. These media outlets have capitalized on the broad scope that city analysis permits - allowing musings on geography, sociology, architecture and governance to name a few. There is also a realization, stressed in the Scientific American feature, that cities are the future.
Not too long ago cities were characterized by urban decay, riots and white flight to the suburbs, whereas they can now embody economic powerhouses that drive innovation. City commentary also focuses on the growing 'green' agenda, where by virtue of having a smaller carbon footprint urban dwellers can provide lessons for responding to climate change. It is in this context that Scientific American praises the positive role of cities and calls for public policy to provide greater support to our growing cities. Though the magazine provides 11 separate articles, I focus on a couple of the key themes below.
Urban Cartography – A public course at Emily Carr University of Art + Design
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
This fall, Spacing contributor Laura Kozak will be teaching Urban Cartography at Emily Carr University of Art + Design .
Learn to critically read and record the underlying geometry, overlapping histories and multiple agendas of the city through practices of mapping,measuring and sketching. Using architectural and cartographic tools and techniques, students in this course will work at multiple and nested scales to understand the metrics behind what makes neighbourhoods different, how we move through the city, and how the built environment has taken shape.
The final outcome of the course will ...
September 13th, 2011
September 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Colony Farm agricultural academy plan goes to committee despite objections [Vancouver Sun]
• Walk This Way: Comox-Helmcken Greenway [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Using Twitter to Encourage Engagement in Urban History [This Big City]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Worst Commutes Around The World [Fast Company]
• Is 'Urbanism Without Effort' the Best Urbanism of All? [myurbanist]
• Streetcar builders see potential in North American market [Progressive Railroading]
• Why is Seattle so hostile to its bicyclists? [Crosscut]
• Electrified roads could power cars from the ground up [New Scientist]
• The Interventionist’s Toolkit, Part 3: ...
The Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1925-1944
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Author: Donald Albrecht (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005)
In 1925, at the age of 50, traveling salesman Samuel H. Gottscho quit his job and began a new career as a photographer. Over the next fifteen years, he went on to create one of the worlds largest photographic documentations of New York City and continued to work as a professional photographer until his death in 1971. The Mythic City is a collection of Gottscho’s architectural photographs of New York City taken between 1925-1944. These photographs set the stage for Gottscho’s long, successful and influential career.
Release: Call for Submissions – Proposed Video Art Screen
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call for Submissions -Proposed Video Art Screen
Ontario, Canada
Deadline for Submissions: 11:59PM ET on September 30, 2011
Toronto-based Public Art Management provides curatorial, planning and public art project management services to private companies and public agencies in North America. This Call for Submissions is intended to launch an investigation into programming content for a proposed large-scale video screen to be constructed as part of a major Ontario development project.
“My Park Is _____” Fill in the Blank at Park(ing) Day 2011
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
What does your park mean to you?
If you could describe your local park in one word, what would it be? Quiet? Lush? Dirty?
How would you describe Vancouver parks in general? Abundant? Innovative? Needs mowing?
This mini quiz is brought to you by the creative minds at the Vancouver Public Space Network.
They'll be looking for the answers this Friday, September 16th, as they take part in the international Park(ing) Day celebrations:
My Park Is _____
For some people, a park is their “rec room” – a place to read a ...
September 14th, 2011
September 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver’s oldest schoolhouse facing wrecker’s ball gets new lease on life [Globe and Mail]
• Leak under Vancouver Shell gas station contaminates 78 Kerrisdale properties [Vancouver Sun]
• Amidst the Big City, an Aboriginal Public School? [The Tyee]
• The civic election’s most important issue [Price Tags]
• The Translink Funding Debate [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• New plan for Kigali designed to help Rwanda realise a brighter future [World Architecture News]
• Landmark Commission Votes to Approve Brooklyn Skyscraper Historic District [WYNC]
Release: Heritage Vancouver -A Conversation with Brent Toderian about Heritage in Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
Heritage Vancouver once again welcomes Brent Toderian, Director of Planning for the City of Vancouver for our annual heritage review. This will include heritage priorities over the past year and a preview of the city’s heritage priorities for 2012. Heritage Vancouver works closely with the City of Vancouver to find solutions for the preservation of our heritage structures.
Discussions over the past year included the Shannon Estate, the Legg House, density in neighbourhoods, the Heritage Density Bank, heritage incentives, historic theatres, and heritage schools.
DATE: ...
World Wide Wednesday: Safe Cities, LA Bike Lanes, Park(ing) Day
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Brent Toderian, Vancouver's Director of City Planning, comments on the balance between liberty and security in urban design. Focusing in on the rebuilding efforts in New York, Toderian contrasts the high-security approach of Lower Manhattan with the inspirational successes of place-making elsewhere on the island. "Places that try to be totally safe tend to lack life, and usually fail as people-places," he writes on Planetizen.
• Congratulations to Los Angeles, which last week opened 2.2 miles of new bike lanes along Catalina Avenue! Carving the lane, part of the city's transformative bike plan, out of vehicle space is seen as a politically daring move in a city where the car has long been king. (LA Times)
September 15th, 2011
September 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• False Creek welcomes "Skybridge" [OpenFile]
• Vancouver architects to participate in public consultation for Edmonton airport development plan [Vancouver Sun]
• Greenpeace to celebrate 40th birthday in Vancouver - the city where it all began [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Living on the edge at Mercatorplein [Open City Projects]
• S.F. taking small steps to unclog Market Street [San Francisco Chronicle]
• A Mountain for the Netherlands [Pruned]
• Beyond Foreclosure: The Future of the Single-Family Suburban House [Places: Design Observer]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2782" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
September 16th, 2011
September 16, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver eyes massage-parlour crackdown [Globe and Mail]
• Former NPA councillor wants politicians not to attack urban agriculture [State of Vancouver]
• Bike-en-ah-lay: A Cultural Ride [Price Tags]
• A modern rethink of life in the ‘burbs [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Toronto mayor's waterfront vision sinking quickly [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Defining Cities in a Metropolitan World [The Atlantic]
• Designing Views of Nature [ASLA's The Dirt blog]
• NYC Residents Suggesting Locations for New Bike Share Stations [TheCityFix]
• Planning in California Is Changing, So Let's Talk About It [...
Release: Finalists announced for 2011 City of Vancouver Book Award
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Four titles that reveal Vancouver's history of diversity have been selected as finalists for the 2011 City of Vancouver Book Award.
This year's short list of books is:
Whoever Gives us Bread (Douglas & McIntyre) by Lynne Bowen- This comprehensive non-fiction title recounts the history of Italian immigrant settlement in a burgeoning British Columbia and the Italian-Canadian contribution to Vancouver.
The Beggar's Garden (HarperCollins) by Michael Christie - Set in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, this debut collection links nine stories, each full of wit and sensitivity for its misfit characters.
After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region ...
Park(ing) Day!
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Today, Friday, September 16th, is PARK(ing) Day!
In cities around the globe, artists, activists and citizens will transform metered parking spaces into temporary public parks and other social spaces, as part of the annual event.
PARK(ing) Day invites people to rethink the way streets are used and promotes discussion around the need for broad- based changes to urban infrastructure.
In recent years, PARK(ing) Day has inspired city governments to create legal mechanisms to extend the public realm into the parking lane. In San Francisco, the Pavement to Parks “Parklet” program provides a permit system for businesses, community groups and individuals to transform metered parking spaces into small “parklets” that are open to the public. In New York City the “pop up café” program offers similar permit system for local cafes wishing to offer sidewalk service.
A listing of events scheduled for Canadian cities follows. For more information, visit the PARK(ing) Day project website.
Release: Grandview Park official re-opening – Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
After a long summer of phased transformations, Grandview Park will officially reopen on September 17.
Residents and media are invited to join Vancouver South MP Wai Young, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vancouver Park Board at the official opening of the redesigned Grandview Park.
When: Saturday, September 17, 2011, at 11:00 am
Where: Grandview Park, 1657 Charles Street @ Commercial Drive
What: Remarks, BBQ, refreshments, cake, entertainment, children’s activities
Who: Vancouver South MP Wai Young, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Park Board Vice-Chair Constance Barnes
Upgrades to the 0.89 hectare (2.2 acres) ...
September 17th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Toronto Portlands, Quartier des Spectacles and Collecting Scraps
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As cities around the world start to look more seriously at the idea of urban gondolas, Adam Bentley considers the possibility of running such a system across the Ottawa River at Parliament Hill.
Evan Thornton takes readers along a perfect cycling shortcut between two busy Centretown corridors and highlights some of the Easter eggs that can be found a long the way including the 'Google centre' of Ottawa.
Jayme Melrose reports on the sentiments expressed at a public meeting about the proposed road widening on Halifax's Bayers Road. The sentiment at the meeting was largely opposed to the widening with many expressing a desire for a more compact urban form.
As part of a new series looking at the densest neighbourhoods in Atlantic Canada, Sean Gillis examines the built form of downtown St. John's.
Spacing Montreal put a spotlight on the new Quartier des Spectacle improvements this week. Alanah Heffez looks at revisions to the new infrastructure after a year of public exposure and profiles an initiative to get Montrealer's to share their visions and memories of the area. Joel Thibert looks at the processes and struggles of the City's stated commitment to keeping all forms of transportation open in the area during extensive renovations.
Devin Alfaro reflects on a summer of cycling infrastructure improvements in Montreal that included the city's first bike boxes and innovative strategies to solve conflicts between bike lanes and bus stops. Alfaro discusses the new infrastructure and solicits feedback on its effectiveness.
The controversial new proposal for development in the Toronto Port Lands was addressed by both Matt Blackett and John Lorince this week. Lorinc questioned whether backing out of the understanding with upper levels of government will hurt the City's credibility as a partner. Matt Blackett posted a 24 reality check prepared by the group Code Blue that questions the logic for abandoning the existing plan.
Through a fluke of Science, Mayor Bert Xanadu once again speaks out from 1973 with his response to Doug Ford's proposed Port Lands plan. Impressed by the proposal, Xanadu parlays Ford's thinking into a strategy that will also eradicate the barren park landscape of the Toronto Islands in favour of an international tourist mecca of kitschy commerce.
September 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Washrooms on the system [The Buzzer Blog]
• Connaught Park upgrade expedited by park board [Vancouver Courier]
• Terry Fox memorial unveiled in Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• City bails out Vancouver Playhouse, museum for more than $1-million [Globe and Mail]
• False Creek South: It’s near perfect, and it’s mine [Vancouver Sun]
• Affordable housing wins in Vancouver’s proposed $702-million capital plan [Vancouver Sun]
• “Lekstrom tells mayors he’s open to TransLink reform” [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Temporary Is the New Permanent [The Atlantic]
• Copenhagen's novel problem: too ...
September 18th, 2011
September 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Controversy brews over B.C. water flow deal with U.S. [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• What Would Jane Jacobs Say? [WNET]
• Can bikes bring back the neighborhood bookstore? [Grist]
September 19th, 2011
September 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver civic party dumps sitting councillor [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Architecture, urbanism, design and behaviour [Design With Intent]
• Great Green Public Spaces Right Under Our Noses [On the Commons]
• Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession [Grist]
• Debunking the Cul-de-Sac [The Atlantic]
Price Points: P2
By Gordon Price // 8 Comments
Where is this?
It's two parking levels under the street at 605 Expo Boulevard (map here). It's under the downtown Costco, which in turn is under two more levels of parking, which in turn is under the 900-unit Spectrum Towers - a part of the Concord Pacific development between the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. Looks like a good set for some dystopian movie of an underground city - an updated THX 1138. (Look it up.)
But why is there an underground parkade at all? A typical Costco is in a stripped-down big box off a suburban interchange, surrounded by acres of asphalt. Costco doesn't do urban.
Until here. This was the first, because the company was determined to get a foothold in the City of Vancouver, and was prepared to build it in a mixed-use development, tucked below grade next to the Stadium SkyTrain station. And it would charge to park there, even for its own customers!
An insider’s view of Spacing’s Top Ten Public Spaces for Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The launch of Spacing's National Edition featuring the 100 best public spaces in Canadian cities at the beginning of the summer provoked a lot of discussion in and around Vancouver, not the least of which is the why certain public spaces didn't make the cut. As the organizer and editor of the "Vancouver" contributions to magazine, I've been bombarded with questions around what led to the local final top 10 choices and what the jurors had to say. Given the limited space for the magazine, the write-ups for each of the winners had to remain extremely succinct and I think it's worth sharing a little bit about what happened behind-the-scenes and some of the comments that were made about Vancouver's public spaces by our esteemed jury.
September 20th, 2011
September 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• In big upset, Tim Louis wins COPE nomination [The Mainlander]
• MLA pushes for private foot ferries between Vancouver, Nanaimo [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver Skytrain Map – Super Mario 3 Style [Dave's Geeky Ideas]
CANADA
• Quebec sweetens pot for public-transit users [The Gazette]
• Cuts to transit may not be as deep as first proposed [The Nelson Daily]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Low Line [New York Magazine]
• Lessons from Amsterdam: How SF Can Bicycle Toward Greatness [Streetsblog]
• Building a Better Bus [The Atlantic]
• Parklets: a great idea for Seattle to ...
Yes is More – An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Author: BIG Bjarke Ingels Group - Evergreen (2009)
Part architectural monograph, part manga comic book, Yes is More – An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution is a tour de force exposition of BIG, a new (and busy) Copenhagen firm which can already boast an astonishing body of work over its youthful six years of existence. With the book’s visual narrative borrowed from his former employer, Rem Koolhaas, and his seminal S, M, L, XL, BIG’s 36 year-old founder Bjarke Ingels (who already has his own wiki-entry) has distilled not just the design philosophies of modernism and post-modernism here - he also purports a new design philosophy of his own, one which he calls pragmatic utopianism. With his rhetoric that ‘yes is more’ echoing Mies’ ‘less is more,’ the book features 400 pages of cleverly illustrated vignettes, showing in detail the design parties of dozens of their projects, while an interview with Bjarke himself and a feature on the book’s exhibition in Copenhagen closes the manifesto out.
September 21st, 2011
September 21, 2011 Headines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Bicycle-related collisions by the numbers [OpenFile]
• Building Green from the Ground Up [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Special Districts Getting All Mixed Up [PlaceShakers]
• Reconstruction Plan for Haiti / Trans_City Architecture and Urbanism [International Business Times]
• Study: 1,000 Peds Injured Annually By Cyclists Statewide; Number Is Dropping [Streetsblog New York City]
• Blast from the Past: Radically Modernizing the Bus Network [Next American City]
• Bike Lane Backlash, Even in Portland [The Atlantic]
• Trailer Parks as Models for Affordable Housing [The Atlantic]
• Landscape Optimism: An Interview with Chris ...
Release: City of Vancouver Neighbourhood Matching Fund Fall deadline October 31, 2011
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2815" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Community fence at Mount Pleasant Community Garden."][/caption]
The Vancouver Park Board is now accepting applications for the fall deadline of the Neighbourhood Matching Fund. The Fund supports projects by neighbourhood-based not-for-profit groups who want to make creative improvements to local public land while actively involving people in developing community and building neighbourhood connections. The Park Board will supply funds up to $10,000 to match the contribution the community makes through other funds raised, donated supplies, or volunteer labour.
Examples of projects are:
greening or community garden projects
building ...
See the Sexy Side of Vancouver Specials
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
In Vancouver, few forms of housing are more derided that the Vancouver Special. Love them or hate them, they have been come an integral part of Vancouver's urban fabric and a major contributor to our sense of place.
This Saturday, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation is asking Vancouverites to stop judging these houses by their exteriors and inviting you inside! During the 3rd Annual Vancouver Special Tour you will be able to ...
World Wide Wednesday: Shovel ready, transit garden, museum advocacy
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Infrastructurist asks: "what is shovel ready and why does it matter?" In a classic case of buzzword overuse, "shovel ready" projects have lost meaning for the public and politicians looking for instant job creation from infrastructure projects.
• On Design Observer, MoMA's Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Barry Bergdoll, explores the advocacy and laboratory functions of museums. He writes: "we have an important opportunity to foster new research and fresh thinking ... about the collaborative prospects for architects and landscape designers, and about the fact that design can be a forum for imagining new solutions rather than a means of decorating solutions found by others."
• A Chicago transit rail car has been turned into a mobile public garden. The native garden car will have regular service around Chicago for a month, pending financial support. (Colossal)
September 22nd, 2011
September 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• NPA's Suzanne Anton promises streetcar system if elected [Vancouver Sun]
• Public washroom to open at Granville and Robson [Vancouver Sun]
• Rogues Gallery [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Does Toronto need a waterfront mall? [Toronto Star]
• Urban Gleaning Goes Mainstream [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• Ray LaHood Wants to Build Big in America [GOOD Magazine]
• Is Bicycle Commuting Really Catching On? And if So, Where? [The Atlantic]
• Seattle's Pioneer Square: a whole lot of building going on? [Crosscut]
Ping Pong Party and Opening | 222 East Georgia
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
This week, 221A Artist Run Centre is pleased to open the doors of a 7000 square foot facility located at 222 E. Georgia St. that includes presentation space for Access Artist-Run Centre, a bookstore for OCW Arts and Publishing Foundation, and 20 workspaces for Vancouver-based artists, designers, architects, writers, and curators. All proceeds go towards the creation of safe, affordable studio space at 222 E. Georgia St.
Open House – 3pm – 7pm
Free – Street Entrance
Studio Tours + Rental Information
Ping Pong Party Fundraiser! – 8pm til Late
$10 Cover – Alley ...
Release: Design Competition invites new ideas for future of Vancouver’s viaducts and Eastern Core
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Creative minds with innovative and inspired ideas on the future of Vancouver’s viaducts and Eastern Core are invited to submit their visions to the re:CONNECT ideas competition.
As part of the City of Vancouver’s ongoing review of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts and strategic planning for the Eastern Core, which stretches from Northeast False Creek to Clark Drive, re:CONNECT aims to explore the future possibilities of these structures and areas of the city.
Neighbourhood Watch
By Liam Lahey // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3042" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of It Caught My Eye"][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
September 23rd, 2011
September 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city staff derails NPA’s streetcar campaign promise [Vancouver Sun]
• Archdiocese drops $1.25 million on Downtown Eastside complex [Vancouver Courier]
• Helmet laws throw wrench in bike-sharing plans [OpenFile]
• New B.C. dike design guidelines costly for municipalities [Vancouver Sun]
• BC Place an icon on the city’s ever-changing landscape [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Toronto's Waterfront Moment [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• Road Ecology: Wildlife Crossings and Highway Design [Places: Design Observer]
• New 'core wall' may speed skyscraper construction [Physorg]
• Hercules waterfront projects back on track, principals say [The ...
Release: Museum of Vancouver – Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3040" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver: An exhibition on Vancouver’s love/hate relationship with neon signs"][/caption]
Explore Vancouver’s gritty, urban past at the Museum of Vancouver’s(MOV) upcoming feature exhibition, Neon Vancouver/Ugly Vancouver. Opening October 13, 2011 Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver presents a fascinating look at the rapid growth of neon signs throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s, and the visual purity crusade that virtually banished them
from Vancouver streets.
“The exhibition raises interesting questions about how we collectively construct the way our city is portrayed,” says Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver ...
September 24th, 2011
September 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Public art light installation angers nearby residents [The Georgia Straight]
• Vancouver advocacy group creates ‘Yimby’ manual [Globe and Mail]
• Glitzy new addition to wave of new office construction aims to be Vancouver's greenest [Globe and Mail]
• Lessons learned from a summer of walking [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Hume: The Don River, a park runs through it [The Toronto Star]
• The week Rob Ford learned to play well with others [Globe and Mail]
• Toronto's Waterfront Moment [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• Making the Case for Sustainable Streets [ASLA's The ...
September 25th, 2011
September 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Parking experiment takes national stage [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Groundwater greed driving sea level rises [New Scientist]
Songs of the False Creek Flats – TONIGHT!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
. 1935. L. Frank, VPL Special Collections 7917"]
Looking North over False Creek Flats [three part panorama
Western Front Media Arts and Theatre Replacement are pleased to present the debut performance of a new song cycle by Veda Hille, accompanied by a visual narrative by Annabel Vaughan. In honour of the City’s 125th birthday the work will animate a vast area of the city that currently lies dormant – the False Creek Flats.
DATE: September 25, 2011 8PM
PLACE: The Western Front [303 ...
September 26th, 2011
September 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Light installation has a dark side [Globe and Mail]
• Glitzy new addition to wave of new office construction aims to be Vancouver's greenest [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Retrofitting Gas Stations for Good [Pattern Cities]
• In a Bronx Complex, Doing Good Mixes With Looking Good [The New York Times]
• One Downside to Bicycle Commuting: Biker's Lung [The Atlantic]
• Portland Commits to the World's Greenest Office Building [The Atlantic]
• Engineers can build a low-carbon world if we let them [New Scientist]
Price Points: Celebration
By Gordon Price // No Comments
Why is what's happening here happening here?
Video here.
This is 72nd and Scott Road, on the border between Surrey and Delta - or Strawberrry Hill. It's an intersection of two major arterials, with strip malls and shopping centres on every corner. (Map here.)
And if you are in the Newton area when the Canucks are winning a play-off game, you just know this is the place to go. Because everyone else knows this is the place to go too. Even if no one ...
Vancouver’s Separated Bike Lanes – More Popular Than Ever
By Christopher Porter // 10 Comments
The past few days I've had a tough time finding a spot to park my bike at work. The large bike corral at Dunsmuir and Seymour seems to be jam packed every morning by 9 am. This anecdotal evidence makes me think cycling is on the rise downtown, but the data nerd in me needs to see some hard numbers.
Consequently, the City of Vancouver recently published the bike lane counts from the separated lanes on Dunsmuir, Hornby, and the Burrard Bridge. It's a fascinating data set to analyze and the trends are encouraging, but before I go too deep into the numbers here's a few quick highlights:
The Burrard Bridge has seen over 1 million bikes pass over it in the past year (1,020,216)
The Dunsmuir separated bike lane saw year-over-year increases of 17% in July and a whopping 43% in August
There were more cycling trips over the Burrard Bridge on July 9 than cyclists who rode the GranFondo to Whistler (7619 vs 7000)
September 27th, 2011
September 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver farmers’ markets struggle to avoid other cities’ mistakes [Globe and Mail]
• New Vancouver towers set off tenant musical chairs [Globe and Mail]
• City Centre Library grand opening draws huge crowd in Surrey [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• London’s ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ Olympic Games [Globe and Mail]
• Sustainable communities must embrace the familiar [NRDC]
• The end of motoring [The Guardian U.K.]
• Denver officials grapple with DIA designs after Santiago Calatrava's exit [The Denver Post]
• Descendants of the High Line [The Atlantic]
Book Pairing: Community Character: Principles for Design and Planning and A Practical Guide to Planning with Community Character
By Kevin Zhang // No Comments
Authors: Lane H. Kendig and Bret C. Keast (Island Press, 2010/2011)
Two books by Lane H. Kendig and Bret C. Keast, Community Character and A Guide to Planning for Community Character, address the issues surrounding the preservation and creation of community character from a planner’s perspective. The two volumes are meant to be read in succession as the former provides readers with definitions and measurements for community character while the latter sets guidelines and illustrates with examples on how community character can be achieved in settlements of different scales.
The principle goal of these books is to establish a new perspective in planning, one that is focused on community character rather on density or zoning. This is quite a challenging task as the authors must define what character is, what types of neighbourhood character are currently present and how those might be quantified.
September 28th, 2011
September 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• ‘Green is good’ the mantra for builders of city’s new office [Vancouver Sun]
• Talks on for Comox-Helmcken greenway [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver buildings to "LEED" the way in green design [OpenFile]
• Leeside Skate Park, Lee's Domain [The Tyee]
• Home, Home on the Lane [Sightline Daily]
CANADA
• At the Forks, Izzy Asper’s improbable project takes shape [Globe and Mail]
• Laneways a resource for livable cities [The Star Phoenix]
INTERNATIONAL
• Urban Parklets: The New Front Stoop [GreenFlow]
• The Primacy of Pathways [ASLA's The Dirt blog]
• Is ...
How MESH is changing cities
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
EDITOR'S NOTE: Long-time supporter of Spacing, Robert Ouellette, wants residents of Canadian cities to take part in his new project called MESH Cities.
Whether they knew it or not, anyone who followed Toronto’s Port Land debacle over the last few weeks got a first-hand introduction to the power MESH Cities have to shape our communities.
Let me explain.
We’ve been hearing a lot about so-called “smart” cities in the news recently as the major computing and infrastructure players like IBM, Cisco, GE, and Siemens look at the next frontier in the trend towards ubiquitous computing. That new frontier is our cities.
Whatever you might think about a computer-driven modernity, MESH Cities are not just smart cities. MESH Cities go beyond the management of infrastructure to the heart of what makes cities worthwhile—their livability. Metaphorically, MESH Cities are the offspring of an improbable marriage between Jane Jacobs' ideals and ubiquitous city computing.
Their kids, in this context, are named MESH: M=Mobile, E=Efficient, S=Subtle, H=Heuristics
This is how the www.meshcities.com website introduces the concept.
World Wide Wednesday: Road ecology and city night moves
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• The growing field of road ecology brings together experts from diverse academic backgrounds to investigate interactions between roads and the natural environment. An article on Design Observer examines some of the unique and affordable infrastructure solutions proposed by road ecologists to facilitate the movement of plants, animals, water and soils around highway infrastructure.
• NPR reporter David Greene speaks to Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett about the needs of cities in an era of federal budget cuts.
September 29th, 2011
September 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• TransLink reaches gold in sustainability [The Buzzer Blog]
• Navigating Vancouver's traffic circles [OpenFile]
• New BC Place roof tops off the crown jewel of the CFL [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Five Cities, Five Different Congestion Solutions [This Big City]
• Exploring success of the nighttime city [myurbanist]
• Guide to understanding cities takes a few detours [San Francisco Chronicle]
• A Call for Urban Doctors [Huffington Post]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3136" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard"][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
September 30th, 2011
September 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Anton promises to keep Hornby bike lane [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver Biennale wants to keep more sculptures in the city long term [OpenFile]
• Vancouver’s economic plan focuses on trade, growth [Vancouver Sun]
• Home Ownership in Vancouver: Out of Reach? [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Does Urban Growth Have To Mean Gentrification [Forbes]
• How Would You Radically Rethink Cycling in London? [This Big City]
• For The Unemployed, Geography Can Be Destiny [The Atlantic]
• Peak driving? National study shows Seattle traffic leveling off [The Seattle Times]
October 1st, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Infrastructure, Cycling and Intensification
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
With Canadian cities pushing headlong towards intensification, Spacing Ottawa presents counter points questioning if this really is the path to better cities. Planner Alain Miguelez presented five reasons that intensification will succeed. Community activist Jay Baltz countered with reasons that intensification could fail.
Clive Doucet reports from France on a different paradigm towards local development that is producing growth in small villages throughout the countryside and incredible new investments in public transit infrastructure.
Morgan Lanigan looks at the successful implementation of bike lanes on Main Street in Saint John, NB and wonders why they were so long coming. It's concluded that the answer may lie in the mandate of the 'Department of Transportation.'
As authorities in Halifax plan renovations to the Macdonald Bridge with a focus on sustainability, the question remains as to whether or not they will address dangerous accesses to the bridge's bike lane that currently impede cycling growth.
Facts are often surprising in considerations over bike lanes, Alanah Heffez looks into some fascinating results of bike counters on new bike paths in Montreal and Ottawa. The counters reveal that on some streets bikes trips have reached the same volume as car traffic was before bike lanes were installed.
Joel Thibert looks at criticism of regional planning and addresses the question of whether regionalism is an ideological stance or something completely different.
Hilary Best profiles an exciting and innovative community led project to build a cricket field in Toronto's high density Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. The project has already built bridges in the community while the design of the field will promote sustainability and improve the Don River watershed.
Fred Sztabinski ponders the relation between cycling infrastructure and local governance structure and wonders what amalgamation has meant for Toronto's ability to produce an enhanced cycling network.
October 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Crowd gathered at Insite cheers legal victory [Vancouver Courier]
• Site next to BC Place a ‘limbo zone’ [Globe and Mail]
• Election website launched by city [OpenFile]
• BC Place shows off her $563 million makeover [OpenFile]
• B.C. earmarks $30 million for community recreation facilities [Vancouver Sun]
• ‘Global economic climate’ cited as reason for nearly $1 million shortfall for Vancouver Art Gallery budget [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver especially vulnerable to climate-change flooding: report [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Beyond Foreclosure: The Future of Suburban Housing [Places: Design Observer]
• ...
October 2nd, 2011
October 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Suburbanization of Poverty: What’s New? [Pedestrian Observations]
• Radical Post Modernism [Strange Harvest]
October 3rd, 2011
October 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Glittering Vancouver is now the poverty capital of Canada [Crosscut]
• Anton vows review of new bike lanes if elected [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• WHO: Air pollution kills more than 2 million annually [USA Today]
• wellington: a sensible tourist on the cable car [Human Transit]
• Road Ecology: Wildlife Habitat and Highway Design [Places: Design Observer]
• Cutting Car Use at the Neighborhood Level [The Atlantic]
Price Points: Facelift
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
Where is it, and what is it?
This is Yaletown Park (see map), and the sculture is Eros Bendato Scrippolato (Eros blindfolded and cracked) by Igor Mitoraj - a part of Vancouver Biennale. (More here.)
An interesting case where the park is more controversial than the art.
I first blogged about Yaletown Park - part of the public amenity package of the adjacent housing development - back in 2007, just as it was being completed. And again in 2009. Not ...
Hastings Street: The Pulse of a Community
By Andrew Cuthbert // 2 Comments
Downtown Eastside has come to be known as “Canada’s Poorest Postal Code”. The area radiating from the intersection at Main and Hastings has gained notoriety as an epicenter of drug use, poverty and mental illness. This map focuses on a few blocks west of this intersection, on Hastings Street between Cambie and Columbia. Recently, an influx of investment has driven change in parts of the neighbourhood, the most prominent new development being the new Woodward’s complex, a mixed-use conglomeration of buildings that occupies of the block of Hastings between Cambie and Abbot. New life is being injected into the community, but is it for the better? Development and the evolution of the neighborhood are inevitable, but development should not occur at the expense of current occupants.
Release: Incubating Talent – City to Award Four Artist Live/Work Studios
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Initiated in 1996, the City of Vancouver Artist Live/Work Studio Program now numbers four purpose built artist live/work studios awarded to local artists. These studios provide support for Vancouver-based professional artists to pursue their practice for a period of 3 years.
Artists who demonstrate artistic excellence and financial need are encouraged to submit applications for consideration by October 7, 2011. Occupancy for the four studios will begin February 1, 2012.
Located at East 4th Avenue and Scotia Street, the City of Vancouver Residency Studio (Studio 1) is provided rent-free while the three ...
October 4th, 2011
October 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Read the Insite ruling for yourself [Vancouver Courier]
• Union urges Vancouver mayors to accept gas taxes to pay for more transit [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• 20 worst cities for finding a parking spot [Ottawa Citizen]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Earthscraper, A 65 Story Inverted Skyscraper Concept [Laughing Squid]
• JamBox Designer Reinvents Neighborhood Biking [Wired]
• Tactical culture: Porchfest [New Urban Network]
• Can Preservationists Let Love Rule? [PlaceShakers]
• Shifting the Suburban Paradigm [The New York Times]
• Paris Launches One-Way Car-Sharing [The Atlantic]
Book Review: Block by Block
By Chris Quigley // No Comments
Not another Jane Jacobs review. Unfortunately yes. If you are reading this blog, chances are high that you have a dog-eaten copy of Death & Life lying around your home as a reminder of graduate school. Planners and non-planners alike have increasingly become familiar with the ideas and language of Jane Jacobs and it is hard to go a week without seeing her quoted in a newspaper or magazine article. Furthermore, with 2011 marking the 50th anniversary of the original publication of Death & Life, expect plenty more reaction and commentary. So is there anything left to say? Thankfully, yes.
October 5th, 2011
October 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayor won’t lobby for more drug injection sites [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver artists getting the boot in city’s aggressive real-estate market [Globe and Mail]
• Diverted truck traffic causes more complaints in East Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Civic election kick-off: false choices [The Mainlander]
• Floodgates open on P3 water proposal in advance of Abbotsford civic elections [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Methodology of Bike-Share Station Placement in New York City [The Atlantic]
• Urban Analysis [The Boston Globe]
• Seattle Greenways Push Cycling to Side Streets [The Atlantic]
• ...
World Wide Wednesday: Participatory budgeting and underground parks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• The first of a series of participatory budgeting assemblies begins this week in four New York City districts. During the assemblies, members of the public will be free to propose community improvement priorities. In March, votes will be held to decide which projects will be funded by the $1 million in discretionary capital funds available for allocation in each district (PBNYC).
• You've heard of the High Line, but are you up on the Low Line? A team in New York City is proposing an underground park be fashioned out of the former Delancey trolley terminal. Initial reaction in the public space-hungry city has been positive. (WebUrbanist)
October 6th, 2011
October 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Messy street patterns boost city's walkability [Vancouver Sun]
• TransLink plan falls short, commissioner cautions [Globe and Mail]
• Explainer: Vancouver's mayoral election [OpenFile]
• #OccupyVancouver? Look to Hong Kong housing activists for inspiration [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver struggles to cope with abandoned mattresses [Vancouver Sun]
• Opinion: Transit is the lifeblood of this city. Taxpayers, please open your veins [Vancouver Sun]
• New Stadium, Old Argument [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• A hip street in Sao Paulo, Brazil, moves to a different beat [The Los Angeles Times]
• America's Most Dangerous Cities ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_3238" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of BlueandWhiteArmy."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Simon Fraser University has a new table…..periodic table, that is. The giant interactive periodic table is an embedded wall display (about 10 ft long by six ft tall), with a box displaying real examples of the elements.
Just after Metro Vancouver bans smoking in their regional parks, smokers may now be forced to ...
October 7th, 2011
October 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City manager envisions turning Port Mann Bridge from parking lot to paradise [Globe and Mail]
• Poll: 85 per cent want better transit in Metro Vancouver [OpenFile]
• False Creek development could see new Canucks practice arena [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver to get 'Little Saigon' [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Car Sharing 2.0 Leaps Forward in Paris [The Transport Politic]
• Group Urges Research Into Aggressive Efforts to Fight Climate Change [The New York Times]
• Steve Jobs As Land Use Advocate [The Atlantic]
• The Creative Class May Fade, But Not Compared to ...
October 8th, 2011
October 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Metro Vancouver Mayors’ Council vote to approve the “Moving Forward” supplemental plan [The Buzzer Blog]
• B.C. to legislate tax hikes for improved public transit: Minister [Globe and Mail]
• Downtown Vancouver businesses warned about Occupy Vancouver protest [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. no longer 'Best Place on Earth' as slogan gets replaced [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Place, Not Race, May Better Explain America's Health Disparities [The Atlantic]
• The Cost Of Congestion, The Value Of Transit [Urbanophile]
Spacing Saturday: French Highways, Yaletown Park and Collective Imagination
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Clive Doucet continues his observations from Europe using the French model of privately funded tolled highways as basis for discussing the shape that nations take as a result of the long term philosophies and decisions.
Commemorating the recent passing of Elmaks, an artist who did much to enliven public space in Ottawa, Spacing re-posts an interview from last year talking about the innovative 'Swap Box' project.
Sean Gillis continues his look at the different forms of urban density through the Atlantic Canada's Densest Neighbourhoods feature. This week Gillis looks at the Quinpool Road area of Halifax.
Lauren Oostveen shares a series of magnificent, century old photographs that were recently unearthed a digitized at the Nova Scotia Archives. The pictures are now the subject of an online appeal for help determining where they were taken and what they depict.
Allanah Heffez asks a series of questions to open up and continue a discussion exploring the relationship between urban design and collective imagination.
Guillaume St-Jean's Montage du jour feature this week presented another fascinating look at the evolution of Montreal and the striking buildings lost to history.
Spacing's Dylan Reid reports back from the opening lecture of the UofT Cities Centre 'Toronto in Question' lecture series addressing the question "Is Toronto Broke?"
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to talk about the meaning of representational forms in contemporary architecture, highlighting new projects similar in appearance to the recent expansion of the Royal Ontario Museum.
October 10th, 2011
Release: Heritage Vancouver Walking tour of East Vancouver with James Johnstone
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Join East End-based house history researcher and blogger, heritage advocate and history walk guide James Johnstone for a tour of Vancouver's East End. James will use excerpts from the recently reprinted collection of 50 oral histories of East End pioneers Opening Doors, by Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter. This much loved groundbreaking East End history, originally published in 1979, was reprinted in 2011 by Harbour Publishing thanks to a Vancouver 125 Grant.
As you tour the streets and alleys of old Strathcona you will not ...
Vancouver Helps Launch the CanU
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3265" align="alignleft" width="600" caption=" Source photos are from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool."][/caption]
If this article is the first you've heard of the Council for Canadian Urbanism, you're not alone. Its board is a veritable who's who of the field, however, boasting centuries of experience in the public and private sectors - Vancouver's Director of City Planning, Brent Toderian, serves as President and Toronto's Director of Urban Design, Robert Freedman, is Chair.
Its relatively low profile is a conscious choice as it builds up its organizational capacity before broadening its base; last weekend's meeting in Vancouver was only its third annual gathering, and the agenda revolved around finalizing a draft charter and setting up working committees. The group is, at this point, essentially invite-only, though they happily opened their doors to Spacing Media.
Several keynotes and a variety of panel sessions started off the conference like many others. Among the highlights were Gordon Price's scathing analysis of the suburban predicament - motordom, it seems, is now his preferred term - and Pamela Blais' critique of the misdirected financial incentives that created that result - perverse cities, or pervurbia for short, in her parlance. The weekends' main attraction for Spacing was, however, the insider's view of this nascent alliance of urbanist giants.
October 11th, 2011
October 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Occupy Vancouver protest set to hit downtown October 15 [Vancouver Sun]
• Campaign strategy in Vancouver: VV ‘Not a slam dunk’; NPA, Go after the mayor [State of Vancouver]
• Future need for Chinese seniors’ housing ‘overwhelming’, UBC study shows [Vancouver Sun]
• Urban Gardeners Green Prince George's Tough Reputation [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Proposal Transforms Park Space Under the Manhattan Bridge [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Up From Ugliness [The New York Times]
• Should Seattle spend millions to buy more streetcars? [The Seattle Times]
• Smart growth's dirty little secret: How dirty, ...
Socialist Modernism
By David Peacock // No Comments
Edited by: Inka Schube (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2010)
After five years of traveling Eastern Europe and Russia as a magazine photographer and scholar, Roman Bezjak has published a compelling look at the modernist buildings of socialist Europe.
October 12th, 2011
October 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver’s Parade of Lost Souls finds new stroll [Vancouver Courier]
• SkyTrain upgrades communications network [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Sprawl Repair: From Sprawl to Complete Communities [Terrain.org]
• The Methodology of Bike-Share Station Placement In New York City [The Atlantic]
• The Limits of New Urbanism in Portland's Orenco Station [The Atlantic]
• Seattle's real underground tour [Crosscut]
• MVRDV’s Vertical Village Exhibition Explores Alternative Urban Densification in East Asia [Inhabitat]
World Wide Wednesday: Stolen bridges and brutalist preservation
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• At FastCompany, urban designer Ryan Gravel speaks to power of catalyst projects to revitalize urban communities. He cites the example of the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile rail route turned linear park, as a possible model.
• At The Atlantic Cities, Allison Arieff reflects on the industrial re-design of NYC's Times Square. Architect Craig Dykers muses, “There’s that film noir quality that some people have about Times Square… and the grittiness of the street is a part of it... It’s not taking its cues from pretty little things in Europe or something. It’s kind of like the heart of New York City. It’s a heavy, muscular thing.”
• Thieves in North Beaver Township, Pennsylvania, raised the (re-)bar this past week when they stole a 50 by 20 foot bridge for scrap metal. The bridge dated back to the early 1900s and was primarily used for rail traffic. (CNN)
Release: CoV Cultural Services’ Projects: FREE Grant-writing Workshop
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
City of Vancouver Cultural Services staff will present two grant-writing workshops on October 19th and 24th, 4:00 - 7:00 pm; for non-profit organizations who would like to apply to our Project Grant program in advance of the upcoming November 18th deadline.
These workshops are free, but space is limited to 18 places per workshop.
Register through Eventbrite.com ASAP!
In addition to a review of the eligibility criteria for organizations, eligible projects and expenses, we will review the application form itself, explain the financial form and financial reporting requirements and what can ...
October 13th, 2011
October 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• An interview with Metro Vancouver about growth south of the Fraser [The Buzzer Blog]
• Knowing your civic election candidates [OpenFile]
• Vancouver hosting largest We Day event in the country [Vancouver Sun]
• Are Vancouver Politics Getting Ford-ified? [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Canadian urbanists turn regional [New Urban Network]
• Richard Florida Q&A news tip [MyCityWay Blog]
• New Cycling Initiatives in Ukraine [TheCityFix.com]
• Why Walkable Cities Aren't Always the Ones You'd Think [The Atlantic]
Heritage Vancouver Bulletin: Demolition threat – historic Legg Residence (1899)
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
The City has received an application that seeks to demolish the Legg Residence, one of the city’s three remaining grand estate homes from the turn of the 19th century and an extremely important link to the history of both the West End and Vancouver. The house at 1241 Harwood Street was under construction in July 1899, just 12 years after the arrival of the CPR railway. The Klondike Gold Rush had ushered in a brief wave of ...
October 14th, 2011
October 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The instigator: Adbusters founder on sowing the seeds of the 'Occupy' revolution [Crosscut]
• Bike advocate touts two-wheel commute [Vancouver Courier]
• Calendar captures Downtown Eastside images [Vancouver Courier]
• Norquay residents "riot" over rezoning application [OpenFile]
• Artists and the Drive [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Great Places in America: Neighborhoods [American Planning Association]
• Why Ranking Cities Can Be Such a Tricky Business [The Atlantic]
• Green Machine: Towering factory will have humble needs [New Scientist]
• Everything Sings: Maps for a Narrative Atlas [Places: Design Observer]
Vancouver Urbanist Meetup: Sunday, October 16th, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // 4 Comments
Now that Thanksgiving is over and the leftovers are gone, It's time to reconnect with your fellow city geeks at the monthly Vancouver Urbanist Meetup!
Come out and join me and your fellow urbanists this coming Sunday (October 16th) from 3-5pm, for a few beers and a lively discussion about urbanism in Vancouver, and cities in general.
This month we're heading to a Vancouver classic—the bar at the ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_3384" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Stephen Rees."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Pedestrianism is spreading across the land as the City of Courtenay staff start looking into the feasibility of building a pedestrian/cycling bridge over the Courtenay River at Sixth Street.
After two long years of community effort to raise over $45, 000, Parkside Centennial Elementary School in Aldergrove has a ...
Release: Escape Velocity by Chelsea O’Brian launches October 17 on Canada Line video screens
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Escape Velocity by Chelsea O'Brian launches October 17 and runs to October 31 on the Canada Line video screens. One of 13 new public art projects commissioned by the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program for Vancouver 125, Escape Velocity is the sixth in the 10 Seconds series of commissioned works for the Canada Line video screens as part of a yearlong project celebrating Vancouver 125.
Escape Velocity is a liberating flight of fancy. This 10-second film blends the speed and force of a helicopter with the magic, grace and beauty ...
October 15th, 2011
October 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Panel rejects Beach Towers rezoning in Vancouver’s West End [Vancouver Courier]
• Social housing for homeless catering mainly to non-homeless people [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• ‘Mythbusters’ on Cars vs. Motorcycles: Which Is Greener? [The New York Times]
• Civic Symbolism: A Survey of City Hall Architecture [The Atlantic]
• A Regional Vision for the Great Lakes [The Atlantic]
Spacing Saturday: CanU, Safe Cycling and the Legg Residence
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Allegra Newman profiles the results of last month's Next City Cafe event engaging a wide variety of interests on the issue of how to make cycling better in Ottawa.
In light of a highly publicized deadly cycling accident in Downtown Ottawa this week Spacing highlights a compelling video response to a similar tragedy in Northern Ireland.
Sean Gillis reveals the final result of the Atlantic Canada's Densest Neighbourhoods series. This week profiling the most densely populated neighbourhood in the Maritimes, Halifax's Spring Garden/ Queen Street area.
Last week's profiled crowd-sourcing project to attach stories to a series of old photographs unearthed in the Nova Scotia archives produced some interesting results. Lauren Oostveen reveals the intriguing story of one of the series' most interesting photographs.
The Montage du Jour featured several interesting contrasts in commercial buildings this week, including the evolution of a grocery store over the past several decades.
For several days Guillaume St-Jean's Montage du Jour focused on the fascinating changes brought about by the construction of the massive Maison Radio-Canada complex in the early 1970's.
Two posts this week complimented the upcoming release of the food issue of the Spacing Magazine. Jessica Lemieux tells the story of how a vegetable garden built community for a newcomer to the city. Luca de Franco uses the Headspace feature to interview Debbie Field, executive director of the innovative organization Foodshare.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City column to profile a fascinating New York City program pre-qualifying high quality architects for local public works projects to support local firms and make the most of limited budgets.
October 16th, 2011
October 16, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Anton does not like to be compared to Rob Ford [OpenFile]
• Mayoral candidates announced [Vancouver Sun]
• Occupiers vow to stay on Vancouver Art Gallery lawn [Vancouver Courier]
• Why they joined Occupy Vancouver [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• ‘Greenscaping’ for Health [Citiwire.net]
• 3 Keys To Creating Great "Good Places" [Fast Company]
October 17th, 2011
October 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• New units for homeless going to house others, report says [Globe and Mail]
• City’s affordable housing strategy: gentrification [The Mainlander]
CANADA
• Tell Us What's Being Done to Our Groundwater, Demand Albertans [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• In Karachi, Irregular Neighborhoods Are Anything But [The Atlantic]
Price Points: Baby Demons
By Gordon Price // No Comments
A shining black baby with webbed wings - both cute and ominous. But where is it?
Maybe you recognized the portico of the Town Hall or some of the distinctive buildings on Swanston Street, without one of Melbourne's characteristic trams to provide a clue. For indeed, this is a view up the main street of the world's most livable city (map here), as their residents graciously remind a visiting Vancouverite. And the ominous cherub is one of the reasons why.
The sculptures are part of the ...
Release: City announces Vancouver’s third poet laureate
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The City of Vancouver, in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library and the Vancouver International Writers Festival, is proud to announce celebrated local poet and author Evelyn Lau as Vancouver’s third Poet Laureate.
Mayor Gregor Robertson will welcome Evelyn Lau as Vancouver’s third Poet Laureate at a ceremony on Saturday October 22 at 5 p.m. at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings St). This free event will close the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference (October 19-22) organized by Brad Cran, Vancouver’s outgoing Poet Laureate.
Ms. Lau plans to ...
NPA’s Anton: Streetcar Yes, Bike Lanes No
By Brian Gould // No Comments
The nomination deadline for Vancouver's civic election passed on Friday, with 94 people stepping up for 27 spots across the mayoralty, council, and boards for schools and parks. Eight slates are represented, though Vancouver is currently in the middle of a two-and-a-half-party system phase with Vision/COPE leading the NPA. The Green party and some newcomers will attempt to find the space to break through. At the top of the ballot, Incumbent Vision Mayor Gregor Robertson will face the NPA's lone councillor, Suzanne Anton, and ten others.
One question that's liable to crop up a few times in the race is whether there's a Rob Ford equivalent in the race - that's going to be up to the NPA who are branding themselves as "Suzanne Anton and the Common Sense Team." On one hand, Frances Bula posted a rather familar sounding campaign ad and noted the campaigns share a research consultant. On the other, OpenFile's Luke Brocki tried to get Anton to make the comparison with Ford herself, and she claimed not to know anything about him.
Transportation is one of the first issues to come to the front this campaign, unsurprisingly led by the separated bike lanes. Anton is a self-described cyclist, like former NPA cycling advocates on council, and is part of a party previously praised by cycling advocates. However, today's NPA seems content to cede this segment of the "green" vote and others to Vision. After initially coming out against throwing away the $3 million spent on the Hornby lane, she quickly added a bike lane moratorium and a remove-what-you-can't-"fix" strategy to her position.
October 18th, 2011
October 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Anton’s history of flip-flopping haunts her Vancouver mayoral bid [Globe and Mail]
• Occupy Vancouver can continue if it remains peaceful: Gregor Robertson [Vancouver Sun]
• Suburban Vancouver office market driven by rapid transit: report [Vancouver Sun]
• Province moves to raise gas tax for TransLink [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Recyclebank's Plan To Make London Residents More Physically Active [Fast Company]
• New Plans To Protect Istanbul's Silhouette [Hurriet Daily News]
• Bad Boy Architects And China's New Face [China Daily]
• Stranded in suburbia: Why aren’t Americans moving to the city? [...
Walk21 Helps Keep You Fit and Busy
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3484" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Thank you to Pakalakamino on Flickr for the source photo. "][/caption]
A plethora of perambulating peripatetics and other pedestrians descended on Vancouver at the beginning of October to madly rush through 200 presentations from twenty countries in just three short days. It overlapped both CanU, which I wrote about last week, and a Spacing Vancouver contributors meeting at the same time, and my head has only just stopped spinning from the experience. By the second night, as I struggled valiantly with an avalanche of bright pink balloons alongside Spacing's national editor and local podcaster (true story - photo from another group), I felt the pressure of wanting to attend every single session close in with a rosy, claustrophobic haze.
The simultaneously happy and sad reality was that it was simply impossible for anyone to take in all the interdisciplinary opportunities on offer - if it were, I'd still be there, two weeks later, trying to get my fill. Presentations in the breakout sessions ranged from the vague-but-feel-good advocacy victory video to data heavy analysis, and the variety was very much appreciated, if it did make for some tough choices. Note to cycling advocates looking forward to Velo-City 2012: practice your power-walking and learn to be in multiple places at once!
Tilting: House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching and Other Tales from a Newfoundland Fishing Village
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Author: Robert Mellin (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008)
Tilting: House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching and Other Tales from a Newfoundland Fishing Village is a cultural and architectural documentation of Tilting, Newfoundland. In 1987, architect and professor, Robert Mellin moved to Tilting with the intention of recording every house in the town. Over the next sixteen years he documented housing types, personal histories, memories, environmental changes and community resilience. From the hand-made window sashes to the collapse of the Cod fishery, Mellin uses architecture as a language for which to describe the history of a community
October 19th, 2011
October 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Housing homeless becomes political football [Globe and Mail]
• Understanding traffic laws for cyclists [OpenFile]
• Ethnic enclave series: 'Little Italy’ spreads its wings [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• As Awake As Possible: A Walk with Jon Cotner [Urban Omnibus]
• Defining the City: On Being and Becoming [Terrain]
• Where the super rich live [CNN]
• In Defense of Portland's Orenco Station [The Atlantic]
• The rise of the farm-cation [Crosscut]
World Wide Wednesday: Bankruptcy, transit pass, commute times
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Harrisburg, PA filed for bankruptcy protection last week after failing to make debt servicing payments on its trash-to-energy incinerator. Bloomberg reports that Harrisburg is the second and largest American city to file for protection this year.
• In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will require city employees to take transit when travelling on official business. The new policy is expected to save $1 million (in expense claims for car washes and parking tickets). (Grist)
• UK-based researchers are exploring the potential of synthetic protocells to capture atmospheric CO2. While scalability and commercial production remain concerns, the team suggests that such materials may one day improve the carbon footprint of the buildings they coat. (CNN)
October 20th, 2011
October 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Artists collect 'stories' on video in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver mayor vows to end casino expansion [Globe and Mail]
• In Praise of Politicians [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Gentle Push for Bikers, Not a Shove [The New York Times]
• How Cities Should Work [Salon.com]
• Planning Experts Call for an Overhaul of NYC Zoning Rules [Streetsblog]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3598" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of it caught my eye."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Politics seem to be finding a younger generation in Abbotsford as 17-year-old Travis Daleman has throws his hat into the ring for mayor.
Much gratitude to the North Shore Community Resources Society on behalf of all those people who want to give back to their community for compiling a ...
October 21st, 2011
October 21, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Green leaves Little Mountain [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver city council increases cost of dying [Vancouver Courier]
• Occupy Vancouver protest has honourable civic history [Globe and Mail]
• The behind-the-scenes struggle over how to tackle homelessness
[State of Vancouver]
• INTERVIEW | COPE’s Tim Louis [The Mainlander]
• Livable Region Plan actually working [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• In Seattle, Feelings are Mixed on Extra Perks for "Ultra-Green" Building Standards [The Seattle Times]
• So cheap, there’s hope [The Economist]
• To Win Riders, Mass Transit Should Get Wired [The Atlantic]
• Affordable ...
Release: 100th Anniversary of the Stanley Park Pavilion & the Rock Garden
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 2011
TIME: Ceremony and Birthday Party; 10am to 11:30 am;
Walking Tour 11:30am to 12:30pm;
TICKETS: Walking Tour – By donation, first come basis;
LOCATION: The Pavilion in Stanley Park (near Malkin Bowl Theatre)
On Sunday, October 23rd, at 10 am, you are invited to join Heritage Vancouver Society, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation in a celebration to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Stanley Park Pavilion and the Rock Garden.
Join us at the Pavilion at 10am for ...
Release: Call to Artists – Outdoor Group Exhibition
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call to Artists - Outdoor Group Exhibition
Northern Passion nordique - Winterlude 2012 (February 3-20, 2012)
Canada's Capital Region - Confederation Park in the National Capital
Deadline for Submissions: November 14, 2011
The National Capital Commission (NCC) is seeking Canadian professional artists for an outdoor group exhibit Northern Passion nordique to be held in Confederation Park in the National Capital during Winterlude 2012. To ensure that public art is an integral part of its existing programming, the NCC wants to highlight Canadian artistic excellence and enrich the experience of Canadians who wish ...
FAVOURITE FRIDAY: Which piece of local public art is your favourite?
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
Across the Spacing Blog Network today we are asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know which work of local public art is your favourite (feel free to name more than one). We want to hear back from our readers on what they like/dislike about our shared public spaces so we plan to run this feature with regularity.
If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers ...
Release: 4 Fresh Projects for 2011-2012 from Goethe Satellite Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
After a very successful start with the Freie Internationale Tankstelle, or FIT, a “fueling station for the creative spirit” by Berlin artist Dida Zende, which took the form of a custom architecture built from shipping containers at the Waldorf Hotel, four new projects have been announced for the Goethe Satellite Vancouver.
The four projects are:
Goethe Satellite @ Fillip
Olaf Nicolai: Intangible Economies
November 2011 - Internationally renowned Berlin-based artist Olaf Nicolai, whose wide-ranging, conceptually-driven work often engages with notions of exchange and economy, will travel to Vancouver to participate in a 3-day forum ...
Homelessness Way Down – Homelessness Slightly Up
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3632" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Matt Magnan."][/caption]
You might have noticed some rather contradictory information swirling about lately on the homelessness front of the municipal election. However, the numbers consistently referred to (yes, on both sides) come from the same sources, like the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness as presented in the 2011 Homelessness Count. The back-and-forth spin takes quite a bit of effort to untangle, but here's roughly how it breaks down:
Last Friday, Incumbent Vision Mayor Gregor Robertson held a press conference to point toward "the first year-over-year decline" in street homelessness "since counts started being made." Indeed, there was an 82% drop in the unsheltered count from 815 in 2008 to 145 in 2011. The rest of the Metro region managed a drop of 23%, but now finds itself responsible for 80% of the unsheltered homeless instead of just under half.
On Monday, NPA Challenger Suzanne Anton fired back that the numbers actually show homelessness is an "increasing problem" in Vancouver. The count's section on total homelessness (street and sheltered) found a slight uptick from 1580 to 1605 in Vancouver proper. Regionally, it was a slight drop from 2660 to 2623. Both changes are less than 2%.
The numbers are key, representing the apparent success or failure of a rather significant promise regarding homelessness from the previous campaign. The promise Robertson made was, however, to end street homelessness - not homelessness as a whole - by 2015, a policy goal still in place and seemingly quite achievable at this juncture.
October 22nd, 2011
October 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Top mayoral candidates emphasize leadership in first Vancouver debate [Vancouver Courier]
• Poll shows Gregor Robertson in lead but predicts divided council [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Chicago's 'Congestion Fee' Gets Chilly Reception [NPR]
• Government establishes urban design protocol for Australian cities [Architecture and Design]
Spacing Saturday: Walk 21, Local Food Systems and YIMBYism
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
John Lorinc used his column this week to pick apart Rob Ford's assertions about the cost of the municipal civil service in response to the Mayor's escalating posturing ahead of upcoming contract negotiations.
Spacing profiles this weekend's YIMBY - Yes in My Backyard Festival which aims to turn the tables of the relationship between developers, politicians and community groups in order to build momentum for positive change.
An estimated 700 people took part in a tribute ride along Ottawa's Queen Street this week in memory of Danielle Naçu who was tragically killed while cycling on the street; Spacing shows a video of the procession.
Having been involved in local food systems in both Ottawa and her current residence of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kathleen Courtney is able to provide a fascinating comparison of food systems between 'advanced' Canadian cities and the highly traditional systems in Ethiopia.
Abad Khan profiles two significant projects that are taking two very different approaches to revitalization in the urban heart of Saint John, both offering their own set of challenges and opportunities.
The Atlantic Snapshots feature continues to provide fascinating looks at maritime cities and their history.
Guillaume St-Jean's Montage du Jour feature takes a look at the changing retail face of St Catherine Street as well as long vanished theaters and the former site of the Marché St-Laurent.
October 23rd, 2011
October 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Are we reaching ‘peak car’? [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Transit strikes brewing at GO and York Region [The Toronto Star]
• Subway or LRT along Sheppard, councillor seeks answers from city [Inside Toronto]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Diverse City? In Some Ways, Anything But [The New York Times]
Release: Open House MONDAY Demolition threat – Legg Residence (1899)
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Heritage Vancouver invites you to attend an Open House Monday evening hosted by the applicant Bing Thom Architects to give your input into the proposed demolition of the Legg Residence. This is your chance to send a clear message to Vancouver City Council that you strongly oppose the first demolition of an “A” Heritage Building in the City of Vancouver since the Georgia Medical Dental Building in 1989. Following the public outcry that surrounded the dramatic demolition of the ...
Release: VPSN Annual Halloween Skytrain Party!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It's that time of the year! The VPSN’s annual Halloween Skytrain Party is back! This is your chance to take part in one of the craziest, most unique and fang-tastic Halloween costume parties of the year.
TIME: Friday, October 28 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm
LOCATION: (starting at) Waterfront Station
Details:
Meet in the Waterfront Station Concourse at 7:45PM on Friday, October 28th
Follow the Conductor and depart: Waterfront at 8PM
Have the ride of your life!
When we return to Waterfront, dont leave us! Join us at the Afterparty (secret location!)
Tweets and ...
October 24th, 2011
October 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver Aims to 'End' Homelessness [The Atlantic]
• Artifice of Law: Information on the Structures By-Law [The Mainlander]
• Doubts Lace Excitement over Vancouver's Local Food Hub [The Tyee]
• Going Going Gone [Vancouver Magazine]
• One from the cart: street food in Vancouver [The Guardian]
INTERNATIONAL
• Manifest Destiny: A Guide to the Essential Indifference of American Suburban Housing [Design Observer]
• Wind turbine blades reach out to catch the breeze [New Scientist]
Release: Bike to Work Week starts Halloween! – Oct 31-Nov 6
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It's that time of year again.....Bike to Work Week! The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition organized the first Bike to Work Week program in 2007 - after grassroots Bike to Work efforts that came from the North Shore.
We encourage you to participate in Bike to Work Week (31 October to 6 November) by registering at their website.
***
The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC) is a volunteer-run non-profit society whose members work to improve conditions for cycling in the Lower Mainland. The VACC believes that increased bicycle use has the potential ...
Price Points: An Interesting Street
By Gordon Price // No Comments
Michael Alexander, a Vancouver urbanist, thinks this is actually the most interesting block on one of the most interesting streets in the city at the moment. Here's a piece of it, at its most interesting:
It's Pigeon Park (map here), on the northeast end of the Zero Block of West Hastings (meaning the street numbering system starts here at Carroll Street, and goes up in either direction, east and west).
And isn't "interesting" an, um, interesting word in this context? On this single block you can see the ...
COPE Focuses in on Bus Riders, Cyclists, Pedestrians
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3679" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Selected images from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Images courtesy of Philip Tong and Ben Johnson. "][/caption]
Over the past week, the Coalition of Progressive Electors have rolled out plank after plank for their transportation platform, setting the bar higher than any other party is willing to jump at this stage in the campaign. The October 20th release is an all-too-rare case of politicians acknowledging the causes of poor cyclist behaviour (especially riding on sidewalks). The ...
Taxicabs and the future of getting around
By Karen Fung // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_3474" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image courtesy of Tyler Ingram."][/caption]
On October 5th, Maclure's celebrated 100 years of operation as a taxicab business in the Lower Mainland. Those 100 years have seen a great deal of change in how we get around in Vancouver — from walking and cycling, to horse-drawn carriages, to streetcars, to, more recently, electric trolley buses, diesel buses, and cars big and small.
While we can look back on it purely with nostalgia, we can also think about it through the lens of a sustainable urban transportation future, that involves single-occupancy vehicles and more of other modes that both emit fewer GHGs and keep us engaged with our communities. How might we draw upon our past to inspire us in creating what comes next?
October 25th, 2011
October 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City asks demonstrators to pack up tents and end Occupy Vancouver [OpenFile]
• Vancouver’s NPA: Why it’s dominated city politics for so long and expects to do so again [State of Vancouver]
• The most interesting block in Vancouver [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Victoria's micro-companies dominate landscape [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Jan Gehl’s Incremental Approach to Urbanism [Life & Urbanism]
• What makes a good urban park [New Urban Network]
• Be happy, be more interesting, be dense [The Sydney Morning Herald]
• Debunking the Impact of City Heat on Global Warming [...
Tom Kundig: Houses 2
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
Edited by Daniel S. Friedman (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
"Tom Kundig’s architecture possesses the relaxed and unpretentious air of American pragmatist vernacular (from farmhouses and barns to anonymous industrial spaces), layered with traces of Miesian structural classicism, the ideal of flowing space and the fusion of outdoors and indoors. This architecture is rigorously organized and aesthetically refined and elegant, but at the same time tough, rough, and matter-of-fact. Kundig’s steel is warm and invites touch, in contrast to the cold steel of today’s high-tech rationalism.”
– Juhani Pallasmaa, from the Introduction
As a follow up to the 2006 monograph Tom Kundig: Houses, Princeton Architectural Press gives us another monograph on the award winning architect, whose body of work continues to push the envelope of the otherwise mundane typology that is the single family residence. With a short and lyrical introduction by Juhani Pallasmaa, book-ended by Daniel S. Friedman’s more in depth project-by-project essay, the seventeen houses beautifully photographed for Houses 2 represent the Seattle-based architect’s continuing fascination with the paradigm of the single family home.
October 26th, 2011
October 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Growth south of the Fraser – Part 2 [The Buzzer Blog]
• Millions of tonnes of Japan tsunami debris drifting toward B.C. coast [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Paul Dewar, NDP Leadership Hopeful, Unveils Urban Strategy [Huffington Post]
INTERNATIONAL
• Interview with Bjarke Ingels [The Dirt]
• Making Bikes a Part of the Neighborhood [Gotham Gazette]
• Urbanizing the Amazon [The Atlantic]
• Seattle's car tabs: Will residents get their money's worth? [Crosscut]
No Freeways, but what about those Viaducts? re:CONNECT Ideas Competition launched!
By Brent Toderian // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3795" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image courtesy of Wikipedia."][/caption]
By Brent Toderian
One of the bedrocks of the Vancouver city-building story, which we often refer to as "the most important decision Vancouver ever made", was the dramatic rejection of inner city freeways in the late 60's/early 70's. This left our city frequently referenced as the only major North America city without a freeway. That decision led us down the very different and counter-intuitive path for livability, mobility, inner city density and urbanism that has come to be referred to as "the Vancouver Model".
World Wide Wednesday: Bridges, record playing bikes, Libyan development
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Transportation for America reports that communities across the U.S. are demanding repairs to aging and unsafe bridges. A staggering 9.8% of bridges in the Chicago metropolitan area are considered structurally deficient.
• The UBC School of Public Affairs profiles a recent report on the impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The study used 126 IOC-mandated indicators to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Games. While the reported findings are somewhat vague, researchers note that the Games helped with the creation of new jobs and businesses and increases in visitor spending.
• At Next American City, Michael Hooper examines the role of public participation in infrastructure projects. While some prominent urbanists question the value of what they term 'excessive participatory requirements' - citing slower construction times, Hooper identifies other positive spillovers from public participation including user satisfaction, long-term economic and social sustainability and the development of social capital.
Release: Successful Food Scraps Collection Service Extends into the Winter
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As the Food Scraps Drop Spot pilot project comes to an end, the Vancouver Farmers Market and Recycling Alternative is extending the service into the winter. This pilot project has been a real success story. Over 11 weeks, apartment and condo dwellers from downtown communities have made close to 2,000 drops and brought in almost 10,000 pounds of food scraps for composting.
“We are constantly amazed by the droppers’ participation and enthusiasm for this project,” says Louise Schwarz, the co-owner of Recycling Alternative. “We have already extended the pilot project by ...
October 27th, 2011
October 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• VIDEO: Mayoral debate [Vancouver Courier]
• Vision Vancouver announces 'creativity' platform [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Solar Decathlon Highlights [Dwell]
• A tale of new cities: India's push to industrialize [Reuters]
• Why Suburbs Near Cities Weather Recessions Better [The Atlantic]
• Local manufacturer will help build Seattle's second streetcar line [KPLU]
• Mapping the Age of Humans [The Atlantic]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3799" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of elvis_hitler2000."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Despite all the buzz, it is nice to see that we behaved ourselves relatively well during George W. Bush's visit.
Bad news for medical marijuana users in Langley City as mayor Peter Fassbender revealed that council unanimously voted against a medical marijuana dispensary during a closed-door meeting a ...
Video Vancouver: Putnam Block Party
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Putnam Block Party from adele pham on Vimeo.
Release: Shipwreck Cemetery Walk – SS Princess Sophia Disaster
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Please join us for a shipwreck themed walking tour with local historian John Atkin at Mountain View Cemetery. We will tell the story of the SS Princess Sophia disaster which took place on October 25, 1918 while sailing from Skagway to Vancouver. In this tragedy all were lost except an oil-soaked dog that managed to swim to shore despite the frigid water.
The walking tour will visit the graves of the shipwreck’s victims and tell their story through news accounts and letters of the day. The tour will be ...
Release: “Speak your Mind” on the municipal elections with PlaceSpeak
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As Metro Vancouver citizens prepare to head to the polls next month, Vancouver-based start-up PlaceSpeak has made it easier for residents to engage with each other to discuss the local election issues that are most important to them in their own municipalities.
Using their unique geo-verification platform, PlaceSpeak has created topic pages for metro Vancouver’s five largest cities, including Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, and Coquitlam. In the coming weeks, PlaceSpeak will be expanding the topics to include other metro municipalities.
On each city’s local topic page users will find information ...
October 28th, 2011
FAVOURITE FRIDAY: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge?
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
Across the Spacing urban blog network each week we're asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know their favourite things about their respective city.
THIS WEEK: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge(s) in Vancouver?
If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers that use this site usually provide the best quality images (and often with ...
October 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• House values skyrocket in Vancouver's Cambie corridor [CBC News]
• Mayoral candidates unleash economic plans [Vancouver Courier]
• Ending ‘the structures on that space’ [Globe and Mail]
• This weekend in Vancouver: All things Halloween [OpenFile]
• The October Revolution [The Mainlander]
• Numbers: Does Langley get screwed on transit funding? [Price Tags]
• No post-Olympics tourist bump in sight for B.C. [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up on Philadelphia Streets [Project For Public Spaces]
• Public Participation: More than an “Orgy of Public Process” [Next American City]
• ...
Release: SOUTH HILL | INSIDE STORIES
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Screening/ Forum: Art + Community = Social Change?
DATE & TIME: Thursday, November 3rd, 7:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street - Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level -
ADMISSION: free. Seating is limited.
Reserve your seat on Eventbrite: insidestories.eventbrite.com
INSIDE STORIES is a groundbreaking web experience that fuses art and community. Join us-artists, storytellers and activists-as we screen the web stories and discuss how and why we created them. Add your two bits. Can art + community = social change?
Moderated by award-winning filmmaker Nettie Wild, who created INSIDE STORIES with Jeremy ...
The Online Campaign’s Muddy Trenches
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3839" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Rick Forgo."][/caption]
Since you're the kind of person to read online election articles, you probably already know that the three major parties - Vision, COPE, and the NPA - are all strongly represented online, along with independent candidate Sandy Garossino, veteran of the casino fight, and others.
This is the election where social media finally becomes the make-or-break campaign tool, say the pundits, just as they've said for every election in recent memory. I disagree, and I disagree as someone who recently managed a election's "social media candidate" (the exact race is not important, but I have never had any role with any Vancouver party or candidate).
On Facebook, we had the most friends, and both a page to "like" and a discussion group to join. On Twitter, we were one of the most prolific campaigns, but also the most likely to engage in an actual dialogue. Our YouTube videos allowed comments, as did the in-depth blog posts we were constantly rolling out with detailed links to relevant articles. We answered pretty much every question directed our way on the local forum while most candidates ignored it, and we did an in-depth interview with a local blogger in addition to all the surveys we knew would end up online.
Release: Last Candidate Standing – Sunday, November 6, 2011!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 2011
TIME: 7:00 to 9:30pm
LOCATION: UBC Robson Square
ADMISSION: free, but your must register at the EventBrite registration page.
The 2011 edition of Last Candidate Standing is being co-produced by the Vancouver Public Space Network and UBC's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. It's an election mixer and rotating debate that's open to all mayoral and council candidates. If you're a mayoral or council candidate, this is your chance for fame and ever-lasting coolness... not to mention a chance to participate in the best idea-sharing forum in the election.
October 29th, 2011
October 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City turns to social media, apps to increase voter turnout [Vancouver Courier]
• Waldorf Hotel: Vancouver’s cultural oasis in the middle of nowhere [Globe and Mail]
• Halloween events in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. announces plans to modernize education system [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Should the 'creative class' be more rural in the developing world? [myurbanist]
• What Are The Best Ways to Combat Homelessness? [The Atlantic]
• America's unlikely top city for biking: Minneapolis [Crosscut]
Release: Parade of Lost Souls Secret Location!!!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Parade of Lost Souls - Secret Souls Walk Details
DATE: Saturday, October 29, 2011
TIME: 5-9pm
PLACE: Garden Park
TICKETS: No tickets required, $5 suggested donation
Join your community in celebrating those who came before us as we transform an East side neighbourhood into a portal to the past.
Last year’s partnership with the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, one of East Vancouver’s most engaging group of community artists, allowed us to bring Parade of Lost Souls back to its roots in the community. This year, they will work with members of the community ...
October 30th, 2011
October 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Massive California farm-to-city water deal snared in litigation [The Los Angeles Times]
October 31st, 2011
October 31, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Province must help with homeless problem, Vancouver mayor says [Globe and Mail]
• INTERVIEW | The Civic Green Party’s Adriane Carr & Stuart Mackinnon [The Mainlander]
• Mayoral debate: Huge demand expected for seniors' housing [Vancouver Sun]
• Does Vancouver need a designated public square? [OpenFile]
CANADA
• U.S. TV host calls Toronto Mayor Rob Ford the ‘worst person in the world’ [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• City skyscraper era comes to an end [The Independent]
• What to do with a cul-de-sac? [New Urbanism Blog]
• Designing for Density Doesn't Have to Be ...
Become a fan of Spacing Vancouver on Facebook
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
There are four great ways to keep up with Spacing Vancouver:
1. Visit this blog daily
2. Subscribe to our RSS feed
3. Follow us on Twitter (our social media guru, Liam Lahey, provides a plethora of links each day)
4. Now you can follow us on Facebook
By becoming a fan of the Spacing Vancouver page on Facebook you can have our blog posts go right into your news feed so you don't ever miss an article.
The Online Campaign: Video Roundup
By Brian Gould // No Comments
Twitter may be downright dirty (see Friday's piece), but it's not the only front in the online campaign. Online ads, primarily on YouTube, have become a staple of local campaigns. They're infinitely cheaper than television ads to broadcast, but it takes a particular type of video to gain widespread attention - people who aren't likely to follow the debates aren't necessarily going to be that much more inclined to watch the YouTube equivalent. It's no surprise, then, that the most popular (and successful, if views are a measure of that) video is a silly parody attack ad from Vision-affiliated WeBackTheJuiceMan.ca.
Funny will only get you so far, of course. Vision and COPE have several polished party policy planks, while the NPA have a slew of shorter pieces. Meanwhile, NPA candidate Jason Lamarche seems to have outproduced his own party and Sandy Garossino has been able to keep up as an independent. Campaign videos are carefully scripted, to be sure, but how the message is delivered is just as important as what is said - and what isn't said. The top video for each campaign so far, in descending order of views, is after the jump.
Price Points: Someplace Beautiful
By Gordon Price // No Comments
Where is this, and why is it signficant?
It may be the most idyllic garden shed in the Lower Mainland.
This is part of Darts Hill Garden Park (map here) - and no, I hadn't heard of it either. Last week the Darts Hill Garden Conservancy Trust Society won Surrey's Beautiful City Award - "Celebrating outstanding contributions in community beautification":
Darts Hill Garden is the result of 60 years of work and dedication guided by the clear vision of Francisca Darts. Along with her husband Edwin, Francisca has taken a ...
“This is my favourite street in Surrey”
By Don Schuetze // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_3603" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Central Parkway in Whalley connects buses with the skytrain."][/caption]
"This is my favourite street in Surrey," my wife said as we turned onto Central Parkway, the street the Surrey Central Skytrain station is on.
I nearly laughed out loud.
We've only been living in Surrey for a few months. I grew up close to here, although I haven't lived here for over 20 years. My internal map of this street is informed by all those memories (lo these many years) of a rather sketchy bus loop. Not to mention all the bad press, especially in the 1980s of Whalley gangs who'd harass innocent bus passengers (never mind they were really high school kids looking for a handout). But my wife is a migrant to the coast from Montreal. To her this is all new.
And so is this street, really a stub of 135 Street, now called Central Parkway. The new Surrey Central library is half-a-block away, next to the recreation centre and there's a gaping hole just in front where the new city hall will be planted. SFU Surrey is at one end, with it's own wide plaza. And at the other end? Well, maybe that will get a coat of paint soon too.
Why would this short boulevard be her favourite street? Here's why:
November 1st, 2011
November 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The People's Order of BC: Your Nominations, Please [The Tyee]
• Protecting agricultural land is a key election concern [Vancouver Sun]
• Vision and NPA offer significantly different ideas on how to create affordable housing [State of Vancouver]
CANADA
• Preserving a Canadian Ghost Town [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• For San Francisco democracy, the skyline’s the limit [The San Francisco Examiner]
• Bicycles roll into fashion in Mexico City [USA Today]
• Where the 1% Live [The Atlantic]
• 'Sustainability' and other fuzzy, turn-off words [Crosscut]
• Lessons from the High Line [...
Geometry of Design
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
Author: Kim Elam (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
“The purpose of Geometry of Design is not to quantify aesthetics through geometry, but rather to reveal visual relationships that have foundations in the essential qualities of life such as proportion and growth patterns as well as mathematics.” -Kim Elam
Neon Vancouver Curator’s Talk and Tour on November 3rd
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Did Vancouver’s flashing neon signs signal glamour, excitement and big city living?
Or was neon part of a tawdry display that disfigured Vancouver’s natural beauty?
Joan Seidl, Director of Collections and curator of the Museum of Vancouver's Neon Vancouver exhibition, will delve into this question an more, in this in-depth talk and tour.
Learn more about the history of the signs in the exhibit, Vancouver’s evolving hate/love relationship with neon, and how the MOV came to ...
November 2nd, 2011
November 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City not likely to force an end to Occupy Vancouver protest [Vancouver Sun]
• Numbers: When will Surrey pass Vancouver in population? [Price Tags]
• Modo’s First Electric Vehicle [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Better urban planning can reduce crime [Vancouver Sun]
• Occupy Toronto goes high style with $20,000 yurts [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Speed bumps could make renewable electricity [SmartPlanet]
• As Population, Consumption Rise, Builder Goes Small [NPR Morning Edition]
• The Income Disparity of Women in the Creative Class [The Atlantic]
• Lessons for cities in these hard times: ...
World Wide Wednesday: Healthy cities, arenas, historic sites
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Three Southern California cities are taking dramatic steps to improve the health and well-being of residents. Using a program designed by Dan Buettner, the cities are attempting to make the healthy choice the easy choice for local residents. Measures include walking schools buses for children, improving access to healthy food, enhancing bike infrastructure and pedestrian access and encouraging personal interactions. (CNN)
• Edmonton moved one step closer to a new home for the Oilers this week when council voted in favour of a new arena cost-sharing arrangement with team owner Daryl Katz. The new rink is the centrepiece of a slate of revitalized commercial-residential downtown development. But with the deal $100 million short and both the provincial and federal governments refusing to pony up tax dollars to fund private enterprise, the way forward for the new rink is somewhat unclear. (Globe and Mail)
• Meanwhile in L.A., plans to build a downtown football stadium as a way to boost the city's bruised economy are being met with scorn by Joel Kotkin at New Geography. Kotkin says "urban vanity projects like sports teams and convention centers add little to permanent employment or overall regional economic well-being... Certainly mega-stadiums have done little to boost sad-sack, depopulating cities such as St. Louis, Baltimore or Cleveland."
Release: Last Candidate Standing event will introduce voters to all 61 municipal election candidates
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
On Sunday, Nov. 6, the Vancouver Public Space Network (VPSN) and UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will proudly present Last Candidate Standing, Vancouver’s most inclusive all-candidates’ forum.
Unlike other debates, Last Candidate Standing doesn’t just focus on the frontrunners - all 61 registered candidates running for mayor or council have been invited to make their case before an expert panel and a sold-out audience of more than 200 voters.
Candidates will be on the clock as they respond to the panel’s questions covering a broad range of campaign issues. The ...
November 3rd, 2011
Spacing’s next issue will be national
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
With the success of Spacing's first national issue — our special summer edition has sold twice as well as any previous issue we've ever published — our editors have decided that we will continue to provide our readers with pan-Canada coverage of everything urban.
Since 2003, Spacing has published 22 issues with all but one of them focused exclusively on Toronto urbanism. As we've expanded our blog network across Canada — Montreal in 2007, Ottawa and the Atlantic cities ...
November 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A short chat with Jarrett Walker about his new book [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver artists target Mayor Robertson online [Vancouver Courier]
• The Vanishing Cause of History [The Mainlander]
• Rooftop Jungle: Vancouver's greenest roof [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Developer Financed, Community Designed [The Dirt]
• City's 20-year bike plan obsolete after 4 years? [The Seattle Times]
• Urban Planning in the iPhone Age [The Atlantic]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_3976" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of BlueAndWhiteArmy."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Translink could be put under the radar as the Metro Vancouver mayors council voted to pass a motion asking TransLink be put under the eye of the Municipal Auditor General to "analyze and ensure value for public dollars."
Okanagan Tree Fruit Co-operative meeting proves to be contentious as some ...
Heritage Vancouver Announces the Launch of the Vancouver Interactive Building Permits Database
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Heritage Vancouver is pleased to announce the launch of the Vancouver Interactive Building Permits Database. This is the result of 17 years of work that has resulted in the transcription of approximately 26,000 permits issued between the years 1901 to 1921. The online searchable database will "go live" at our Celebration on November 23, 2011 at the City of Vancouver Archives. We invite you to attend the launch, and by November 11th nominate your favorite historic house in the City of Vancouver; ten homes will be selected and featured at the launch.
The Database will unlock the secrets of many thousands of Vancouver's historic buildings and make this information publicly accessible. This exciting project will bring Vancouver's history alive for the citizens of the city and will be a permanent legacy of invaluable historical information.
Join us at the City of Vancouver Archives for this dynamic "go live event" and search your favourite historic building on the database. Vancouver historian Maurice Guibord will illustrate the usefulness of the database in his talk on "the ethnically diverse nature of early Vancouver". We are featuring ten historic homes from a cross section of Vancouver's early neighbourhoods, with information on the original homeowners from the diverse countries that made up early Vancouver. There is free Wi-Fi at the Archives and you are encouraged to bring an electronic device to search the database.
November 4th, 2011
November 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Anton advocates moving museum downtown [Vancouver Courier]
• Are Vision and the NPA on the same page when it comes to Transit priorities? [OpenFile]
• Fake two-zone TransLink passes were produced in China, sold in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Numbers: When will Surrey pass Vancouver in population? [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• White roofs are not a global warming silver bullet, study finds [The Guardian]
• Film Review: "Creativity and the Capitallist City" [Polis]
• How Can Cities Encourage Residents to Live More Sustainably? [The Atlantic]
Release: 15th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl, Nov.
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The 15th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl - a FREE 3-day visual arts phenomenon - is happening on the November 18 + 19 + 20, 2011. This event involves more than 10,000 people visiting artists in their studios in the area bounded by Main Street and Victoria Drive north of First Avenue in Vancouver, Canada.
Program guides are being distributed throughout the city or you can download the printable PDF.
DATE & TIME: Friday Nov. 18 5pm-10pm, Saturday Nov. 19 & Sunday Nov. 20 11am-6pm.
***
The Eastside Culture Crawl provides ...
November 5th, 2011
November 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Reflecting on the Golden Ears Bridge [The Buzzer Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Streetless In Seattle [City Journal]
• Industrial action [Real Estate Weekly]
• Your Commute is Slowly Killing You [The Atlantic]
Release: CBC’s Candidates’ Corner allows civic candidates their 1 minute pitch
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Are you a candidate running in the upcoming civic elections in the Lower Mainland?
The CBC Early Edition would like to hear your one-minute pitch for why voters should support you on election day.
Call in to the Candidates' Corner hotline at 604.662.6463.
Introduce yourself with your full name, the municipality in which you're running, your party affiliation, and the position you're campaigning to win.
Are you a voter in the Lower Mainland? Check here to see if candidates in your municipality have left us a message.
***
November 6th, 2011
November 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mayor Orders Dismantling of #OccupyVancouver [The Mainlander]
INTERNATIONAL
• Dr. Dirt: Street artist scrubs images into the urban landscape [Grist]
• Where the Poorest Americans Live [The Atlantic]
• The rise of the megacity [Financial Times]
November 7th, 2011
November 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver set for showdown with occupiers after woman’s death [Globe and Mail]
• Urban ag grows up in Vancouver, even creating some political backlash [Crosscut]
INTERNATIONAL
• Occupy: What Architecture Can Do [Places: Design Observer]
Vancouver’s Love-Hate Relationship with Neon
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4014" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Drake Hotel Neon Sign. Courtesy of the Museum of Vancouver."][/caption]
The history of neon in Vancouver reflects the history of the city itself. Neon first symbolized Vancouver’s arrival as a booming metropolis in the 1920s and 1930s. At neon’s peak, there were 19,000 signs brightening Vancouver’s streets. By the 1960s, however, "urban" became a dirty word and urbanism gave way to naturalism. Neon was seen as a scar on Vancouver’s beautiful natural landscape and could not be removed fast enough. ...
Occupying the Election
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4029" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Photo from the original October 15 march by Spacing Vancouver contributor Christopher Porter"][/caption]
The City has just posted notices asking Occupy Vancouver campers to pack up and leave, but if last night's Last Candidate Standing event was any indication, OV is not about to disappear quietly. Indeed the event, located on the same block as OV, was subtly occupied in its own way by people of all ages who do not at all resemble their media caricatures. The key topics of the night revolved around financial issues: housing affordability and campaign contributions from developers loomed large. The three finalists pooled their final question time (supposed to be about what big change their vision would lead to in 20 years) into a group speech and moment of silence for Ashlie Gough - then a standing ovation that even the remaining NPA candidates couldn't say no to.
Occupy Vancouver is not, strictly speaking, under the umbrella of issues Spacing normally covers - at least not in its critiquing of large scale economic systems and power brokers. Should it somehow survive and develop toward a Freetown Christiania or Black Rock City, our skills will be more at home pretentiously assaying the vernacular tarpaulin architecture, arranged in the organic tradition and trapped in the aesthetic bifurcation between pastiche and bricolage - with a patina of both hope and despair.
The encampment has, however, found itself drawn into the local election cycle. This not solely by choice: Occupy Wall Street just happened to spin off into countless other cities just as British Columbia kicked off the only major municipal elections in Canada this year. Unfortunately, using the movement as a political pawn is an infinitely more effective opposition strategy when you're - sorry Randy Helten, Gerry McGuire et al. - the current mayor-in-waiting with only weeks until the polls. Even Rob Ford in Toronto hasn't yet decided on a plan.
November 8th, 2011
November 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• NPA wants to expedite move of Vancouver Art Gallery to Cambie Street [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver will seek injunction to dismantle Occupy encampment [Globe and Mail]
• Mayoral Candidates Debate Against the Public | Injunction to be issued to Occupy Vancouver [The Mainlander]
INTERNATIONAL
• Playground Cities [Witold Rybczynski's blog]
• The Dark Side of the "Green" City [The New York Times]
• Co-Housing Provides Opportunity For More Sustainable Communities [The Guardian]
• Temporary City, Population 3 Million [The Atlantic]
• James Corner's waterfront plans: get the editing pencil [Crosscut]
Contribute photos to Spacing’s next national issue
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
As we mentioned last week, Spacing will continue to publish a national edition of the magazine twice a year (plus two Toronto-centric editions a year). That means we need to expand our cast of contributors (more specifically photographers).
If you love to photograph your city — wherever that may be in Canada — we want to see your images. You can add us as a contact on Flickr, or if you really want to be helpful to our production team, you can add your photos to the national issue's Flickr group. ...
100 Ideas that Changed Architecture
By Warren Scheske // No Comments
Author: Richard Weston (Laurence King, 2011)
Just as the title implies, 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture by Richard Weston proposes a chronological list of the most influential ideas to influence Architecture. What you may not pick up from the title is that Weston treats the term "idea" very broadly.
For Weston, anything from "the Wall" to "Humanism" fall into the spectrum of Architectural idea. In this sense "100 Ideas that Changed Architecture" begs the intriguing question, what is an Architectural idea? For Weston it is nearly anything ...
November 9th, 2011
November 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A Tidy, Sleepy Stretch of Vancouver Wakes Up [The New York Times]
• Residents ramp up opposition to Vancouver skateboard park [Vancouver Courier]
• COPE platform focuses on affordable housing [Globe and Mail]
• Recapping the "circus": Monday's mayoral debate on homelessness [OpenFile]
• Occupy Vancouver Turning off Its Power Source [The Tyee]
• New directors appointed to TransLink board [BC Local News]
• Former Community Living executive warned government there wasn’t enough money to help disabled adults [Vancouver Sun]
• Running Against Developers in Condolandia [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• ...
World Wide Wednesday: Station art, transportation bills, health care savings
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Canadian transit stations are pretty, but we just can't compete with the likes of the Stockholm metro station pictured above which features pixel-art inspired by classic games. (BoingBoing)
•“Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century”, the US federal transportation authorization bill is up for debate in the Senate. Complete streets advocates were pleased to see that the draft bill makes bicycling and walking projects eligible under the core funding program and defines ‘road users’ as including people who walk and bicycle and use public transportation, as well as people with disabilities and older adults. (CompleteStreets.org)
On Transportation: Affleck Seems to be Best NPA Bet, Viaducts Drive Carr, Cycling Survey Results Released
By Brian Gould // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_4110" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Separated Bike Lanes: Vision/COPE will expand them, NSV wants consultation, NPA wants moratorium and various "fixes." Photo by Kathleen Corey."][/caption]
Transportation, always a major topic during a civic election, has spiked somewhat in the last few days with prompting from public forums and the release of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition's comprehensive survey. While both forms of information are useful, they allow candidates to shape their message a little too much at times. Given the right audience, the NPA's George Affleck will stick his neck out further than any other candidate in supporting road pricing in the most congested areas of Metro Vancouver. He'll also muse about solutions to bring a second bicycle lane to the Burrard Bridge and suggest that he doesn't have any particular separated bike lane qualms beside business consultation - unfortunately, a rather different tone than his Georgia Straight op-ed.
Similarly, after the Green Party's Adriane Carr played to Sunday's audience by claiming that there were no traffic studies or public support to removing the viaducts, she was conspicuously silent at the next night's transportation forum despite ribbing from Vision's Geoff Meggs. Conversely, her explanation of the "bike-free streets" debacle was embarrassingly thorough as she clarified it to bike-free bus lanes - simply suggesting that cyclists and transit vehicles be given their own space would probably be a better phrasing yet. To be fair, she gave what may have been the night's most convincing arguments in favour of bike lane expansion.
Meanwhile, at Sunday evening's Last Candidate Standing, the NPA's Sean Bickerton explained his support for transit based density and touted his use of transit. He's favoured removing the viaducts in the past, against what is now party line. At a Tuesday presser, however, he threw cyclists under that proverbial bus by dedicating an entire platform point to their perceived misbehaviour. While drivers and pedestrians are only covered by a vague "share the road" education campaign, Bickerton wants to bring in cyclist licensing while cracking down on sidewalk riding and those without their styrofoam hats (as opposed to a more balanced approach).
November 10th, 2011
November 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• INTERVIEW | Vision’s Geoff Meggs on the affordability crisis, Occupy Vancouver, and Operation Solidarity [The Mainlander]
• Three short-listed to build Evergreen Line [Vancouver Sun]
• Political Notes – 2 / Hornby Cycle Track Update – 15 [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Is There a New American City? [ASLA's The Dirt blog]
• Indonesia's Biggest City Gets Its First Bicycle Lane [This Big City]
• Holy cities face threat from polluting pilgrims [CNN]
• Why $1 Billion Doesn't Buy Much Transit Infrastructure Anymore [The Atlantic]
• Urban beehive lets you harvest honey indoors [...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4135" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Bad news for marijuana growers in the Valley as the Abbotsford Police launch a new project aimed at shutting down grow operations.
Abbottsford is in headlines again as council has votes 8-1 in favour of asking the provincial government for permission to become a single tier governance and to leave the Fraser Valley ...
November 11th, 2011
November 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Poetry for Remembrance [The Tyee]
• Creative Financing [Canadian Architect]
• Park crime riles Vancouver neighbourhood residents [Vancouver Courier]
• COPE platform heavy on affordable housing [Vancouver Courier]
• Province eyes light rail options for Surrey, Langley [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Forget New York City's High Line. Introducing: The Low Line [This Big City]
• Three Generations, Two Comfy homes a few steps apart [The New York Times]
• The Map Geeks Behind 'Bostonography' [The Atlantic]
• Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City [Places: Design Observer]
Thoughts on a Manufactured Mayoral Debate
By Brian Gould // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4158" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Part of a photo by Philip Tong."][/caption]
When I found out that CBC was opening their audience for Wednesday night's mayoral debate between Robertson and Anton, I immediately slotted it into the week's schedule after Sunday's "Last Candidate Standing" and Monday's "Connecting People and Places" without much thought. After being herded into the studio and sitting through the mic checks, however, it was clear that any new information was going to be thoroughly squeezed through the television tube. If you want the definition of manufactured story, check out CBC's own coverage entitled "Occupy Vancouver dominates CBC mayor's debate." No mention, naturally, that the format was specifically designed to give Occupy the entire first third, with housing and transportation fighting for the scraps.
November Urbanist Meetup – Sunday, November 13, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
It's time once again to connect with your fellow urban geeks at the monthly Vancouver Urbanists Meetup! Come out and join your fellow urbanists this coming Sunday, November 13th from 3-5pm, for a few locally crafted beers, and a lively discussion about urbanism in Vancouver and cities in general. Given that November 19th is quickly approach, there may even be some election talk!
This month we're heading to Mt. Pleasant to check out The Whip Restaurant—209 E 6th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T 1J7 (map).
Feel free to drop in when ...
November 12th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Lost Villages, Election Distraction and World Heritage Sites
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
In his final report from abroad before returning to home to Canada, Clive Doucet takes a look at the remarkably well preserved city of Bath, England as a case study in the markedly different way that Europeans and North Americans regard the 'UNESCO World Heritage Site' designation.
Dwight Williams continues his Street Names feature, looking at sections of Ottawa streets named around the Riel Rebellions and the favourite fictional characters of the builders of the turn of the century Britannia Highlands neighbourhood.
Chris Warden begins a look at Ottawa's often neglected modernist architecture by examining the centennial era Library and Archives Canada Building. Recent government policy changes threaten the public accessibility of the building and underscore the intricate relation between 'town and crown.'
Jacob Larson raises the alarm bell on a growing disparity between funding allocations for highways versus public transit. Despite a long standing trend of 10:1 spending, a recent funding push towards highways is dramatically tipping the balance in undesirable ways.
Following pressure from the Montreal Ouvert group, the City of Montreal has created a platform for open data and begun releasing data sets to the public. As Allanah Heffez reports, the move is promising but will depend on following through with promises.
Spacing Readers in the Maritimes respond to a recent Favourite Friday call out for stories about reader's favourite pedestrian bridges.
As part of the continuing transformation of Toronto's transit heart, Dylan Reid reports back on early plans for pedestrianization and an expanded public square in front of Union Station, along with an update of other pedestrian news in the city.
Sean Marshall brings a ghostly installment of the Lost Villages series from the former Hamlet of Clairville in Toronto's far northwest corner. Obliterated by shifting transportation infrastructure, the hamlet's few remaining elements lie abandoned or forgotten, isolated amongst industrial storage lots.
November 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Five basic things you need to know about the Vancouver civic election [The Mainlander]
• Mayors reflect who we are, or aspire to be [Globe and Mail]
• Election issues overshadowed by the Occupy protest [Globe and Mail]
• Occupy Vancouver plans Saturday rally involving homelessness [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• The diverging diamond [New Urban Network]
• Via Verde's Time in the Sun [Txchnologist.com]
• Michael Sorkin: Architectural Critic as Scam Scanner and Urban(e) Design Sage [ArchNewsNow]
• How Porches, Towel Warmers, and Floor Tiles Explain Our Changing Society [The Atlantic]
November 13th, 2011
November 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Civic election reporting mistakes to avoid [State of Vancouver]
INTERNATIONAL
• These are Five of the Smallest Rental Apartments in America [Curbed]
November 14th, 2011
November 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Transit reports on CTV Morning Live [The Buzzer Blog]
• INTERVIEW | Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver’s Randy Helten [The Mainlander]
CANADA
• Mall stripped bare [The National Post]
INTERNATIONAL
• Bring Back the Rooming House? [Citiwire.net]
• Fuel exports hit record, helping keep gas prices high in U.S. [The Los Angeles Times]
• The Prius X Parlee bike concept can read your mind, literally [AutoBlogGreen]
• So Are People Moving Back to the City or Not? [The Atlantic]
• Green Acre Radio: A rain garden movement grows up in Seattle [Crosscut]
Price Points: A Noshery
By Gordon Price // No Comments
Where is this, and why is it not your average food cart?
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It's in Portland. No surprise there, for those who have followed the migration of food carts up the west coast (some think the trend began in Los Angeles, or really Mexico - and has its roots in the Hispanic community. Others think it's Asian derived). Portland put on its own twist - since the Rose City is home to so many innovations that involve small entrepreneurs, whether ...
Vancouver and Housing Affordability
By Jason Pfeifer // 5 Comments
With the Vancouver Mayoral Election heating up, one of the city's major campaign issues has become affordable housing. Vision Vancouver is indeed declaring it this election's central issue. With Vancouver having the nation's highest real estate prices housing affordability has taken centre stage. "Affordable housing" is a phrase we will hear uttered regularly for what remains of the election, and I recommend asking your political party how they define it, and therefore a measure of success in achieving it. Specifically interesting is Vision Vancouver's inclusion of market rental housing under its umbrella of 'affordable housing'. With no form of rent control in place, landlords are free to charge a price as high as renters will pay. With no limits I set out to answer what is the potential for affordability?
November 15th, 2011
November 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Municipal spending grows four times faster than population [Vancouver Sun]
• Schools of the Future, Today [The Tyee]
• Pattullo Bridge rebuild dogged by delays [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Drive-Thru Office: Osaka Japan’s Gate Tower Building [WebUrbanist]
• Transforming Blight Into a Destination [The Atlantic]
• Why Chinatowns Are Shrinking [The Atlantic]
• Megapolitan America [Places: Design Observer]
Infrastructure: The Book of Everything for the Industrial Landscape
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Author: Brian Hayes (W.W.Norton & Company, 2006)
Infrastructure is the unsung hero behind all cities - large and small. It is every-present in all facets of our lives - from the water we drink, to the food we eat. All people would undoubtedly agree that good infrastructure is a necessity for good cities and is, ultimately, the biggest legacy of the greatest past civilizations.
We need only look at the state of the city when infrastructure fails - a city-wide blackout, or the rupture of a water pipe, for instance - or to those places that don't have the luxury of "the basics" to see impact of infrastructure plays on the civilization.
Yet for all its importance, we generally know little about infrastructure. In fact, we make a particular point of hiding it from ourselves whenever we have the chance. This makes American Scientist's Brian Hayes book - Infrastructure: The Book of Everything for the Industrial Landscape (also known as Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape) - all the more valuable to urbanists and laypeople alike.
VPSN Special Election Feature: Parks Board Candidate Survey Responses
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[Editors Note: During election time, the mayoral and council races tend to get all the attention. It is for this reason that we at Spacing Vancouver are grateful to the Vancouver Public Space Network for sending us their survey responses from the Park Board candidate. We fully share their enthusiasm to spread the word on these important public space issues.]
Release: CoV cultural spaces networking + discussion + tour
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Cultural spaces are at the heart of a vibrant, liveable, creative and caring city. Often, however, they face issues of affordability, functionality, regulations and permanence.
NETWORKING + DISCUSSION + TOUR
DATE & TIME: November 23, 4:30 - 7:00pm
LOCATION: Western Front Artist Run Centre, 303 East 8th Avenue @ Scotia Street
ADMISSION: RSVP at EventBrite. Scroll to the bottom of the page to register for the "Networking Event"
For cultural space advocates, artists, cultural workers, planners, architects and attendees at the Cultural Spaces Mini Workshops (Leasing / Space Planning / Navigating City Hall ...
November 16th, 2011
November 16, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver's Top Election Issues, if not Pre-Occupied [The Tyee]
• Interactive map explores Vancouver's history with images, videos and stories [OpenFile]
• Vision, NPA both demonstrate need for remedial math as they issue scare stories about out-of-control spending [State of Vancouver]
• Three solutions to Vancouver’s housing and homelessness crisis [The Mainlander]
• A real estate first: New West firm offers immersive tours of condo project [Vancouver Sun]
• Second prostitute-support group running out of money [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Feds get an 'F' for drinking-water safety, while B.C. in middle of provincial ...
World Wide Wednesday: Avenue towards heaven, biking broadway
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Not for the faint of heart - if the top of China's Tianmen Mountain is your destination, your options are 1) The Avenue Towards Heaven - 99 turns and 1500m of elevation gain or 2) the world's longest cable car ride. (Kuriositas)
• Ever wondered what it is like to bike the length of Broadway? This video compresses the 13 mile ride into 5 minutes. The video includes great shots of some of the city's recent bike lane improvements. (Observer)
November 17th, 2011
November 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Surrey mayor wants more dredging to facilitate the Fraser as a marine highway [Vancouver Sun]
• Numbers: Metro responds [Price Tags]
• Carline, Jackson to leave Metro Vancouver helm [BC Local News]
INTERNATIONAL
• Palo Alto is California's most educated city [California Watch]
• Los Angeles’ Streetcar Plans: Too Duplicative of Existing Services? [the transport politic]
• WikiLane - How Citizens Built Their own Bicycle Network [This Big City]
• Counting Parking Spots, From Above [The Atlantic]
• Who Are We Competing For? [Observers Room: Design Observer]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4370" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption=" A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of wdworden."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Four months after Brenda Patterson first approached Port Alberni City Council about rejuvenating Weaver Park in her neighbourhood, the park re-opened with new playground equipment on Saturday, November 12. Congratulations!
Questions arise with regards to the City of Abbotsford water-use estimates with concerns that they have over-projected the city's future ...
Release: City of Surrey Call to Artists – Street Banner Design
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call to Artists – Street Banner Design
City of Surrey
Deadline for Submissions: December 12, 2011, 4 pm.
Award to Selected Artist: $2,500
Open to all BC Visual Artists (including graphic designers, book designers, illustrators and students)
Artists inviting them to submit a proposal drawing for the City’s street banners on the theme of “Sustainable Energy for All”. This theme is based on a 2012 initiative of the United nations Secretary, Ban Ki-moon. The City of Surrey is committed to creating a more sustainable community balancing growth and development and natural ecosystems.
Download the ...
November 18th, 2011
November 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Why you should vote [Vancouver Courier]
• Small quake rattles B.C.'s Okanagan [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver Civic Election Endorsements [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver's Creative Space Crunch [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Room of Their Own for 2-Wheeled Commuters [The New York Times]
• Goodbye, Sidewalks: London Planners Break Down Boundaries Between Cars and Pedestrians [GOOD Magazine]
• South Africa: From Township to Town [Design Observer]
• Imagining an Elastic City [POLIS]
• In Los Angeles, Front Yard Farmers' Markets [The Atlantic]
Spacing Vancouver Recommends…
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4385" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Top 5: RJ Aquino (COPE), Geoff Meggs (Vision), Sandy Garossino (I), Andrea Reimer (Vision), Ellen Woodsworth (COPE)"][/caption]
Spacing Vancouver brings together contributors from all facets of the urban experience - transportation policy wonks and affordable housing activists alike. Our contributors are volunteers, flaneurs, and professionals, with interests as diverse as our city's urban landscape.
While we would not presume to tell you how to cast your ballot, you might be feeling lost with only one day left before election day - so we've compiled a list of council candidates that we think deserve a closer look. Check out the City of Vancouver's website for details on how and where you can cast a vote to support our shared urban environment on Saturday, November 19.
More than a dozen contributors have pooled their preferences to produce the following list, ordered in rough decending order. All four major slates are represented, as are the lone Green and key independent - and while the vast majority of those who contributed plan to vote for Gregor Robertson to continue as mayor, Randy Helten and Suzanne Anton did register in our poll.
November 19th, 2011
Spacing Saturday: The Fourth Wall, Affordable Housing and Montréalophobie
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
An infographic showing a 390 square foot apartment from Jason Pfeifers look at a Vancouver affordable housing program
Alanah Heffez questions how the value of eyes on the street is effected in a place where people are often unwilling to speak up. Heffez shares some of her own stories and reflections on speaking up against wrong doing.
Joel Thibert looks at the new policies of the Coalition Avenir Quebec and how they address the long standing problem of montréalophobie in Quebec politics.
Lauren Mercer-Smail launched the first of her new series The Sunday Building Project with sketches and observations drawn from sitting for an hour somewhere on a Montreal Street.
Hillary Best began a new series this week complimenting The Fourth Wall, an ongoing exhibit looking at ways to break barriers to civic engagement. This week the series looked at how to teach municipal civics in schools and recognize contributors to public life.
Toronto's proposed Crosstown LRT project is amongst the largest public works projects currently underway in North America. John Lorinc questions whether the decision to put the entire project underground will result in financial boondoggle.
Mike Steinhauer profiles the changing face of Ottawa's Vanier neighbuorhood. Currently experiencing a construction boom, the area's unique street pattern compliments its natural features and proximity to downtown.
New mother Erin O'Connell attempts to help mitigate the frustration of those who are bothered by strollers on sidewalks and public transit by sharing her side of the story and her efforts to reduce car use.
November 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• B.C. authors band together to finish late historian’s magnum opus [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver civic election “compass” [The Mainlander]
• Housing and Crowding: A realistic alternative for Vancouver [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Jane Jacobs and the Power of Women Planners [The Atlantic]
• BIKING Sharing time: Tracking the ‘sharrow’ on city streets [Grist]
It’s Election Day – Here’s How Your Ballots Count Tonight
By Brian Gould // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4300" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Steven Godfrey."][/caption]
[If you're reading this before 8pm, polls are open. Still lost or caught by surprise? Check out Spacing Vancouver's recommendation post for more information on how to vote and who to take a closer look at.]
The first post of this series went some way to explaining Vancouver's relatively unique electoral system, but before the ballots start going into the box it's useful to go into a little more depth as to how it works - and doesn't work. To begin with, each voter will be presented with a list of 94 candidates across races for the mayoralty, council, parks board, and school board. Without a ward system, every Vancouverite gets one vote for mayor, ten for council, seven for parks board, and nine for school board, for a grand total of 27 votes.
Counting votes is rather straight-forward - simply add up the totals and take the top ten, seven, or nine. This is first-past-the-post on a grand scale, with the potential for candidates to squeak through on a plurality twenty-seven times over. To make things simpler yet, most candidates in contention come branded with a particular electoral organization's stamp of approval. In English, Vancouver has entrenched party politics. It also, again relatively unusually, allows non-resident property owners to vote in its elections.
Robertson Returns with 7 Vision, 2 NPA, and a Green
By Brian Gould // 1 Comment
Honestly I'm a little too wired to know what to say about these unofficial results - except that Vision are the clear winners - but I'll try.
Adriane Carr, the lone Green candidate, bounced in and out of the tenth council spot for most of the last hour, with the last poll (in friendly West End territory) making all the difference. That last poll also pushed COPE's Ellen Woodsworth over Bill Yuen of the NPA, but not by enough to catch Carr - COPE has been wiped off of council and parks completely, ...
November 20th, 2011
November 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Gregor Robertson wins second term as Vancouver mayor [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Rethinking urban land use [Chicago Tribune]
November 21st, 2011
November 21, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vision’s broad-based win reflects a changing city [Globe and Mail]
• Vision Vancouver makes homeless shelters a priority [Globe and Mail]
• Vision dominates elections by leaning on COPE [The Mainlander]
• Evergreen line runs through elections in Port Moody and Coquitlam [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• House’s collaboration cart puts community planning on the street [Grist]
• Villaraigosa wants a more livable L.A., with 50 pocket parks [The Los Angeles Times]
• In a growth-driven state, the future of our communities [WMFE-FM 90.7]
• Start-Up New York? [The Atlantic]
Price Points: Naked in Auckland
By Gordon Price // 5 Comments
Where is this street in Auckland, New Zealand, and why is it naked?
.
.
This is Elliott Street in the heart of Auckland's Central Business District (map here - with a Streetview image taken before it was rebuilt). Notice the absence of lane markings, curbs, sidewalks, clarifying signage, and most importantly, a mix of vehicles and pedestrians sharing the same unseparated space. That's what makes a street 'naked' in engineering and urban-design terms.
City Council undertook an upgrade of Elliott - and the ...
A suburban pilgrimage, Part I: Learning to like Levittown
By Christine McLaren // No Comments
A Pilgrimage to Levittown, NY (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Burbs) from ResilientPLANET on Vimeo.
[Editor's Note: Former Vancouver reporter Christine McLaren is traveling around the world as the resident blogger for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile think tank investigating solutions to urban problems. This week the project wraps up its three-month run in New York City -- which featured programming by Vancouver author Charles Montgomery -- and will travel next to Berlin, and on to Mumbai. This story originally appeared on the Lab's blog, the Lab|log.]
Almost everyone has a secret pilgrimage destination tucked somewhere in their own personal book of dreams. For many these are, as Ryszard Kapuscinski once wrote, "certain magical names with seductive, colorful associations --Timbuktu, Lalibela, Casablanca."
They are places to which we attach wonder, mystique, and fascination; places that we dream of one day exploring, with the subliminal hope of finding an exotic understanding of ourselves, the world, and our place within it.
My secret place is Levittown. I have always wanted to go to Levittown.
November 22nd, 2011
November 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• What the viaducts and Eastern Core could look like [OpenFile]
• BC Hydro starts replacing power line spanning Fraser River [BC Local News]
• Low-income residents made homeless in Surrey today [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Mongolian City To Build Artificial Glacier For Air Conditioning [The Atlantic]
• First Street merging areas and bus zones greened [LADOT Bike Blog]
• Hip Cities That Think About How They Work [The New York Times]
• A Visual History of Manhattan's Grid [The Atlantic]
Urban Design and People
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Author: Michael Dobbins (Wiley, 2009)
“Urban Design is a diffuse and abstract term, it means different things to different people.” With these opening word, author Michael Dobbins succinctly - if unintentional - summarized a key challenge with the book that follows.
At its core, urban design looks at people's various roles in creating and using the urban environment. Concerned with the arrangement, appearance and function of cities, it pays particular attention to public space. Dobbins, an architect, city planner, former planning commissioner and current university professor set out to write an introductory text, reference manual AND citizen guide on this multifaceted subject. This would be a daunting task for even a straightforward topic. With the broad-reaching and multiple facets of urban design, the task become herculean.
Urban Design and People is introduced as a distillation of what Dobbins has learned during his 40 year career. In that regard, it is a success. The text offers a comprehensive overview of what urban design is and how it is implemented. The framework he provides is a useful guide to understand both the principles of urban design principles and strategies to realize them.
New Visions for the Viaducts – Vote for your Favourites!
By Brent Toderian // No Comments
By Brent Toderian
As my last post profiled, Vancouver is creatively working to define the future of our Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts - infrastructure that I've referred to as "the asterix" beside the statement that Vancouver has no freeways within our city. One of several inputs into that process is an open ideas competition called re:CONNECT.
The deadline for submissions has come and gone, and we've been thrilled with the response, with 104 unique submissions from 13 countries (US, Mexico, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Canada). The international response is wonderful, but I'm particularly pleased with the number of local entries, showing the great energy and creativity around this key city-building question - 60% of the submissions were from Vancouver, and 75% from Metro Vancouver.
Our exceptional jury of urban experts (led by Great Streets author and urbanist Allan Jacobs), has done their hard work and selected winners and honourable mentions in the 3 categories (Connecting the Core, Visualizing the Viaducts, and Wildcard), in both the fee and free streams. Their picks will be revealed at a public forum on December 1.
On top of the jury's picks though, on-line voting will determine "peoples choice" winners in each category, which will be announced at the same December 1 forum.
And thus the reason for this post ... If you have an interest in the future of the Viaducts and our Eastern Core, I hope you'll study the entries on-line, and help us select our peoples choice winners! You can pick one favourite, or rank and comment on any/all of the submissions. The deadline for voting is midnight, Sunday November 27th.
November 23rd, 2011
November 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The future of Vancouver's viaducts: equestrian club, farm or park? [Vancouver Sun]
• As voted on by the neighbourhood, grocery store coming to Chinatown/Strathcona [OpenFile]
• Local politicians call for help dealing with child poverty [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Oversized cake gets NDG residents talking [CBC]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Case Of Rise And Sprawl [The Financial Times]
• Are Complete Streets Incomplete? [Project For Public Spaces]
• Three Smart Ideas for Improving Our Urban World [This Big City]
• L.A. Opens Up its School Yards [The Atlantic]
• Waterfront planning: keys for making it ...
Release: Non Profit Cultural Space for sub-lease in the Woodward’s Heritage Building
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Geist magazine is one of a number of non profit lease holders in the City-owned Woodward's Heritage Building. Due to a recent vacancy by two of Geist's sub-tenants, space has become available and Geist are seeking one or two non profit Vancouver based cultural groups who may be interested in sub-leasing from Geist.
Details as follows:
Space available for rent in the Geist office in the Woodward's heritage building.
Minimum space available: about 140 sq feet
Maximum space available: about 360 sq feet
Shared board room: 280 sq feet
Shared sink and ...
World Wide Wednesday: Occupy, Pocket Parks, Traffic Fatalities
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Sarah Fine at Next American City responds to recent incidents at the Occupy Oakland protest where drivers used their vehicles to injure and intimidate protestors. She considers the lessons from the Occupy movement for Complete Streets advocates.
• By its own standards, LA is park-poor (15,717 acres of parkland despite a standard of 10 acres for every 1,000 residents). But with a lack of available open space, LA will take the small is beautiful approach as it seeks to open 50 new "pocket parks" in urban neighbourhoods over the next two years. (LAist)
• Streetsblog DC has a powerful map of America's traffic fatalities, produced by British firm ITO World. The WHO reports 12.3 annual traffic deaths per 100,000 residents in the US.
November 24th, 2011
November 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Former Vancouver mayors call for softening of marijuana laws [Globe and Mail]
• Election Post-Mortem: What we can expect over the next three years in Vancouver politics [The Mainlander]
CANADA
• Developing the world’s greenest communities [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Spain’s Vacant Airport Typifies European Woes [Miller-McCune]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4567" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Rick Forgo."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Courtenay councillors are hoping a development proposing to build small, affordable rental units on Cumberland Road will be able to find a way to hit a good note with with nearby residents as it voted to deny the third reading of a bylaw that would rezone the designated property.
TransLink's independent ...
Release: Urban Screens and City Building – A Public Talk with Mirjam Struppek
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
About the Talk:
DATE: Friday, December 2, 7pm | FREE admission
LOCATION: SFU Surrey (Westminster Savings Lecture Theatre). Central City complex at 13450 - 102 Avenue, just south of the Surrey Central SkyTrain station (look for the large office tower). For information on getting to SFU Surrey, including parking visit www.surrey.sfu.ca/maps_directions
ADMISSION: Free but seating is limited. Pre-register at artgallery@surrey.ca.
Screen installations, public projections, interactive facades and shop windows or networked communication-sculptures have emerged as a recent art form in the ...
November 25th, 2011
November 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The next Yaletown? [Vancouver Courier]
• Coleman rejects Vancouver mayor’s demand for more cold-weather shelter funding [Globe and Mail]
• City councillor endorses proposal to remove viaducts [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• How Happy Is Seattle? [The Atlantic]
• Parsing Peavey [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Under the City: Street Art Peels Back Urban Layers [WebUrbanist]
• Light rail and streetcars could double up on voters next year [Crosscut]
Release: Tropic of Chaos: An Evening with Christian Parenti Dec 2
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Please join the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for an upcoming event featuring Christian Parenti, who will be in town to talk about his new book on the geopolitics of climate change, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (which Mike Davis has called “a brilliant weather report from the near future of world politics”). Christian's publicist approached us when his book was released, and we had previously arranged a skype call between him and the Climate Justice network, but
since he is coming to Vancouver have ...
Cartography: Gregor Robertson voting percentage and dis
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
There were many great election-related maps being released this past week, and on the strength of many that I have created in the past, I decided to reinterpret some of the base data release by the City of Vancouver three-dimensionally as a means of clarifying the information.
The graphic here depicts Gregor Robertson voting percentage and its spatial distribution across the city. Percentage is straightforwardly shown in the vertical scale and is emphasized using a colour saturation/value scale - from the deepest blue representing the highest voting percentage to a very light blue, referring to the lowest.
November 26th, 2011
November 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Bridges, swimming pools, unicorns - just think what the viaducts could be [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver mayor tweets support of legalizing marijuana [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• An Atlas of Public Life in Downtown Saskatoon [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• Architects draw up green designs for Habitat for Humanity [The Kansas City Star]
• Report slams Safeway project process [Vancouver Courier]
Spacing Saturday: Good Neighbours, Unbuilt Toronto and Urban Screens
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Alex Bozikovic discusses his recent piece in Architectural Record talking about the building boom currently reshaping the skyline of Toronto and other Canadian cities. Contrasted with the building stagnation in many American centers our situation is hope for both caution and optimism.
John Lorinc used his column this week to talk about Mark Osbaldeston's new book Unbuilt Toronto 2 which looks at proposed major developments that were never built. Lorinc shows that book reveals several close calls with monstrosities as well as a possible origin of second guessing on transit.
With the City of Ottawa pushing ahead with plans to widen Bronson Ave, Spacing looks at how the traffic artery currently harms the downtown urban fabric and where concerned people can voice criticism of the project.
As part of the Screen Grab feature, Evan Thornton reflects on his new insights on the social history of Ottawa gleaned from the pages of Alain Miguelez's extensive book on the history of theaters in the city.
Emile Thomas shares a recent experience which revealed his deep and previously unbeknownst daily relationship with the neighbours in his building. Thomas uses this as an opportunity to reflect on how to treat ones neighbours and expectations of urban living.
This week's Sunday Building Project offers up a little piece of the town of Mount Royal with a heavy theme of the city as provider, of curbside freebies.
November 27th, 2011
November 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Are made-from-scratch metropolises the answer to Asia’s urban overpopulation? [Slate]
• Train Recycles Braking Energy to Power other Trains [Earth & Industry]
• The Death of the Fringe Suburb [The New York Times]
November 28th, 2011
November 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Plans envision transformation of viaduct lands [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Key step for BART to San Jose [San Jose Mercury News]
• How should we design the cities of our dreams? [Salon]
• Are City Buses Making Us Sick? [The Atlantic]
• Landscape Is Our Sex [Places: Design Observer]
• The Changing Face of Hanoi's Ancient Quarter [Polis]
Price Points: Report from the Development Wars
By Gordon Price // 4 Comments
Where is this going to be built - and what lesson is there to be learned?
.
.
This is the proposed residential tower for 1241 Harwood in the West End (map here). It is at least the third version, six years in the making. And it satisfies no one.
Not because it is a rezoning, or above the allowable density, or an incentivized development like the other contentious STIR projects in the West End. No, this is a failure of accommodation - an inability of various ...
A suburban pilgrimage, Part II: Retrofitting Levittown!
By Christine McLaren // 1 Comment
[Editor's Note: Former Vancouver reporter Christine McLaren is travelling around the world as the resident blogger for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile think tank investigating solutions to urban problems. This week the project wraps up its three-month run in New York City -- which featured programming by Vancouver author Charles Montgomery -- and will travel next to Berlin, and on to Mumbai. This story originally appeared on the Lab's blog, the Lab|log.]
Last week I posted the story of my dream urban pilgrimage—a journey I recently made to the first post–World War II American sprawl suburb, Levittown.
I wrote that I was caught off guard by how benevolent the residential sections of Levittown seemed when compared with the modern sprawling suburban neighborhoods that were modeled after it.
It cannot be ignored, however, that the commercial strips within and surrounding Levittown nonetheless suffer from the same problem that sprawling suburban outposts do—the hollow lifelessness of a car-oriented landscape.
November 29th, 2011
November 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• For healthy people, build a healthy city [Globe and Mail]
• The greenest voters you've ever seen are in ... Vancouver [Crosscut]
• A garden in the sky in the heart of Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• Robertson presses province for shelter money [Globe and Mail]
• Survey says the fifth best place in the world to live is...Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Coloring Inside the Lanes [Sightline Daily]
• Parkour participants looking for a home in Margate [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
• The Opera House Effect [The Atlantic]
• Waterfront designers need ...
Release: City of Richmond Call to Artists – Request for Proposals Interurban Tram Building
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The City of Richmond Public Art Program seeks an artist or artist team to create a public artwork to accompany the construction of the new Steveston Interurban Tram Building to be located at 4005 Moncton St. This call is open to emerging and established artists/artist teams residing in British Columbia and Alberta.
Budget: $10,000, all inclusive
Installation: September 2012
Deadline for Submissions: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 @ 2:00 pm
Find the Call and other details on how to submit on our Call to Artist webpage.
***
City of Richmond Public Art Program
Arts, Culture and ...
Paula Scher MAPS
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Author: Paula Scher (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
Mapping has played an essential role in shaping human history. From military use to the division of land, cartography has molded and biased our perception of the world around us - intentionally including and omitting information at the whim of their makers.
Although the mass popularity of maps seemed to have diminished during a few decades of the 20th century, the rise of powerful technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - that captures, stores, manipulates, analyzes, manages, and presents all types of geographically referenced data - has revived our long-standing passion for cartography. The popularity of Google Earth and Google Maps speaks to this fact directly.
Given this popular interest (not to mention marketability!), artists and graphic designers are rediscovering new and wonderful ways to include maps in their work - exploring and pushing cartography as a medium beyond its traditional uses. Well-known American graphic designer, illustrator, painter and art educator Paula Scher is one such person and her new book - aptly called Paula Scher MAPS - showcases her beautiful cartographic exploits.
Release: Future of St. Paul’s Hospital – December 1st, 2011
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Heritage Vancouver and St. Paul’s Hospital invite you to an evening of conversation about the “Future of St Paul’s Hospital”. Bonnie Maples, architect, and project leader for the St. Paul’s renewal project will give an overview of the history of St. Paul’s, talk about plans for the renewal of the hospital on its current site, suggest potential uses for the historic Burrard building and touch on some of the challenges the hospital faces in restoring the building.
Thursday, December 1, 2011;
7:00pm to 9:00pm | Doors open at 6:45pm
Location: St ...
November 30th, 2011
November 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city council rookies acknowledge learning curve [Vancouver Courier]
• Province to pay for 42 winter shelter beds in Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• Surrey wants to move threshold for opening of shelter beds [Vancouver Sun]
• Former NPA candidate unloads on party's failed campaign [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver councillors worry expanded casino will find its way into downtown project [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Creating and Financing Infill Parks in the Bay Area: Part IV [City Parks Blog]
• Are Streets More Walkable with Pavements Removed? [This Big City]
• The End of ...
Release: City of Surrey Expressions of Interest Fleetwood Park Gardens sculpture
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Expressions of Interest: Fleetwood Park Gardens sculpture
The City of Surrey and Anthem Properties
Budget: $40,000
Deadline: January 11, 2012
Expressions of Interest are sought for an art work to be placed in the crossing paths at the centre of the perennial garden in the Fleetwood Park Perennial Garden. The art work will be highly visible and should convey elegance through simplicity; use vertical components; create interest within the horticultural context without direct representation; use materials which complement existing park structures; and be appropriate for installing in an active passageway.
THEME
Artists answering this call are invited ...
Ask Gregor Robertson!
By Erick Villagomez // 3 Comments
Spacing Vancouver is excited to announce that we will be holding an in-depth Q & A session with Mayor Gregor Robertson to be published as one of the main Feature articles in Spacing's much anticipated second National Edition.
In light of this great opportunity, we would like to give our readers the rare opportunity to add to the list of questions and issues we are going to address with the Mayor. Bike lanes? Laneway housing? Public realm? Future visions for the city? Anything you feel is important and worthwhile.
Given our limited ...
World Wide Wednesday: Lots to Parks, Sidewalks to Roads, New Transit and Play
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Can a little greenspace reduce crime? That's the thesis advanced by a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology which analyzed a ten-year project in Philadelphia to turn 4,436 empty lots into park space. Researchers suggest the significant drop in crime is attributable to the way potential criminals view and interpret the space. (Grist)
• In London, traffic planners are experimenting with reduced barriers between motor vehicles and pedestrians on Exhibition Road. The planners are attempting to draw pedestrians back to the cultural centre of the city, using visual cues and textures to communicate proper behaviours while encouraging all road users to slow down. (GOOD)
• The New York Times explores three unconventional but highly successful modes of transportation. In Maine, the Brunswick Explorer is a small fare bus that affords independence to people living in rural communities without access to a car. In Brooklyn, private dollar vans provide an option to folks travelling where other options don't exist. Across the country, the Independent Transportation Network allows users to share rides with those unable to get around on their own. Users can transfer rides earned to those in need or bank them for a future time when they are unable to drive. These alternative models demonstrate that transit solutions require ingenuity and not necessarily major infrastructure investments.
December 1st, 2011
Release: City of Vancouver – New public artwork animates Knight Street corridor
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4649" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Abundance Fenced by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. Image courtesy of Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas."][/caption]
A 43-metre-long steel sculpture has joined Vancouver's streetscape at Knight Street and 33rd Avenue as the newest addition to the City's public art collection.
Abundance Fenced by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas features a playful adaptation of contemporary Haida design and runs along the top of a concrete retaining wall beside Kensington Park, serving as a decorative railing beside the pedestrian path.
A community celebration of the work will be held on Saturday, December 3 at 10 a.m. ...
December 1, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Search by route # is now live on Next Bus! [The Buzzer Blog]
• Does San Diego (still) need Vancouverism? [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• London's Bicycle Network: Good for Commuters, Bad for Communities [This Big City]
• America's Energy Future a Battle Between Entrenched Utilities and Clean, Local Power [Renewable Energy World]
• The London Olympics' Most Sustainable Venue [The Atlantic]
• Bus rapid transit is good but it's not rail [Crosscut]
• Warmer world is the challenge of a generation [New Scientist]
• The Death and Life of Great Architecture Criticism [...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4686" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of wdworden."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
New concerns are being raised that the planned handover of the existing blue box collection system to private industry may undermine recycling in Metro Vancouver. The provincial government earlier this year ordered industry stewards to start collecting all packaging materials by 2014 – a move expected to supplant existing blue box pickup and expand ...
Video Vancouver: Toronto 1960-11
By Caroline Toth // 1 Comment
Toronto1960-11 from davide tonizzo on Vimeo.
December 2nd, 2011
December 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Service and fares for the 2011 holiday season [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver cracks down on shelter overcrowding [Globe and Mail]
• Why Microsoft chose Victoria over Vancouver [OpenFile]
• The environmental costs of B.C.'s logging war on pine beetles [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• A source of municipal revenue that we're missing out on [The Montreal Gazette]
• As light dims, peril increases for Toronto pedestrians [Patrick Cain blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Best Smart Growth Projects in America [The Atlantic]
• Can you say ‘sprawl’? Walmart’s biggest climate impact goes ignored [Grist]
• ...
December 3rd, 2011
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Schools, Participatory Budgeting and Development Wars
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As part of the Lansdowne Park redevelopment planners are predicting a 2-3% cycling modal share for sporting events. In his first post for Spacing, Alex Devries examines the issues with this prediction and suggests the infrastructure that will be needed to meet this ambitious goal.
Alex Baltz looks at the fascinating story of two downtown Ottawa schools that were slated for closure as recently as 2004 but are now desperately searching for expansion plans. The story raises questions about how planners think about downtown schools as intensification policies begin to bear fruit.
This week's installment of The Sunday Building Project comes complete with anecdotes about the first substantial snowfall in Montreal this year and how winter serves as a test of the true passion of Montrealers.
Guillaume St-Jean uses the Montage du Jour feature to look back in history at the changing face of the intersection of Rue Saint-Catherine Ouest and Rue Guy.
As part of the ongoing Fourth Wall series looking at ways to break the barriers of citizen engagement at City Hall, Hillary Best takes a look at ways to help facilitate community association organizations and also examines the idea of participatory budgeting and its international best practices.
Continuing the discussion from the food theme in the latest issue of Spacing Magazine, Allie Hunwicks launches a series that will look at cafes and restaurants around the city that are expanding on their role to become community spaces.
December 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Public, professionals submit ideas for Vancouver viaducts [Vancouver Sun]
• Casino at B.C. Place possible while PavCo has hands full with lawsuit [Vancouver Courier]
• The future of the viaducts and Eastern Core? Design competition winners announced [OpenFile]
• Mayors want more consultation for increased Metro Vancouver oil tanker traffic [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Reframing the Planning Discussion [APA]
• In transit-first San Francisco, cars still rule the road [San Francisco Examiner]
• Treasuring Urban Oases [The New York Times]
• Who Should Pay for Aging Water Infrastructure? [The Atlantic]
• Regionalism ...
December 4th, 2011
December 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• BC Parks eyes update to picnic mainstays [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• WalkSafe app shields smartphone pedestrians (w/ video) [Physorg]
• Enviros Suing San Diego Planners Over Transportation Plan [KPBS]
December 5th, 2011
December 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Builders revise plans as higher sea levels predicted [Globe and Mail]
• Toast Collective provides community creative hub [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Mies van der Rohe, Lafayette Park [Dwell]
Greenways in Surrey: a look at Quibble Creek
By Don Schuetze // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_4545" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Just half a mile from downtown Surrey: a completed part of the Quibble Creek greenway meanders to 100 Avenue."][/caption]
Greenways are still rather new in city planning. The term was coined in 1995, and the idea of planning urban pathways that don't pander to the automobile still seems fresh.
The City of Surrey has been developing a network of greenways. With this in mind, the city has an advantage over other municipalities insofar that there are several undeveloped ...
December 6th, 2011
December 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Living Small in Laneway Houses [BC Business]
• Vancouver mayor promises 'affordability' at inauguration ceremony [Vancouver Courier]
• Robertson, who wants world’s greenest city, sees red over Kyoto rejection [Globe and Mail]
• Robson Square's open-air ice arena officially opens Tuesday [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver residents mixed about municipal services [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver's mayor announces blue ribbon panel on housing affordability [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Joint venture on Toronto condo cuts a new path for development [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs? [Salon]
• A Mound ...
Release: Living Wall Studio Competition Exhibit at AIBC Gallery
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) Gallery is currently exhibiting a collection of unique designs by Master of Architecture students from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture (“SALA”). These creations are the results of a recent “Living Wall Studio Competition”, sponsored by Lafarge North America.
In the fall of 2010, Bill Pechet (Lecturer in Practice, SALA) and his students engaged in an exploration of Ductal®, Lafarge’s ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as both a building material and a sculptural medium. Competitors were challenged to design a revolutionary precast building envelope system that would utilize the properties of the material, pushing the concept of enclosure while addressing complications related to molds, casting and precast work.
Through a series of preliminary projects, this “Heavy Studio” allowed a group Master of Architecture students to test the strength of this UHPC, learn about its diverse applications through precedent studies, and model their designs at a variety of scales. Such explorations served to inform the students as they went on to design a larger scale building project that would act as a satellite facility to the City of Vancouver Archives.
Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
"There needs to be a strategic rethinking of how we design buildings in order to maximize the value of the materials and embodied energy contained within them. New buildings must be designed with durability, adaptability, and disassembly in mind."
-Â from Chapter 7, 'Constructive Environmentalism'
Author: Jim Taggart - Abacus Editions (2011)
With the current discussions about the Kyoto Protocol and climate change on the rise, Jim Taggart's new book Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture comes at the turning of the tide. As an urgent and critical document on how increased wood use could mitigate climate change, this thorough and thought-provoking book could not have arrived a moment too soon.
Chocked full of poignant observations on the use of wood as a building material throughout history along with supporting case studies, documented through stunning photography and lively graphics, the book is also a monograph of some of Canada's most formidable architects and structural engineers who have explored the potential of wood as both a traditional material that is a part of Canada's identity and a modern innovative medium rivaling its concrete and steel counterparts.
Price Points: A Golden Intersection
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
Where is this, and why do they call it The Golden Intersection?
.
.
It's Shanghai - to be specific, the view towards the meeting of the Yan'an and South-North Elevated Roads (map here), two of the 14 freeways that criss-cross this region of 23 million. And no, this is not a time-lapse photograph; the blue streaks are LED lighting that line the ramps where these arterials cross.
And it is the property industry that has termed this "The Golden Intersection" - reflecting land values associated with ...
December 7th, 2011
December 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Former NPA staffer on the future of the party [OpenFile]
• The Politics of Vancouver’s Homeless Shelters [The Mainlander]
CANADA
• Banking on culture to fight big-box sprawl [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• How The "Internet Of Things" Is Turning Cities Into Living Organisms [Fast Company]
• We Need More Zoning [The New York Observer]
• The Missing Link of Climate Change: Single-Family Suburban Homes [The Atlantic]
World Wide Wednesday: Digital placemaking, highway canopy, ferris wheel
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Project for Public Spaces is experimenting with digital placemaking in revitalization efforts for downtown San Antonio. The online platform, Placemap, allows residents to suggest interventions and illustrate their ideas with links and pictures. Participants have noted the advantages of the digital placemaking approach over limited public meetings.
• In 2012, a 5km stretch of Germany's Autobahn 7 will be transformed into a public park - the largest of its kind. The 10 ft tall canopy will reconnect districts divided when the highway was built thirty years ago. (The Weather Network)
• Canadian firm, Bombardier, is piloting a wireless above-ground transit vehicle that recharges its batteries from cables embedded underneath the track. The technology, Primove, eliminates the need for overhead wires or stationary charging stations. Transportation experts anticipate cost and winter-readiness concerns. (Globe and Mail)
December 8th, 2011
December 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Collaborative school program builds a big table for big ideas [OpenFile]
• They’re pouring pints again at the Bimini [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. returning $2.4 million to PACs for playground equipment purchases [Vancouver Sun]
• Challenge to creating low-cost housing: who benefits? [State of Vancouver]
CANADA
• How Twitter Proves That Place Matters [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• A floating forest to bring a cool breeze to Tokyo Bay [The Asahi Shinbun]
• Crate expectations: Shipping containers used for first 'pop-up' shopping mall [CNN]
• New ordinance would end artistic mural ban in L.A. ...
December 9th, 2011
December 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver parking tax: the biggest tax grab in North America? [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Massive local sculpture unveiled in Ottawa [BC Local News]
INTERNATIONAL
• Hamburg, Germany to Cover Expanded Highway with Public Park [TheCityFix.com]
• Mapping Business by the Block [The Atlantic]
December 10th, 2011
December 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Green things come in small packages: City considers mini-park at Main and 18th [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• California population grows modestly to reach 37.5 million [Contra Costa Times]
• Urban Retail Continues its Evolution [National Real Estate Investor]
• Policy, Painted Or Set In Stone [The New York Times]
December 11th, 2011
December 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• BC will have to 'play its part' in new Climate Change deal [Vancouver Sun]
• Overlapping Maps: housing prices and politics [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Green Acre Radio: Plastic bag ban heats up in Seattle [Crosscut]
Release: Call to Artists based in British Columbia, Canada
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Durante Kreuk Ltd. on behalf of Cressey Development would like to announce a Limited Open Call Public Art Opportunity. Artists that are British Columbia based and have successfully completed at least one public art project with a minimum value of $50,000 are invited to submit a concept and qualifications. Artists who have not met this threshold are encouraged to team up with an artist who has done so.
Call to Artists based in British Columbia, Canada - Cressey Development
Vancouver, BC Canada
Budget: $175,000
Deadline: January 11, 2012 at 4pm
Download the PDF file of the ...
December 12th, 2011
December 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Fraser gravel mining threatens ecosystem, residents [Vancouver Sun]
• Opinion: Real earnings show decades of decline in livable Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Do Less with Less, and Love It [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Cities, Suburbs and Changing Attitudes [The New York Times]
• For the Engineer, a Death on the Tracks Means Horrifying Memories [The New York Times]
• How Diversity Leads to Economic Growth [The Atlantic]
• An Encylopedia of Land Use Codes [The Atlantic]
• Naming Pioneer Square's alleys [Crosscut]
We’re back!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4862" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Enjoy a great photo from our Spacing Vancouver Flickr Pool. Photo courtesy of matthewcxlangford"][/caption]
Dear Readers,
After an unexpected encounter with European hackers, Spacing Vancouver is back! It was a long week, but we took the opportunity to reorganize the back end of all of our websites to make it safer and better overall - and ultimately do our best to prevent the same thing form happening again.
Due to delays - and in fairness to our wonderful contributors - we are going to keep last week's great ...
Release: Vancouver 125 wraps up with final celebrations
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As the end of the year approaches, Vancouver marks the final month of its 125th anniversary celebrations and year as a Cultural Capital of Canada with a host of arts and culture events throughout the city.
Now through February, a variety of events will provide entertainment and showcase Vancouver's creative and cultural communities:
• Thunderbird Then and Now, a digital storytelling project with Thunderbird youth and elders, will host a screening at the Thunderbird Community Centre (Dec.12).
• Bold 125 Celebration honours the culture, heritage and success of Vancouver's older lesbian women in a ...
December 13th, 2011
December 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vertical farming system to top Vancouver parking lot [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
• Why I Love My City: Bruce McCulloch on Calgary [The Atlantic]
INTERNATIONAL
• Rome Restricts Car Use to Reduce Emissions, Improve Air Quality [TheCityFix.com]
• City Considering Plan To Start Up Un-Paving and Spiffing The LA River [Curbed]
• Sculpting the History of a City [The Atlantic]
• Is new Seattle theater district just a label? [Crosscut]
• The Evil, Evil Grain Elevator [Places: Design Observer]
• The carbon devil in the detail on urban density [...
December 14th, 2011
December 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Changes strengthening Agricultural Land Commission now law [BC Local News]
• High-tech greenhouse planned for downtown Vancouver parkade rooftop [Vancouver Sun]
• Back to Front [Canadian Architect]
• Internationally regarded bike race set to return to Vancouver [OpenFile]
• Why city rankings always get it wrong [Price Tags]
CANADA
• China and India lead condemnation of Canada’s Kyoto withdrawal [Globe and Mail]
• What Open StatsCan Can Do for You [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Transit’s Not Sucking the Taxpayer Dry — Roads Are [Streetsblog Capitol Hill]
• San Francisco finds performance parking less responsive than expected [...
World Wide Wednesday: Power washed murals, bike couriers, pavillions
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• In Leuven, Belgium, street artist Strook uses moss and a power washer to shape living murals on bare walls. (Colossal)
• Officials in Flanders are taking a serious look at the role that bike couriers can play in reducing vehicle traffic and emissions. Recent studies of local bike courier firms highlight the additional flexibility and reliability of this mode of delivery. Moving forward, the Flemish government will evaluate which packages could be switched over to delivery by bike couriers. (Dutch Mobility)
December 15th, 2011
December 15, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• B.C. responds to Kyoto withdrawal with a shrug [Globe and Mail]
• Low-cost Downtown Eastside hotel rooms disappearing [Globe and Mail]
• Living in Vancouver comes at a price [Globe and Mail]
• All Vancouver wants for Christmas is a solution to the affordable housing crisis? [OpenFile]
• Vision appoints right-wing multimillionaire developer to chair affordability task force [The Mainlander]
• Construction contract approved for new Surrey city hall [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Cycling to Meet Europe’s GHG Reductions [Sustainable Cities Collective]
• Columbia Pike streetcar is a bargain versus new highways [Greater Greater Washington]
• Seattle, state's rail growth ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4919" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Stephen Rees."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Quesnel Council is hearing some backlash after voting to increase their pay cheques by 2.4 per cent, some members are speaking out.
The University of Victoria has hired a consulting firm to help neighbour's deal with concerns over a planned sports complex and seven-level parkade.
H.B. Lanarc will meet with community associations to discuss the role they want to play in the next ...
“And the Winners are…”: re:CONNECT Stand-outs Announced!
By Brent Toderian // 2 Comments
By Brent Toderian
Last week, at an event attended by over 300 Vancouverites, we announced the winners of our re:CONNECT Open Ideas Competition regarding the future of our Viaducts and Eastern Core. If you missed my past posts on the steps leading up to the big night, it might help to read here and here first.
Re:CONNECT is the second ideas competition we've held as a city in recent years, and the first related to an active work program. Like many North American cities, competitions are still a new skill set for us, but that's something I've been working to change.
The competition generated tremendous public and media attention, with design ideas splashed across front pages and on-line comment sections filled with discussion and debate:
Plans envision transformation of viaduct lands / Globe and Mail
What's your vision for Vancouver's viaducts? / Vancouver Observer
Public, professionals submit ideas for Vancouver viaducts / Vancouver Courier
Ideas pour in from around globe to redevelop viaducts / Vancouver Sun
The future of Vancouver's viaducts: equestrian club, farm or park?/ Canada.com
The 104 submissions from 13 countries inspired Vancouverites to think differently about the possibilities, and for perhaps the first time for many, the thought of something better than the current viaducts didn't seem so hard to imagine. Although no conclusions have been prematurely arrived at, the slogan on the competition posters, "is this the best we can do", seemed to capture the tone and opportunity of the moment.
Our outstanding jury did their hard work, and picked their 12 winners and honourable mentions, across the 3 categories, in both fee and free streams. In addition, the public had the opportunity to vote for "peoples choice" winners from each of the three categories. The public response was incredible - over 15,000 votes, and over 1500 on-line comments with great discussion and debate on the individual submissions.
Although its been an interesting process identifying the "Peoples Choice" winners, we're being careful not to confuse the voting process we've used, with a true indication of local public support. Given the many indications of "voting campaigns" on Facebook and other social media, those with the highest scores may be more indicative of better outreach than local popular support. I've observed that the results might be more comparable to "American Idol" than a representative survey or municipal referendum. What the people’s choice voting process has been excellent for though, has been spreading the word and creating awareness and discussion, encouraging people to study and consider the submissions, and start to consider new possibilities.
So, to the stand-outs.
Video Vancouver: Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.
December 16th, 2011
December 16, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Market demand drives growth in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Richmond installs "pedestrian scramble" intersection. Will Vancouver get one too? [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• IKEA Urbanism: A New Era In Urban Design? [The Pop-Up City]
Release: Community and Neighbourhood Arts Development Grants Program
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4952" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image from the Leaky Heaven Circus Happyland Carnival."][/caption]
Community and Neighbourhood Arts Development Grants Program
Next Deadline - Friday, March 2nd, 2012
The Community and Neighbourhood Arts Development Grants Program supports artist and community-driven collaborations, cultural events and parades that celebrate and promote Vancouver's unique communities and neighbourhoods through arts and cultural activities ranging from amateur to professional practices. The program is open to non-profit arts organizations wanting to undertake arts and cultural initiatives with an aim to:
• Celebrate and promote the diversity and unique characteristics of Vancouver's communities and its residents
• Encourage ...
December 17th, 2011
December 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• What will Vancouver's next food cart offer? You decide! [OpenFile]
• City pushes for seniors’ centre in southeast Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver grappling with a $52-million budget shortfall [Vancouver Sun]
• Origins: how coffee and cycling helped shape our Greenways [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Is Sustainable Zoning the Future of New York City? [This Big City]
• In praise of the humble pothole [Grist]
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Moves, Cosmopolitanism and Ho Chi Minh City
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Eric Darwin used two posts in the Walk Space feature this week to give a "biased, slanted and opinionated" overview of Ottawa's Downtown Moves initiative to improve downtown connections and prepare for the upcoming underground LRT. The first post focuses on connections to the west end as well as what to do about key streets including the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.
In the second part of his post on the Downtown Moves initiative Eric Darwin focuses on pedestrian experience and how to avoid and correct the deadening effects of certain buildings that ignore the street.
Gregory McCormick's Montreal Lit feature returned this week featuring excerpts from author Dany Laferrière reflecting on the Point St-Charles neighbourhood and the experiences of a newcomer.
The Regionalist Joel Thibert explores the question of whether regionalism, rooted in the systems that surround us, and cosmopolitanism, concerning itself with the broader human community, are really fundamentally at odds with each other. In doing so Thibert looks back to the origins of both ideas and their respective strengths and shortcomings.
Hilary Best continued the discussion on breaking barriers to citizen engagement through The Fourth Wall series this week. The series looked at the increasing size of local government, analyzing the history of Toronto's amalgamations and comparing councillor to constituent ratios around the world. The series also began a look at the election process by suggesting ways improve outreach to run for office.
Concerned about the way that cities are often neglected or portrayed darkly in children's books, Todd Harrison presents a selection from his family library of books for children that celebrate and take place in cities, just in time for Christmas.
December 18th, 2011
December 18, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver City Manager Penny Ballem shakes up department as Ken Bayne plans to retire [Vancouver Sun]
• Three questions for Bob Ransford [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Green Acre Radio: Teaching sustainability to Seattle's student chefs [Crosscut]
• Feds are key to sustainable development [Crosscut]
December 19th, 2011
December 19, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver’s HMV goes out with both a bang and a whimper [Globe and Mail]
• DJ Mayor Gregor Robertson's setlist and video of his performance [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Studying Regionalism on a Palatial Estate [Citiwire]
• Security Cameras As Planning Tools [The Atlantic]
• Satellite image shows Kim Jong Il's dark legacy [New Scientist]
Voices of Grandview-Woodlands
By Tessa Holloway // No Comments
How well can you really know any neighbourhood?
Yes, one can recite the history, the dates and times of developments, the influx of immigrants and the changing economics, but those sorts of official histories conceal something much deeper in the stories of the individuals who call a place home, stories you're likely to never hear unless you know someone personally.
Those stories have been made much more accessible in the Grandview-Woodlands area thanks to the work of the Under One Umbrella society. With the help of a grant from the City of Vancouver - part of the city's 125th anniversary celebration - the group has put together a compilation of diverse stories from The Drive, titled Voices From Grandview Woodland.
I sat down with Damian Murphy, the coordinator of the Under One Umbrella society that launched the book, at the Prophouse Cafe across the street from their offices on Venables Street, and sat in rapt attention as he explained the project.
Price Points: A Place that Matters
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
Where is this - and why does it matter? Enough to be worthy of a plaque that says so.
.
.
Okay, easy guess on the location: it's the Vancouver Art Gallery. But that's not why the Vancouver Heritage Foundation is here giving recognition at this event on December 16th.
Within a few minutes, the Marcus Mosely Chorale will enter to sing “A Gospel Christmas” - another concert in a series hosted by the VAG for a quarter century: the Out For Lunch Concerts. Created in 1986 to celebrate Vancouver’s 100th birthday, this series has brought a tremendous variety of classical music and performance to local audiences from a range of international and local musicians.
Places That Matter is a project of Vancouver Heritage Foundation celebrating the 125th anniversary of the City of Vancouver. Over the past year the VHF has assembled a list of 125 places, events and people that matter to Vancouverites. Through public nominations, a site selection committee and original research, the 125 plaques will be ready to go by early in January.
Spacing now offering national issue subscription
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
That's right, Spacing is now offering a subscription to readers who only want to get our national edition! It'll cost you $15 for 2 issues, or $25 for 4 issues. Even better, you can buy it as a gift subscription for someone else!
Up until the summer of 2011, the print edition of Spacing had been primarily focused on Toronto urban issues. We happily launched a special national issue in June (we even had an event at SFU's Wosk Centre for Dialogue to celebrate the release).
The editors of Spacing have decided to continue ...
December 20th, 2011
December 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver Police Board dismisses citizen complaint against Critical Mass [Vancouver Courier]
• $1 million dock opens in southeast False Creek [OpenFile]
• Robson Square name up for sale to corporate sponsor [Vancouver Courier]
• DTES planning process needs neighbourhood residents for its committee [OpenFile]
• Rybczynski in Surrey: “Profound correctness” [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• In the future, urban bikers go faster than cars [Salon.com]
• Frontiers of Design Science: The Network City [Metropolis]
• Kuala Lumpur: A Southeast Asian Los Angeles? [The Wall St. Journal]
• Urbanizing the Suburban Street [The Atlantic]
• Density is your friend, Roosevelt [Crosscut]
Participate: Design with User-Generated Content
By Laura Kozak // No Comments
Participatory design requires user content for completion. Rather than deliver clean, finished products to a passive audience, participatory designers are creating open-ended, generative systems.
-Helen Armstrong, from the Introduction
Authors: Helen Armstrong and Zvedzana Stojmirovic, Princeton Architectural Press, 2011.
New this year in Princeton Architectural Press”s “Design Briefs” Series, Participate: Designing with User-Generated Content looks at the emerging mode of generating design through the collaborative input of multiple individuals. In four sections — community, modularity, flexibility and technology — authors Helen Armstrong and Zvezdana Stojmirovic have assembled a cohesive and interesting collection of interviews with designers, theorists and educators, images, case studies and “practice”. A foreward by Ellen Lupton speaks to the paradigm shift in the practice of design today, while Helen Armstrong’s introduction contextualizes participatory design in a broader history.
December 21st, 2011
December 21, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Metro Vancouver to crackdown on diesel [Vancouver Sun]
• Lesson 1 for new councillor: No mixing business with council work [State of Vancouver]
• Climate change: Should we be scared — and what should we do? [Price Tags]
• Chuck Davis's Farewell Gift to Vancouver [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Plan For America's Largest Urban Park [The Atlantic]
• How to Boost Biking and Walking Even Further in Your City [Shareable]
• Advice for Urbanists, Circa 400 B.C. [The Atlantic]
• Delhi’s centenary as a capital [The Economist]
World Wide Wednesday: Busways, SMS tickets and haikus
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• The Atlantic Cities looks at some key lessons learned from America's busway systems (segregated roads left exclusively to bus traffic) - Boston's Silver Line, Los Angeles' Orange Line, the Miami Busway and the Pittsburgh Busway. Best practices include off-board fare collection, elevated boarding platforms and signal priority at intersections with auto traffic.
• Belgian transportation company, De Lijn, is pioneering the SMS ticketing system on public transit systems in Antwerp and Gent. Users text a number and receive confirmation of their purchase by text message which they can then show to the driver and use to transfer between lines. SMS tickets are applied to mobile bills and save users up to 28% of the cost of standard tickets. (Dutch Mobility)
• It's "poetry in motion" according to NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Known for her innovative approach to safer streets, JSK's new poster campaign to improve road safety uses haikus and bold images by artist John Morse to catch attention. (Transportation Nation)
Release: Jarrett Walker Free Lecture
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Jarrett Walker — just possibly the best blogger on transit and transportation anywhere — is now launching his book of the same name: Human Transit. He’ll be speaking more about the issues and ideas raised at previous presentations in Vancouver.
In Human Transit, Walker supplies the basic tools, the critical questions and the means to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing transit services. Whether you are in the field or simply a concerned citizen, he provides an accessible guide to achieving successful public transit that will enrich any community.
His ...
December 22nd, 2011
December 22, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Resident pans Little Mountain redevelopment plan in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• Times are changing in the early 'all-alike' suburb Levittown [CNN]
• Koolhaas's Defense of Generic Architecture [The Atlantic]
• Top cities stories of 2011 [Grist]
• The Best Metro Data Releases of 2011 [The Atlantic]
• Why does Seattle have so many bleak public spaces? [Crosscut]
Release: Help shape an Arts and Culture Advisory Committee for Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
Vancouver City Council has recommended the establishment of a committee which will advise on all civic programs that relate to arts and culture.
This new committee will provide advice to Council and staff on the arts and culture sector. Once established, the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee will:
• develop strategy and process for responding to Vancouver's arts and culture organizations,
• improve communications within the arts and culture community,
• optimize cultural tourism,
• develop new and enhance existing arts partnerships, and
• provide input into goals and principles for key programs such as grants, public ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of wayne worden."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The latest estimates suggest TransLink will end 2011 earning almost $26 million less than it expected from the current 15-cent-per-litre fuel tax it charges within Metro Vancouver.
Maclean's magazine has deemed Surrey to be the 10th most dangerous city in Canada, according to their national magazine poll that uses crime data from Statistics Canada of the 100 largest cities in the country.
Several sources of Victoria's revenue ...
December 23rd, 2011
December 23, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The University in the Shopping Mall [Slate]
• Best of 2011: Glittering Vancouver is now the poverty capital of Canada [Crosscut]
• New Surrey library named area’s most ‘bikeable building’ [Vancouver Sun]
• ‘Food street’ proposed for Vancouver’s Chinatown [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Hume: Future looking up for tall buildings? [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• can I get a house with that garage? [think|architect]
• It’s Time to Rethink ‘Temporary’ [The New York Times]
• Kim Jong-Il’s Vision for the City [The Atlantic]
December 24th, 2011
December 24, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Province green lights Vancouver Island wind farm [Globe and Mail]
• Surrey’s new library gets architectural recognition [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Better Alley [Long Beach Post]
• Send in the Food Trucks [The New York Times]
December 25th, 2011
December 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• COUNTERPOINT | Daniel Fontaine’s “Hunt for affordable housing” [The Mainlander]
INTERNATIONAL
• China grapples with mass migration from villages to cities [The Los Angeles Times]
• Top 10 Design Milestones of 2011—for the public good [Archinect]
December 26th, 2011
December 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Got a new idea for old school board building? [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Bike-Sharing for the Unbanked [The Atlantic]
The VanDusen Garden Visitors Centre: Vancouver’s newest architectural iconic
By Cameron Barker // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_4912" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo courtesy of Cameron Barker."][/caption]
Van Dusen Gardens is an iconic Vancouver destination representing the highest aspirations of West Coast green thumbs and admirers alike. The flowing streams, miniature habitats and unfettered attention to detail have given Vancouverites a quiet city sanctuary for 35 years. Adding to the quietude is a shining new Visitors Centre focused on the illustrious design of nature's own perfection; the Orchid.
Perkins & Will Architects of Vancouver provided the design and aesthetic qualities of the ...
December 27th, 2011
December 27, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• 50 Years Later, Jacobs Still Leads a Sorority of Dissent [California Planning & Development Report]
• Floods, heat, migration: How extreme weather will transform cities [CNN]
• Best of 2011: Sick suburbs, expiring exurbs [Crosscut]
Grounded: The Work of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg
By Kathleen Corey // No Comments
Edited by Kelty McKinnon; with contributions by Michael Van Valkenburgh, Ken Greenberg, Jacqueline Hucker, Dr. Eduard Koegel, Bruce Kuwabara, Kelty McKinnon, Douglas Paterson, and Julian Smith (Blueimprint, 2010)
"Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg are important pioneers in promoting a fundamental paradigm shift in the way that we design and build cities." - Michael Van Valkenburgh in the foreword.
Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg (PFS) is a well-known Vancouver-based planning, urban design, and landscape architecture firm, whose work is introduced in their recently release book Grounded. Through seven thematic essays written by different design collaborators, the diverse group of planners, architects, designers, teachers, and historians tell their stories - illustrating twenty years' work on fifty local and international projects with vivid graphics embedded in the text.
December 28th, 2011
December 28, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City eyes affordable housing [Vancouver Courier]
• Coming up in 2011: Separated bike lanes debate part II [OpenFile]
• Metro Vancouver won't join Seattle and Portland in plastic bag bag [Vancouver Sun]
• Former West Vancouver mayor aims to transform bus shelters into canvases for local artists [Vancouver Sun]
• UBC researchers try to improve the green footprints of green roofs [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Using a Building's Name as Bait for Buyers [The New York Times]
• In Madrid's Heart, Park Blooms Where a Freeway Once Blighted [The New York ...
December 29th, 2011
December 29, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Opening doors for Vancouver’s marginalized residents [Globe and Mail]
• New blog illustrates Vancouver's past and present with juxtaposing images [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Warning of Urban Sprawl...in 1959 [The Atlantic]
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5166" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Rick Forgo."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Great news for Kelowna's Jewish community as the first candle is lit on the a public menorah in Stuart Park in the city's downtown core.
An interesting analysis of the major issues and events in Abbotsford over the past year - and look at the ...
December 30th, 2011
December 30, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
From hydro to heath care, higher prices loom for B.C. residents [Globe and Mail]
An urban canopy to nurture a city’s growth [Globe and Mail]
Sensitive to rain: study looks at winter cycling in Vancouver [OpenFile]
Bikes from Whistler touch down in Uganda [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
International Free Transit Day [The Atlantic]
'Wikipedia of Maps' Challenges Google [MIT Technology Review]
Home builders catering to extended families [Las Vegas Sun]
Life in an African Slum [The Atlantic]
Best of 2011: Can neighborhoods matter again in McGinn's Seattle? [Crosscut]
December 31st, 2011
December 31, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Officials hope Surrey greenway trails coax people out of cars [Vancouver Sun]
• Translink’s Year in Review [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Critics peeved over new sidewalk ‘information pillars’ [Globe and Mail]
• Quebec City lights up the night [The Montreal Gazette]
INTERNATIONAL
• New City Slogans of 2011 [The Atlantic]
• Best of 2011: How Seattle grew itself a new 'downtown' [Crosscut]
January 1st, 2012
January 1, 2011 Headlines – Happy New Year!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Your guide to 2012 Polar Bear Swim events across Metro Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Media Viewpoint: The top city story of 2011 [CityCaucus]
INTERNATIONAL
• Six Trending Urbanist Themes for 2012 [myurbanist]
• S.F. parklets: a little tour of a major trend S.F. parklets: a little tour of a major trend [San Francisco Chronicle]
January 2nd, 2012
January 2, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• In One Slum, Misery, Work, Politics and Hope [The New York Times]
• The bold urban future starts now [Salon]
• What's a Hockey Game Worth? [The Atlantic]
A Vancouver “Extra” Special in Strathcona
By Yuri Artibise // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_5188" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The Joe Wai Special. Image courtesy courtesy of Jen Eby and Reg Dick."][/caption]
Since it's first appearance in 1965, the Vancouver Special has become a ubiquitous fixture of Vancouver's urban landscape. With their flat fronts, boxy shapes, and low pitched roofs, these homes are unique to Vancouver. Vancouver Specials were initially targeted for immigrant families looking for an affordable, modern home to enjoy the North American quality of life and designed to optimize the use of a 33 foot wide city lot. The original plans could be purchased at City Hall for $65. Given their stock nature and frequency of use, permits were issued quickly. It was not unusual for a Special to be built in a few weeks time. By 1985, there were an estimated 10,000 Vancouver Specials throughout the city.
Amid the seas of Vancouver Specials, there are a sub-section of extra-special' Specials nestled inn Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood. The story of these houses dates back to the late 1960s and a dark episode in Vancouver's urban history. At this time, the City had expropriated large swathes of Strathcona in the name of urban renewal. The city had planned on building two public housing projects and using the rest of the land for a freeway. The housing projects and freeway were ultimately scrapped, but not before several blocks of old homes had been razed.
In the early 1970's, the Strathcona Property Owners and Tenant Association - a major player in the fight against the City's urban renewal scheme - created the Strathcona Area Housing Society to begin filling in the gaps created by the earlier demolition of housing. One of the team members who were pulled together to design and build affordable housing for the neighbourhood was Joe Wai, then a young architect working for Thompson Berwick, Pratt and Partners. Together the team built 51 units. Mr. Wai based the plans for some of the detached houses on the Vancouver Special, but had to adapt the stock plans to fit the narrow, 25 foot Strathcona lots and unique needs of the community.
January 3rd, 2012
January 3, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Sadly, after 63 years Bert’s is toast [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver’s Sutton Place No. 1 on National Geographic’s list of places for chocolate [The Province]
• Infographic: housing market prediction paints sobering image of Vancouver real estate [OpenFile]
• A Bad Case of Scenarios [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Cycle like the Danes to cut carbon emissions, says study [The Guardian]
• Six Urbanist Themes for 2012 [The Atlantic]
• An Unlikely Group Rebels Against Preservation Districts [The New York Times]
• The Emerging and Interconnected 'Megapolitan' Regions [The Atlantic]
Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Author: Alan Berger (Princeton Architectural Press, 2006)
Waste. We are all familiar with it. We deal with it daily when we throw away of the vast quantities of disposable objects our society creates - from plastic bags to paper cups. Our negative attitudes towards waste - as well as its pervasiveness - make meaningful discussions about the subject exceedingly rare.
Even rarer, are those who engage issues of waste beyond garbage and trash to the scale at which it relates to urban design and cities. But it is exactly what landscape architect Alan Berger attempts to consider in Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America. As explicitly stated in the books title, Berger turns his attention to the nature - and potential - of wasted land in American cities.
Release: Call for Qualifications: Public Art: “Balance”
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call for Qualifications: Public Art: "Balance"
Westminster Savings Credit Union (224 Street & Lougheed Highway)
Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
Budget: $40,000
Submission Deadline: January 30, 2012
The theme for the artwork will be 'Balance' as it applies to all aspects of our lives. The selected work(s) will be placed in the two planters situated on either side of the corner. There is potential for electrical access nearby. A scale drawing of the site is available upon request. This Call for Qualifications provides an exciting opportunity for a new piece of public art for all to ...
January 4th, 2012
January 4, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mapnificent! No, really, MAPnificent [Green Growth Cascadia]
• Urban farmers hope to grow in school district [Vancouver Courier]
• West Side property values soar 20 to 40 per cent [Vancouver Courier]
• Delta mayor envisions mini Florence, with vibrant shops, restaurants [Vancouver Sun]
• Lessons of Attawapiskat on Vancouver Island [The Tyee]
• TransLink's 2011 Year in Review [The Buzzer Blog]
CANADA
• Looking to the skies for answers: a second look at gondola transit [The Star]
• Winnipeg councillor gives $3K to bus ticket program [CBC News]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Future of ...
World Wide Wednesday: Ghettos, hospitals and green zoning
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• Which Canadian cities are seeing the fastest ghettoization? Researchers from Queen's University, University of Toronto and StatsCan released a working paper in December showing increasing segregation by income in virtually all of the country's major cities. (Huffington Post)
• Cradled next to the State Department, the Vietnam and Korean War Veterans Memorials, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial, architect Moshe Safdie's design for the U.S. Institute of Peace transformed a navy parking lot into a monument for humanity. (Huffington Post)
• Behold Boxpark - the world's first pop-up shopping mall. The London retail location is comprised of 60 shipping containers (five wide, two high). Owner Roger Wade calls it the most environmentally friendly shopping mall ever built and promises "after five years, we'll return the land back to its owners in exactly the same condition as we got it, and then the community can decide if it wants a more permanent retail space there." (CNN)
January Urbanist Meetup, Sunday, January 8, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // 1 Comment
Come kick off the new year with me and your fellow urban wonks at the fist urbanists meetup of 2012!
We'll be meeting this coming Sunday (January 8th) from 3-5pm, for a few pints and a lively discussion about urbanism in Vancouver.
This month, we'll be exploring the reinvention of a Kitsilano classic: The Bimini (2010 W 4th Ave., V6J 1M9 map).
The pub recently reopened after a 2007 fire gutted the main room. It has a long community history, including being BC’s first licensed neighborhood pub and a former meeting place for Greenpeace.
We'll be there from ...
January 5th, 2012
January 5, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Charting the path from stovetop to fuel tank [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver neighbourhood builds new identity as creative industry powerhouse [Vancouver Sun]
• Kwantlen seeks first recruits for new sustainable agriculture program [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. to spend thousands on struggling Downtown Eastside housing units [Vancouver Sun]
• Study for BC Ferries Urged Steep Fare Hikes at Busy Times [The Tyee]
• Incineration firms vying to burn Vancouver’s trash [Globe and Mail]
• The visual expression of surface parking [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Rob Ford's war on public transit [The ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5247" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Wayne Worden."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Between 10:00am and 1:00pm PST today (January 5th), Tofino will be testing their new Tsunami Siren Emergency Notification System. Area residents are encouraged to use PlaceSpeak's online consultation platform to let officials know if they heard the siren.
A wonderful model for transforming neglected urban landscapes and great news for bikers in Victoria who ...
January 6th, 2012
January 6, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• InRoads: Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (1) [Price Tags]
• Cambie Corridor plans puts Vancouverism to the test [Globe and Mail]
• Sculptures’ extended stay and A-maze-ing price reduction please Biennale organizers [Globe and Mail]
• Metro Vancouver parks now off limits to smoking, except in designated areas [The Province]
• For Tsawwassen First Nation, development is the name of the game [Globe and Mail]
• Lower Mount Pleasant: hidden gem, or threatened by gentrification? [OpenFile]
• Urban farmers in Vancouver earn less than $9 an hour [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• So Much ...
Release: Canadian Association of Planning Students 2012 Conference and AGM
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
PLANNING HORIZONS:The Edge, Future, and Potential of Planning
Canadian Association of Planning Students 2012 Conference and AGM
DATES: February 2nd – 4th 2012
LOCATION: Vancouver, British Columbia – Simon Fraser University’s Downtown Campus, Harbour Centre (515 West Hastings Street)
WEBSITE: http://caps-aceau.org/vancouver-2012/
EMAIL: info@caps-aceau.org
The national CAPS-ACÉAU conference is the premier event for planning students from across Canada. Join us in 2012 in the beautiful and inspiring setting of Vancouver, BC for a three day conference to share your research and projects, network with planning students and professionals from across Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and explore leading ...
January 7th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Optimism, Falling Crime Rates and the Vancouver Special
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Predicting that this new year will not only be good to Ottawa but will make it the Canadian city to watch in 2012, Alan Miguelez presents the top ten reasons for optimism in 2012.
Mark Brandt reviews the book Cities as Crucibles: Reflections on Canada's Urban Future by Francois Lapointe, current VP of Capital Planning at the National Commission, and finds it to be a comprehensive and accessible understanding of how to re-create Canadian cities in the coming years.
Alanah Heffez looks at the history of traffic lights on the island of Montreal, illustrating some of the process of how traffic signals became standardized and how some problems still haven't changed.
Joel Thibert provides a glimpse inside Montreal's regional politics through a look at the tumultuous final approval of the area's first regional plan the Plan métropolitain d'aménagement et développement.
Toronto's homicide rate hit a 25 year low in 2011, John Lorinc reflects on the reasons behind this success as well as the shifting politics behind public safety in the city under Rob Ford.
Alex Bozikovic's No Mean City architectural feature asks tough questions about the soullessness of international waterfront redevelopment based on recent states from leading architect Rem Koolhaas.
In a separate post No Mean City also pays homage to the walk-up apartment, advocating how this residential form could fill an important niche in Toronto's housing market which is currently neglected.
January 7, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Volunteer, Damn It! [Price Tags]
• Neighbourhood haunt closing its doors [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver Street Tree Dudes [Vancouver is Awesome]
• Vancouver's Japadog hits New York [Vancouver Sun]
• The War on the Car – Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (2) [Price Tags]
• Richmond ‘sustainable” seafood supplier netted in federal fish investigation [Vancouver Sun]
• Urban Futures: Migration declines [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Green Is Affordable [Shelterforce]
• Paved, but Still Alive [The New York Times]
• Pedestrian, cyclist criticize policy of allowing bicycles on Tokyo sidewalks [...
January 8th, 2012
January 8, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• Hard times for a tower and its murals [The Los Angeles Times]
• Why Some Cities Are Healthier Than Others [The Atlantic]
January 9th, 2012
Price Points – The Land Bridge
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
It looks like a heavily landscaped path in some park, or perhaps part of the South False Creek seawall - but it isn't.
.
It's this:
The Laurel Street land bridge is still the major connector between South False Creek and Fairview Slopes (map here). It's Vancouver's own mini-High Line or Promenade Plantee, way before anyone thought of those.
January 9, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City of Surrey to vote on development permit for new City Hall [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver tax hike drives home message that cars have no place downtown [Globe and Mail]
• No Pants SkyTrain Ride 2012 catches riders with their pants down [Vancouver Sun]
• Tax returns used as unlikely weapon in fighting homelessness [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You’ll Ever See [Slate]
• BART airport connector rising but still stirring debate [The Contra Costa Times]
• Changing Skyline: Suburbia's outer ring losing shine, some economists ...
Release: Course, Transportation Transformation: Sustainable Transportation for Your Community – Sat Feb 18
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Transportation Transformation: Sustainable Transportation for Your Community
Langara College – Continuing Studies
100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver BC
Sat February 18, 2012 9:30am – 4:30pm
Cost: $85
How can residents of Metro Vancouver transform the way we travel to deal with global warming and the end of cheap oil? Learn the basics of sustainable transportation, illustrated with examples from cities that have quickly gone from gridlock to transit and cycling meccas. We’ll explore the surprising ways residents, professionals and politicians have created outstanding transit systems and livable communities.
Instructor – Eric Doherty, MA Planning, BA Geography
Eric is ...
An urban screen opening in Surrey
By Don Schuetze // 1 Comment
I walked by the Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre in Surrey on Friday, December 2 at 5:50 pm. It was still early, but in winter, when the sun sets at around 4pm or 4:30pm it seemed like 8pm. At least it wasn't snowing.
And that's what it said on the side of the rec centre. "At least it's not snow."
The whole wall had single words and news headlines splashed in projected light all over it.
It was opening night. There was a fold-out table, covered in blue cloth. Hot chocolate sat in a snug dispenser. Insulated. A tray of chocolate cookies. And literature. Four neat piles of papers and brochures. I stared at the wall, reading headlines. I glanced at the table. A woman in red saw the opportunity.
"Are you here for the opening?" she asked.
I confessed I was there by accident, but politely asked what was going on.
This is Surrey Urban Screen, part of an "outreach program of the Surrey Art Gallery." [city site source] It's been active since the Olympics, over a year and a half ago. You can see it on the left-hand side from the Skytrain as you head from Gateway to Surrey Central. For those of you in Vancouver, that's on the other side of the bridge.
January 10th, 2012
January 10, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Landmark Vancouver restaurant prepares its last meal [Vancouver Courier]
• More than 200 city parks mapped for mobile app [OpenFile]
• Vancouver food co-op needs public's help to stay afloat [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Retrofitting the Suburbs to Increase Walking [Access]
• Indonesian Economy Booms, Its Infrastructure Groans [NPR]
• The Struggle to Define L.A.'s Transitional Moment [The Atlantic]
• Why California needs high-speed rail [San Francisco Chronicle]
• The Forgetting Machine: Notes Toward a History of Detroit [Places: Design Observer]
The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Author: Chuck Davis (Harbour Publishing, 2011).
If you ever hear someone say that Vancouver has no history, give them a copy of The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver.
Chuck Davis (1935–2010) devoted his life to being the expert on our city’s past. Although not a formally educated in the field, Davis became Vancouver’s unofficial historian, earning the moniker ‘Mr. Vancouver.’ His passion for history’s passion was fuelled by his innate curiosity, honed by careers as a TV reporter, radio host and newspaper columnist.
This curiosity led to a lifetime of scouring archives, libraries and people’s personal collections in search of interesting documents or artifacts that would make great stories. Davis was able to share these in the 16 books he published during his life, including Chuck Davis’ Guide to Vancouver (1973), The Greater Vancouver Book (1997) and the posthumously published Chuck Davis’ History of Metropolitan Vancouver (2011).
Davis had been working on this book—which he described as the capstone of his writing career—for decades, when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. He knew that he would be unable to complete the book, so he appealed to the community for help in the spring of 2010.
Thanks to the efforts of about 40 friends and admirers—including writer Allen Garr—The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver was published in November 2011, a year to the day after Davis’s passing. The team inherited a comprehensive social and economic history of the city prepared with the detail of a historian, but with Davis’s signature exuberant storytelling. According to Garr, a longtime friend and colleague of Davis who helped guide the book’s completion, their “challenge was to maintain his voice and his idiosyncratic view of the city he loved.”
January 11th, 2012
January 11, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• TransLink looks to increase fares, public asked to weigh in [OpenFile]
• Commercial Drive development plan includes drop-in centre [Vancouver Courier]
• Our ecological treasure is the issue with Northern Gateway [Globe and Mail]
• Sterile solutions wheeled out to Vancover’s shared helmet dilemma [Globe and Mail]
• Tsawwassen First Nation hosts public meeting on mall plans [Vancouver Sun]
• The Endless Shovel-ready Project – Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (3) [Price Tags]
CANADA
• 10 reasons to feel optimistic about Toronto [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Rental Boost From Green Design [...
Event: Day of the Dedos – The Art of Dying While Living
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Artshow for Legendary Vancouver Graffiti artist Dedos.
Day of the Dedos - The Art of Dying while Living
OPENING: Friday, January 13, 7pm-11pm
LOCATION: Ayden Gallery, 88 West Pender Street
Featuring: Dedos / Ben Tour / The Dark / Scott Sueme / Kaput / Virus
Music By: DJ FLIPOUT
Exhibition Closes February 5th, 2011
***
Nelson Dedos Garcia - Concept Artist / Illustrator / Painter/ Muralist / 2D Animator / Logo designer / Children's Book Illustrator /
Trained as a classical animator, Nelson ...
World Wide Wednesday: Dark and empty places, neighbourhood names and parking lots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on 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.
• While most global cities boast round the clock activity, made possible by armies of streetlights, many cities are moving to reduce nighttime lighting to save money on electrical bills. Citizens have expressed concern about safety, environmentalists welcome a darker night sky and others are exploring solar or concentrated lighting systems to reduce costs and focus the illumination where it is needed. (NYTimes)
• A photographer in London, a city famous for 24-hour hustle and bustle, captured what happens when the streets are empty on Christmas morning. (Flickr)
• Forget the metropolis. The new unit of urbanity ought to be the megapolitan area, argue Arthur Nelson and Robert Lang, authors of the new book Megapolitan America. By 2040, they forsee a United States carved up into 23 "megapolitan" areas - large regions of interconnected metropolitan areas. While issues such as housing and education will be controlled at a smaller scale, the authors argue that the megapolitan area will be the unit of choice for transportation, economic development, and environmental planning. (The Atlantic Cities)
January 12, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Burnaby Mountain Gondola Business Case [The Buzzer Blog]
• The Law of Traffic Congestion, according to "The Flash!" [Brent Toderian via Planetizen]
• PM to seal shipbuilding deals in Vancouver, Halifax [Globe and Mail]
• Expanded drop-in centre and supportive housing could be coming to Commercial Drive [OpenFile]
• Fabricating the Creative City: The New Monuments (2/3) [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver in talks to create online apartment rental guide [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Toronto set to lag in growth as Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Regina surges ahead [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• The End of ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5379" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Heritage Vancouver."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Let's start with big TransLink news as their plan to raise transit fares an average of 12.5 per cent in January 2013 is being investigated by TransLink Commissioner Martin Crilly, TransLink's independent regulator. Crilly has the power to veto the fare hike and is taking a hard look at the justification and whether ...
Event: re:generation – how we move our city
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Ever wonder about Vancouver rail transit in the 1950s? Or the future of automobile ownership? Or wondered what “Active Transportation” was? ….
Elders, Boomers, Xer’s and Young Folk Tell Their Active Transportation Stories
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
149 W Hastings, SFU Woodwards
Doors open: 6:30pm
Show starts : 7-10 pm
Tickets: $5-10 Sliding Scale – No one turned away.
Proceeds: Partial proceeds will be donated to Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC).
RSVP TO RESERVE TIX: http://regeneration2012.eventbrite.com/
FEATURING AWESOME STORIES FROM: SHIFT, Modo The Car Coop and the TRANSIT MUSEUM SOCIETY
Be regaled about rail transit in Vancouver ...
January 13th, 2012
January 13, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Proposed Tsawwassen First Nation malls to make area a 'shopping destination' [Vancouver Sun]
• Douglas Coupland goes pop with QR Codes [Vancouver Sun]
• SFU Gondola: Great BCR, Shame about the Business Case [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• ‘Radical ideological agenda’ easy to spot from downtown Toronto [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Seeing the Building for the Trees [The New York Times]
• Book Provides Fresh Glimpse of Berlin's Destruction [Spiegel Online]
• The Burj Khalifa two years later: With help from Hollywood, the world's tallest building asserts its status as a global icon [...
January 14th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Urban Screen, City Place and the Family Motel
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Toronto's City Place Neighbourhood Rises
From the position of a former Policy Adviser and Senior Assistant to a councillor, Donna Silver presents the top ten ways to reduce unnecessary tension between citizens and their planning department and restore confidence in city planning.
As part of the Forgotten Vanier feature Mike Steinhauer looks at the rise and fall of the Butler Motor Hotel as a parable for the history of small family-run motels across Canada and the fading built legacy they left.
Guillaume St-Jean looks at an attractive redevelopment on the site of a former hospital for infectious disease which has sat abandoned since 1978. The proposal tastefully incorporates key structures of the old site surrounded by low-rise condominiums.
The Montage du Jour feature once again highlights that while time has dramatically altered some parts of Montreal, other parts remain very much that same, at least in built form.
Could you cycle between Montreal and Toronto in three days? Niki Siabanis presents the first in a series of posts intimately and honestly describing a summer three day cycling journey between Canada's two largest cities.
The jury is still out on City Place, the forest of sleek glass condominiums taking shape on Toronto's former railway lands. Ryan Bolton gives readers an inside scoop from a resident of the community, finding it far from a ghetto but still in need of some love.
January 14, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Bid to expose Vancouver’s worst landlords reveals need for a public advocate [Globe and Mail]
• Tsawwassen band paves way for controversial mini-metropolis near Delta [Globe and Mail]
• Life in the bus lane: Can taxis and transit (and bicycles) coexist? [OpenFile]
• The most important thing that never happened: Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (4) [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Boston’s old West End persists as a ‘palace’ [The Boston Globe]
• Your Prius Won't Save You: Questions for David Owen, Author of The Conundrum [Txchnologist.com]
• Great and Not-So-Great Subway Logos [...
January 15th, 2012
January 15, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // 4 Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• See and Hear LACMA's Zippy New Mini-City "Metropolis II" [Curbed LA]
January 16th, 2012
Price Points – Visions of Metrotown
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
Yes, this is a vision of Burnaby's Metrotown - from 1971.
Here's the map of this region's first purpose-built town centre. And the view today:
The image at the top - so very 70s, rather like the first images of False Creek South, upscaled - had been rendered by a Burnaby planner named Gerhard Sixta for a report he had written to the Burnaby Planning Department. "Not a typical planning document," says David Pereira, an SFU Urban Studies grad. "The 142 page tome, Urban Structure: A study of long range policies which affect the physical structure of an urban area, instead reads more like an instructional text book."
January 16, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Paint store sale heralds major East Hastings redevelopment [Globe and Mail]
• Composter the last piece of Vancouver firm’s recycling puzzle [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Big Midtown Rezoning Eyed [The Wall St. Journal]
• Muralists, Street Artists Chime in on City's Proposed Mural Ordinance [KCET Departures]
• Find Your Foodshed [Planning]
Little Mountain | Why the Struggle for Social Housing is More Pressing Now than Ever
By Andrew Witt // 6 Comments
[EDITORS NOTE: A special thanks to Andrew Witt and the fine folk at The Mainlander where this piece was originally published.]
The new plan for the redevelopment of Little Mountain neighbourhood in East Vancouver has been released to the public. The plan calls for wholesale gentrification of the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighborhood. The 15-acre site that previously held 224 units of social housing will be replaced with 2,000 units of market condominiums.
In exchange for a zero-percent increase in the amount of affordable housing on the site, the neighborhood will be transformed by luxury condos and retail, putting upward pressure on local property values. Like in other working-areas of Vancouver, this new high-end development will usher in rent increases, more renovictions and even more demolitions.
In Vancouver, there are on average two home demolitions per day. The Little Mountain plan ensures that the rate of demolitions will be particularly high in the Riley Park area. In addition to the demolition of Little Mountain social housing, the city has its sight set on demolishing all single-family homes at the north-east corner of the Little Mountain property.
Even though evictions and displacement are systemic throughout Vancouver, the city has not conducted a social impact study to understand the possible social effects of these demolitions and mega-projects. When asked at Thursday’s press conference whether the City plans to conduct such a study, Senior Planner Ben Johnson said “No,” claiming that there are no impacts because “homes are going for $1million in the neighborhood.” According to the city, the renters who make up large part of Little Mountain, Riley Park, Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Sunset, and Mount Pleasant are not part of the equation.
The new plan announced by the private developer, Holborn Group, consists of sixteen towers of luxury condominiums. There are nine towers planned at ten to fourteen stories, while the rest of the density is spread out between four to nine stories. It is assumed that Holborn bought the property from the provincial government for a price fixed to existing levels of zoning, at four stories, while committing to replace the 224 units of social housing.
January 17th, 2012
January 17, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City asks for public's input on "budget pressures," launches online consultation process [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• A City Is A Startup: The Rise Of The Mayor-Entrepreneur [Tech Cruch]
• Cycles and cents: One city sets out to prove that bikes are good for business [Grist]
• Defining a 'Meaningful' Space [The Atlantic]
• Lessons from the Front Lines of Social Design [Places: Design Observer]
• Rolling with Ever-Changing Gas Prices: Lessons from my dumb luck [PlaceShakers and NewsMakers]
• Singularity is plural: The Optimism of BJARKE INGELS and RAY KURZWEIL [032C]
Book Review: Making Healthy Places
By Chris Quigley // No Comments
Editors: Andrew L. Dannenberg, Howard Frumkin, and Richard J. Jackson (Island Press, 2011)
Real estate agents are known for using many tricks to sell a house. But perhaps no line could ever be as enticing as ‘live here and you will live longer’. This is the principle on which the book Making Healthy Places is based – that it is possible to plan and design communities which improve the health of residents. Conversely, it is possible, and some would say easier, to plan and design communities which actively worsen the health of residents.
This link between city planning and public health is nothing new and was particularly prominent during the Victorian age when many urban planning interventions aimed to tackle the worsening health conditions of industrialized cities and towns. Ebenezer Howard's famous Garden City Movement set out to create a utopian settlement where the clean air and water could overcome the health concerns of the time. And more recently the urban renewal projects of the 1960s were often couched in terms of eliminating overcrowding and the associated negative health conditions of city dwellers.
January 18th, 2012
Jak King – The Drive: A Retail, Social and Political History of Commercial Drive
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Speaker: Jak King - The Drive: A Retail, Social and Political History of Commercial Drive
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 2012
TIME: 7:30pm
LOCATION: Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Street. Enquire at the Museum desk for directions to the room.
ADMISSION: Free
These days East Vancouver’s Commercial Drive is a fiercely independent, wildly entertaining, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-sexual district with a reputation to match. But how did it get that way from when natives sold its Grandview elk meat to settlers in Vancouver and a skid row running roughly along the present-day path of Commercial Drive below ...
January 18, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city council wants giant digital signs outside BC Place dimmed down [Vancouver Sun]
• Big and simple, flat and square: Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (5) [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Calgarians envision their communities 30 years into the future [Calgary Herald]
INTERNATIONAL
• Once Hidden by Forest, Carvings in Land Attest to Amazon’s Lost World [The New York Times]
• How Our Brains Navigate the City [The Atlantic]
• Hope and Hesitation as Waste-to-Energy Gets New Look [Next American City]
• The 8 to 80 Problem: Designing Cities for Young and Old [...
Urban Planet: How the Dutch Got Their Cycle Paths
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Today, World Wide Wednesday becomes Urban Planet (please no jokes!), 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.
• The Netherlands has the world's largest number of cyclists. But this low-lying country wasn't always a two-wheel paradise. This video, posted by markeniel, documents the country's tumultous cycling history: a focus on car travel, the proliferation of surface parking lots, protests, the oil crisis, and the advent of pro-cycling policies.
For more stories from around ...
January 19th, 2012
January 19, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Urban farming program looking to expand in Vancouver's school district [OpenFile]
• Public Transit: What is the Question? [Stephen Rees's Blog]
• Progress on Parking [Price Tags]
• Land of Destiny: A History of Vancouver Real Estate [The Dependent]
• 2012 is the Year of the Macaron in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Laws That Shaped L.A.: Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland? [KCET Departure]
• Innovative State and City Government Solutions to Watch in 2012 [The Atlantic]
• A New Four-Lane Superhighway To Be Built Only For Bikes [...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_5534" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Here in Vancouver."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Now I'm not a transit accountant, but was there ever really a doubt that a Gondola to SFU would be less expensive than a maintaining and expanding the existing buses? I wonder how much was spent on creating the study?
Wonderful news for the Comox art ...
Release: Poet Laureate Offers Free Consultation to Emerging Poets
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Evelyn Lau, the City of Vancouver's third Poet Laureate, invites emerging poets to apply for a free one-to-one manuscript consultation at VPL's iconic Central Library.
"I look forward to meeting with poets - aspiring or published - to discuss their submitted work and answer questions about the editing and publishing processes," said Ms. Lau. "I am happy to offer editorial and publication guidance and provide insights into the writing life."
Those selected for a consultation are encouraged to bring questions regarding submitting to literary magazines, entering contests, giving readings, putting together a poetry ...
Urban Planet: Saving Modernism’s Treasures
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
They are the buildings you love to hate. "The machines for living in". The brutal structures of High Modernism, constructed in the 1960s and 70s, are beginning to show their age. Now, historic preservation laws in many countries will attempt to keep these buildings in tact - protecting their ...
Release: Call to Artists – Capstone Residential Development
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call to Artists - Capstone Residential Development
Fairborne West 2nd Homes Ltd. and the City of North Vancouver)
North Vancouver, BC Canada
BUDGET: $100,000, all inclusive
DEADLINE: January 31, 2012 at 4pm (PST)
Expressions of Interest are being accepted from artists or artist teams to design and integrate site specific art at the Capstone residential development at 135 West 2nd Street in North Vancouver, the last vacant property to be developed next to Lower Lonsdale's beautiful Jack Loucks Court. The Capstone property was once home to Marine Electric, which was known in the marine ...
January 20th, 2012
January 20, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City axes art space, rental suites from Kingsway complex [Vancouver Courier]
• City hall eyes online rental database [Vancouver Courier]
• Tsawwassen First Nation votes for mega-mall [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Zoning Laws Grow Up [The Wall St. Journal]
• Between the Lines [Los Angeles Magazine]
• How Foreclosures Feasted on Some Cities, Not Others [Miller-McCune]
• Empowering Regions to Reinvent Themselves [The Atlantic Cities]
• Retrofitting Suburbia [Continuing Education Center]
• CONTOURS: The Divisions that Bind Us [Archinect]
• The Architect as Totalitarian [City Journal]
• Retrofitting the ...
Urban Planet: Smart Cities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Fast Company asks: what makes a city smart? Boyd Cohen, author of this ranking of the top ten smartest cities on the planet, defines them as "cities [that] use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and ...
SPACING NATIONAL ISSUE: Come to our release party Feb. 3rd!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.
This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).
January 21st, 2012
Spacing Saturday: The Golden Rule, Planning Politics and Little Mountain Rennoviction
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
While praising Ottawa's Transportation Master Plan, Alex Devries synthesizes a golden rule that cycling advocates in the city must work around: "No change to drivers at any cost." Devries uses a lists of successful project to show how cycling advocates have worked around this rule.
Alexandre Laquerre used his Maintenant & Avant feature this week to show off 110 years of change on the upper Rideau Canal showing a city that has both matured greatly and moved away from the railway.
Devin Alfaro correctly predicted that the island of Montreal would be a battle ground in last spring's federal election. Predicting a similar groundswell of change in Quebec's coming provincial vote, Alfaro paints a picture of how all parties will vie for votes in Montreal and what this will benefit the city.
As declining patronage and financing force the conversion of churches across Quebec into other uses, Alexandre Campeau-Vallée asks the question of what will happen to the sound of church bells, noting that such bells are some of the last sounds to enjoy immunity in our quest to reduce urban noise.
Adria Young features a provocative public art installation on the site of Halifax's new downtown convention centre. The installation, Town Square by Scott Saunders draws on the site's public consultation controversy by populating the site with ghostly business figures.
Abad Khan provides an update on a story which appeared in the fall issue of Spacing Magazine about two different strategies to road widening proposals in Moncton and Halifax. Moncton's bold approach of reducing car lanes has received vindication while Halifax's road widening has become tangled in politics.
Spacing's Dylan Reid reports back from the fascinating proceedings of a recent University of Toronto conference "Is there Planning Law or just City Politics?" The conference provided a lot of insight and opinions on Ontario's convoluted planning process.
Niki Siabanis continues taking readers along her summer cycling journey from Toronto to Montreal, with the second day including a brief stint on the 401 and the beauty of the thousand islands.
January 21, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Difficult road ahead for Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation [North Shore Outlook]
• Kingsway development no longer includes plans for arts space or rental suites [OpenFile]
• Vancouver reviews land purchase by brothers tied to troubled Olympic Village project [Vancouver Sun]
• Maleks buy new property listed at $4.9-million [Globe and Mail]
• Cities look to federal government for stabilized infrastructure funding [Vancouver Sun]
• East Van cinema gains a liquor license, loses right to show movies [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Passive Progressive [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Uncanny Valley: The Real Reason ...
January 22nd, 2012
January 22, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Year of the Dragon and map of the 'best Chinese food outside of China' in Vancouver [OpenFile]
• Witness says Burns Lake sawmill explosion could have been prevented [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
US Thirst for Fossil Fuels is Decimating Nature's Wildlife: Report [CommonDreams]
Its the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent, pedestrian safety edition [Transportation for America: campaign blog]
***
January 23rd, 2012
January 23, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Gentrification of Mount Pleasant: Developers, Displacement and Real-Estate’s New Frontier [The Mainlander]
INTERNATIONAL
• The New Big Three: New Orleans, Detroit, Phoenix [AIA - Practicing Architecture]
• Landscapes That Fool You [ASLA - The Dirt]
• Sleek, Chic Hangout ... a Garage [The Wall St. Journal]
• Fixing America's Soon-To-Be Waterless Cities [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Price Points: A Vision from the Sixties
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
It's the Sixties, it's a municipal town centre - but where?
.
.
It's a 1968 concept plan by the Vancouver firm of Ehling & Brockington for the Brentwood Town Centre.
Not exactly Sketch-up, is it? But it was what Burnaby planners had hoped would occur around the pre-existing mall at Brentwood (map here) to fulfil their vision of a municipal town centre.
Burnaby had, in 1965, rezoned the area to the east, creating what David Pereira, SFU Urban Studies grad, quotes as “likely to be the largest single residential unit in Western Canada” - a complement to the largest mall in the province at the time. Today, at both Brentwood and Lougheed, you can see intact some archetypal sixties architecture - megaproject style - on a scale unmatched elsewhere in the region.
Yes, this was a high time for suburban expansion. But it's easy to overlook how ambitious Burnaby's dreams were, and how urbanistically advanced they were. So advanced, in fact, that the market was not able to match their expectations.
Lightmodal: public art that isn’t so public
By Don Schuetze // No Comments
Here's art with no vision, goals, and of a doubtful legacy.
I stole those headings from the Necklace Project website (www.necklaceproject.ca/). Lightmodal is the Surrey contribution. As I write this (December, 2011) there isn't yet a gallery page for this part of the project, which is "an inter-municipal collaboration for public art."
Each contribution is supposed to reveal an "inner light of each community."
So far, there's little information available about Lightmodal.
The designers are Organelle Design. Unfortunately, they only have photos on their site. No explanation.
It was unveiled September 30, 2011, as part of Culture Days. Information is limited:
Lightmodal is a zero energy, environment responsive public artwork. Inspired by naturally occurring light phenomena like auroras in the sky and bioluminescence in the water, the artwork’s light patterns are generated in reaction to the surrounding motion, vibration, and sound of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Viewers were bussed in.
Urban Planet: Flash! Comics Explain Transportation Demand Management
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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 there's too much congestion, why not build more roads? The laws of congestion and transportation demand management aren't necessarily intuitive. Which is why Brent Toderian at Planetizen was so pleased to see comic book hero the Flash discuss the law of congestion in a recent issue. Toderian considers cities ...
Release: Help Shape and Arts and Culture Advisory Committee for Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
In 2011, Vancouver City Council recommended establishing a committee which will advise on all civic programs that relate to arts and culture. Your opinion is important to us.
On January 13 and 16, 2012, City staff conducted public workshops with interested members of Vancouver's arts and cultural community. The workshop asked for input on the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee's priority directions for the next three years, as well as membership criteria.
Survey
This survey builds on the results of the workshops and includes the top arts and cultural assets, issues and ideal committee ...
January 24th, 2012
January 24, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• New, spectacular B.C. community centres shedding stereotypes [Globe and Mail]
• TransLink pledges to increase bus service and promote cycling in 2012 [OpenFile]
• What we get for our taxes [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future Is Here [Wired]
• Fallacies Against the Grid [TheGreatAmericanGrid.com]
• Tokyo to build independent energy network [Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production]
• Why Portland's Public Toilets Succeeded Where Others Failed [The Atlantic Cities]
• Thirsty City [Places: Design Observer]
• Alliance Benchmarking Report Ranks Cities and States ...
Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives
By Yuri Artibise // 1 Comment
Author: Jarrett Walker (Island Press, 2012)
Only if we embrace the facts of transit, and discover the opportunities they present, will our cities, and our transit, be human. - Jarrett Walker
Whether you are transit geek, a SkyTrain rider or an interested citizen, you will learning something by reading Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. The newly published book by Jarrett Walker is an accessible guide to thinking about public transit in an informed and systemic manner. It provides professionals, users, and citizens alike with the background to have informed conversations about this important topic.
Jarrett Walker is transit consultant who has been designing public transit systems for over 20 years and author of the popular transit blog HumanTransit, from which much of the book is based. Unlike a lot of transit analysts, who write from a east coast perspective—based on dense, pre-automobile urban cities— Walker writes with a uniquely west coast—and post-automobile city—outlook. This outlook, informed by living and working in cities such as Portland, Sydney and Vancouver, make the book extremely relevant for Spacing Vancouver readers as well as others interested in this perspective.
Urban Planet: Pedestrian behaviour
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
When trying to plan pedestrian environments, the answer may be to follow the crowd. Mehdi Moussaid of the Max Planck Institute and Dirk Helbing of ETH Zurich study pedestrian behaviour. Using computer models and particle theory, they analyze decision making patterns of people travelling by foot. ...
Release: Part-Time Public Art Position, City of Surrey, British Columbia
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
PUBLIC ART COORDINATOR Join our Public Art staff team and contribute to the specialized cultural development work related to the administration, coordination, promotion and implementation of public art projects. Reporting to the Manager, Visual and Community Art, and working in as part of a team, this position will see you involved in the production of public art opportunities throughout Surrey.
This position involves: developing reports and terms of reference for projects, recruiting artists, coordinating competitions, reviewing and commenting on technical drawings and specifications, reviewing art project production from concept development through installation.
Tasks also include monitoring budgets and creating reports, responding to the maintenance needs of the art collection, maintaining a contract database, organizing events and working with volunteers including members of the City's Public Art Advisory Committee.
January 25th, 2012
January 25, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• 400,000 pieces of evidence moved to sleek new crime warehouse [Globe and Mail]
• Polling website helps reap Harvest in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Tuesday Round-up [Stephen Rees's Blog]
• Landlords laud proposed rental database [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• David Lewis: An Urban Legend [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
• When it Comes to Wetlands, It's Hard to Improve on the Original [GOOD Magazine]
• The City’s Best Tech Tools [Next American City]
• Infographic Of The Day: Could Twitter Help Us Create Smarter Transit Routes? [Fast Company Co.Design]
• Today's dynamic Seattle: born at ...
Emmanuel Buenviaje’s Mount Pleasant Vernacular
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Sometimes we need to see our city in a new way to realize what has always been there. That is the case with graphic designer and photographer Emmanuel Buenviaje. Buenviaje is an Emily Carr graduate and an experienced graphic designer with a passion for typography who first picked up a camera in 2006.
Although he is a Vancouver native, photography gave Buenviaje a different perspective on our city. It forced him to slow down and view the city in a different way. Buenviaje places great importance on exploring a neighbourhood by foot, allowing him to witness details not seen on the saddle of a bike, the seat of a bus, or behind the wheel of a car.
Viewing his neighbourhood from behind a camera gave Buenviaje a new perspective on Vancouver. He had long been fascinated by the complexity of Vancouver's urban landscape, but photographing it opened his eyes to the layers, texture and history all around him that he overlooked before. Buenviaje's photo walks allowed him to see the city's various neighbourhoods in what he feels is a more genuine way. According to Buenviaje, “There is a more authentic Vancouver. While it may be grittier, it isn’t ugly—rather it is real.”
Urban Planet: Temporary Architecture
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
We often think of architecture as a permanent art form, but temporary installations are becoming more and more pervasive. Think pop-up shops, post-disaster shelters, mobile food carts, streets cafes and pocket parks. Allison Arieff at the New York Times considers the challenges and advantages that ...
January 26th, 2012
January 26, 2011 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• $1.4B Evergreen Line to open by 2016 [CBC News]
• The Politician’s Quandary – Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (7) [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Can Ontario Really Deliver North America's Best Smart Growth Plan? [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• On Infrastructure, Hopes for Progress This Year Look Glum [the transport politic]
• An Ambitious Arab Capital Reaffirms Its Grand Cultural Vision [The New York Times]
• How the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live [The Guardian]
• Creating ‘The Most Bicycle Friendly City in America’ ... In Southern California [...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_5774" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The City of Surrey is having a little bit of trouble convincing residents of a plan to construct an alley and coaches houses despite assurances that it will be sympathetic to the surrounding context.
The Tsawwassen First Nation is one step closer to building a major shopping and entertainment complex on its ...
Video Vancouver Original: Winter Solstice Beat
By Kathleen Corey // No Comments
The HD version is highly recommended and available at its Vimeo page.
***
Winter in Vancouver is not quite like winter in other Canadian cities. There is a unique beat that arrives in the city as the days get longer and the nights get shorter.
Even on cold days, Granville Island is bustling with people. Les Finnigan, a regular busker with a gentle demeanour, plays his soothing acoustic tunes as our eyes wander out to sea.
Sometimes it only takes a bit of skipping - preferably in your bright pink snowpants - ...
Urban Planet: Rem Koolhaas
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Spiegel speaks with starchitect Rem Koolhaas about the magazine's new building, generic urban design, the changing role of the architect and the negative outcomes of commercial and bureaucratic impulses.
Image from Spiegel
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do ...
January 27th, 2012
One week from today: Spacing release party in Vancouver!
By Matthew Blackett // 1 Comment
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.
This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).
January 27, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• First contracts awarded for the construction of the Evergreen Line [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver city councillor reveals B.C. Place ties [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• Towers of Dreams: One Ended in Nightmare [The New York Times]
• Popuphood: How To Revitalize A Struggling Neighborhood In Six Months [Fast Company]
• Why Every City Should Be Planting Rain Gardens [The Atlantic Cities]
• Who Pinched My Ride? [Outside Magazine]
***
Urban Planet: Highway Caps
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
Highways can carve up and scar urban neighbourhoods, which is why many North American cities are looking for ways to cover this infrastructure and restore community. The Chicago Tribune explores the experience of Columbus, Ohio which saw increased pedestrian traffic and business for local stores following the ...
January 28th, 2012
January 28, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• North Shore Area Transit Plan [The Buzzer Blog]
• The ‘anti-neon crusade,’ Vancouver’s light-pollution battle from another era [Globe and Mail]
• Fruit trees lining the streets of Vancouver mapped thanks to open data [FoodTree]
• Downtown light pollution has Vancouver residents seeing red [Globe and Mail]
• Summer cycling race returns to Gastown with Gastown Grand Prix [The Georgia Straight]
INTERNATIONAL
• Two Wheels and High Heels [Sightlines]
• The green dividend from reusing older buildings [Switchboard NRDC]
• New Urbanists Release Principles for Sustainable Street Networks [Streetsblog D.C.]
• ...
Spacing Saturday: Wellington Barracks, a Leslie Street Gateway and Dispatches from Edmonton
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Members of the Spacing Ottawa diaspora returned this week with posts from their new home cities. David McClelland writes about his observations of Niagara Region's new inter-city regional bus service as a prime example of the question of what comes first: the transit or the riders?
Adam Bentley, a Spacing Ottawa contributor who recently moved to Edmonton, shares his observations of his first several months in the city including its good and planning history. His central conclusion: Edmonton doesn't suck.
Jacob Larson gives an update on the latest twist in the saga to replace Montreal's aging Turcot Interchange which involves a significant delay caused by sinking ground and wonders if this could be an opportunity for sober second thought.
With an opportunity to share her findings at an upcoming conference, Alanah Heffez seeks reader feedback on Montreal's electronic fare payment system initiating a conversation about intricacies of the City's OPUS fare card.
As part of the ongoing Altantic Snapshots series Stephen Archibald profiles the Wellington Barracks. Hidden within an active Canadian Forces Base, the barracks is amongst Halifax's most important mid-nineteenth century buildings, retaining significant elements of grandeur.
Like the ends of many north-south streets in Toronto, the bottom of Leslie Street presents a fantastic opportunity to become a gateway to the waterfront. Dylan Reid presents a detailed plan to capitalize on an excellent opportunity at the bottom of Leslie despite heel dragging from the City.
Niki Siabinis completes the tale of her three day cycling journey from Toronto to Montreal within a marathon last day that includes construction obstacles, night riding and lots of sore muscles.
January 29th, 2012
January 29, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• No jet-fuel pipeline through Richmond, mayor vows amid protest [The Province]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Massive Proposal To Turn A Florida Pier Into A Floating Urban Park [Fast Company Co.Design]
***
January 30th, 2012
January 30, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver councillor picks a ruff battle: leash laws [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver commissioner looks to extend life of Riley Park Community Centre [Vancouver Sun]
• Translink, ferry fare hikes challenged [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• A Renewed Public Push for Somewhere to Sit Outdoors [The New York Times]
• A Guide to 16 of the Most Classic Types of LA Houses [Curbed LA]
• Times and Tides Weigh on Hudson River Park [The New York Times]
• What Pictures Can Teach Us About Walkability [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Price Points: Towers in the Bush
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
You see these towers from Highway 1, heading east, way beyond the Vancouver City border. Why aren't they in the West End?
.
.
This surprising pocket of Sixties-style highrises at Lougheed Town Centre was actually influenced by the presence of Simon Fraser University on Burnaby Mountain (Arthur Erickson and Geoff Massey's career-making commission). The University had opened in 1965, and there was already a plan to build a community in close relationship - the Simon Fraser Townsite. It didn't turn out, as David Pereira explains, quite as intended.
Nonetheless, these buildings were erected in the years following the opening in 1969 of what actually did get built: the Lougheed Shopping Centre - and the influence of Erickson's SFU architecture is evident:
.
... sloping design is very common throughout the area. Stairways cascade over each other, winding seamlessly into wooded pathways interrupted by the occasional planted flower bed. There is also a strong emphasis on natural forested areas; many creeks run through the area, some of which are active salmon bearing streams ....
New cartographers: How citizen mapmakers are changing the story of our lives
By Christine McLaren // No Comments
[Editor's Note: Former Vancouver reporter Christine McLaren is traveling around the world as the resident blogger for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile think tank investigating solutions to urban problems. In October the project wrapped up its three-month run in New York City -- which featured programming by Vancouver author Charles Montgomery -- and will travel next to Berlin, and on to Mumbai. This story originally appeared on the Lab's blog, the Lab|log.]
We see them every day, popping up on our Twitter feeds, filtered through blogs, or even scattered throughout the New York Times: maps portraying not the usual locations or destinations, but data.
From people’s kisses in Toronto, to the concentration of pizza joints in New York, to the number of women who ride bikes, to the likelihood of being killed by a car in any given American city, the list of lenses through which we can now view our cities and neighborhoods goes on, thanks to data-mapping geeks.
“The map user has now become the map creator,” is how Fraser Taylor put it to me in an interview. The director of the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre at Carleton University, Taylor is one of the world’s leading cartographers, standing as the director of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping and a member of the United Nations Expert Group on Global Geographic Information Management as well as a host of other major international mapping organizations.
He describes what’s going on as an enormous cultural shift from a previous era when the mapping of our cities (or countries, or world, for that matter) was placed mainly in the hands of government mapping authorities.
But even more importantly, Taylor says, we are also mapping new things—intangibles like social phenomena, feelings, impacts, and more.
“Individuals inside cities and elsewhere are creating maps for themselves and in fact giving us their own narrative of what a cityscape is about. They are telling us what is important to them, and they’re mapping the kinds of things that previously would not be mapped,” he says. “It’s becoming part of the creation of a culture of a city.”
January 31st, 2012
January 31, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver planning chief Toderian given the axe [Globe and Mail]
• Parking being squeezed out in Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• Tweaks needed on Vancouver animal control bylaw: councillor [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Hume: Rob Ford’s Toronto can’t keep up [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Busts Myth That “Nobody Walks” in Rural America [Streetsblog D.C.]
• Segregation Curtailed in U.S. Cities, Study Finds [The New York Times]
• NASA's Groovy Concept Art for the Orbiting Cities of the Future [The Atlantic Cities]
• The Surprisingly Complex Art of Urban Wayfinding [The ...
High-rise: Idea and Reality
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
“Despite the trauma of September 11, 2011, the skyscraper still retains much of its appeal in the twenty-first century – both for the representational needs of powerful corporations and for the collective imagination alike. Evidence of this can be seen not only in the incessant competition among companies, cities, and nations for the tallest building, but also in the contemporary photographer’s infatuation with this type of architecture. If artists can be considered sensitive seismographers of social and cultural developments, then perhaps the skyscraper embodies the zeitgeist of our age more than ever before.”
- Martino Stierli, from 'The High-rise, Photographically Considered'
Edited by Andres Janser and the Zurich Museum for Design – Hatje Cantz Publishers (2011)
There is a book that comes along every once in a while that reminds us that not too long ago – before the internet and e-publishing – books and newspapers were our only means of printed communication, where the visceral pleasure of turning a page was to embark into an undiscovered country and partake in the pleasure of print, as opposed to the RGB pixels of colour on an LCD screen. The invention of the printing press remains a pivotal moment in history, just as for thousands of years prior, architecture had been the great book of human civilization written in the ink of the cultural forces of the day.
The singular phenomenon of the high-rise building typology in history is likewise a great cultural leap forward in city building, and as presented here, Highrise: Idea and Reality (Hatje Cantz Verlag – 2011) is an exploration of the building-type’s most recent iterations as seen through the eyes of both the artist and architectural voyeur. Some of the images are gritty and surreal, while others are sublime — such as Hans-Georg Esch’s breathtaking Shanghai 17, and a SCI-ARC produced comic-strip depicting the street life in Foster’s new Masdar City, including McDonalds’ signs in Arabic.
Urban Planet: Anamorphic Gardens
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
The Smithsonian Magazine explores Who to Believe?, a Parisian garden in front of City Hall designed by Francois Abelanet. Playing with the traditions of the French garden and Anamorphosis, Abelanet shows that the view of City Hall is quite different depending on where you stand.
Video from WorldScott
For more stories from around ...
February 1st, 2012
Spacing party in Vancouver this Friday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.
This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).
February 1, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Little Mountain's revised plan includes canals, shops [Vancouver Courier]
• Council seeks new direction in ousting of Vancouver’s chief planner [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver city council to petition B.C. government over archaic theatre rules [Vancouver Sun]
• Finding Common Ground – Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (8) [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Virtuous cycle: 10 lessons from the world’s great biking cities [Grist]
• Traffic Jam Economics [The New York Times]
• As City Plants Trees, Benefits--and Some Burdens--Grow [City Limits]
• Reinventing Los Angeles: Seizing the Transit Opportunity [The ...
Release: Urban Futures Survey 2012 Launched – 40 Year Old Survey Legacy Lives On-line
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It started in 1973. It happened again in 1990. And now it’s back. The third Greater Vancouver Urban Futures Opinion Survey has launched, but this time with a difference. Everything will be online.
The Urban Futures Opinion Survey 2012, now available at www.urbanfuturessurvey.com, is the third in a series of geographically-specific research studies that measure the importance of a number of issues to residents across the Lower Mainland. Previous surveys helped inform the creation of the Livable Region Plan and the Choosing our Future program.
The 2012 survey will update and enhance the ...
Urban Planet: Urban Highway Removal
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Anthony Flint at The Atlantic Cities explores the expansion of urban highway removal across more North America centres and notes the cultural tensions that can flare when such a major piece of infrastructure is slated for demolition. Also worth checking out, the Atlantic Cities has ...
Release: City of Saskatoon Request for Qualifications/Expression of Interest Calling Artists, Designers, Historians and Graphic Designers
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Request for Qualifications/Expression of Interest: Calling Artists, Designers, Historians and Graphic Designers
Moose Jaw Trail Public Art & Heritage Interpretive Project located within Patricia Roe Park and Mark Thompson Park, Stonebridge Neighbourhood, City of Saskatoon
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Budget: $180,000
Submission Deadline: February 27, 2012 3:00 pm CST
The City of Saskatoon is seeking "Requests for Qualifications" from an artist/designer team for the creation, and implementation of an interpretive collection including commemorative artworks and interpretive panels. We are ideally seeking a team approach to this project but individuals may apply for any component but must indicate a willingness to work with others to form a team. There are three components to the project:
1. Commemorative Feature
2. Interpretive Panels
3. Themed art installation
February 2nd, 2012
February 2, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Fired Vancouver city planner Brent Toderian says he’s proud of his record [The Georgia Straight]
• Looking for two testers to test existing Real-Time Transit Information and help us look to the future [The Buzzer Blog]
• Richmond mayor wary of Port Metro Vancouver farmland plans [Vancouver Sun]
• Smart Growth Debate [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Statistics Canada releases free data for everyone! [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Communities Learn the Good Life Can Be a Killer [The New York Times]
• Sustainable is not enough: a call for regenerative cities [The Global ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6087" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The plan to create a new $3.3-million Urban Trail in Abbotsford will unfortunately not go forward as council was unwilling to make a decision regarding the $2.3 million in funding available through the gas tax grant. Mark Taylor, general manager of parks, recreation and culture asked for the funds a couple of weeks ago, but ...
Release: Community Use Spaces Available at the CBC Studio 700 & Outdoor Stage
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
SPACE AVAILABLE
Community Use Spaces at the CBC
Studio 700 & Outdoor Stage
700 Hamilton Street
INFO : cbc.ca/bc/communityspaces
If you are a Vancouver based, non profit organization with an arts and culture mandate, you are eligible to rent for FREE the CBC's community spaces: Studio 700 and the Outdoor Stage - located at 700 Hamilton Street in downtown Vancouver. Studio 700 is 2,700 sq. ft. with a 12' X 16' stage and suitable for rehearsals, performances, workshops and fundraisers; capacity is 150 people . The Outdoor Stage can accommodate audiences up to 200 people.
Urban Planet: Witold Rybcyznski vs Richard Florida
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Grist talks to urbanist Witold Rybczynski about his recent efforts to call out Richard Florida for playing "fast and loose" with income statistics for American urban centres. Florida posited a positive relationship between density and household income, using figures for metropolitan areas rather than city ...
Sim City: Welcome to Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
Well, here it is: Spacington. The new look of 21st century urbanism- well, kind of. The truth is there is nothing here yet, and that is because this is just the beginning. Every week this plot of land, slowly or quickly, will become our Sim City version a 21st century urban city.
During the week the Spacing team and myself will attempt to develop Spacington into a walkable, densely populated, diverse cityscape. Borrowing some suggestions from urban theorists such as Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, and Ken Greenberg, as well as the LRT focus of 21st century urbanism, Spacington will become a simulated urban city our readers want. Check the blogs every Thursday and keep on track with our city's evolution.
February 3rd, 2012
Spacing release party tonight in Vancouver!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: TONIGHT! 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.
This event is held in conjunction with ...
February 3, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Generation X writer encourages innovation in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Longboarders object to increased fines, confiscation in proposed North Van bylaw [The Province]
• Municipal leaders endorse benefits of open data [Vancouver Sun]
• Housing affordability problem threatens Vancouver's 'livable' title, summit told [Vancouver Sun]
• What Works – Vancouver and the Insatiable Auto (9) [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Capital Bikeshare program looks to spread into the Washington suburbs [The Washington Post]
• The Mayor’s Office, Measure R and Multiple “Plan B’s” [Streetsblog L.A.]
• Strip Malls Like You've Never Seen Before [...
Release: City of Aberdeen Call for artists living in Washington, Oregon & British Columbia
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The City of Aberdeen, WA & Grays Harbor Community Foundation - Simpson Triangle
Eligibility: Open to professional artists living in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia
Budget: $104,000
Deadline: 5:00 PM , February 27, 2012
The City of Aberdeen, WA, in cooperation with the Grays Harbor Community Foundation, is seeking an artist to create a significant three-dimensional artwork for the Simpson Triangle, a highly traveled site between the business districts of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, WA. The artwork will honor the legacy of a local family and inspire both generosity and commitment to community in local residents and those that pass through the City.
Urban Planet: Super tall
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Mark Lamster and Alexandra Lange at Places:The Design Observer discuss Supertall - a recent exhibit on the world's tallest buildings at New York's Skyscraper Museum. The exhibition focuses on buildings built between 2001 and 2016 that are taller than the Empire State Building (100 stories ...
Release: Granville Street Summer Activations
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Five blocks of downtown Granville Street (400 to 800-Block) - near the Canada Line and SkyTrain stations - will be transformed into a dynamic pedestrian-only space every Saturday and Sunday this summer!
Community-based and corporate groups interested in activating the street with recurring and one-off events, exhibits, markets, and other activities are invited to submit applications to the City of Vancouver by February 29th, 2012.
Guidelines and application forms can be found at: vancouver.ca/viva
Questions? Email: vivavancouver@vancouver.ca
Deadline: Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Please spread the word to others who might be interested in this ...
February 4th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Transit Planning, the Tall Building Century and Founding Spacington
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
A new city was founded this week, the city of Spacington . Spacing staffers will use Sim City to attempt to turn Spacington into a 21st century utopia over the coming weeks using feedback from reader commentary. Comment early, comment often and help build the city.
Jay Baltz reports on the ongoing effort to enact guidelines on Ottawa's use of Section 37, the portion of Ontario's Planning Act that facilitates density bonusing, and criticizes how the guidelines have changed over a year of consultations.
Eric Darwin uses the Walkspace feature to highlight some of the difficulties Ottawa pedestrians face this time of year through a photo series of a good samaritan getting no respect from drivers.
Joel Thibert explores the hotly debated question of what really influences people's decisions on where to live. Delving into a variety of related studies conducted around the world Thibert proposes ways to make increased density more acceptable to the next generation.
Devin Alfaro provides a glimpse inside Montreal's complex municipal governance, analyzing the potential outcomes in an upcoming by-election that promises to be a tough fight with implications for the city's opposition parties.
As Saint John enjoys the completion of its new Official Plan, Morgan Lanigan comments on how the next step will be a thorough review of the Zoning By-law in light of the lessons learned over the 40 years of urban planning.
As disagreement on council continues to leave Toronto's transit planning in shambles, John Lorinc weighs in on the roles of various actors in the debate and who needs to step up to restore order.
Shawn Micalleff uses the Toronto Flaneur feature to react to John Tory's appointment to head up the revitalization of Ontario Place, making a compelling argument that the rethink should stay rooted in the site's rich past while emphasizing its role as a public space.
February 4, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A city known for vision loses its planning chief [Better Cities & Towns]
• Controversial Vancouver mayor Tom Campbell dies [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver Park Board unveils "nature-based" playground [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• To Understand the City’s Budget, Write It [The Atlantic Cities]
• Look out below [The Economist]
INTERNATIONAL
• Why Does Our Infrastructure Resemble a Third World Country’s? [Governing]
• The Greening of Houston [The Atlantic Cities]
***
February 5th, 2012
February 5, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Earthquake shakes near Vancouver Island [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• What Taxis Add To Public Transit [The Atlantic Cities]
• Ports and transportation will shape economic success or failure [Crosscut]
***
February 6th, 2012
February 6, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City incentives have done little for affordability [Vancouver Courier]
• Artist/scientist/diplomat wanted [Vancouver Sun]
• Will young homebuyers say goodbye to Vancouver for good? [The Province]
• BC Place-area resident hopes council will ‘hear’ his noise complaint [Vancouver Sun]
• Taking Vancouver from organic juices to high tech future [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Transit-Oriented Preservation [Shelterforce]
• You Already Own the Next Most Important Transportation Planning Tool [The Atlantic Cities]
• Guerrilla Wayfinding in Raleigh [The Atlantic Cities]
• Louis Curtiss and the Politics of Architectural Reputation [Places: Design ...
Release: Encyclopedia of Commercial Drive by Jak King is available!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The physical environment, the streets and buildings, are important elements of the Commercial Drive neighbourhood, but they cannot compete in importance with the people and the companies that have lived their lives on the Drive. The Encyclopedia of Commercial Drive is dedicated to the memory of all those who went before to make the Drive the joy it is today.
Collected from every available public directory and with additional material from multiple newspaper accounts and memoirs, there are more than 10,500 entries in the Encyclopedia covering about 15,000 people and businesses.
The Encyclopedia ...
Complete Gregor Robertson Interview
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6136" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo courtesy of Mischa Bartkow."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: As many of you know, we just launched Spacing's second National Edition with Gregor Robertson's interview being the main feature of the magazine. However, as is often the case with print, space limitations required that we edit the full interview down to a comfortable size. Naturally, certain Vancouver-specific content was chosen for omission with the idea being that we would run the entire 30 minute interview exclusively through Spacing Vancouver. So...here it is!]
Mayor Gregor Robertson and the centre-left Vision Vancouver’s November 2011 election victory further cemented the upstart Elector Organization as a powerful political force in the city. The Coalition of Progressive Electors, from which the Vision party sprung, was shut out Vancouver’s ten council seats in the most recent vote, while the venerable Non-Partisan Association (NPA) won just two seats—an improvement from the one seat it garnered in 2008, but a far cry from elections past.
Spacing Vancouver Editor Erick Villagomez managed to catch up with Robertson at his office to discuss how Vision pulled off this reelection win, what it means for Vancouver, and how he and his party intend to fulfill the promises made during the campaign.
•••
Urban Planet: Pedestrian Desire Lines
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Two major road revitalization projects in London, England have planners talking about pedestrian priority and behaviour. As The Economist reports, improvements to Oxford Circus and Exhibition Road have required a fundamental re-examination of pedestrian "desire lines" - the paths individuals choose to take, as ...
Price Points: Versailles in Suburbia
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
Acres of formal gardens, beautifully maintained - inspired by Versailles and Hampton Court, of all places, but mere meters from a SkyTrain station. Which one - and why are they here?
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To see for yourself, get off at Edmonds station on the Expo line, turn right (south towards the B.C. Hydro building), and then over the tracks on the landbridge to Station Hill Drive. The road turns gently west, past a Choices Market with its own cunning clock tower, and, on the left, to the garden gate - the centrepiece of City in the Park.
February 7th, 2012
February 7, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Fired Vancouver planning director knew one week before news broke [Vancouver Courier]
• Announcing Vancouver's "affordable housing task force" [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Stintz leads anti-Ford rebellion over future of transit [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• The architecture meltdown [Salon.com]
• Design o’ the times: Empowering minorities to shape urban landscapes [Grist]
• Preparing San Francisco for the Next Big One [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Release: Heritage Week Theme Celebrates Energy and Power
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Heritage Week 2012 - running February 20-26 - celebrates the theme of “Energy: a Powerful Past, a Sustainable Future”. From the earliest coal-fired generators to the massive hydro-electric projects of the twentieth century and today’s oil and gas industry, energy and power have been an essential and sometimes controversial part of BC’s growth and prosperity.
“A Powerful Past, a Sustainable Future” is an opportunity to explore this remarkable history and consider the many opportunities and challenges for the future.
Communities across BC celebrate Heritage Week in many different ways. To find out what ...
Urban Planet: White Ribbons in Moscow
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
In Moscow last week, drivers adorned their vehicles with white flags and ribbons to show their support for protests against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The city's Garden Ring highway was jammed with cars, demonstrating the widespread involvement of the urban middle class in ...
Old Buildings and New Design: Architectural Transformations
By Ellen Ziegler // 1 Comment
Author: Charles Bloszies (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
“Design integrity is essential for exemplary architecture” – it is with this philosophy that Charles Bloszies rigorously investigates the complex relationship between old and new. In his newest book, Old Buildings and New Design: Architectural Transformations, Charles Bloszies sets out to “explore successful design approaches for visible interaction between new and old architectural styles.”
As urban densities rapidly increase around the world, a strain is put on our built environment that requires architects and designers to identify fast and creative solutions for transforming old architecture into new, culturally appropriate and structurally sound buildings. Building reuse, recycling and retrofitting has been identified as socially, environmentally and (occasionally) financially more sustainable, while adaptation or preservation of historic buildings is an important component of urban “smart growth” strategies.
However, as Bloszies states: “not everything old is good,” and often, it is the “urge to preserve” that has citizens and designer’s fighting to save historic architecture, and not the architectural or the cultural value of the building itself. It is with this type of diplomacy that Blosize identifies the sustainable and aesthetic implications of preservation, challenges with policy and bylaws, structural difficulties and the major financial burdens that will likely be encountered with historic interventions. He reminds us that a good design “balances the desires of all the stakeholders” and that it is architectural diversity and integrity that will create a successful project.
February 8th, 2012
February 8, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver historian taps thousands of names for Commercial Drive book [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver had no pedestrian deaths in January for first time in seven years [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. population grows to 4.4 million with urban areas leading the way [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver mayor to push Feds for affordable housing help [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver targets risky road behaviour in new pedestrian, cyclist safety campaign [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Canada’s future is in the West: 2011 Census [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Sustainable Development Makes Housing Affordable [GOOD Magazine]
• ...
Release: ’100 MILE HOUSE’ – an Open Ideas Competition
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
"You've heard of the 100 Mile Diet - What about the 100 Mile House?"
The Architecture Foundation of British Columbia is pleased to announce the launch of a new Ideas Competition which will invite participants to explore, rethink, question and experiment with new ideas that will challenge the concept of the regional house and the way we live.
Historically, most houses were constructed as '100 mile' houses from caves, sod houses, log cabins and stone houses to the First Nations' indigenous cedar houses, tepees and igloos. People worldwide used whatever available materials were ...
Urban Planet: Walking, talking and texting
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Can you walk and text? Researchers at Stony Brook University suggest that while you may be able to multi-task, you likely walk a bit differently when you do. Participants in the study walked 16 per cent slower while talking and 33 per cent slower ...
February 9th, 2012
February 9, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver School Board backs province-wide cycling education [Vancouver Courier]
• Black history month a time to remember Joe Fortes [Globe and Mail]
• Metro Vancouver’s bid to curb urban sprawl faces instant tests [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver councillor proposes launch of mobile 'City App' [Straight.com]
• B.C.’s population growth good for the economy: business council [Vancouver Sun]
• Watts insists on TransLink audit ahead of more taxes [Surrey Leader]
CANADA
• By the numbers: How Canada’s cities are changing [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Levels of Service and Travel Projections: The Wrong Tools ...
February Urbanist Meetup, Sunday, February 12, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
After a loooong and busy January, February is here and it's time for the monthly Vancouver Urbanists Meetup.
This month we'll be meeting on Sunday, February 12th from 3-5pm, at the Mill Bistro on the Coal Harbour waterfront (at Bute).
Come re-connect with your fellow urban fanatics and get up to speed on all that's been going on over the past month; including the big news at City Hall and last week's Cities and Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS) conferences.
As always, feel free to drop in when you can ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6375" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of HereInVancouver."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Longboarders are not very happy in the District of North Vancouver with proposed changes to the existing bylaw that includes increasing fines from $35 to $100 for reckless riders and giving police the authority to impound a longboard for 24 hours.
After three months of fighting by residents of 32 Avenue over a letter of support ...
Urban Planet: Pedestrian Signals
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Walk. Don't Walk. Could urban designers get a bit more creative when it comes to pedestrian signals? This cute animation by designer Li Ming Hsing illustrates the possibilities when pedestrian signals are given free reign. (...
February 10th, 2012
February 10, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Key to smart transit is data sharing, experts say at Cities Summit [Vancouver Observer]
Affordabull force [Vancouver Courier]
Mayors bristle over inability to scrutinize TransLink spending [Globe and Mail]
CANADA
Ford pays price of obstinacy in council’s rebuke of his transit vision [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
Interview with Robert Hammond, Co-Founder of the High Line [THE DIRT]
Should Public Trees Bear Fruit? [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Sim City: Week One in Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
It's not much of 21st century urban city yet, but in the first week of Spacington's developments we have focused on a couple things.
With the amount of great suggestions we received since Spacington's launch last week, we have taken the majority of them into consideration (skipping over some of the more anti-Rob Ford suggestions such as adding ferris wheels and extensive subway to low-density neighbourhoods) and added the Network Addon Mod, the Street Addon Mod, and additional LRT stations ensuring the best possible results.
Urban Planet: Demolition Dilemmas
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Many American cities, facing shrinking populations and vacant buildings, are deconstructing and redeveloping large swaths of land. But as Next American City reports, while the vision of revitalization has been sold to the masses, communication about the hazards of demolition have not been so ...
February 11th, 2012
February 11, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayor tells Toronto audience about rental housing plan [Vancouver Courier]
• Surrey’s East Clayton a dream community with growing pains [Globe and Mail]
• Seniors fight 45% rent increase at Lions Manor, building owner gives interview to The Mainlander [The Mainlander]
• TransLink presents possibilities for North Shore transit upgrades [BC Local News]
INTERNATIONAL
• San Francisco Will Pioneer Electric Bike Sharing [GOOD Magazine]
• The Architecture Meltdown: End of An Era, or Start of a New One? [Design & Architecture Blog]
• World's Oldest Known Underwater City Gets a 3-D Makeover [...
Spacing Saturday: Ontario Place, Suburban Versailles and Imperial Kitsch
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
A forced closure of the Transitway this week diverted a solid stream of buses onto nearby Scott Street, although the scene presented some interesting video, it also raised questions about how the city will deal with the impending closure of the Transitway to accommodate LRT construction.
Devin Alfaro concludes a series of photographs documenting the monumental legacy of the British Empire around the city of Montreal, this week looking at a monument to Queen Victoria in light of the milestone in the current monarch's reign.
The montage du jour feature also began taking a look at some of the striking decommissioned silos in Montreal's Old Port this week.
Shawn Micallef continues his look into the potential future for Ontario Place, the now defunct attraction on Toronto's Waterfront, bringing his own personal ideas as well as those of a host of other prominent planners and designers.
Dylan Reid follows up on a previous post about the potential to develop lower Leslie Street into a gateway to the waterfront. His experiences at a recent public meeting show the interplay of politics and long-term planning as well as the need to rethink the EA process.
February 12th, 2012
February 12, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Builders told to adjust for rising sea levels [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Designing a Fix for Housing [The New York Times]
• Louis Curtiss and the Politics of Architectural Reputation [Places: Design Observer]
***
100 Years Ago Today: Grandview Theatre Opens
By Jak King // No Comments
On February 12th, 1912, Thomas Shiels opened the Grandview Theatre movie house at 1712 Commercial. It is the white-arched building in the middle of this image.
The building permit had been dated 10th October 1910, with J.J. Donellan as architect and Jones & Purvis as builders. In his opening advertizing in the Western Call, Shiels claimed that the theatre had "been built to suit the public regardless of cost."
Understanding the audience's desire for novelty, the Grandview Theatre changed its program every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
At the ...
February 13th, 2012
February 13, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Exit Interview: Brent Toderian, Vancouver’s Ousted Planning Director [The Atlantic Cities]
• BIG’s Beach & Howe Tower Proposal [Vancity Buzz]
• Board, B.C. mayors make the case for transit audit [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Going Hybrid [Planning]
• San Diego: how NOT to treat a central waterfront [Crosscut]
***
Urban Planet: Extending the Lives of Bridges
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
The U.S. is home to nearly 73,000 structurally deficient bridges. Though you'd think that such bridges would be high priority infrastructure projects, the waiting list for replacement spans several decades. Enter Mohamed Saafi, a civil engineer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has developed ...
Go East, Young City
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
"The Burns Block is named for its original owner and builder, Patrick Burns of P. Burns & Company, who had it built in 1909 as the headquarters for his meatpacking business. An Irish-Canadian, Burns was a rancher, meat packer and operator of a chain of butcher shops in western Canada. Burns Meats went on to become one of the largest meat packing businesses in the world. He founded the Calgary Stampede and later in life, was appointed to the Canadian Senate."
- from the back of the postcard on the building's history available at Bitter.
Several years ago, having just accepted the commission to design the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas announced in one of his publications that he was ’going East’. It was one of the largest commissions ever undertaken by his office OMA, and the realization of an XL building from his popular tome S,M,L,XL.
More than the building though, it was also an announcement that China was about to embark on a massive city building age, that architects of the West should heed the call or be left behind, and that we were all about to become globalized whether we were ready or not. But perhaps what Rem also meant was that we should 'go East' not just on an international scale, but on a local one as well.
The ‘east side’ has always had negative connotations in urban environments throughout North America, not just Vancouver. To ‘go east’ then could mean to look at one's own inner city issues à la Jane Jacobs and attend to the urban decay that has been allowed to happen through ignorance and neglect. By extension, this also has intimate connections to the process of gentrification and, in Vancouver, these issues find their physical manifestation in the Downtown Eastside (DTES).
Price Points: A Hint of What Was to Come
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
Where's this, what's inside, and why does it look like this?
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According to the one discreet sign tucked under the otherwise-anonymous modernist facade at Cordova and Cambie (map here), this is the Allstream building - a company that provides business communications across Canada. Which means it is still performing the function it was built for: electronic connections.
This was originally the CN-CP Telecommunications Building when it replaced the original Stirling Hotel in the late 1970s. (The building, then known as the Bronx Hotel, can be seen in this 1891 shot of Cambie and Cordova, right.) While its sleek modernism seems out of place at this corner where Gastown, Crosstown and the Downtown East Side all interface, there's nonetheless a lot of 'fit' here. The building curves nicely where Cordova makes a subtle shift, it holds both the streetface and the building height of its neighbours, and there's even a little cornice up top.
Inside was where the last days of the telegraph could be found - tons of mechanical switching equipment to serve that now-ancient format which evolved into other faster, tinier ways of transmitting information on cable that still finds a home inside this structure.
February 14th, 2012
Attention all map lovers: Spacing’s Creative Mapping Contest!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE?
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc....)
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
KEEP UP TO DATE: Visit the Creative Mapping Contest web page for updates and feel free to "RSVP" to our event listing on Facebook in order to receive reminders about the deadline and other announcements.
February 14, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver park board probes report that petting zoo animals sold for meat [Globe and Mail]
• Mass Effect 3: Futuristic Vancouver [Vancity Buzz]
• Surrey land purchase gives traction to waterfront park plan [Vancouver Sun]
• ALC wary as wineries, industry eat into farmland [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• Large urban trees require strategy to avoid felling: study [The Canberra Times]
• L.A.'s trash industry gets ready to rumble [The Los Angeles Times]
• Detroit crisis may force sale of crucial assets [The Detroit News]
• Not Every City Can Be the 'Most Bicycle-Friendly' ...
Material Strategies: Innovative Applications in Architecture
By Larraine Henning // No Comments
Author: Blaine Brownell, Princeton Architectural Press (2012)
Architecture is the fulfillment of a spatial premise by way of material substance. Throughout history architecture has been shaped by the continual transformation of material technologies and application methods. Its course of development is inseparable from the shifting terrain of technology and the social effects that result. - Blaine Brownell, Introduction.
One can make the argument that materials are fundamental to the expression, performance and experience of buildings. In many ways architecture is an idea of space while materials are the physical expression of that idea. Material Strategies: Innovative Application in Architecture, Blaine Brownell’s latest publication, is a relevant and comprehensive discussion of the ever-changing and significant role of materials in architecture. Brownell, also author of the Transmaterial series from the Princeton Architectural Press, is considered one of the preeminent scholars of advanced materials for architecture and design.
Urban Planet: Outdoor Ad Ban in São Paulo
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
This 10 minute documentary explores São Paulo's experiences in banning outdoor advertising and the political maneuvers that led to the implementation and evolution of its Clean City law.
Video from pansouthproductions
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 ...
February 15th, 2012
February 15, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Does Vancouver need to rezone when it already has lots of zoned capacity? [State of Vancouver]
• City approves three new urban gardens intended to employ low-income residents [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Special Report: Census 2011: Urban Dispersion in Canada [newgeography]
INTERNATIONAL
• Can This Suburb Be Saved? [New York Magazine]
• Is Portland really like Portlandia? [PFSK]
• The Measure of a Beautiful Street [The Atlantic Cities]
• The Tea Party’s war on mass transit [Salon.com]
***
(PICS) Free Public Lecture: Michael E. Mann – The Hockey Stick and The Climate Wars
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) Free Public Lecture
The Hockey Stick and The Climate Wars:
Dispatches from the Front Lines
Join this special free Vancouver public lecture with Michael E. Mann, Director, Earth System Science Centre, Penn State University and lead author of the original paper on the "Hockey Stick." Mann shares "the real story on the science and politics" of this iconic global temperature chart, alongside the controversy that fueled the "climate war."
When: Sunday, February 19, 2012 from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Where: Fletcher Challenge Theatre (Room 220), SFU Harbour ...
Release: Tangential Vancouver – Potential futures emphasize a finer-grain for Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
An experimental project titled Tangential Vancouverism: projects for Vancouver's urbanism brings together a diverse Vancouver-based team that includes five emerging design practices and three urban thinkers. Beginning in October 2011, this project has operated as a forum for design research aspiring to innovate on the current models by which the city builds. The outcomes of this inaugural project will be presented as a public exhibition opening on Friday, March 2, 2012 at 221a Gallery in Chinatown and running until April 15.
Four years have passed since the tour of Trevor Boddy’s exhibition, ...
Urban Planet: Before & After Photos of London Riots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Riots in London, England caused massive damage this past summer. The Guardian's interactive photo feature allows users to fast forward six months to see the way buildings, streets and neighbourhoods have recovered.
Image from The Guardian
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on ...
Making Vancouver Work for Everyone
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6554" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo courtesy of HereInVancouver."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: We are glad to be partnering with the Tyee to introduce Spacing readers to the newest Tyee Series written by the University of British Columbia's Patrick Condon on a greater vision for Vancouver. The series is based on his most recent book A Convenience Truth: A 2050 Plan for a Sustainable Vancouver - available in print and online - and is sure to be of interest to those interested in the future or our city.]
What would a sustainable Vancouver look like in 2050? What would Vancouver look like if there was enough affordable housing for everyone who wanted it? What would it look like if, as in Copenhagen or Oslo, more people walked, biked or took transit than used their cars? What would it look like if instead of 600,000 people, Vancouver was home to 1.2 million?
Fourteen UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture students of landscape architecture joined with three UBC School of Community and Regional Planning students to figure this out.
February 16th, 2012
February 16, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• REVIEW | Kota Ezawa’s ‘Hand Vote’ [The Mainlander]
• Low air-quality readings near New Westminster parkade prompt traffic concerns [Vancouver Sun]
• Fun with the Census: Where’s the densest place in North America? [Price Tags]
• British Columbia's Second City [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• L.A.'s bike lane blooper [The Los Angeles Times]
• On the waterfront: With redevelopment coming to river side of River Street, debate over impact growing [Savannah Morning News]
• What We Can Learn From Urban Nostalgia [The Atlantic Cities]
• Why Alleys Deserve More Attention [The ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6537" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of wayne worden."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The Similkameen River watershed study is underway as the Similkameen Valley Planning Society met with representatives of the Nicola and Kettle valleys in Hedley on Feb. 6 to discuss watershed studies.
Regional politicians are urging the province to retain the old Port Mann Bridge as a pedestrian and bike route instead of ...
Mayor calls on development industry to eliminate affordable housing
By Sean Antrim // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_6562" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo courtesy of Ariane Colenbrander."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: Affordability is a major concern in Vancouver - and is arguably the issue that will govern the future of the city for the foreseeable future. With this in mind, the Mayor's Affordability Task Force has a large burden to bare on its shoulders. So, we are happy to cross-post one of the only articles to-date — written by Nathan Crompton, Sean Antrim and Andrew Witt of The Mainlander — with a thorough breakdown of all its members and what their take is on how it may affect Vancouver. Although only time will tell what the legacy of the Task Force will be, getting different perspectives and intelligent voices outside the mainstream media on the matter is an important contribution to the discussion.]
Two weeks after Vancouver was once again named one of the most unaffordable cities in the world, Mayor Gregor Robertson has unilaterally appointed the members of the city’s “Blue Ribbon Affordability Task Force.” The fourteen appointees of the task force are drawn from a list of prominent developers, landlord lobbyists, architects, and industry insiders. There is not one person on the task force to represent renters, who are the most negatively affected by the housing crisis, and who represent 55% of the city’s population.
Urban Planet: Jay Walkers
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
On Mother Nature Network, Chris Turner asks, where did the term "jay walker" come from? Back in the early twentieth century, "jay walkers" were those who carelessly wandered in the way of other pedestrians and later motorists. 'Jay' was a derogatory term for a ...
February 17th, 2012
Sim City: Walking and LRT in Spacington
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington is slowly getting bigger. The population is still low at around 1,500 residents, but nevertheless the city has adopted it's first LRT system. The current LRT system consists of only one line, but the square-shaped route replaces previous car commutes to the opposite side of the city. Although thet LRT in Spacington isn't heavily used, it more importantly initiated the groundwork for future transit.
The city is divided into mixed use streets and sections. Therefore, the majority of residence commute by walking at most a couple of blocks or in some cases only across the street (shown in the picture above).
February 17, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Modern city, modern partnerships [Globe and Mail]
• Cushman & Wakefield: Vancouver Office Rents Highest in Canada [MarketWatch]
• Vancouver mayor spent $85,934 on PR consultants in 2011 [Vancouver Courier]
• Jim Green is a dreamer and a doer [Globe and Mail]
• Unique condo tower proposed for Vancouver downtown [CBC News]
• Metro Vancouver communities vie for waste-to-energy incinerator [Vancouver Sun]
• Council greenlights SOLEfood land [Vancouver Courier]
• Plotting a road map for a low-carbon future [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Reclaimed bus yard begins life as urban wetland [...
Release: What is Cohousing? How Ordinary People Can Build an Extraordinary Neighbourhood
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
WHEN: Feb. 23, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Wise Club Hall, 1882 Adanac Street
ADMISSION: $10 suggested donation, at the door
For more info: yvrcohousing@gmail.com
Architect and author Charles Durrett will present his informative and inspiring slideshow on how ordinary people around North America are successfully creating the kinds of communities they want to live in. Charles Durrett has helped create numerous cohousing communities, including the Windsong community in Langley and the new Groundswell community in Yarrow.
***
Learn more about cohousing in Canada: www.cohousing.ca
Connect with others interested in cohousing: http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Cohousing
Urban Planet: Best Cities for Street Food
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
It's lunch time. Are you angling for some street meat? Chances are good that you'll have to wander a little further from home if you are looking for a great street meal. Food and Wine Magazine profiles the top ten cities for street food, including ...
Release: Screening | best of the 2011 ottawa international animation festival
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Screening | best of the 2011 ottawa international animation festival
Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm
The best of the Ottawa International Animation Festival for 2011 will be screened at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. This festival is the largest of its kind in North America, attracting film buffs, art lovers, filmmakers, and cartoon fans from around the world to the nation's capital.
The proceeds of this screening will go towards a scholarship to fund an Emily Carr animation student to attend the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2012.
Saturday, February ...
Release: Museum of Vancouver – Art Deco Chic: Extravagant glamour between the wars
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The design style known as art deco began in Paris in the 1920s and quickly gained worldwide popularity. Here in Vancouver, we see the art deco’s geometry-inspired style captured in the architecture of the Marine Building and the Burrard Street Bridge. Starting March 8, the public can also see it captured in women’s fashions of the 1920s and 1930s on display in Art Deco Chic: Extravagant glamour between the wars at the Museum of Vancouver.
“The garments chosen for exhibition have been selected because of their beauty and fine quality,” ...
Release: Trout Lake Community Centre Official Opening, Saturday February 18th
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Residents and media are invited to join Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver Park Board Chair Constance Barnes and Grandview Community Centre Association President Kate Perkins at the official opening of the $21.2 million Trout Lake Community Centre and an afternoon celebrating the history and future of the vibrant and diverse neighbourhood.
When: Saturday, February 18
Time: Official opening ceremony 11 am - noon; celebration of living community noon – 3 pm
Where: 3360 Victoria Drive (in John Hendry Park)
What: Remarks and ribbon cutting, cake, bbq, live music, theatre, storytelling, figure skating demos, historical multi-media ...
February 18th, 2012
February 18, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Hip spots and doughnuts spring up in the Downtown Eastside [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver's capital plan reveals city's spending priorities [The Georgia Straight]
• Year-round Vancouver farmer’s market planned near historic 1908 location [Vancouver Sun]
• A plan to behead Vancouver’s urban serpent: The Georgia Viaduct [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Why Alleys Deserve More Attention [The Atlantic Cities]
• An Early Eco-City Faces the Future [The New York Times]
***
Spacing Saturday: Affordability, Lighting Winter Space and LRT
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
European Lights Festivals may be a way to enliven public space in the Canadian winter.
Ottawa's pedestrian-only Sparks Street has long been fodder for ideas to increase its vitality. Marie-Judith Jean-Louis puts forward some stricking images of the Light Festival Ghent in Belgium has an idea to liven the pedestrian space in the winter time.
Alexandre Laquerre takes a look at 102 years of change at the corner of Sussex and Rideau in Central Ottawa.
Allanah Heffez writes about the challenges, opportunities and frustrations of dealing with the CP Rail tracks that separate Montreal's Plateau and Rosemont-Petite-Patrie neighbourhoods; the barrier is not the tracks themselves but bureaucratic inflexibility.
The Photo du Jour feature took a look this week at, amongst other things, various scenes of outdoor pick-up hockey in Montreal's parks.
In response to Mayor Ford's claims that LRT technology is the same as streetcars and trams, Noah van der Laan has undertaken a new feature showcasing some of the world's most impressive modern LRT systems. This week the feature looked at the world's largest LRT system in Melbourne and an impressive suburban system in Stockholm.
Responding to the need for traffic calming on urban streets, Dylan Reid looks beyond the speed bump at examples of other effective design features in use both in Canada and around the world.
February 19th, 2012
February 19, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• How Rent Control Subsidizes San Francisco's Super-Rich [The Bay Citizen]
• A Blueprint for a 21st Century Workforce [The Atlantic Cities]
• The Unspeakable Pleasure of Ruins [Observers Room: Design Observer]
***
February 20th, 2012
Price Points: Old L.A.
By Gordon Price // 3 Comments
I'm off to Los Angeles, and back in a few weeks with a continuation of the Burnaby town-centre series.
In the meantime, here's a shot of Old L.A. That means the early Thirties. But where?
.
.
Most Los Angelenos can probably figure out where this shot was taken (thank you, L.A. Library).
Looking east on Wilshire Blvd. with the Brown Derby Restaurant prior to the derby-shaped building, the St. James Church, and the Wilshire Professional Building in 1931. Storefronts were built in 1929.
But there's something intriguing about it, I find - a particularly contemporary aspect in at least one respect. What do you think that might be? (Comments welcome until I'm back to tell you.)
February 20, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• South Delta at risk from disastrous flooding [Vancouver Sun]
• Tofino, Ucluelet unprepared for quake [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• New York vs. London, in Debate Form [The Atlantic Cities]
• Cuba Unleashes the Pent-Up Energy of Real Estate Dreams [The New York Times]
***
Release: Heritage Vancouver – Media Reports Create a Threat to Important Heritage Home
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Wilmar (Willard Kitchen Residence)
2050 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC
Built 1925 | Architects: Benzie & Bow
Architectural style: Tudor Revival
Vancouver Heritage Register: B-listed
Heritage Vancouver wishes to clarify the alarmist and misleading statements expressed in the media related to Wilmar, the Kitchen Residence, a Heritage Register "B" building located at 2050 SW Marine Drive. These statements have portrayed a very negative situation that could threaten the survival of this very important heritage site, without any corresponding coverage of factual information that presents an entirely different point of its financial and heritage value.
There is no ...
Urban Planet: Los Angeles Sidewalk Lawsuits
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
L.A. has never been known as a sidewalk friendly city, but with a recent spate of lawsuits, sidewalk users are beginning to fight back. In several cases before the courts, disabled plaintiffs contend that the broken sidewalks which make it impossible for them to ...
Release: Hastings Park Open House: New Park Spaces and Greenways
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Please join City of Vancouver staff at the second in a series of open houses and help shape new park spaces in Hastings Park.
See how initial public feedback has helped shape park concepts.
Provide further input on the next stages of the park design.
This project is a result of the Hastings Park/PNE Master Plan adopted by City Council in 2010. The Master Plan outlines a plan to transform Hastings Park into a greener, year-round destination that provides improved community access, significant additional park space, and renewed facilities for the annual PNE Fair, ...
From Chief Planner to “Urban Ronin”? Chatting about legacy, and the future, with Brent Toderian – Part 1
By Spacing Vancouver // 5 Comments
The early contract termination of Vancouver’s former director of planning Brent Toderian has been a hot topic in planning news, local and abroad. To some, he was the right mix of ambition, advocate and visionary for such a demanding position. Others have cited some of these same qualities as weaknesses. Others cite issues and challenges that can be attributed either to Toderian, or to the inherent nature of the Director position at today’s City Hall.
Spacing Vancouver Editor Erick Villagomez had the opportunity to meet up with Brent Toderian over breakfast on Commercial Drive for an honest discussion about recent events, his planning legacy, and what his plans are for the future. This is the first of a two-part series.
•••
Spacing: Obviously, the first place to start is the recent termination of your contract. Although some have said that there were rumblings for years, I think it’s fair to say that most people—including those in the planning department—were surprised by the news. The timing is even more surprising given the recent resource cuts to the planning department. Of course, this has sparked all sorts of rumours of plans to erode the role of planning department within the City. I’d love to hear your perspective on the events that led up to your termination and what do you think of the timing of this decision?
February 21st, 2012
February 21, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The New Pattullo Bridge – we want to hear from you! [The Buzzer Blog]
CANADA
• Covering Canadian Urbanism [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• Park 101 Keeps the Ball in the Air [California Planning & Development Report]
• Bipedal? Curious? Americans give walking and biking a try [Grist]
• How Cities Can Build a Cultural Identity [The Atlantic Cities]
• Yoshiko Sato 1960-2012 [Observers Room: Design Observer]
***
Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the Twenty-First Century
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Editors: Gloria Ohland & Shelley Poticha (Reconnecting America, 2006)
On June 27, 1890, an event occurred in the little boom town of Vancouver that altered its destiny forever. Two parallel rails, little more that three miles (5 kilmeters) long, wound past Burrard Inlet's squatters and wooden shacks, part tree stumps and plank roads, and beyond West End mansions. Mere strips of steel, they passed seven lumber mills, dozens of hotels and three chartered banks and ran almost up to the original wooden Granville Street Bridge. The first car to run on these rail lines introduced a remarkable services that this port town had ever seen - one only newly available even in New York - public transit. - Vancouver's Glory Years: Public Transit 1890 - 1915
No words more accurately describe the unassuming yet colossal advent of the streetcar to Vancouver than those written above by Heather Conn and Henry Ewert. Streetcars in Vancouver - and in cities from coast to coast - were revolutionary and powerful shapers of the urban environment. And despite there decline beginning in the 1920's, a renaissance has already begun in urban centers across the continent.
Yet for all the increasing interest to implement this form of public transit, there continues to be resistance from all sorts of directions - political and otherwise. That makes books such as Street Smarts: Streetcars and cities in the Twenty-First Century all the more important. Self-published by Reconnecting America - a national non-profit organization working to integrate transportation systems and the communities they serve, with the goal of generating lasting public and private returns while giving communities more housing and mobility options - this book offers readers a comprehensive and holistic look at streetcars.
Power, Energy, Change & Continuity
By Jak King // No Comments
Yesterday was the first day of Heritage Week, and in BC, the theme is Power and Energy. In celebration, thereof, I offer this 1950 image of BC Electric workers fixing a power pole at Grant & Commercial Drive (VPL 81076):
Here is the same corner, Grant & Commercial, looking northwest in 2011:
The first thing I notice is just how many more trees we have in our streetscapes than we did 60 years ago. In fact the rebuilt version of F.N. Hamilton's building on ...
Urban Planet: Public Perception and the Economic Benefits of Light Rail Transit
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
It's generally accepted that light rail transit spurs positive economic impacts along the length of the planned corridor. Property values rise, commercial sites experience more customer traffic, and further development is encouraged. But as a recent article in The Atlantic Cities points out, the window of time one looks ...
February 22nd, 2012
February 22, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Highlights of the B.C. budget [Globe and Mail]
• Rogers Arena towers proposal: Green roofs, a hockey rink and less viaduct [OpenFile]
• Ned Jacobs: Say no to Rize Alliance rezoning at Kingsway and Broadway [Straight.com]
• Vancouver Airport Authority opposed to Richmond high-rise developments [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Nation's largest public Food Forest takes root on Beacon Hill [Crosscut]
• Providing for Usable Open Space for Multifamily Developments [MRSC Planning Advisor]
• Near Our National Parks, to Build or Not to Build? [The Atlantic Cities]
• Creating buildings that repair themselves [...
Vancouver in 2050: Transit City
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_6758" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Vancouver's future lies in the streetcar grid of its past. Illustration source: Streetcars, the Missing Link? Gordon Price."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: We are glad to be present the second part of the newest Tyee Series written by the University of British Columbia's Patrick Condon on a greater vision for Vancouver. The series is based on his most recent book A Convenience Truth: A 2050 Plan for a Sustainable Vancouver - available in print and online - and is sure to be of interest to those interested in the future or our city. For those of you who missed the first part, you can read it here.]
What happens when you give a team of 14 UBC landscape and architecture students and three UBC planning students the challenge of imagining how people will get around when Vancouver becomes a truly sustainable city in the year 2050?
We started by acknowledging that lately Vancouver has adopted an ambitious goal: by 2020, over 50 per cent of all trips in the city will be by biking, walking, or transit. This will put Vancouver in the same league as Copenhagen and Oslo, lofty competitors for this achievement. It's not impossible. Right now more than 40 per cent of Vancouverites' daily trips are via biking, walking and transit.
From Chief Planner to “Urban Ronin”? Chatting about legacy, and the future, with Brent Toderian – Part 2
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
This is the second part of an interview between Spacing Vancouver Editor Erick Villagomez and former Vancouver Director of Planning Brent Toderian discussing recent events, his planning legacy, and what his plans are for the future. For those of you who missed the first part, you can read it here.
•••
Spacing: The rise of publications like Spacing—that has quite a young and engaged readership—seems to speak to the possibility that urbanism has gone "mainstream.” The rise of urbanism-oriented product and fashions—everything from nerdy information graphics on t-shirts and poster to plates with urban grids on them—seem to validate this claim. Have you seen the level of engagement from the younger generation increase since you entered the professional world of planning/urbanism? What do you make of this seeming shift in interest from the younger generation.
Urban Planet: Chattanooga’s Type Face
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
GOOD asks "can a font help a city make a comeback"? Designers D.J. Trischler and Jeremy Dooler are trying to do just that. They believe their font, "Chatype", to be the first of its kind - a grassroots font developed specifically for city ...
February 23rd, 2012
February 23, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver to build 67 more electric car-charging stations by 2014 [Vancouver Sun]
• How London Deals with Fare Evasion [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Mayor Rob Ford hurts the TTC by unjustly firing Gary Webster as general manager [Toronto Star]
INTERNATIONAL
• Privately owned public spaces: Guidance needed [San Francisco Chronicle]
• How New York Pay Phones Became Guerrilla Libraries [The Atlantic Cities]
• At downtown intersection, strands of Seattle history converge [Crosscut]
***
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6781" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Stephen Rees."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The 8,000 square foot multi-million dollar Vancouver Island Mountain Centre sitting on the slopes of Mount Washington, at the edge of Strathcona Provincial Park has opened to much praise. Designed through collaboration between the Vancouver Island Mountain Sports Society and CEI Architecture, it is intended to bring together the Island’s diverse communities ...
Release: Emily Carr University of Art + Design – Spring 2012 Walking Tours
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Join independent curator and vice-chair of Vancouver's Public Art Committee, Rachel Rosenfeld Lafo, for a lively exploration of art in public spaces in selected Vancouver neighbourhoods and Richmond on three different Saturday mornings. We will visit art on transit, art commissioned through the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program - including both civic and private development projects and projects sponsored by organizations such as Other Sites for Artists Projects - and sculptures brought to the city by Vancouver Biennale. Discussions will focus on varied definitions of public art, how ...
Urban Planet: London’s New Recycling Bins
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
A new fleet of recycling bins are coming to the streets of London. The Renew bins feature two LCD screens which will provide news updates to pedestrians. The designs are intended to improve recycling and reduce the threat of terrorism. Each unit costs £30,000 ...
February 24th, 2012
February 24, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• City expected to pledge $235K to women’s society for low-income housing [The Province]
• Vancouver's first co-housing community proposed [Vancouver Sun]
• 100 Deathless Days [Past Tense]
INTERNATIONAL
• Can US communities learn from this European suburban retrofit? [Switchboard]
• Moscow Artist Sparks Local DIY Bike Map Movement [Treehugger]
• Do Bike Paths Promote Bike Riding? [The Atlantic Cities]
• Bicycling opens a window on Seattle's genius as an urban center [Crosscut]
***
Release: Call to Artists or Artist Teams – Meccanica Residential Development
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Request for Expression of Interest and Statement of Qualification - Call to Artists or Artist Teams
Meccanica Residential Development - 104 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver BC
Budget: $183,300
Deadline: March 30, 2012 2:00pm (Pacific Standard Time)
This Request for Expression of Interest and Statement of Qualification is issued by Ballard Fine Art Ltd on behalf of Cressey (Quebec Street) Developments LLP for Meccanica, a multi-family residential development project designed by Raffi Architects and located in Southeast False Creek at the corner of East 1st Avenue and Quebec Street. It consists of a 12 storey Tower situated at the corner of the block and a 5.5 storey Wing facing East 1st Avenue with the main lobby served from the north (East 1st Ave). Meccanica's building design is in keeping with the industrial heritage of the site.
The architecture, neighbourhood and history of the Southeast False Creek community invite artistic expression. The central theme of the artwork will explore the rich recent industrial history and heritage of the site. Sustainability and its socio-economic and environmental contexts as related to the Southeast False Creek community offer further themes in conjunction with the historical context.
Release: Unbuilt – Selected Works from the Fall 2011 Graduation Projects, UBC SALA Master of Architecture
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Unbuilt
Selected Works from the Fall 2011 Graduation Projects
UBC SALA Master of Architecture
Slag Structures. Adaptive Reuse, Immigrating Memories, Radicologies. As the culmination of the Master of Architecture at the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (UBC SALA), the graduation project offers students the opportunity to explore, in deliberate design terms, a field of inquiry developed through previous research. When brought together, these projects represent a diverse range of current architectural issues, and provide a lens into the profession's future. Featuring selected works from the Fall 2011 graduating class, ...
Urban Planet: Unique Manhole Covers
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
Manhole covers can be the most mundane pieces of urban infrastructure. But as this collection of photographs at The Atlantic Cities shows, they can also be the most distinctive.
Image from The Atlantic Cities
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing ...
Release: Richard Tetrault free lecture – The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces
SPRING 2012 SPEAKER SERIES
SPEAKER: Richard Tetrault
WHEN: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Langara College - Room A122a,, 100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver BC
ADMISSION: Free
Join us for an evening with local Vancouver artist, Richard Tetrault, who will be delivering a talk titled From the Ground Up: The Making of Murals. Richard Tetrault's paintings, prints and murals explore life within the contemporary urban landscape. Based in Vancouver, he has exhibited extensively both locally and internationally. Tetrault's woodcuts, linocuts, monotypes and acrylics are multifaceted ...
February 25th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Gary Webster, Brent Toderian and Transit Futures
By Marcus Bowman // 1 Comment
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Alexandre Laquerre shows the startling impact of grandiose public projects over a century of transformation at one of Canada's most monumental intersections: Elgin and Sparks.
Following the recent announcement by Halifax's Mayor Peter Kelly that he will not run for re-election after 12 years in office, Jake Schabas proposes a basket of issues that should shape the city's next political period.
In a nod to this weekend's Montreal Nuit Blanche, Andrew Emond profiles an event that will pay tribute to the path of the Rivière St Pierre, one of the city's most significant buried rivers.
Allanah Heffez reports back on her presentation and other insights from this week's Conference on Urban Mobility in the Age of Electronic Payment .
Alex Bozikovik's No Mean City architectural profiles a fascinating addition to a historic home in Toronto's Cabbagetown neighbourhood that is beginning to collect some prestigious awards.
Gary Webster's termination as the Chief General Manager of the TTC continued a string of dramatic transit events in Toronto. John Lorinc provides some his characteristic political analysis on the decision and its broader context.
Release: CoV – A new voice for Vancouver’s creative community
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
On Tuesday, February 28, 2012, Vancouver City Council will consider recommendations to establish a new Arts and Culture Advisory Committee. If approved, up to 13 arts and cultural community representatives would be appointed to provide a new voice for Vancouver's creative community. The committee would advise Council and staff on all civic programs that relate to arts and culture, to identify issues, and support public outreach and awareness.
Read the report to City Council.
View the City Council meeting agenda.
More background information at vancouver.ca.
Interested in applying?
You can ...
February 25, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• 3D Vancouver Skyline [Vancity Buzz]
• Poverty pugilist Green in the fight of his life [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Arena or Amazon: Does Seattle know what's important? [Crosscut]
• Houses Getting Bigger, Not Smaller [Urban Land]
***
February 26th, 2012
February 26, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Behind the RIZE rezoning controversy [OpenFile]
INTERNATIONAL
• Why Universities Are Building Superefficient Power Plants [GOOD Magazine]
• Restored Streetcars Now Desirable [Governing]
***
February 27th, 2012
February 27, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The dilemma of the tower outside the downtown: RIZE at Kingsway/Broadway [State of Vancouver]
• By the Granville Bridge, a tower with a difference [Globe and Mail]
• Proposed Vancouver highrise development divides neighbourhood [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Why Twitter Ties Resemble Airline Hub Maps [NPR]
• How Climate Change Could Be the Ruin of Los Angeles [The Atlantic Cities]
• By the Granville Bridge, a tower with a difference [Globe and Mail]
• INTERVIEW: Ellen Dunham-Jones’ “Big Design Project for the Next Generation” [Next American City]
• Roofmeadow Fields Forever [...
Identifying Areas for Transit-Oriented Development in Vancouver
By Victor Ngo // 10 Comments
As many people may know, transit-oriented development (TOD) is emerging as a popular and influential planning idea across North American cities as a means of sustainable urban development. TOD is defined as moderate to high-density, mixed-use residential and commercial development located around a transit station or corridor. Representing the full integration of land use and transportation planning, it encourages a compact and pedestrian-oriented form where people are able to live, work and play in the same community.
Given concerns of increasing urban sprawl and high ecological footprints, pursuing TOD has proven to be an effective way of concentrating growth on brownfields while generating and attracting transit ridership to shift mode share.
In the City of Vancouver, the SkyTrain rapid transit system has shaped land use planning since its inception in 1985. While development that capitalizes on rapid transit has been successful in the downtown core, a simple ride on the train will clearly show that the stations beyond the peninsula have yet to pursue transit-oriented development to its full potential.
With Vancouver's projected population increase from about 578,041 in 2006 to 740,000 by 2041, it seems natural to concentrate future growth along transit corridors where surrounding neighbourhoods within station catchment areas would be able to benefit from a more complete and intense mix of residential, retail, office and community.
Urban Planet: Alleyways
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
On The Atlantic Cities, Seattle architect Daniel Toole speaks about his passion for alleyways. These out-of-the-way infrastructure corridors, he argues, can pull together communities, improve service delivery and add colour to city-dwelling.
Image from The Atlantic Cities
For more stories from around the planet, ...
February 28th, 2012
February 28, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• BC Place casino expansion move set up secretly by PavCo, FOI reveals [Vancouver Observer]
• 100-Mile Houses Expand the Locavore Movement From Food to Architecture [GOOD Magazine]
• Green receives Vancouver's Freedom of the City award [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver park board considers cuts to lifeguarding, maintenance [Globe and Mail]
• Moving on up: Gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside [Rabble.ca]
• Opinion: Averaging Vancouver property taxes shifts burdens [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Green Carpet [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Pritzker Prize goes to Wang Shu, 48-year-old Chinese architect [Los Angeles Times]
• Time ...
Instant Cities
By Larraine Henning // No Comments
Author: Herbert Wright (Black Dog Publishing, 2008)
The city is perhaps the most compelling achievement of human civilization; now home to more than half the world’s population, the city is more than ever before the subject of debate, controversy and critical discourse. Herbert Wright’s new publication Instant Cities is yet another attempt to discern and evaluate the modern urban metropolis. While the book does not produce any radically new insights into the nature of the city, it does document a rather thorough investigation of the many forces at work.
The notion of the ‘Instant City’, an idea popularized through the work of Archigram and Marshall McLuhan in the heady days of the 1960’s, refers to the rapid globalization of urban centers via the technological revolution that has clearly manifested itself over the last few decades. Instant City, Metropolitanism, or McLuhan’s Global Village - call it what you may, they all qualify as a way for us to understand the rapidly transforming landscape of the city.
Urban Planet: Underground Parks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
New York City's High Line has been universally praised as an inventive re-imagining of urban infrastructure. But as Fast Company reports, developments underground are equally exciting. The LowLine, now seeking funding on kickstarter, is a 13-acre underground park located in former Delancey St. subway stations.
Image from Fast Company
For ...
February 29th, 2012
February 29, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Social activist and former Vancouver councillor Jim Green dies [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver residents rise up with Rize development plan [Vancouver Courier]
• Critics, admirers unite in praise of Jim Green [Globe and Mail]
• City approves motion to create a new arts and culture advisory committee [OpenFile]
• New Westminster wants tolls on Pattullo Bridge [Vancouver Sun]
• Number of homeless women up in Metro Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Creative Community: How Three Communities Used Art to Build a Future [EngagingCities]
• Making Sustainability Legal: 9 Zombie Laws That ...
Release: An Evening at the Marine Building (1930) Penthouse
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
An Evening at the Marine Building (1930) Penthouse
WHERE: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | 5:30pm to 8:00pm
LOCATION: Marine Building Penthouse, 2000 – 355 Burrard Street;
TICKETS: $100 donation to Heritage Vancouver Society;
Includes wine and hors d'oeuvres reception. (Tax receipts will be issued)
Heritage Vancouver Society invites you to attend a Special Evening in the ultra-elegant, Jazz Age Penthouse of the Marine Building, "Vancouver's Finest Heritage Building".
This is a unique opportunity to explore the two floors of the private Penthouse, enjoy the Art Deco atmosphere and the fabulous view, hear about its unique history ...
Walk the talk
By Ren Thomas // 2 Comments
Food is intrinsically linked to place, whether it is agricultural land, rivers, or oceans. Interest in sustainable foods and food security has increased across Canada: municipalities have been integrating community gardens to allow residents to grow their own food. Towards this end, the City of Vancouver introduced several pocket farmers markets last summer to increase access to local, organic food.
The David Suzuki Foundation is building on this momentum, running its first ever Sustainable Seafood Walk on Granville Island on Saturday, February 25th to introduce people to the wealth of ocean-based food choices available in Vancouver. Reinforcing the region's reliance on local seafood in one of Canada’s most popular public spaces, the self-guided walk included stops at the fishing docks (Seafood from the Source and Organic Ocean fishermen) and several shops on the island (Lobster Man, Longliner Seafoods, The Salmon Shop, and Seafood City). Cooking demonstrations, featuring sockeye salmon and pacific spot prawns, were held at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
March 1st, 2012
Urban Planet: Yarn Bombs
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Cracks and potholes rarely endear us to our cities, but artist Juliana Santacruz Herrera has made a valiant attempt. Her yarn bombs have added colour to Parisian streets. (ApartmentTherapy)
Image from ApartmentTherapy
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban ...
March 1, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Rize development in perspective: The height and density of other Mount Pleasant buildings [OpenFile]
• Rize tower chapter 2: Public opponents make arguments from sublime to ridiculous [State of Vancouver]
• Residents of Asia Hotel asked to leave by summer [Megaphone]
• Metro Vancouver to direct $11 million towards homeless [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro mayors push for more control over TransLink [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Making Cities Safer for Cyclists and Pedestrians [The New York Times]
• Why 'The Death of Architecture' May Not Be Such a Bad Thing [GOOD Magazine]
• In ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6965" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of JessicaEA."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
With spring and summer fast approaching, the City of Burnaby is inviting local residents to learn about invasive plants and their impact, how to better select plants for gardens, and how to remove and control invasive plants at an upcoming workshop series in April.
Road tolls throughout Metro Vancouver? Yep....that's ...
Release: Urban Futures Survey 2012 Launched
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It started in 1973. It happened again in 1990. And now it’s back. The third Greater Vancouver Urban Futures Opinion Survey is online.
The Urban Futures Opinion Survey 2012, now available at www.urbanfuturessurvey.com is the third in a series of geographically-specific research studies that measure the importance of a number of issues to residents across the Lower Mainland. Previous surveys helped inform the creation of the Livable Region Plan and the Choosing our Future program.
The 2012 survey will update and enhance the information available about public attitudes and experiences of ...
A City that Runs on Itself
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6976" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Passive Design Toolkit: Image from City of Vancouver indicating that compact low rise structures are inherently more energy-efficient than high-rise towers."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: We are glad to be present the second part of the newest Tyee Series written by the University of British Columbia's Patrick Condon on a greater vision for Vancouver. The series is based on his most recent book A Convenience Truth: A 2050 Plan for a Sustainable Vancouver - available in print and online - and is sure to be of interest to those interested in the future or our city. Links to the previous parts are at the end.]
What happens when you ask 14 landscape architecture and three planning students to cut the energy use and consequent greenhouse gas production in the city by at least 80 per cent -- by 2050? How is this to be done?
We started by looking at the city as it is now, finding the places where energy use was high and where it was low, and trying to understand why.
It turns out that energy use is lowest in the downtown. Not on a per hectare basis, though. On a per hectare basis, the production of GHG was higher downtown than anywhere else in the city. But on a per person basis, people living downtown produced only a quarter as much GHG per person as those living in the southern half of the city. Why? Two reasons. For one thing, most people living in the southern half of the city live in detached homes that, because they are exposed to cold air on all sides, take a lot of energy to heat. For another thing, because services are more spread out in the southern half of the city, residents are more inclined to drive than to walk, bike or take transit.
This led to a question that we debated in class. Would it be better to simply repeat the urban form of the downtown as much as possible, expanding the footprint of the downtown towers into Chinatown and beyond? Or simply take every block within a 10 minute walk of a Skytrain station and zone it for 30-storey towers like they are successfully doing at the Gilmore Skytrain station area in Burnaby? After all, the data says that is the most efficient density to use, and people sure seem to like high-rises.
Olympic Cities and Advanced City-Making – Part 1
By Brent Toderian // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_6919" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Vancouver's Olympic imagery - source: City of Vancouver"][/caption]
[Editor's Note: With the London 2012 Summer Olympics fast approaching and our Winter Olympic experience two years behind us, we are happy to have Brent Toderian share his insights about Olympics and city-building. This multi-part series will look at his direct observations on the challenges and legacies before and after the 2010 Olympics as well as his thoughts on the other host cities, including London.]
Yesterday marked the two year anniversary of the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and 150 days until the start of the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games. Soon millions around the World will turn their attention to London and, in fact, to venues across the UK, for the largest sporting and cultural event on Earth.
While most will tune in for the sporting competition and intense nationalism, global urbanists will also be intrigued by the city-building in preparation for the Games, the unique planning necessary for their successful operations (including incredibly complex transportation planning), and the “look of the city” moves and “spectaculars” that will transform London for the global cameras and tourists. These moves will have both immediate and lasting effects on the cultural and civic life of the host city.
Having been Planning Director for Vancouver over 4 years of preparation preceding the last Olympics — and over the last two post-Olympic years of building on the legacies of the Games — I’ve had a special fascination with the London Games preparation. These last two years in a post-Olympic city have built on the more after-the-fact observations from my past position, as Manager of Centre City Planning + Design for Calgary, Canada’s previous Olympic city. Calgary hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and is still credited as the first modern-era city to host the Games and make a significant profit, much of which went into local and national sport and civic legacies.
Over the course of this and other blog posts in the coming months, I’ll share my direct observations on the city-building challenges and legacies from the Vancouver and Calgary Olympic Games, as well as my in-direct observations from London and past host cities like Barcelona, Sydney, and Montreal. I’ll consider the debates on whether hosting the Olympics is a good or bad thing for a city, the lessons from cities that have done it successfully, and maybe even some observations from cities that benefited from going after the Games, and not getting them.
March 2nd, 2012
March 2, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A Last Conversation with Jim Green [The Tyee]
• Vancouver to allow taxis to use some city bus lanes [Vancouver Sun]
• More thoughtful analysis on Rize project from veteran thinkers about Vancouver [State of Vancouver]
INTERNATIONAL
• Retrofitting for Fecundity [LAB|log]
• Bruce Katz: Better Economic Structure Will Save the City [Wired]
• For the Urban Poor, a Downside to Residential Mobility [The Atlantic Cities]
• Quake-proof megatower tops out in Tokyo [New Scientist]
• How to Be an Architecture Critic [Places: Design Observer]
***
Olympic Cities and Advanced City-Making – Part 2
By Brent Toderian // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_6933" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Vancouver's Olympic Village, under construction - photo, Brent Toderian."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: This is the second part of a multi-part series by Brent Toderian who will be sharing his direct observations on the challenges and legacies before and after the 2010 Olympics as well as his thoughts on the other host cities, including London. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.]
An interesting way to follow the last post is to remember how we in Vancouver were feeling around this time in the lead-up toward the 2010 Games. I wonder how it might compare with the London organizer's feelings and thinking at this stage. It's actually very easy to remember back to 2010, thanks to a timely interview I did weeks before the event with Nate Berg — then with Places and now with Atlantic Cities — that ran on February 8th, 2010, just prior to the February 12th Opening Ceremonies.
Here is some of that Interview, to set the stage for later observations:
•••
Nate Berg: Your city is just about to host the Olympics. What’s the mood like there?
Brent Toderian: There's a feeling of the calm before the storm, but saying there’s calm here is probably not particularly accurate. There’s still a huge amount to do, but the truth is, when you’ve spent years working to get to this moment, if you’re not ready by now, you probably won’t be. So there are finishing touches to be done, but we’re ready and the mood is ramping up. People are really enthusiastic about hosting the world.
Past Olympic cities have talked about the emotional roller coaster that happens before an Olympics, and sometimes you have to go through the troughs to get to the high points. I think our city has had that. But as we get closer and closer to the day, it’s just more excitement and less worry. As they say, at this point it’s like a luge sled: limited steering, and no brakes.
Release: New Arts and Culture Policy Council Established
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Vancouver's creative community will be represented by a new voice following City Council's move to establish an Arts and Culture Policy Council which will report to City Council and advise Council and staff on civic arts and cultural issues, programs and services.
"The new Arts and Culture Policy Council will provide us with the input, expertise and leadership we need to support and strengthen Vancouver's arts community," said Mayor Gregor Robertson. "We look forward to working with a team that reflects a broad range of the community to enhance ...
Urban Planet: Moscow’s Human Chain
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Thousands gathered on Moscow's 15-kilometer "Garden Ring" road last Sunday, attempting to form a human chain to express their discontent with Russia's disputed parliamentary elections. (CNN)
Image from CNN
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article ...
March 3rd, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Transit Politics, Regional Migration and Olympic Legacy
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Vancouver Olympic Village
As the political drama around Toronto's transit planning continued this week Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler got into the details of an Angus Reid poll exploring what options Torontonians really support. In another post, Dylan Reid explored the positives of Rob Ford's push to start the debate on new funding sources for transit.
Noah van der Laan continues the LRT Today series, looking at the Gold Line in Los Angeles as a system which passes through a variety of environments and may bear similarities to what could be built in Toronto.
Alexandre Laquerre takes a look at the difference 80 years makes at the corner of Bank and Sommerset in Ottawa.
Alanah Heffez reminds readers that the practice of removing snow from Montreal's streets is not that old, illustrating that there was a time when snow was simply piled in the streets to form elevated carriageways.
Is there really an ongoing Francophone exodus from Montreal? and if so then who is buying all the new condos? Joel Thibert unpacks the questions of regional migration around Montreal in the latest installment of The Regionalist.
March 3, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Downtown Eastside program loses childcare spaces [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver’s SROs to get a $116-m makeover [Globe and Mail]
• VAG should consider moving into Sears site, advocates say [Globe and Mail]
• Hope grows in Gastown’s revival: Portrait of a Neighbourhood [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver's country mega-mansions to continue [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• James Dyson on the Lazy Engineering behind Fake Energy Efficiency [Fast Company]
• Project Has Citizens Making Budget Choices [City Limits]
• The Official Guide to Tactical Urbanism [The Atlantic Cities]
• Shrink-wrap a bridge to make ...
March 4th, 2012
March 4, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• DINER: “Caffe La Musette” Concept Catering To Cyclists Opening Soon In Downtown Lane [Scout Magazine]
• Build it, but will they come? [Vancouver Sun]
• Cactus Club at English Bay: Conflict by design? [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• California’s Water: A VerdeXchange Expert Panel on Reimagining the State’s Water Infrastructure [The Planning Report]
• Shoo! Teenagers, Shoo! [The Dirt]
• What Intersections Would Look Like in a World of Driverless Cars [The Atlantic Cities]
***
March 5th, 2012
Price Points: the Bewildering Birth of Metrotown
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
The last in our series on Burnaby's urban centres (Brentwood, Lougheed, Edmonds) based on the work of David Pereira. This week: Metrotown. (David's full analysis is here.)
This regional town centre arguably has its roots in depression and war:
In December of 1932, the municipality’s financial situation became so dire, that the Provincial Government was forced to take control of Burnaby’s affairs, temporarily terminating the function of the Reeve and Council. The municipality’s governance structure was returned in 1942 when the municipality once again became solvent. But before this occurred, Provincial officials and municipal commissioners had struck a deal with the Ford Motor Company in 1938 to begin producing military vehicles for the impending Allied effort during World War II.
Ford was joined by food-processor Kelly-Douglas and, in 1954, Sears. Here's this collection of large-lot industrial properties in 1956:
.
By the 1970s, it was considered ready for redevelopment. But, in a way that distinguishes Burnaby, the municipality has already anticipated the change with its 1966-69 apartment studies.
On July 2, 1974 during a special meeting of Council, Burnaby Council passed the recommendation to move the creation of the municipality’s first Metrotown towards reality ....
March 5, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• "Cycling specific" café opens near Hornby bike lane [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Q+A> Architecture Criticism Today [The Architect's Newspaper]
• An Appreciation: Charles M. Haar, Leading Advocate for Comprehensive Planning, Dies at 91 [California Planning & Development Report]
• Everybody Inhale How Many People Can Manhattan Hold? [The New York Times]
***
Vancouver Dialogues Project
By Andrew Cuthbert // No Comments
The Vancouver Dialogues Project is an initiative taken by the City of Vancouver to create a conversation of understanding between Vancouver’s many cultural groups. The project is focused around First Nations, urban Aboriginals and new immigrants to the region — all of which come from very distinct cultural backgrounds that are very important to Vancouver’s cultural makeup.
Distinct and significant as these communities are, they are also in danger of being marginalized or lost. With this in mind, one key issue identified as being a catalysts for the dialogues project was that it can be very difficult for new immigrants to learn about First Nations culture. This is due to the lack of information readily available, as well as difficulty accessing what already exists. As a result, many new immigrants have very little knowledge of First Nations cultural heritage and its importance to the history of the city, province and country as a whole.
The Dialogues project was set up as a way to bring communities together to share and learn from each other, create understanding and strengthen community relations between different groups. This was done using dialogue circles, community research, cultural exchange visits, youth and elder programs as well as legacy projects. Of these, the most important part was the dialogue circles which had representative members of different communities prepare and participate in respectful sharing and dialogue. These helped identify areas that were of particular concern and interest to each community and led to meaningful cultural exchanges.
Urban Planet: Energy Use Mapping
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
Inhabitat profiles the work of Columbia University engineering students who mapped the energy usage of buildings in NYC. It's hoped that the mapping project will allow planners to more effectively design and implement energy saving plans.
Image from Inhabitat
For more stories from around the planet, ...
March 6th, 2012
March 6, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city budgeting process not transparent enough, opposition says [Vancouver Sun]
• Denman and Davie: “… about as perfect as urbanism can get” [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Supervised injection clinics for drug addicts make neighbourhoods safer [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• It’s time to love the bus [Salon.com]
• The Inequality of American Cities [The Atlantic Cities]
• Demedicalize Architecture [Places: Design Observer]
***
Release: CoV Cultural Spaces Infrastructure Grant 2012
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
CULTURAL SPACES INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT – 2012
Financial support for costs related to planning, feasibility assessments, acquisition, renovation and development of cultural spaces.
DEADLINE : 4:30 pm | Friday, May 04, 2012
Would your Vancouver-based cultural non-profit organization benefit from more or better space? The City of Vancouver, Cultural Spaces, is encouraging eligible organizations to submit an application to the 2012 Cultural Spaces Infrastructure Grant Program. Planning, Minor Capital and Major Capital projects are eligible.
The City of Vancouver disbursed over $1.2M to 30 Vancouver non-profit arts and culture organizations under the 2011 Infrastructure Grant ...
Sim City: A detailed look at Spacington
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
This week's post is all about showing off Spacington to give readers a closer look at our newly established city. The images display an overview of Spacington as well as the details of what's going on at ground level.
This is our first photo update so give us your feedback on the current state of Spacington and what you'd like to see close up next time.
Here is Spacington from above, it's situation, and the available space for future growth.
From Wasteland to Condo-Land: Documenting Vancouver’s Olympic Village
By Yuri Artibise // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_7049" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="1st Avenue, Olympic Village Site Looking North, Vancouver 2009. Image courtesy of Leslie Hossack."][/caption]
One of the most talked about sites in Vancouver’s recent history is the former Olympic Village. From the Olympic celebrations to the eco-sustainability of it’s infrastructure to the cost overruns and lingering public debt, the site has been the subject of more coverage than any other neighbourhood in recent memory. But for all this talk, unless you live or work nearby, or jog or cycle around this corner of the seawall, few Vancouverites actually visit the site regularly. Even fewer have spent as much time over the past several years as photographer Leslie Hossack.
"Vancouver’s Village 2008-2011: Constructing a Village, Creating a Community” is a photography show by Leslie Hossack documenting the construction of the Olympic Village on Southeast False Creek. It is now on display at the City of Vancouver Archives Gallery on Kits Point.
Hossack’s photographs document the recent past of a part of Vancouver with a long history. Before colonization, False Creek was well used by First Nations’ for hunting and fishing. For much of the 20th century, it was a hub of industrial activity. As industry left the city core, a sea of parking lots took over the site. Today, as residents move into the condos and apartments originally built for the Olympics, and businesses open up, the Village on False Creek is emerging as a vibrant community.
Be a Part of Jane’s Walk – May 5 & 6, 2012
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Jane's Walk is a global weekend of free neighbourhood walking tours honouring the legacy of urbanist writer Jane Jacobs. This year's walks are being held on the weekend of May 5 & 6, 2012. We are now recruiting walk guides and volunteers for the Vancouver area.
Hosting a walk simply involves planning a walking route through a chosen neighbourhood, thinking through the stories, places and people you want people to learn about and discuss, then leading the walk itself. ...
Urban Planet: Historic Buildings as Parking Lots
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Is it better than paving paradise to put up a parking lot? Residents in Cleveland are of two minds about proposed plans for the May Company building, a historic site for which developers are seeking permission to convert four floors into parking. Does the ...
March 7th, 2012
Enter Spacing’s creative mapping contest!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
March 7, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Proposed tower twists from triangle to rectangle [Vancouver Courier]
• Eco-entrepreneurs put food scraps to work [Globe and Mail]
• North Vancouver longboard debate draws huge crowd [Vancouver Sun]
• Walking and other small advantages [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Japan's Green Renewal? After the Disasters UN Tour [Common Current]
• In the Bay Area, Transit Signs are Surprisingly Poor [Transportation Nation]
• LEGO apartment San Francisco: affordable, prefab+tiny homes [*faircompanies]
• Starbucks Concept Store Is A Lab For Reinventing The Brand [Fast Company Co.Design]
• In Pre-Summer Games London, Edginess and ...
Release: Dynamic Project Management Series Designed Exclusively for NFPs
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Dynamic Project Management Series Designed Exclusively for NFPs …
Packed with valuable, practical tools and techniques to help you deliver projects successfully! Each week of the Project Management workshop focuses on specific areas of project management while interconnecting in a comprehensive series over four Monday evenings. Facilitated by experienced professional project managers, participants will learn how to apply the principles and practices of project management within a not for profit context.
The cost of $95 (plus registration fee) includes all four workshops, workbook, downloadable templates & tools, and a light dinner each evening!
Click ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: New South China Mall
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Since it's opening in 2005, the New South China Mall in Dongguan has held the world record for largest mall in terms of gross leasable area, which is also the problem.
With Dongguan's population of over seven million people, developers projected the ...
Release: Green City Race
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Green City Race
Earth Day® Scavenger Hunt to Showcase the Green Side of Vancouver
Saturday, April 21, 2012 | Race 11am–2pm | Awards 2pm–4pm
Registration: $30 before March 21, $40 after
In Evergreen BC’s Green City Race, teams will race against the clock, (and each other!), as they put their physical, mental, and environmental savvy to the test. Using public transit and their own two feet, teams will explore Vancouver’s hottest green destinations, complete green challenges, scour for green scavenger hunt items, and snap photos of ‘green sightings’ ...
March 8th, 2012
Cinema Politica UBC Presents: Manufactured Landscapes
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A film that explores the aesthetic, social and environmental dimensions of industrialization and globalization
Friday, March 9th at 5pm in CIRS. This event is part of the 2012 eARTh Forum.
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is a feature length documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky makes large-scale photographs of ‘manufactured landscapes’ – quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, and dams. He photographs civilization’s materials and debris, but in a way people describe as “stunning” or “beautiful,” and so raises all kinds of questions about ethics and aesthetics without trying to easily ...
March 8, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayors eyeing all options for transit revenues [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. unlikely to support tolls on all Metro Vancouver roads, bridges [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver keeps tax hike modest in 2012 budget [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Telling a City's Story Through Sound [The Atlantic Cities]
• Planning Commission adopts Central Delaware Master Plan [Plan Philly]
• Map of the Day: Urbanization in 15 Seconds [The Atlantic Cities]
• Townhouses without the wiggle [Better! Cities & Towns]
***
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7164" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of HereInVancouver."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Metro Vancouver has watered down its latest attempt to limit the construction of giant farmhouses that inefficiently eat up productive agricultural land.
Metro Vancouver is also debating the touchy issue of Indian Reserve voting rights with directors split over whether the regional district should try to block residents of Indian Reserves from voting ...
Vancouver’s Demographic Time Bomb
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_7172" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Mid density family housing. (Islington Housing, Levitt Bernstein architect, Islington, London U.K. For more on this project, see sidebar.) To keep families in Vancouver, affordable ways to own your own home are crucial. At current costs, medium density dwellings with access to private yards might be a solution. Image and text in sidebar assembled by Paula Livingstone."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: We are glad to be present the third part of the newest Tyee Series written by the University of British Columbia's Patrick Condon on a greater vision for Vancouver. The series is based on his most recent book A Convenience Truth: A 2050 Plan for a Sustainable Vancouver - available in print and online - and is sure to be of interest to those interested in the future or our city. Links to the previous parts are at the end.]
During a lecture last fall, I asked my 200 undergraduate students to raise their hands if they believed they would someday own a home. Only about one in 10 thought they would.
My reaction at that moment was shame. I am one of the lucky ones. Born in the great baby boom glut of the '50s and '60s, I and most of my peers own a home.
But I fear this will not be the case for my students. Confronted with salaries that have stagnated for almost 20 years, they are faced with a housing market where the real cost of owning a home has increased by 300 per cent during the same time span.
When housing affordability is measured against average family income, Vancouver is the second most expensive city, with the average home costing over 10 times our average income. (The commonly accepted ratio between average family income and average house price is four. A ratio of six is doable but crushing. A ratio of ten is considered impossible.) By this measure, Vancouver is more expensive than New York, more expensive than Paris, more expensive than London.
Urban Planet: DIY Crosswalks in Baltimore
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Fed up with a lack of action on pedestrian infrastructure, citizens of Baltimore are taking to the streets to install their own crosswalks. And while some residents reported the incident as a destruction as civic property, authorities appeared indifferent to the development. (Baltimore Brew)
Image from Baltimore Brew
For more ...
March Urbanist Meetup, Sunday, March 11, 4pm-6pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
This month's Vancouver Urbanist Meetup has a special twist. Each Sunday during the month of March, the Museum of Vancouver is hosting SALA SPEAKS @MOV:
With an aim to spark participatory and accessible discussions about the role of architecture in our community and beyond, SALA SPEAKS @MOV is a 4-part series presented in partnership with the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) at the University of British Columbia, that invites their faculty to speak to the wider issues, inspirations, and challenges that configure their research, practice, and teaching here in Vancouver.
This weeks presentations are ...
March 9th, 2012
March 9, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Campaign seeks to keep A-Amaze-ing Laughter in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver council candidates reveal eclectic list of campaign donors [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver restaurants keep watchful eye on new food carts [Vancouver Sun]
• Explore history of the Heights at upcoming event [Burnaby Now]
INTERNATIONAL
• Participatory Maps for Inclusive Cities [TheCityFix]
• The Inequality Puzzle in U.S. Cities [The Atlantic Cities]
• Women in architecture celebrate today, worldwide [SmartPlanet]
• It's unanimous: El Paso commits to a smarter, greener future [Switchboard]
• Forgive and forget [Better! Cities & ...
Art Deco chic
By Ren Thomas // No Comments
Looking to get your urban fix, 1920s-style? Check out the new exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver: Art Deco Chic: Glamourous Fashions of the 1920s and 1930s. The loose-fitting, geometrical dresses of the 1920s spoke to women's newfound freedom and allowed the quick movements characterized in dance styles like the Charleston, while more precise cutting and tailoring returned in the wake of the Great Depression. Other influences on the fashions of this era were blockbuster films, architectural innovations seen in masterpieces like the Empire ...
SFU Free Public Lecture – Shaping Communities as if Sustainability Mattered
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Join us for a discussion with two of Vancouver’s most influential planning academics, Dr. Mark Roseland and Dr. Ron Kellett. Learn more from Mark Roseland about what’s happened at the community level in sustainable development since the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. Find out about Ron Kellett’s work on engaging citizens through “measured visualizations” to explore and express the links of energy, GHG emissions and community planning.
WHEN: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 2012
WHERE: Rm C400, UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC
REGISTER: www.picsroselandkellett.eventbrite.com (free of charge and open to the public on first-come, first-serve ...
Urban Planet: Insull’s Chicago Transit Posters
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Salon.com explores the unlikely artistic legacy of Samuel Insull, former assistant to Thomas Edison, co-founder of General Electric and owner of many Chicago area utilities and regional transit lines. Borrowing from the style of London's underground posters, Insull's branding campaign enticed riders to take ...
March 10th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Downtown Halifax, Evolving Big Box and Demographic Bombs
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood has continuously evolved along with the city, Alexandre Laquerre looks at the emergence of high density over 80 years on Sommerset Street.
With a spat of recent development proposals calling the relevancy of the HRM by Design document into question, Spacing profiles a student conference at Dalhousie School of Planning aimed at engaging those concerned with shifting the debate around downtown Halifax.
Stephen Archibald explores the abundance of historic iron fences and railings in central Halifax, looking at their history and their art.
Joel Thibert looks at the trend of big box retailers abandoning their large formats in favour of smaller, more efficient locations and wonders if this could actually be bad news for main streets.
Sharing an incredible find discovered while working on another story, Alanah Heffez flips the pages of the Montreal People's Yellow Pages an independently published guide to Montreal's underground from the 1970s.
As turmoil continues around leadership at the TTC, John Lorinc provides strategic advice for LRT advocates, making the case for keeping moral authority in the messy debate.
The No Mean City feature by Alex Bozikovic profiles a weekend architecture conference that will pay tribute to George Baird, a long time architecture professor and former Dean at UofT considered one of the most influential people in Canadian architecture.
March 10, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Vancouver concrete plant home to bald eagle platform [Vancouver Courier]
Plans underway for Surrey Public Market property [Vancouver Sun]
Monster earthquake threat looms over B.C. coastal communities [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
An Aesthetics of Participation [LAB|log]
Michael Kimmelman Will Not Play Your Architecture Games [The New York Observer]
Downtown is for People [CNN/Money]
***
March 11th, 2012
March 11, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
Explaining Transit's Secret Language [The Atlantic Cities]
***
March 12th, 2012
Price Points: An absence of something iconic
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
It's a Thursday evening and we'll all on the 236, heading to one of the great places in the Lower Mainland: Grouse Mountain.
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No surprise: the bus is packed with snowboarders, most having transferred from the SeaBus at Lonsdale Quay. They're a multilingual crew, mixed in with the tourists and commuters from 'over town,' not many over 30, heading for the snow-covered slopes some can see from their apartments.
The 236 is one of those 'You know you're in Vancouver' kind of places: public transit from tidewater to mountain top in twenty-eight minutes. I suppose there are kids from Korea to Cologne who have fond memories of taking the 236 at the end of the day, exhausted, elated and maybe in love. If there's an iconic image in their heads, along with the lights of the city from the slopes above, it's of a bus named Grouse.
But, oddly, not the place at the top of the mountain - and by that I mean the lodge.
March 12, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Affordable-housing task force proposes ‘quick start’ solutions [Globe and Mail]
• 130 years after John Muir’s visit, author seeks to save B.C.’s Sacred Headwaters [Globe and Mail]
• I Want to Stay! [The Tyee]
• Curtains for the Vancouver Playhouse [The Tyee]
CANADA
• The Changing Fate of Hockey's Oldest Arenas [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• Families' exodus leaves S.F. with lowest pct. of children in U.S. [San Francisco Chronicle]
• The Zipcar of Electric Scooters Is Coming To San Francisco [Fast Co.Exist]
• How to Keep Buses From Bunching [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Commercial Drive’s Historian: An Interview with Jak King
By David Peacock // No Comments
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="East side of Commercial Drive - 1700-block - in 1936 (VPL 23618 part)"][/caption]
Jak King knows a lot about the history of Commercial Drive.
In his recently released The Drive: A Retail, Social and Political History of Commercial Drive he does a great job of outlining a detailed history of the Drive — focusing on the area from Venables to 7th Avenue in the period between the early 1920's to 1956.
Having read every issue of the Highland Echo — Commercial Drive's weekly newspaper (which ran from 1936 to 1969) — Jak has documented change through a detailed construction of the people, stores, buildings and curiosities that shaped the 'backdoor' of Vancouver. His book also highlights changes in technology, the important creation of a transportation hub, as well as the formative people and interesting events that saw Commercial drive through the beginning of the 20th century. These early events truly cultivated this unique and often autonomous Vancouver community.
This was recently followed by The Encyclopedia of Commercial Drive - a 558 page collection of all businesses and business owners along this well-known street up to 1999. Both books are the first of a series by the area resident on the history of the Drive that tells a story not often heard in our future-foreward city.
Spacing Vancouver contributor David Peacock recently had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Jak to talk about his book in a cafe on the Drive that he certainly knew a long back story on.
•••
Spacing: The Drive details so much change in ownership from the 1920's through the 50's, does this constant rebirth reflect a bigger societal value in the neighbourhood?
Jak: I think that the one thing that we've really maintained is the fact that our stores here are small, and they are generally locally managed. There are chains here — there is the Starbucks here, the Safeway here, whatever else — but essentially most of the stores here are small and locally managed. That's something that has come through history and has been retained. I think that does add to the friendliness of the neighbourhood, and to the fact that we have survived some pretty rough times here.
I am a little concerned about the fact that 30 years ago we had a dozen restaurants here and today we have 94. In many ways that's a good thing, making it a very friendly neighbourhood. But what bothers me is that there are 86 businesses that are no longer in existence, that have been taken over by restaurants. I would hate us to become just a foodie neighbourhood. We used to have a lot of furniture stores, appliance stores, more shoe stores, and now we have almost nothing but restaurants for the last 20 years.
Urban Planet: The Urban Genome Project
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
In the video above, Urve Tiidus, mayor of the city of Kuressaare, Estonia, speaks of city's challenge to retain young people. Imagine if she could connect with the hundreds of other small cities facing this challenge and better yet, tap into a network of relevant solutions. Curated by Joseph Grima ...
March 13th, 2012
March 13, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Indian band thwarts Vancouver ground-breaking [Vancouver Courier]
• Ridge Theatre faces final curtain [Globe and Mail]
• All options being explored to save Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver's housing affordability task force weighs in with recommendations [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. Education Ministry predicting fewer students next year in most school districts [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver Income Inequality Study Shows City Segregating Along Racial, Income Lines [Huffington Post]
• Brian Hutchinson: How the gas station was priced out of Canadian cities [National Post]
INTERNATIONAL
• Use of Public Transit ...
The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Author: Charles Landry (Earthscan, 2008)
Creativity, as a subject, has been of growing interest over the past few decade. What is it? What factors contribute to its creation? What strategies can be used to induce creative ideas? These are just a few of the questions that researchers have sought to answer.
Well-received popular books - like Edward De Bono's Use of Lateral Thinking - have pushed forward the importance and power of "thinking outside the box" in all facets of daily life. More recently, books such as Tom Sawyer's Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation have demonstrated how creativity is harnessed within a variety of disciplines - and not just the fine arts - and the principles that facilitate creative thought.
Yet despite all the interesting work being done, rarely is innovation and creativity discussed in the context of cities. Aside from a handful of books and texts - one of the most popular being Sir Peter Hall's Cities in Civilization - this aspect of creative thought has largely remained undiscovered territory. This fact makes Charles Landry's The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators that much more significant in our times where culture and imagination are showing us definitive solutions to the challenges of the future.
Urban Planet: Habitat 67 in LEGO?
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 may have received the world's highest architectural honour. The distinctive Montreal landmark won LEGO Architecture's online competition for the next building to be immortalized in LEGO. While the win doesn't secure Habitat's LEGOization completely, it does bring the modular building ...
Hubbub about a Food Hub
By Jeff Nield // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_6769" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="One possible concept for the New City Market. Designed by citylab."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: A warm thanks to Jeff Nield, citylab and the fine folks at Edible Vancouver Magazine who gave us permission to cross-post this great piece, originally published in the most recent edition of Edible Vancouver that you can access online here.]
VANCOUVER’S FIRST MARKET HALL WAS A BRICK building on Westminster Avenue (today’s Main Street) between Hastings and Pender. A two-storey turret anchored the centre of the grand brick building, with two smaller turrets on either side. Beside the market was a large open shed where farmers sold their livestock at auction. he building was remodelled in 1897 and became the new city hall, leaving Vancouver without a public market.
Feeling the loss, farmers and the general public lobbied to build another market at a new location, complete with its own wharf that would allow a small steamer to deliver farmers and their goods from communities up the Fraser River. Despite community support and an endorsement from the board of trade, the city passed up the preferred site between Westminster and Gore Avenue, but okayed construction on cheaper land just south of False Creek. he building, which advertised wholesale and retail “farm products” and a restaurant that offered “meals at all hours,” opened to much fanfareon August 15, 1908. The Mt. Pleasant Marching Band greeted customers, and a Mrs. Allen was awarded a hindquarter of mutton for being first through the doors. However, this less accessible location failed by the early 1920s, and once again Vancouver lost the permanent market that is key to a local food system. We have been without one ever since.
March 14th, 2012
March 14, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver city hall 'definitions' impossible to define [Vancouver Courier]
• Keep the "laughing statues", urges petition [Vancouver Observer]
• Builder to explore alternatives for native burial site [Globe and Mail]
• Would-be homebuyers shocked at Vancouver prices [CBC News]
• Task Force Interim Report: Neoliberal Strategies for Vancouver’s Housing Crisis [The Mainlander]
• Surrey's mayor renews call for light rail, regional tolling strategy [Vancouver Sun]
• To the 'Burbs! [The Tyee]
• Push and pull in Vancouver City’s planning game [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Dire Poverty Falls Despite Global Slump, Report Finds ...
Mountain View Cemetery Walking Tours
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
First tours on March 25 at 10 am:
Lorraine Irving (BC Genealogical Society): This tour will look at the still unsolved murder of Janet Smith and the people associated with the case.
John Atkin (Civic Historian): The Horne Section of the cemetery, to meet the Director of the Australian Geological Survey, the captain of a former Maharajah’s yacht and a leading architect.
COST: $10.00 per person (cash only) Rain or shine
Meet at Celebration Hall – 5445 Fraser Street (entrance at 39th Avenue)
***
For more information, call 604. 325.2646 or visit vancouver.ca/cemetery.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Grand Central’s dirty secret
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
High above commuter's heads, there is a small, black stain on the ceiling of Grand Central Station's main concourse.
The distinctive rectangle (half on the teal background of the astrological mural, half on the beige bordering) is what the ceiling looked like before restoration efforts in the mid '90s. The black residue was long thought to be caused from years of exposure to ...
weRecycle – New app helps you recycle in Metro Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Ever wonder where to find the best places to donate or recycle materials you no longer need? Metro Vancouver has launched a free iPhone app called weRecycle to help the regions residents reuse and recycle just about anything. weRecycle provides mobile access to the same database used by Metro Vancouver's award-winning website, www.MetroVancouverRecycles.org. All you do is enter a material and hit search to find convenient donation and recycling locations. What makes weRecycle unique is presenting that information in a user-friendly Google map.
The searchable app includes dozens of ...
March 15th, 2012
March 15, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Monitoring and tracking Vancouver's bald eagle population [OpenFile]
• “I’m inspired by cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam,” says Mayor of Vancouver [European Cyclists' Federation]
• Bloedel Conservatory’s future to be settled shortly [Vancouver Sun]
• The Foreign Ownership Puzzle [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• On the waterfront, the battle rages on [Salon]
• A 'Vertical Greenhouse' Could Make a Swedish City Self-Sufficient [Good]
• Seattle Gets the Street View on the Quality of Its Lights [The New York Times]
• The Politics of Playgrounds, a History [The Atlantic Cities]
• Lessons in adaptive ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7505" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of it caught my eye."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
In the Comox Valley, a local conservation group thinks developments are being approved at a rate exceeding the budgets of local municipalities, leaving taxpayers to pay for 'unfunded infrastructure liability' costs.
Another task forces to add to the list, as the Terrace council was asked to strike a task ...
Urban Planet: Participatory Mapping
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
The City Fix examines the practice of participatory mapping - a consultation method that involves citizens in the spatial planning of their cities. From identifying common cycling routes in Moscow to group gatherings to sew a map of Bushwick, planners and citizens are ...
March 16th, 2012
March 16, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Push and pull in Vancouver City’s planning game [Price Tags]
• Comparing Portland's food cart program to Vancouver's [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's Latest Legal Battle, Explained [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• Six Ideas for Saving Bay Area Transit [Streetsblog SF]
• Planning for Art [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Affordable housing coming to Orenco Station in $13.5 million project [The Oregonian]
• How do we reconcile the planner's perceptions with the slum dwellers' reality? India's Rajiv Awas Yojana [The Global Urbanist]
• UPSTATE: Design, Research, Real Estate [Places: Design ...
Sim City: Density Growth
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington has grown from a little town to a city. Plenty of single-family homes in each of the neighbourhoods have changed their faces and transformed into residential buildings. We have pushed Spacington forward to try and able our city with what it needs to become a real simulated 21st century urban city.
March 25, 2012, named Tom Cone Day in Vancouver in honour of the Mayor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
The Mayor has proclaimed March 25, 2012, as Tom Cone Day in Vancouver in honour of the distinguished playwright, collaborator and philanthropist who received the first Mayor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement last week. The honour will mark Mr. Cone's upcoming 65th birthday on March 25.
"Tom's influence has inspired innumerable local and national artists in their creation and exhibition of new works of theatre, visual art, experimental music, and literature," said Mayor Robertson in making the announcement. "He has worked tirelessly to lead and strengthen Vancouver's arts and cultural community ...
Urban Planet: Pothole Advertising
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Are potholes the next frontier for outdoor advertising? In Montreal this week, morning commuters were caught off guard by a sedan which appeared to have been swallowed by an enormous pothole on de la Cathédrale. The stunt was the work of an ad agency ...
March 17th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Food Hub, Market Street and Local Democracy
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
With Toronto's municipal political theater taking a twist towards mayoral impeachment this week, John Lorinc questions the merits of the strategy and its implications for the Mayor's opponents.
Alex Bozikovic uses the No Mean City architectural feature to look at a recently approved plan to drastically improve Market Street, next to Toronto's Saint Lawrence Market. The improvements will open the street to patios and frame the last project advanced by noted developer Paul Oberman.
Alexandre Laquerre continues his photographic series looking at the changing streets of Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood over the course of the 20th century.
Allanah Heffez shares stories and observations from her time volunteering giving out free hotdogs to Montreal's homeless. The hot dog truck, which served as a connection to further services, played witness to a range of experiences.
Emile Thomas reports back from his experience observing local democracy in action, noting the decidedly bitter tone of citizen question period at local council Thomas questions what to make of the array of complaints and grievances.
March 17, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Upwardly mobile’s answer to affordable housing comes with a view [Globe and Mail]
• David Suzuki: The benefits of cycling go beyond reducing climate change [Straight.com]
• Wade Davis challenges ‘tsunami of development’ in remote B.C. [Vancouver Sun]
• Cycling in Vancouver can still be a risky business: ICBC [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Solar Satellites [Urban Land]
• The Streetcar As a City's Moving Symbol [The Atlantic Cities]
***
March 19th, 2012
Price Points:The Beginning of Vancouverism?
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
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Did "Vancouverism" start here?
.
.
What's 'Vancouverism,' some recent arrival might ask? Our friend the Wiki says:
... an urban planning and architectural technique pioneered in Vancouver, Canada. It is characterized by mixed-use developments, typically with a medium-height, commercial base and narrow, high-rise residential towers to accommodate high populations and to preserve view corridors.
Pacific Palisades fits the definition, doesn't it? And since it was built almost 50 years ago, it may be the earliest iteration of what evolved in the 1990s as the recognized Vancouver Style: slim condo towers on top of a podium of sidewalk-hugging townhouses, with commercial storefronts along the shopping streets.
Save for the townhouses, all the elements are there. The towers are certainly typical of Sixties design: squared blocks with simple floorplates and a balcony per apartment. But the podium is special, with its modernist arches now wonderfully restored except for the necessary rain canopy along Robson.
March 19, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
Has Vancouver lost its cultural mojo? [Globe and Mail]
Potential bike commuters still concerned about safety [Vancouver Sun]
Keeping Up with Demand [The Tyee]
Seattle and Vancouver still no match for Portland's laissez-faire food cart scene [Crosscut]
INTERNATIONAL
Air pollution 'will become bigger global killer than dirty water' [The Guardian]
Follow the Drips of Paint [The New York Times]
L.A.'s Unofficial Late Night Bike Marathon [The Atlantic Cities]
Designs are as flawed as their designers [New Scientist]
***
Institute for Environmental Learning to Undertake Urban Design Charrette In Vancouver’s Historic Area
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The BC/North Cascades Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (BC UN-RCE) is pleased to announce that the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia has contributed $10,000 to support an urban design charrette in Vancouver’s Historic Area. The United Nations chartered RCE, which is hosted by the Institute for Environmental Learning, will undertake the intensive urban design charrette from 20–29 May, 2011, at Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre Campus.
The aim of the urban design charrette is to explore ways to meet population targets identified in Metro Vancouver’s regional growth ...
Urban Planet: Beautiful Streets
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
What makes a beautiful street? Tree-lined sidewalks? Brightly coloured homes? OpenPlans is trying to crowd source the answer to this age old question. Their platform, Beautiful Streets, uses Google Street View to provide users with images of two randomly selected streets in ...
TONIGHT Residents Association Mount Pleasant Community Forum: Can we build high ndeisty neighbourhoods without building towers?
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
On Monday March 19, 6:45 – 9pm RAMP is hosting a Community Forum at
2881 Main St at 13th (St. Patrick’s Church)
Topic: Can we build high density neighbourhoods without building towers?
Are Towers necessary to achieve high density? Urban Design Specialist Lewis N. Villegassays “We can build high density neighbourhoods in Vancouver without building towers.” Lewis will present the new planning paradigm in a multi-media presentation entitled “The Density Fallacy”. Professor Patrick Condon of UBC SALA will speak to the issue of exploring options to towers that are more resilient, affordable, and compatible with existing neighbourhood character. Speakers from ...
March 20th, 2012
March 20, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Lower Mainland mayors reignite vehicle levy idea [Globe and Mail]
• EXCLUSIVE: First look at Century’s 47 storey tower downtown [Civic Surrey]
• Marpole shelter welcomes homeless during cold Vancouver nights [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver tenants protest so-called renovictions [CBC News]
• Another example of Vancouver's crazy real estate market [News1130]
• The future of cycling: Vancouver vs Copenhagen [Vancouver Sun]
• Lessons from Affordable Housing Innovators [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Building the American Dream in China [The New York Times]
• The Dawn of the Municipal Chief Innovation Officer [...
A Convenience City Ultimatum
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7703" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Here, the four big ideas of the UBC students' plan are diagrammed together. City-wide concepts for connected centres, green jobs, a green grid, and connected habitat are shown merged. Each "layer" of the big ideas is described in more detail in the story below."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: We are glad to be present the final part of the newest Tyee Series written by the University of British Columbia's Patrick Condon on a greater vision for Vancouver. The series is based on his most recent book A Convenience Truth: A 2050 Plan for a Sustainable Vancouver - available in print and online - and is sure to be of interest to those interested in the future or our city. Links to the previous parts are at the end.]
After 13 weeks of exploring the problems and opportunities of a sustainable Vancouver by 2050, what did 17 UBC students and three teachers come up with? Were they able to find a way to make housing affordable, our streets livable, and our burden on the planet much much lighter? Did they find a hopeful way forward, against the odds, to an equitable, affordable, sustainable, and economically vibrant city?
Well, only the future knows the future, and we had no crystal ball. But we do think we discovered at least a potential truth. It might, we thought, be possible to solve all these problems simply, and in the process make the city a much better and easier place to live. What we discovered was, to bastardize a term made infamous by Al Gore, a "convenience truth."
As we explored the question more deeply each week, we discovered that as the city becomes more efficient, more diverse, more intensely utilized, and a more equitable place to live, it also becomes a more convenient place to live. New more affordable housing options exist for the young and old. Naturalized recreation networks and "green streets" are brought close to every home. Getting around is easier, cheaper, accessible to all, and carbon free. Finally and most importantly, it's affordable.
The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
“The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture completes my study on the role of the senses, embodiment, and imagination in architectural and artistic perception, thought, and making. This interest emerged 15 years ago in my critique of the hegemony of vision and the neglected architectural potential of the other senses, entitled The Eyes of the Skin. This investigation was expanded in The Thinking Hand to a study on the significance of the eye-hand-mind connection, regrettably undervalued in the pedagogical and professional practices of the computer age.”
- Juhani Pallasmaa, from the Introduction
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa (Wiley & Sons Publishers, 2011)
This past week an event occurred which hardly caused most to raise an eyebrow, but in the literary world resounded like a sonic boom— the announcement that Encyclopedia Britannica would no longer be running their print edition for the first time in their 250 year history. I make this observation ironically while writing a book review to be published online, but for me—in particular—hearing about the closing of the printing presses of the Mother Ship of Encyclopedias appears as nothing short of the start of a new Dark Age. Such is also the subject of philosopher-architect Juhani Pallasmaa’s latest book, The Embodied Image, in which he laments the dulling down of our imaginations—both collective and individual—in an age where the image is being increasingly commodified.
Urban Planet: “Broken Windows” for Traffic Crimes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
"The running joke on blogs like Gothamist and Streetsblog is that if you want to kill somebody in New York and get away with it, a car should be your weapon of choice," writes Sarah Goodyear at The Atlantic Cities. Pointing ...
March 21st, 2012
March 21, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Help Me, Gregor! [The Tyee]
• Vancouver Park Board considers more public input on new park names [OpenFile]
• Tenants Fight Renoviction at 577 East 8th Avenue [The Mainlander]
• Province to give $1.7 M for new Emily Carr University campus [Vancouver Sun]
• City officially launches website for eastside murals [OpenFile]
CANADA
• Bell Canada’s new Muskoka cell phone towers to be disguised as trees [Yahoo News]
INTERNATIONAL
• Plan Bay Area envisions growth without sprawl [San Francisco Chronicle]
• The New Suburban Poverty [The New York Times]
• The Roots of ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesdays: Roadtown, history’s longest utopia
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
In 1910, Edgar Chambless released his plans for his utopia Roadtown, a completely linear city with everything the community needed housed in one miles-long stip and completely self-contained (picture an excessively large skyscraper laid on it's side).
The idea was for the building to be three storeys high, and two units wide, with three subway tunnels running directly beneath. ...
Public Lecture by SFU Visiting Fellow in Urban Sustainable Development Scott Bernstein
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Progress Lost, Progress Redefined, Progress Regained—How Location Efficiency Performance Measures Are Being Used to Achieve Economic Security
Scott Bernstein, President - Center for Neighborhood Technology
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Room 1700, Harbour Centre - SFU Vancouver 515 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver
ADMISSION: Free, but you must reserve a seat at: www.sfu.ca/reserve
The US, still reeling from a devastating recession, is far from recovery. Can households and regions prosper without spatial efficiency? New economic performance data strongly suggests the answer is “no.” Several measures, including a new index of combined affordability of ...
Release – Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline: new reality check on employment numbers finds economic benefits overstated
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A new study reviews the economic case for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP) and casts serious doubt on claims that the pipeline will lead to substantial job creation and other economic benefits.
Enbridge claims that the NGP will create 63,000 person years of employment during the construction of the pipeline, and 1,146 full-time jobs once it’s completed.
“That sounds like a lot of employment, until you start breaking down the numbers,” says Marc Lee, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ BC Office, and author of Enbridge Pipe Dreams and Nightmares: The Economic Costs and Benefits of the Proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.
The study finds that Enbridge’s job creation estimates are based on flawed modeling and questionable assumptions. Estimates assume that workers would otherwise be unemployed, and a large share of the estimated jobs come from induced employment, i.e. the economic impact of expenditures by Enbridge workers and governments. These “induced” impacts are particularly difficult to estimate and notoriously easy to overstate.
Release: Next CoV Community Plans – Terms of Reference
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The Next CoV Community Plans - Terms of Reference Administrative Report dated March 7, 2012, will be considered by Vancouver City Council’s Standing Committee on Planning, Transportation and Environment at its meeting on:
DATE: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
TIME: 9:30 am
PLACE: Council Chamber - Third Floor, City Hall
The agenda for the meeting and the relevant report can be viewed at: vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/councilmeetings no later than the Friday preceding the meeting. Hard copies will also be available upon request at that time.
If you wish further information on this matter, please contact Matt Shillito ...
March 22nd, 2012
March 22, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A Walkability Map of Greater Vancouver [Vancity Buzz]
• Vancouver about to kick off a rent bank to reduce homelessness [State of Vancouver]
• I Can't Own Alone [The Tyee]
• Recent Vancouver condo quick sales not sign of what’s ahead [Vancouver Sun]
• Project 200: The Lost Vision of Our Waterfront [Price Tags]
• Revised transit options for Broadway corridor released [OpenFile]
• Green living and sustainability: how to clean and recycle [Vancouver Observer]
• Vancouver real estate market places pressure on Downtown Eastside: city report [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• ...
New York City Wins Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, Vancouver Gets Special Mention!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
New York City has won the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize this year for its urban rejuvenation since the devastating Sept 11 terrorist attacks more than a decade ago.
Vancouver was one of 6 finalists selected for special mention from 62 submissions from 27 countries. Vancouver was lauded by the jury for “resisting two North American urban trends, the introduction of freeways to the city centre and the loss of residents to the suburbs.” The City was also recognized as an “exemplary demonstration of strong visioning, community values ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // 3 Comments
[caption id="attachment_7765" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Stephen Rees."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The City of Terrace has teamed up with the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine in hopes of recycling glass for local uses. The pilot project could start in the spring, if all goes to plan.
Victoria's only strip club - Monty's Exotic Showroom Pub - are numbered as Vancouver-based Developer GMC ...
Urban Planet: Walk Raleigh Wayfinding Signs
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
In Raleigh, NC, neighbours and businesses are copying one resident's initiative to provide guerilla walking and wayfinding signage. The pop up signs direct residents to visit a neighbourhood businesses by providing estimated travel times to the destinations. (New Raleigh)
Image from New Raleigh
For ...
Request for Expressions of Interest: Public Art Opportunity for Burlington Performing Arts Centre
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Request for Expressions of Interest: Calling Artists and/or Artist-Led Teams
Burlington Performing Arts Centre - Public Art Opportunity, City of Burlington
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
BUDGET: $95,000
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, April 13, 2012
The City of Burlington invites artists and/or artist-led teams to enter a two-stage, juried competition to create a permanent public artwork for the exterior courtyard of Burlington Performing Arts Centre. This competition is open to Canadian and International artists.
The mission of The Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC) is to provide the people of Burlington with a broad range of excellent performance ...
City of Vancouver: New Arts and Culture Policy Council Application Deadline Approaching
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
NEW ARTS AND CULTURE POLICY COUNCIL
Application Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, March 29, 2012.
The City of Vancouver is looking for up to 15 volunteers for Vancouver's Arts and Culture Policy Council. If you are intersted in applying, check out the Terms of Reference/Membership Criteria.
APPLY ONLINE
More Information
Eligibility Requirements
Minutes and Agendas
Background Information
***
March 23rd, 2012
March 23, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Pricing Our Roads: What can Metro Vancouver learn from Seattle? [Price Tags]
• Owner hopes new alley cafe attracts Vancouver cycling caffeine fiends [Vancouver Courier]
• Clark rejects mayors’ TransLink funding proposals [Globe and Mail]
• Ten things Vancouver can learn from Portland [OpenFile]
• Illuminares Lantern Festival set to return to Trout Lake [Vancouver Sun]
• Apres Marine Gateway, le deluge [State of Vancouver]
• Transit needed for Surrey’s future [Civic Surrey]
• Affordable housing in Vancouver? Why bother? [Stephen Rees's Blog]
CANADA
• Toronto council votes for light-rail transit, kills ...
Public Art Request for Proposals – City of Ottawa: Barrhaven South Recreation Complex
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Public Art Request for Proposals - City of Ottawa: Barrhaven South Recreation Complex, City of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Budget: $300,000 plus HST
Submission Deadline: Monday, April 30, 2012, 4:00 p.m. EST
The City of Ottawa Public Art Program invites artists to apply to develop, design, and implement a public art commission for the Barrhaven South Recreation Complex. This request for proposals is an equal opportunity, open to all professional artists. Participants must be Canadian citizens or have permanent residence status.
The Barrhaven South Recreation Complex (BSRC) will provide state of the art sports and ...
The Maraya Project and Veda Hille come together for an exploration of Vancouver’s False Creek
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Vancouver’s False Creek has a fascinating history, and its most recent development is explored in an MOV Studio Exhibition now on display called the Maraya Project: Waterfronts of Vancouver and Dubai. False Creek mythology and history will be further explored in an intimate performance on Friday, March 30, featuring local folk musician and city singer, Veda Hille, accompanied by a visual narrative by Annabel Vaughan (architect and city thinker).
Through Songs of False Creek Flats: Reflections, Veda and Annabel use music, talk, and pictures to animate an area of the city ...
Urban Planet: Urbanology
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
"A company wants tax credits to convert a vacant skyscraper downtown to a juvenile detention center. Will you allow this?" The answer you select will determine the city you create in BMW Guggenheim Lab's new game, Urbanology. By answering a series of question ...
March 24th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Robson Street, Water Politics and Regent Park
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Allanah Heffez tells the story of how the development of Montreal's public water works helped to extend the municipal vote to renters, connecting the private home to the public sphere and paving the way for urbanization.
With street food rapidly growing in popularity and trendiness across North America Jonathan Lapalme gives a background into the uneven landscape of street food tolerance while exploring why it largely remains illegal.
With High Park's fantastic, labrynth-like play ground in ruins following a recent incident of arson, Emma Feltes shares the story of how the playground brought the community together, acted as a hub and is inspiring a new collective spirit in the drive to rebuild.
As the redevelopment of Canada's largest public housing project continues at a remarkable pace, My City Lives brings a video previewing the exciting new Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre opening this Fall.
Alexandre Laquerre shows the striking transition from a tight urban block to the Garden of the Provinces over a 100 year period in the heart of the nation's capital.
March 24, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A Sustainable Hedonist in Vancouver [Price Tags]
• Clark rules out vehicle levy to pay for TransLink [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver restaurants: the next global trendsetters? [Straight.com]
• B.C.'s household debt second highest in Canada [OpenFile]
• Downtown training school offers farm lessons to city folk [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Ultra-Classy Street Furniture of Rotterdam [The Atlantic Cities]
• Restoring Value to Faded Hollywood Apartments [Urban Land]
• Burying Bits of the City: Hong Kong Underground [BLDG BLOG]
***
March 26th, 2012
March 26, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• B.C. transit expansion plans in jeopardy [Globe and Mail]
• Proposed changes to the Vancouver park-naming process opposed by NPA park board commissioner [Vancouver Sun]
• Fabricating the Creative City: In search of a present-tense [The Mainlander]
• Metal Work Restoration [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
INTERNATIONAL
• The solar envelope: how to heat and cool cities without fossil fuels [Low-tech Magazine]
• Why Community-Based Planning Works Better Than Anything Else [The Atlantic Cities]
• Public Process: Don’t botch your online engagement [PlaceShakers]
• Cities ought to embrace street life, ...
Price Points: The Social Life of a Small Urban Place
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
It is one of the most extravagant public spaces in Vancouver - if measured by the care and cost of its design. And yet this plaza at Park Place feels lifeless, barely used, in the heart of the city's business district. (Map here.)
Yazmín Hernández Bañuelas, Daniel Martin and Kevin Jingyi Zhang explain why. They are all SCARP* students in a course conducted by Larry Beasley - and produced this video as their assignment: an analysis of a chosen urban space in the city's core.
http://youtu.be/FbO51NbDkQc
For urbanists of a certain age, you might recognize the similarity to a truly seminal video by William Whyte, who pioneered time-lapse photography to analyse New York's public spaces, in particular the Seagram Building's plaza on Park Avenue.
While working with the New York City Planning Commission in 1969, Whyte began to wonder how newly planned city spaces were actually working out – something that no one had previously researched. This curiosity led to the Street Life Project, a pioneering study of pedestrian behavior and city dynamics.
Sim City: Neighbouring Cities & Updates
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington hasn't grown very much this week: the population is still sitting around 50,000 people, there was is no new major business or residential developments, and waterfront looks the same. However, there are some interesting things to talk about.
Spacington's empty waterfront.
Reflecting Vancouver’s Art Deco Past through Fashion
By Jillianglover // No Comments
Imagine that it’s 1929 and you're a women invited to attend the opening of the Commodore Ballroom on Granville Street, Vancouver's premier entertainment strip. Here is what you might have worn.
[caption id="attachment_7510" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="Art Deco Chic: Extravagant Glamour Between the Wars exhibit at Museum of Vancouver."][/caption]
A locally-made, cotton net dress with repeated rows of glass beads and sequins. The geometric style of this gown would be considered fitting for an art deco-style building like the Commodore, which is still popular today for concerts and parties.
Dear urban Vancouver: defend our transit future!
By Paul Hillsdon // 3 Comments
It’s been almost a week since TransLink requested new revenue generating tools to pay for transit expansions. In that time, we’ve heard all the cons from business groups, conservative lobbyists, and irate citizens. Not once did we hear any substantial defense or explanation of the benefits come from Vancouver’s active and vibrant urbanist community.
Folks, this is our window of opportunity to fix TransLink once and for all. It is not a governance issue, or an administrative issue, but just what it has been since the NDP pulled the rug from the original vehicle levy - a funding issue. We can make the most wonderful transit plans in the world, but unless we have a feasible, and politically acceptable, way to pay for it all, then we’ll continue to be stuck in the mud.
These are the facts. Congestion costs our regional economy upwards of $1 billion a year. Improving and expanding our transit system is the second-highest priority to local residents. Over 30% of citizens in poorly served areas like Surrey and Langley say they’d take transit if there was better service available. Conclusion: we want, and need, a better transportation network.
So why the backlash? One reason: perception.
Urban Planet: People-Powered Street Lights
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
In dense urban environments, can we harness the power generated by thousands of feet on the street? Viha thinks so. Their “producer" sidewalk slabs turn power generated by the movement of walking into electrical energy that is used to power LED street lamps. (Living Labs Global Awards)
Image from ...
March 27th, 2012
March 27, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• TransLink audit can only mean service cuts: city councillor [OpenFile]
• Public transit and political theatre in Metro Vancouver [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• Seattle blessed by downtown's upswing [The Seattle Times]
• Passing the Torch [The Architect's Newspaper]
• It’s true: Cities are meaner [Salon.com]
• Improving Street Walkability Reduces Crime [Walkonomics]
• Why Energy Use Is Really Water Use [The Atlantic Cities]
***
The Human Face of Climate Change
By Ellen Ziegler // No Comments
Authors: Mathias Braschler & Monika Fischer (Hatje Cantz, 2011)
The Human Face of Climate Change is a quiet and stunning journey into the lives of people around the world who have been dramatically affected by the environmental impacts of climate change. In 2009, photographers, Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer traveled to 16 different nations around the world, where they met, interviewed and captured the stories of fishermen, labourers, teachers, children, musicians and farmers who have experienced the dramatic and often devastating affects of our changing ...
Urban Planet: Open Spending Budgeting App
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
An increasing number of cities are engaging their citizens in the budgeting process. Even so, many participatory budgeting initiatives present citizens with abstract choices and ask them to prioritize. OpenSpending.mobi - a public service delivery app tries to engage the public in a more tangible way. The mobile application ...
City of Port Moody Call for Qualifications – Public Art: “The Necklace Project”
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call for Qualifications: Public Art: “The Necklace Project”, City of Port Moody
Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada
Budget: $40,000
Submission Deadline: April 15, 2012, 4:00 pm PST
The City of Port Moody is seeking a professional artist or artist team for a public art project. The project is comprised of five illuminated mosaics to be sited in various locations in the Moody Centre Heritage Conservation Area. The mosaic artworks are intended to highlight significant historical and cultural locations in the City. The Call for Qualifications, which provides details on submission requirements, as well as ...
Deep Green Film Screening and CIRS tour
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7895" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="CIRS Atrium. Photo courtesy of Don Erhardt."][/caption]
Come join the Emerging Green Builders of Metro Vancouver in partnership with the UBC EGB group for an evening of sustainability as we tour the new UBC building CIRS - Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (arguably the greenest building in North America) and then watch the award winning documentary film Deep Green on March 29, 2012 (tour starts 6:30pm, film at 7:15pm).
Join us afterwards for a drink and discussion at Mahoney and Sons Irish Pub. Suggested donation is $10, but you can pay what you can. ...
March 28th, 2012
March 28, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• TransLink may close stations if playoffs in Vancouver turn sour [Vancouver Courier]
• Biking, Copenhagen-style [Vancouver Observer]
• Minister boosts TransLink's powers to pursue fines from fare evaders [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver, Downtown Eastside groups clash over definition of social housing [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver pilot program will try out food carts in three parks [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• When a Parking Lot Is So Much More [The New York Times]
• Reality Check: Developers React to MoMA’s Show, “Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream” [Architectural Record]
• The Quest to Make ...
A HiVE of activity
By Ren Thomas // No Comments
Imagine arriving to work at a downtown historic building, where your workspace has high ceilings, brick walls, and huge windows. You can meet with clients or have informal discussions with colleagues working in industries as diverse as software development, photography and green building; the rest of the time you work at your own desk or a hot desk space. Need to develop new marketing strategies for your fledgling business or learn strategies to foster social change? Just sign up for one of the many workshops offered at the office.
HiVE Vancouver is an innovative shared workspace that fosters individuals and organizations in the sustainability and creative sectors. It’s part of a growing trend worldwide: technological developments have made working in virtual space common, and doing consulting work for multiple clients has become a widespread practice as organizations try to keep their costs down. But for small start-ups, non-profits and individual consultants, trying to find affordable office space has become increasingly difficult. Shared spaces mean shared amenities (like meeting rooms, phones and kitchens), a real plus for those that can’t spring for the overhead costs of their own offices. HiVE members have a choice of a dedicated workspace (starting at $475/month) or a hot desk space (monthly plans range from $25/month for five hours to $350/month for unlimited hours). As a non-profit, HiVE uses its member fees to lease and improve the space.
But the HiVe is about more than just sharing space: members are “a community of change-makers” who thrive on collaboration, fun, diversity and social responsibility. HiVE Vancouver modeled itself after Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation, which opened in 2004 with the idea that collaboration on the complex problems facing society could produce better solutions. The Centre's founders merged the ideas of co-location (different organizations merely sharing space), community hubs (shared spaces providing direct services to their members such as job training and workshops) and social innovation. Toronto's Centre is an affiliate of the Hub Network, a social enterprise working across 30 cities and 5 continents.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Yemen’s 16th century skyscrapers
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Residential high rises weren't exactly a "new" idea in the mid 1500s—Rome has its insulae since the days of the empire, and many medieval European and Middle Eastern cities had buildings in excess of ten floors—but the Yemeni city of Shibam bears special mention as one of the earliest examples of vertical urban planning.
While the area of Shibam has ...
City of Surrey holding Town Hall Meetings in each Town Centre
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
As part of its ongoing community outreach efforts, the City of Surrey will be hosting six Town Hall meetings, within one each Town Centre. Residents and community associations are encouraged to come out and discuss issues in their neighbourhoods.
Cloverdale
Cloverdale Recreation Centre
Wednesday, April 11, 7pm
Newton
Newton Seniors Centre
Thursday, April 12, 7pm
South Surrey
Elgin Hall
Monday, April 16, 7pm
Guildford
RCMP District 2
Wednesday, April 18, 7pm
North Surrey
City Centre Library
Monday, April 30, 7pm
Fleetwood
Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex
Tuesday, May 1, 7pm
***
March 29th, 2012
March 29, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Rize opponents suggest alternatives to tower density [Vancouver Courier]
• B.C.’s TransLink pushing for revenues from transit fines [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver's Plan to Avoid Another Hockey Riot [The Atlantic Cities]
• Canucks unveil anti-riot campaign “This is Our Home” [OpenFile]
• No Fun City Hall [The Tyee]
• Young people terrifying auto makers! [Price Tags]
INTERNATIONAL
• Nine low-tech steps for community resilience in a warming climate [Switchboard]
• Want To Boost The Economy? Boost Internet Speeds [Fast Company Co.Exist]
***
Video Vancouver: CanucksTV – This Is Our Home – Celebrate Responsibly
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_7913" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of it caught my eye."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Reason for concern in Abbotsford with the unemployment rising to 10.5 per cent through February. This makes the Abbotosford-Mission census metropolitan area (CMA) the second highest of 33 municipalities across the country that were part of Statistic’s Canada’s latest labour force survey.
Clayton residents in Surrey are surprised and saddened by the ...
Urban Planet: Houston’s Crosswalks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Houston, Texas is not known for its innovations in planning, but check out the vibrant crosswalks outside its Museum of Fine Art. This post on Drilling for Art examines the diversity of crosswalks across America (many of which are named after animals) and ...
March 30th, 2012
March 30, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver to re-define social housing [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver Park Board commissioner apologizes for 'naming' comments [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Latest Fantastic Transportation System That Will Never Be Built [The Atlantic Cities]
• Meet Me on 6½th Avenue: DOT Planning Public Promenade Through Middle of Midtown Towers [The New York Observer]
• Are neighborhoods too privileged in Seattle land-use debates? [Crosscut]
***
The Merrick House: Outside and In
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
Last weekend – on, at last, a sunny day – I cycled out to Eagle Harbour in West Vancouver to check on “an architectural wonder”: the house Paul Merrick designed for himself and family on Larson Place. It’s for sale.
The home was cited by the B.C. Architectural Society as one of the 9 best homes in B.C. in the last 75 years; one of its many accolades. Mr. Merrick has recently completed an extensive renovation of the home which is consistent with the design of the original …
One month left to enter our Creative Mapping Contest!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
Urban Planet: Retrofitting Parisian Towers
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
French public housing, as in many other locales, has had mixed success. Low-income high rise communities are characterized by high unemployment and more recently, unrest. Like many American cities, the conventional approach to these planning failures was to destroy these buildings and start from ...
BEHIND THE MIRROR: Stanley Kwok in Conversation with Trevor Boddy
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
BEHIND THE MIRROR: Stanley Kwok in Conversation with Trevor Boddy
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Time: 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30pm)
Location: Museum of Vancouver (MOV), 1100 Chestnut St (Kitsilano)
Cost: $15 | $10 for MOV Members, Students*, and RAIC Members *please bring ID. Includes admission to Art Deco Chic & Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver. RSVP: http://behindmaraya.eventbrite.com
Reception with cash bar and light refreshments to follow.
Join us for a special live interview with Stanley Kwok about the foundation of “Vancouverism”, as started along False Creek. Find out the why and how ...
March 31st, 2012
March 31, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Southeast False Creek Walking Tour [Globe and Mail]
• Rize developer wants to "set the record straight" on Kingsway proposal [OpenFile]
• Metro Vancouver board moves to block reserve residents from voting in municipal elections [Vancouver Sun]
• New Procedures at City Hall [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
• Ten options for new TransLink revenue [Globe and Mail]
• TransLink’s dependence on property tax called unreasonable [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• America's Growing Urban Footprint [The Atlantic Cities]
• A Teaching Moment [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Syrian crowdmapping project ...
April 1st, 2012
April 1, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Billionaire Kwok brothers arrested in Hong Kong, Sun Hung Kai Properties value plunges [Vancouver Sun]
• Port plan will touch 15 Metro Vancouver cities [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• Is street play coming back into fashion? [Rethinking Childhood]
• Emerald City [The Architect's Newspaper]
• Urban Hacktivist Launches Guerrilla Crosswalks [The Pop-Up City]
***
April 2nd, 2012
April 2, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Telus’s Vancouver condos fly off the market [Globe and Mail]
• B.C. rolls out new $700 million road, rail plan [Vancouver Sun]
• Prince Charles’ vision coming to Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver’s heritage buildings to be reviewed [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• How Canada's green credentials fell apart [New Scientist]
INTERNATIONAL
• Denser, More Efficient Cities Key To Coping With Population Explosion: Experts [International Business Times]
• The secret lives of Seattle's neighborhood shoppers [Crosscut]
• At world's end: Artists reveal stunning post-apocalyptic images of cities around the globe [Daily Mail Online]
• ...
Price Points: A Village in the City
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
Once a thriving village of 40 stores and a school prior to World War I, it became a quiet backwater within a decade - and still is.
.
.
This is 3500 – 3600 Commercial Street - not Drive - and was originally developed as a result of the 18th Avenue tram stop for the B.C. Electric Interurban Railway between New Westminster and Vancouver. (Map here.) As the railway pushed out into what had once been farmland in Cedar Cottage, small independent villages like this one at sprung up. Its vibrancy was short lived, as the advent of the automobile in 1910-20 led to Kingsway’s commercial dominance.
CAPS 2012 Conference Rundown (Part 1): Words of Wisdom from the Speakers
By Andrew Cuthbert // No Comments
[Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series focusing on the 2012 CAPS Conference that occurred in Vancouver in February. ]
The beginning of February marked the 2012 edition of the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS) conference in Vancouver, BC. This year the conference was hosted by the School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM) at SFU and brought together students and presenters from across North America to discuss a number of important issues pertaining to the urban environment. Aside from a number of tours and smaller events, many of the keynote speakers—Brent Toderian, Gordon Price, Julien Agyeman, and Larry Beasley, in particular—were a great highlight of the conference and their wise words are worth summarizing for those who didn't have the opportunity to attend.
The conference started with former Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian making an appearance during a panel on the Cascadian Experience that included speakers from Victoria, Seattle and Portland. Brent opened wryly by asking the student audience “So, how’s your week been?” in a nod to his recent media exposure about his early contract termination. So much of the conference was inspiring and encouraging for a new generation of planners and Brent closed with a bit of wisdom “If you’re too afraid to lose your job to do your job, you are not going to do a good job.”
Urban Planet: Train above the High Line
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
New York City's High Line may soon be home to a unique piece of public art. The sculpture, entitled 'Train', is the work of Jeff Koons. Train would be a full-size replica of a 1943 Baldwin 2900 steam locomotive, suspended in the air above ...
Sim City: Waterfront
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Spacington has gained a waterfront. Surprisingly, Spacington does in fact have a waterfront, and much like Toronto, we've endured little interaction with it. We have offices and homes next to the water, but have seen the type of little interaction most commonly seen between strangers sitting next each other on the TTC: not a peep, not a look; nothing. It's two separate worlds next to one another, existing individually without knowing the other exists — or at least pretending the other doesn't exist. Either way, we've fixed this problem and begun a waterfront to interact with, the type of space that Toronto's waterfront will hopefully soon become.
April 3rd, 2012
April 3, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Ayoudo’s Social Garden connects green thumbs across Vancouver [Vancouver Observer]
• Vancouver serves up new diversity from food carts [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• New urbanism: Old-fashioned design in for long run [Chicago Tribune]
• How Big Cities Can Lead to Small Thoughts [The Wall St. Journal]
• The Boom in Biking Benefits Everyone, Not Just Bicyclists [Shareable]
• A Brief History of the Parking Meter [The Atlantic Cities]
• Shaking Hands with a Sloth [Places: Design Observer]
***
The Dominion Building: The Story
By Eve Lazarus // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_8013" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The Dominion Building. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver, 2004."][/caption]
A few weeks ago I was standing on the 11th floor of the Dominion Building looking down its spiral staircase and thinking about architect John Shaw Helyer.
Helyer designed the 1910 building and then supposedly committed suicide by throwing himself down those same stairs at the building’s grand opening.
It’s quite a story, it’s just not true. Helyer died from a stroke in 1919.
But just because that’s an urban myth, it doesn’t mean the building hasn’t its own great story. For starters this overdressed red brick and yellow terra cotta structure with its oddly shaped beaux-arts roof comes from a time when architectural sculpture helped shape Vancouver. One writer called it a 19th century Parisian townhouse that should be one storey high, stretched up into an eccentric skyscraper.
Urban Planet: Roll-Up Crosswalk
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Are you miles away from a streetlight? No problem. Just roll out this handy cross walk and you're all set. Artist Florian Rivière, part of the Démocratie Créative collective in Strasbourg, created the cross walks which sell for 10 Euros. While they don't change ...
CoV Events: Acheiving New Heights in Architectural Excellence & Special Session of the Urban Design Panel
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
There are two upcoming events that will be hosted by the City of Vancouver:
FREE PUBLIC LECTURE ON ARCHITECTURAL EXCELLENCE IN HIGH-RISE BUILDING DESIGN
DATE: Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
TIME: 7:30 - 9:30pm
LOCATION: 1400 Segal Room, SFU Harbour Centre - 515 West Hastings Street
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE URBAN DESIGN PANEL
Technical Review of the Proposed High-Rise Development at 1400 Howe
DATE: Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
TIME: 11:30am - 4:30pm
LOCATION: 1st Floor, Town Hall - Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue
***
April 4th, 2012
April 4th, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• The Frequent Transit Network map [The Buzzer Blog]
• The Missing Middle: New housing types for a changing city [Price Tags]
• B.C. greenhouse vegetable and flower growers get carbon-tax relief this year [Globe and Mail]
• Wednesday open house for "BIG" Granville Bridge tower [Openfile]
• Developer signs deal for 600 acres of ALR land [Vancouver Sun]
• Five Paradigm Shifts to Enhance a City [The Tyee]
• $100 Million Bet on Pulling Land from ALR [The Tyee]
INTERNATIONAL
• Parsing California's Density Bombshell in 2010 Census Data [California Planning ...
CAPS 2012 Conference Rundown (Part 2): Touring Around
By Cameron Barker // No Comments
[Editor's Note: This is final Feature looking at the 2012 CAPS Conference that occurred in Vancouver in February.]
As mentioned in Part One of this series, the Canadian Conference of Planning Students (CAPS) Conference converged in Vancouver at Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre during early February. A yearly pilgrimage for hundreds of planning students across Canada, the conference allows young aspiring urbanists the chance to connect and converse on a diversity of issues ranging from sustainable transportation, district energy and social equality.
Widely captured under the title, Planning Horizons: The Edge, Future and Potential of Planning, this year’s conference focused on the four key themes: Inspiring Potential, Championing Creativity, Finding Voices and Widening our Lens. Urban planning students also found solace in connecting with a large national network of people equally passionate about the state of cities, especially within the Canadian context.
This year’s program naturally had a Vancouver focus—with reflections on life in the Downtown East Side, housing affordability, urban design and sustainable development as key theme of the presentations and discussions. Speakers included former City of Vancouver planning directora Brent Toderian and Larry Beasley, Gordon Price from Simon Fraser University, and Julien Agyeman from Tufts University Boston Medford. Spacing Vancouver's Andrew Cuthbert covered some of their words of wisdom in the first part of this series.
A young and captive audience of eager planners listened to the facts and falsities surrounding the future principles and applications of planning. Climate change, population growth, immigration, aboriginal issues, rural-urban migration patterns and economic stability were highlighted as imperative to the creation of a robust future for cities across Canada and the world. And although the many talks that took place were fascinating, one of the most interesting aspects of the conference was the tours I had the opportunity to attend.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Hanshin Expressway
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Ever heard of William O'Dwyer's proposal of running a Mid-Manhattan elevated expressway through the 10th and 11th floors of the Empire State Building? Crazy, right? Well, Japan did it.
In the mid '80s, the Hanshin Expressway Company needed land to build the Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the expressway in Osaka. However, that land ...
April 5th, 2012
April 5, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mayors assail TransLink bonus system [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouverites embrace organic-waste pilot program [Globe and Mail]
• Plans for bike/pedestrian network connecting Stanley Park and False Creek postponed [OpenFile]
• Abbotsford can't opt out of regional government, says Chong [Vancouver Sun]
• Metro Vancouver rejects potential sale of farmland [Vancouver Sun]
• The Michaels have some questions for you. [Price Tags]
• Will success transform Commercial Drive? [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• Missing middle housing: Responding to demand for urban living [Better! Cities & Towns]
• Building a Custom, Multi-Century House for Under ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8100" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Byron Barrett"][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
There's a new community market in Burnaby aimed at helping immigrant and refugee women develop their business acumen while some money.
Started by Burnaby resident Lubna Abdelrahman, the market runs the last Saturday of each month in the gym at Edmonds Community School.
A 70-year-old heritage tree in Surrey inches closer ...
Bike Snob NYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) book signing and Group Ride
By Spacing Vancouver // 1 Comment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWKDQnTAZno&feature=player_embedded\
Join the Bike Snob NYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) at Chapters as he signs his new book, The Enlightened Cyclist, and shares his humorous perspective on the joys, trials and triumphs of bike commuting. The signing will be held at 7PM in Chapters at 2505 Granville Street on Thursday, April 12th, 2012.
You can also join Bike Snob NYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) and the Bike Doctor for The Enlightened Cyclist Group Ride prior to the book signing Thursday, April 12th, 2012 - Starting at Bike Doctor on Broadway at 6:15PM.
The Ride:
We'll meet up at 137 W Broadway at ...
City of Vancouver Cultural Infrastructure Grant Reminder
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Would your Vancouver-based cultural non-profit organization benefit from new, more or better space?
The Cultural Infrastructure Grant can help with:
Feasibility studies
Demand or needs assessments
Building program plans (space planning)
Fundraising or capital campaign planning
Architectural or engineering drawings
Renovations
Expansion
Accessibility improvements
Electrical, plumbing, heating upgrades
And more!
DEADLINE - Friday, May 04, 2012
For more information visit: - http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/cultural/gasp/grants/facilities/index.htm
Contact: Debra Bodner - debra.bodner@vancouver.ca
Urban Planet: Argentinian Book Patrol
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Argentinian artist, Raul Lemesoff, has transformed a 1979 Ford Falcon into a roving library. The vehicle, which used to belong to the Argentine armed forces, is now a 'Weapon of Mass Instruction.' While the Falcon generally roams the streets of Buenos Aires, it occasionally ...
April 6th, 2012
April 6, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Blaming Chinese for high house prices in Vancouver is racist [Vancouver Courier]
• TransLink executive bonuses set off storm of criticism [Globe and Mail]
• New night market to open in Richmond this summer [Inside Vancouver]
• TransLink revenue took a hit despite higher ridership, cross-border gas trips [Vancouver Sun]
• More Great Moments in Park Board History [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
• Metro Vancouver opposes any weakening of fish habitat rules [Surrey North Delta Leader]
• Gas tax take down, riders up at TransLink [Surrey North ...
City of Vancouver – Upcoming Workshops for Cultural Organizations
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Hot Topics in Social Purpose Real Estate
Brought to you by the Social Purpose Real Estate (SPRE) Table, a collaborative group that helps mission-driven organizations with their real-estate needs. We are The Central City Foundation, City of Vancouver Cultural Services, Downtown Eastside Planning Group and Social Development, Real Estate Foundation of BC, Renewal Partners, Tides Canada and Vancity. Read more about us and our work here.
Join us for great presentations featuring local experts on social purpose real estate and illustrative case studies on buying, leasing, developing and ...
April 7th, 2012
April 7, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• BC's new home ownership measures helpful, but not for everyone [Vancouver Observer]
• In Vancouver, real estate to die for [Globe and Mail]
• Vancouver’s history goes digital [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Would You Be Better Off in a Different City? [The Atlantic Cities]
• Should Los Angeles New Yorkify? [The New York Times]
***
Spacing Saturday: Public Squares, Gould Street and The Dominion Building
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
Spacing's Shawn Micallef was fortunate enough to be part of a University of Toronto Architecture laneway studio this past semester. Micallef brings the intriguing results of this studio in a series of posts on ideas of laneways uses at sites throughout the city.
Ryerson University students have finally succeeded in their long running campaign to close Gould Street to cars in the heart of the campus. Daniel Viola discusses the vote that lead to the creation of Ryerson Square and the site's future potential.
At Elgin and Queen Streets in downtown Ottawa, historic photos show how space has been opened up to enhance public vistas.
Along Wellington Street however similar photos show how building mass has increased significantly, filling a different demand of government.
Allanah Heffez continues her discussion of Montreal's tendencies to marginalize its homeless population at Berri Square, citing conflicting desires to simultaneously clean up the area while keeping tourists away from it.
Continuing the theme of public squares, Allanah Heffez also looked at the history of Square Chaboillez a space currently occupied by the Montreal Planetarium which as seen it boundaries re-drawn numerous times and now faces another period of uncertainty.
April 8th, 2012
April 8, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
INTERNATIONAL
• The Curious Case of the 'Imposturbs' [The Atlantic Cities]
• U.S. PIRG Report: Young Americans Dump Cars for Bikes, Buses [Streetsblog]
• Meet the megapolitans and their need for rail, collaboration [Crosscut]
***
April 9th, 2012
April 9, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver mayor, councilors invited to Downtown Eastside discussion [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver's bagpipe ban prompts outcry [Globe and Mail]
• Private landowner sets sight on land around Delta’s Burns Bog [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Stopping Climate Change Is Much Cheaper Than You Think [Mother Jones]
• A 3-D Tool To Let Urban Planners Visualize Traffic, Noise, And Pollution [Fast Company Co.Exist]
• CicLAvia Rules! How Bicyclists Made L.A. a Better Place [LA Weekly]
• Is the Future of Mobility Electric? Learning from Contested Storylines of Sustainable Mobility in Iceland [European Planning Studies]
• ...
The vague terrain of art in the generic city
By Don Schuetze // No Comments
The same day Beyond Vague Terrain: The City and the Serial Image closed at the Surrey Art Gallery, Artswest had an exhibition in the new Surrey Library.
Artswest is an amateur artists' group. If you think of grandmas with paint boxes you'll get a sense of the type of art here. I'm sure you could find something to match the couch.
The new Surrey Library is part of the development of a city core for B.C.'s second-largest city. Anchored at one end with the Central City tower, straddling the Surrey Central Skytrain station, and reaching north to encompass a recreation centre, the new library, a new city hall (now just a hole in the ground), a spectacular hotel/convention/living tower in the offing, and there is even more potential the further north you go.
The Surrey Art Gallery, in contrast, is 12 blocks due south along the King George Highway, a major north/south artery. That's a mile-and-a-half. Here's a bit of trivia: there are eight Surrey blocks in a mile, 12 in a Vancouver (or city) mile. If you're not driving you'll need to catch the number 325 bus, grab a cab or walk along the highway.
And somehow this geography and coincidence of exhibitions seems to sum up both the concepts that inform the pieces in Vague Terrain, and the peculiar nature of a public art gallery in this not-quite-urban setting.
Price Points: An Easter House
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
The perfect home for Easter: magnolias in the front yard, daffodils on the boulevard, arcs of eggs strung over the stairs, and probably a ham cooking in the oven.
And where might this cosy abode be found?
Less than half a kilometre from Burrard and Robson, one of the city's busiest intersections. At 1063-69 Barclay Street, a half-block from the YMCA, it's tucked into the eclectic landscape of the West End, maintaining the architectural diversity of a neighbourhood which still contains every residential style this city ...
Urban Planet: Seasteading – Floating Tech Cities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Silicon Valley has long been known as a hub for tech innovation, but unfriendly US immigration policies sometimes keep foreign innovators out. Marty Max, a Cuban immigrant, and Dario Mutabdzija, of the former Yugoslavia, have proposed a floating city for foreign innovators to get around ...
April 10th, 2012
April 10, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Metro Vancouver residents fear transit fare hike will lead to more cheating [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. police boards and community engagement [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• Shale Shocked: ‘Remarkable Increase’ In U.S. Earthquakes ‘Almost Certainly Manmade,’ USGS Scientists Report [Climate Progress]
• The De-Bikification of Beijing [The Atlantic Cities]
• APA Seeks to Rejuvenate Planning Profession at National Conference in Los Angeles [California Planning & Development Report]
• What's the secret sauce for Seattle's global reach? [Crosscut]
***
Visual Notes for Architects and Designers – Second Edition
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Author: Norman Crowe and Paul Laseau (John Wiley & Sons, 2012)
As children, we all loved to draw. Be it for recreation or otherwise taking a pencil, pen or marker to paper was something that was extremely enjoyable. Houses. Flowers. Dragons. People. And all sorts of other weird and wonderful things were created without self-consciousness or inhibition. It was just plain fun and was one of the primary means we interacted with - and learned about - the world around us.
Given that drawing predates the written word and that wide-spread literacy is a relatively recent phenomenon, drawing was one of the primary means of communication for human civilization for the vast majority of our time on this earth. As such, we owe much of humanity's finest achievements to this humble act.
These two basic facts make our perception of drawing as we mature and grow into adulthood that much more peculiar - as most people choose to replace one form of drawing (the representational and abstract depictions we practice as children) for another (writing) and claim the former as being the domain of the arts-related fields.
This is simply not the case and as Norman Crowe and Paul Laseau clearly showed in the first edition of Visual Notes For Architects and Designers written in 1984, such a distinction is clearly detrimental to learning and thinking as a whole - particularly for those who seek a more sophisticated understanding of the world around them, in the broadest sense. Twenty-eight years and a digital revolution later, Crowe and Laseau have updated and expanded on the themes introduced in their first edition.
Urban Planet: Chalktrail
By Hilary Best // 1 Comment
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.
What's more fun than sidewalk chalk and a bicycle? Scott Bauman of Washington has found an ingenious way to combine the two in Chalktrail - a bicycle attachment that allows a rider to leave a chalk trail behind them. Bauman is currently raising funds ...
April 11th, 2012
April 11, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Residential development proposed for Avalon Dairy property [Vancouver Courier]
• CNN profiles Vancouver in two-part series [OpenFile]
• Richmond poised to take stand on genetically modified crops [Vancouver Sun]
• Who Does What? – Comparing how we get to work [Price Tags]
• Six new greenway additions coming soon to Surrey [Civic Surrey]
• Governance reform, audit unveiled for TransLink [Surrey Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Crisis in American Walking [Slate]
• The Architect Critic Is Dead (just not for the reason you think) [ArchDaily]
• Why Generation Y is Causing the Great ...
Making Space for People on Robson Street
By Kathleen Corey // No Comments
Finding a place to sit on Robson Street can be tricky, especially when the sidewalks are overflowing with people. With the lines of buildings fixed, it can be a challenge to find space for public seating. Yet just off to the side is underutilized space waiting to be recognised as an opportunity for community design.
People enjoy walking along Robson to be seen while out for a stroll, some never knowing that one block down Bute is a quiet park block tucked into the West End's network of traffic calming. The West End mini-parks are paved traffic calmers, often with plantings, serving as meeting or resting hubs.
Parks Board Meeting – “A-maze-ing Laughter” at Morton Park
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8196" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Yue Minjun's A-Mazing Laughter located in Morton Park. Image courtesy of Sean Cranbury."][/caption]
The result from the public consultation in March of the proposed long term loan/donation of “A-maze-ing Laughter” at Morton Park will be presented to the Park Board Commissioners at its regular meeting.
Date: April 16, Monday
Time: 7pm
Location: Park Board Administration Office, 2099 Beach Avenue
If you are interested in speaking before the Board with regards to this proposal please register with one of the Meeting Coordinators by noon on April 16, Monday.
Barinder Lalli, Telephone: 604.257.8453, Email: ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Plan your zombie escape route
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Ever visit a new city and have a hard time getting the lay of the land? What will you do once you check into your hotel, turn on the news and find out that legions of undead picked your vacation week to rise up with brain-eating fervor?
Map of the Dead has you covered.
Using data ...
April 12th, 2012
April 12, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver's urban farmers [CNN]
• The Commissioner’s review and planning for the future [The Buzzer Blog]
• Vancouver changes its tune, lets buskers play bagpipes [Globe and Mail]
• Major cuts only option left for TransLink [Globe and Mail]
• Public supports keeping A-Maze-ing Laughter in Vancouver [OpenFile]
• Park board set to approve plans for new park next to Trillium sports fields [OpenFile]
• Sad Times for TransLink – and the Region [Price Tags]
• Auditing Translink [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Lush Walls Rise to Fight a Blanket of Pollution ...
Michael Kluckner’s latest book – Vanishing Vancouver: The Last 25 Years
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Spacing Vancouver is excited to announced the launch of Michael Kluckner's newest book - Vanishing Vancouver: The Last 25 Years. This is the fifteen book this well-known local historian and artist has released! And if any of his past works are an indication of what to expect, this one is sure to be worthy of a spot on your bookshelf.
Michael is inviting anybody and everybody interested in the history of Vancouver to any of the following events:
May 3rd (Thursday), 7 pm: launch party at People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8213" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Byron Barrett."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Many residents in Coquitlam are cheering with recent news of the significant drop in marijuana grow operations in the city due to the municipality's efforts to crack down on homes found to have high power consumption.
The mayors of Surrey, White Rock, Delta, the two Langleys and Abbotsford are pulling together ...
Call to Artists or Artist Teams: Urban Art Project “InSitu”, Confederation Boulevard, Ottawa
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call to Artists or Artist Teams, National Capital Commission
Urban Art Project: InSitu, Confederation Boulevard, Ottawa
Budget: $45,000
Deadline: May 7, 2012, 3:00 pm (Ottawa local time)
The National Capital Commission (NCC) is seeking artists, landscape architects, architects and any other Canadian design professionals who have innovative ideas, for its 2012 InSitu project which goal is to create unusual and compelling rest areas along Confederation Boulevard through artistic and functional interventions. The NCC wants to highlight Canadian artistic excellence to enrich the National Capital Region's (NCR) visitors' experience throughout the tourist summer season. Overlooking ...
City of Surrey Call for Proposals: Surrey Urban Screen
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Call for Proposals: Surrey Urban Screen, City of Surrey
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Submission Deadline: May 8, 2012, midnight PST
Surrey Urban Screen is an advertising-free outdoor public art venue for digital media art projections. Exhibitions appear 30 minutes after sunset, and conclude at midnight. Surrey Urban Screen is Canada's largest, permanent, non-commercial screen, and presents digital artwork by regionally and internationally significant artists.
Surrey Urban Screen is used as an outreach venue by the Surrey Art Gallery, with the Gallery commissioning new works for exhibition at this site.
Surrey Urban Screen is located at:
Chuck Bailey ...
Urban Planet: Jungles in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
The population of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward has decreased by 85% since 2000. Without owners to tend the lots and given the region's fertile soil, much of the neighbourhood has been reclaimed by nature. Nathaniel Rich at the New York Times writes, "trees that ...
April Urbanist Meetup, Sunday, April 15, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
After a week's delay due to Easter weekend, the Vancouver Urbanists Meetup is back!
This month marks a making a long overdue return to Commercial Drive. We'll be meeting on April 15th from 3-5pm, at The Charlatan (1447 Commercial Drive). Come out to enjoy a drink, say hi to your fellow urbanists, and discuss the latest in Vancouver urban planning and development.
As always, feel free to drop in when you can and stay as long as you want. We'll be there from 3 pm until at least 5 pm. If ...
April 13th, 2012
Water is Life: What healthy water means to us all – May 19, 2012
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Please join the False Creek Watershed Society on Saturday May 19th at the Roundhouse Community Centre from 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM as we spend an afternoon with like-minded people to discuss what healthy water means to us all!
Everyone welcome / Free Event
Snacks / Wheelchair accessible
Confirmed speakers are (more to come):
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. ...
Sim City: A Better Look at Spacington.
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
While Spacington gets a little bit larger (the population is now up to 100, 000), and we try to get a jump start on the two things we are going to talk about next week — city slums and public transit — here are some photos to give a closer look at Spacington. Like always, let us know your feedback on what has been going on in Spacington.
High-density commercial building next to the university. This building is one of the few new business "tower" buildings in Spacington.
Just over 2 weeks left to enter Spacing’s Creative Mapping Contest
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
COST: Free!
Urban Planet: Ikea Neighbourhood
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Move over Ektorp and Lack - Ikea is moving out of the living room and into the world of urban planning. The furniture giant's land development arm, LandProp, is developing a series of all-rental private neighbourhoods. The first, Strand East, will be located in ...
City of Vancouver invites submissions for 2012 Book Award
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Authors and publishers of books that contribute to the appreciation and understanding of Vancouver's history, unique character or the achievements of its residents are invited to submit entries for the 24th annual City of Vancouver Book Award.
The winning book can be of any genre and will demonstrate excellence in content, illustration, design, and/or format. To be eligible, books must be published in 2011 or 2012 and meet the application criteria.
All entries must include: four copies of the book, a $20 submission fee, and a completed entry form. Entry forms and ...
April 14th, 2012
April 14, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Mayors vote to cancel TransLink expansion rather than hike property taxes [Globe and Mail]
• North Vancouver City seeks proposals for 6 social housing units [Vancouver Sun]
• Shocking the Suburbs [Stephen Rees's Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Sidewalk Science [Slate]
• How to Enjoy L.A. Arts and Culture Without a Car [LA Weekly]
• The Elegant History of Shanghai's Rundown Communal Villas [The Atlantic Cities]
***
Spacing Saturday: Vague Terrane, the Missing Middle and Place d’Armes
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As talk of Ford's subway notion subsides, transit advocates are turning their attention to a badly needed downtown relief line. But in light of urban/suburban divide and conquer politics, the search is on for a better name for the proposed line. Spacing put the question to readers and received over a hundred ideas.
With the Hot Docs film festival set to get underway, Jacqueline Whyte Appelby starts a look at some the screenings which may of particular interest to Spacing readers.
Drained for the spring, a contemporary view down the final leg of the Rideau Canal reveals how much space has been opened up along the waterway since the 1920's.
Alexandre Laquerre compares post card images of Ottawa's evolving museum scene at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Allanah Heffez assesses the redesign of the historic Place d'Armes, which has been central to Montreal for over 300 years. The new design strives to integrate the square into the surrounding area and to better organize traffic.
Guillaume St-Jean uses the Montage du Jour feature to look at the intensification and reorganization which has taken place over 80 years along boulevard de Maissonneuve in central Montreal.
April 15th, 2012
April 15, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver celebrates Jim Green's life [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• What’s Your Walk Score? [Slate]
• Big Box Stores Linked To the Presence of Hate Groups [The Atlantic Cities]
***
April 16th, 2012
April 16, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Dockyard of the damned: Vancouver Island's hidden shipwrecks [Globe and Mail]
• A Loving Send-off for Jim Green [The Tyee]
• Charles Hou Given The Vancouver Historical Society’s Award of Merit [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
INTERNATIONAL
• The rise of women’s role in society: impacts on housing and communities [Fused Grid]
• Is The Era of Smart Growth Over? [California Planning & Development Report]
• Greening an Entire Block Instead of Just One Building [The Atlantic Cities]
• Crunch commuter data to track changing communities [New Scientist]
• CicLAvia: ...
Price Points: The Goldilocks Campus
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
Why, when compared to its predecessors, is this space just about right?
.
This is the Atrium at Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus - a part of the award-winning, mixed-use complex designed by Bing Thom. The campus is an anchor for Surrey Central City, which with a refurbished shopping centre and office tower has become the signature development for the regional town centre once known as Whalley.
Mapping Vancouver Crime – Part 1
By Ian Lowrie // 4 Comments
[Editor's Note: The relationship between crime and urban form is an important, but under-discussed, phenomenon. As such, it is our pleasure to give the Spacing Vancouver readers a three-part series by contributor Ian Lowrie who is attempting to looking at Vancouver crime patterns.]
Living in Vancouver I always believed the city to be a mostly safe place. Even the “rougher” parts of town never gave me much trouble with a little common sense, and as long as I wasn’t a targeted gang member eating at a downtown steakhouse, I have usually felt safe.
This is why I was surprised to see Vancouver ranked so high on Maclean’s magazine round up of the most dangerous Canadian cities. Not only are the highest national crime rates coming from cities in the west of the country, but Vancouver proper is ranked at an intimidating 18, which is well above other major metropolitans like Toronto at 52 and Ottawa at 74. The rankings are based on six criminal offences: aggravated assault, robbery, homicide, breaking and entering, auto theft and sexual assault.
I recommend taking a look at Maclean’s interactive crime map of Canada for the full comparison.
In 2010 I became interested in mapping Vancouver crime as a means of learning about the spatial qualities that contribute to criminal activity. Admittedly, I began the exercise with the naïve perception that the most dangerous things in this city are loose granola on bike paths and closing Skytrain doors. However, I was quick to learn that behind the Cascadian zeal of group hugs and Ecotopia is a backstory of dark urban crime.
Landform Building
By Larraine Henning // No Comments
Edited by Stan Allen & Marc McQuade (Lars Müller Publishers 2011)
For centuries the discipline of architecture has drawn from the axioms of nature to both provoke and legitimize design. From form generation to structural precedents to ornament and organization, the phenomena and magnetism of the natural world has served dutifully as an inspiration to the many facets of architectural design.
This relationship between the natural landscape and architecture is thus not new or at all revolutionary, it was forged long ago, yet it persists today ...
Urban Planet: Comparing Transit in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
What happens when a Los Angeleno rides Toronto's TTC and Montreal's Metro? Blogger Tim Adams did just that and his discovered some interesting contrasts between the three transit systems. Adams take-aways include: Canadian politicians don't take transit; our subways are graffiti-free; our stations leave ...
Crowdsourcing, Citizen Engagement and Open Innovation Workshop—April 19th 8am
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Ideavibes and PlaceSpeak will be offering a workshop in Vancouver on Crowdsourcing, Citizen Engagement and Open Innovation:
Details
Date: Thursday April 19, 2012
Time: 8:00 to 10:15 am
Place: TIDES Canada at #304 – 163 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Price: $20 includes breakfast – Registration Required
To register and for more details, please visit: http://ideavibesvancouver.eventbrite.com/
The workshop will focus on social media, citizen engagement and open innovation for Public and private organizations looking to enhance engagement and open innovation.
Ideavibes CEO, Paul Dombowsky, and PlaceSpeak CEO, Colleen Hardwick, will discuss the power of ...
Culture Days 2012 – Early Registration Reminder
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The third annual Culture Days weekend of celebrating arts and culture takes place across Canada from September 28 – 30, 2012. Members of Vancouver’s arts and cultural community are encouraged to participate and reminded that early registration of activities is now open at www.culturedays.ca.
According to the Culture Days 2011 National Report, nearly 800 communities participated across Canada last year. Vancouver ranked in the top ten communities for the total number of registered events over the weekend.
Culture Days is a Canada-wide volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation ...
April 17th, 2012
April 17, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• David Suzuki forced to resign from board of foundation by "vicious" media attacks [Vancouver Observer]
• Vancouver council advised to reduce size of proposed tower [Globe and Mail]
• Mayors, TransLink grapple with $45-million transit question [Globe and Mail]
• By the numbers: Vancouver's first quarter crime statistics [OpenFile]
• Downtown Eastside residents sound the DISPLACEMENT alarm [The Mainlander]
• TransLink CEO defends 'bonuses', decries 'disheartening' media coverage [Vancouver Sun]
• Developer opts for marketing over sustainability [Civic Surrey]
• Greenest facility 'on the planet' opens doors at UniverCity [Burnaby ...
Urban Planet: Remarkable Parking Garages
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
The classic brick and limestone building pictured above is a beautiful feature of Michigan State University’s campus. But would you believe that this gem is actually a 730 car parking facility? Rana Florida of the Creative Class Group catalogues some architectural beauties that serve ...
Annual Top Ten Endangered Sites Bus Tour & Launch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Annual Top Ten Endangered Sites Bus Tour & Launch
DATE: Saturday, May 5, 2012
TIME: 1:00pm to 5:00pm (loading begins at 12:30 and bus departs at 1pm SHARP)
LOCATION: Meet in the Vancouver Museum Parking Lot, 1100 Chestnut St.
ADMISSION: $30.00; Heritage Vancouver Members $25.00
Ticket purchase online:
hvs-topten2012.eventbrite.ca
Note: We've added a second bus, since the first bus has already sold out.
Climb aboard two Transit Museum Society (TRAMS) historic buses for an exclusive guided tour of Heritage Vancouver's 2012 Top Ten Endangered sites. Be the first to know what sites are on the Top Ten this ...
ECUAD Continuing Studies presents Lloyd Kahn – Thursday, April 19th
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
This Thursday, Emily Carr University of Art + Design Continuing Studies is pleased to present:
Lloyd Kahn | Tiny Homes
7:00pm, Thursday, April 19, 2012
Free and open to the public
Tiny Homes is a visual presentation of the work of some 150 DIY builders: tiny homes, studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses, each on the forefront of downsizing and self-sufficiency. These structures, all under 500 sq. ft, are built on land, water, wheels and in trees.
Lloyd Kahn is a pioneer of the green building movement, a celebrated photographer, and the editor-in-chief of ...
April 18th, 2012
April 18, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver council approves Mount Pleasant tower [Vancouver Courier]
• TransLink suspends improvements to Langley communities [Globe and Mail]
• A-Maze-ing Laughter to stay in Vancouver, new park plan approved, and year-round hoops at Kits Beach [OpenFile]
• Billion-dollar Pacific Trails Pipeline expansion approved [Vancouver Sun]
INTERNATIONAL
• Want more bikers? Build more bike lanes. [The Washington Post]
• The new revolutionaries: Landscape architects reinvent urban parks [Grist]
• Why is the U.S. wealthier than Europe? Give credit to its cities. [The Washington Post]
• Sustainability By Any Other Name [Next American ...
What Can Vancouver Learn From Phoenix?
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Uptown Phoenix. Photo by Taz Loomans."][/caption]
[Editor's Note: Spacing Vancouver reader's are sure to recognize the name Yuri Artibise. As one of our regular contributors and an important urban voice in Vancouver, we are happy to re-publishing an interview called Life After Phoenix, a Retrospective: An Interview with Yuri Artibise done by Taz Loomans originally posted on Firefly: Illuminating Real Estate website. The discussion focuses on Yuri's Yuri’s thoughts about his time in Phoenix.]
•••
Taz Loomans: What do you miss most about Phoenix?
Yuri Artibise: I miss the weather, especially this time of year, but even in the summer, there is a quality to the sun light that you just don’t have in northern cities. I also miss the close-knit community of urbanists working together. While there is a great and very accomplished urban community in Vancouver, we are busy doing our own things and I haven’t been able to connect with others as closely as I did in Phoenix. It seems the adage that adversity brings people together is true, especially in an ‘urban desert’ like Phoenix.
Taz Loomans: What did Phoenix have the Vancouver doesn’t?
Yuri Artibise: Beside climate (and great tamales!), Phoenix has an affordability that Vancouver simply doesn’t; even before the economic downturn, Phoenix was an affordable place to follow your dream. This led to a more entrepreneurial culture that I miss. Vancouver has a lot of great things going on, but the high cost of living means that security comes first for a lot of people. Despite it’s often inward looking perspective the region has great potential as an incubator for social entrepreneurship.
Taz Loomans: What do you miss least about Phoenix?
Yuri Artibise: The lack of urban form in the city, even downtown. I still pinch myself when I walk outside and see almost everything I strove for during my time in Phoenix, realized in Vancouver, from walkable streets, to mixed used developments to bike lanes, even dog parks! If anything Vancouver may be a bit TOO livable ;-) as it’s desirability have driven prices sky-high. (As a result, real estate is the number one topic of most discussions, as it was in Phoenix, just for opposite reasons).
Frederick Varley’s Vancouver
By Eve Lazarus // 2 Comments
[caption id="attachment_8310" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Frederick Horsman Varley, Bridge Over Lynn Canyon, c.1932-1935 watercolour, gouache and chalk on paper, 21.8 cm x 26.3 cm. Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund VAG 96.3."][/caption]
The Vancouver Sun ran a front page story last week about a man who paid $100 for two paintings at a garage sale only to discover that one was a valuable Tom Thomson, and the other, an early watercolour by Group of Seven artist Frederick Varley. The unidentified man carted off his haul to Maynard’s in a shopping bag, where auctioneers conservatively valued the Thomson at $250,000, and somewhat less, but way over the garage sale price, for the Varley. The paintings go under the hammer May 16, so with all the national attention they could go a lot higher.
I was thinking about how Varley would have enjoyed this story as I walked my dog past his former North Vancouver digs. The old green house is across from the pipeline bridge on Rice Lake Road, a few minutes walk from The End of the Line, general store. Varley, one of the Group of Seven’s most notorious painters, lived there in the 1930s.
Always broke, Varley moved to BC in 1926 to teach at a Vancouver art school and lived briefly at Jericho Beach with his wife Maud and their four kids. Soon after arriving, Varley began an affair with Vera, a former student and art model and the same age as his daughter Dorothy.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: That’s elephants over the bridge
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
One year after it was opened, the Brooklyn Bridge was still a topic of skepticism for New Yorkers—many still believed that it would crumble into the East River under the weight of commuters.
In 1884, P.T. Barnum organized a publicity stunt to show off the structural integrity of the bridge. With much spectacle, he held a procession of elephants and ...
April 19th, 2012
April 19, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• A look at the revived luxury condo project on West Georgia [OpenFile]
• Addressing the Commissioner’s Review and the Mayors’ Council decision [The Buzzer Blog]
• City hall longs for longer buses in Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Metro Vancouver has dirtier transportation than France [Vancouver Observer]
• Project to enliven unused bus shelter catches TransLink's attention [OpenFile]
• 1 free tip for the TransLink mayors [Fraseropolis]
• TransLink CEO won't discuss fairness issue [BC Local News]
INTERNATIONAL
• In California, Economic Gap of East vs. West [The New York Times]
• Studies ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8514" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Los Paseos."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
The Cowichan Watershed Board feels something needs to be done about the fact that 28 per cent of residents in Duncan and North Cowichan don't know the source of their water with even fewer knowing how much money they spend annually on water. This makes me wonder what the percentage is in Metro Vancouver. Pop quiz: Where does the Lower Mainland's water comes from? Feel free to comment below....and there is a freebie two paragraphs down.
Burnaby city council unanimously approved a contract worth $950,000 with MCW Custom Energy Solutions for Phase 2 of the city’s 2011/2012 Building Performance Improvements Project that looks to improve buildings' green performance.
Urban Planet: Old Maps Online
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Google Maps has revolutionized the way we approach cartography, but really old specimens have a je ne sais quoi that is tough to replicate in digital form. Old Maps Online, an initiative of the The Great Britain Historical GIS Project and ...
April 20th, 2012
Sim City: City Amenities, Inconveniences, Opportunities
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Among the many features in Spacington—A university, city hall, jail and courthouse, major league baseball station, golf course, harbour, boat docks and shops, a beach, medical research center, a municipal airport, a convention center, etc -there are some unique features readers may not be aware of. Some of these features are cherished amenities, a few of them are inconvenient eye sores, and some are simple opportunities for community rebirth, space for development or growth. Anyway, here are some things you maybe didn't know were in Spacington:
April 20, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Funding shortage cripples (postpones) TransLink's planned expansion [Vancouver Sun]
• New Emily Carr U campus hopes to be a mixed use focal point for the City [Vancouver Courier]
• The East Village (Hastings Sunrise) naming fight isn't over [OpenFile]
• Musqueam propose land swap to protect Marpole midden [Globe and Mail]
• Richmond to be transformed by wave of developments, says mayor [Vancouver Sun]
• Lloyd Kahn's marvelous little world of scaled-back housing in BC [The Tyee]
CANADA
• Historic Eamon’s gas station sign to add character to new LRT station design [CBC]
• Montreal debating Needle Exchange and ...
Urban Planet: Scoring Walk Score
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Launched in 2007, Walk Score is a popular website for evaluating the walkability of a particular address or neighbourhood. Embraced (for the most part) by both the planning and real estate communities, Walk Score provides a single number which translates a variety of complex ...
Hot Topics: Space Needs Analysis Workshop: Tuesday, April 24
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Hot Topics: Space Needs Analysis Workshop: Tuesday, April 24
If you need answers to any of the following questions , our next workshop, Tuesday, April 24th, is for YOU.
Do you know how much space you really need for your organization?
Do you know how to arrange that space to best meet your needs?
What is the correct layout for public vs. private areas?
Do you know how much space you'll need in 2 years?
How do you plan for growing or shrinking your office space in the future?
You are invited to attend:
________________________________
April 24, 2012 | ...
April 21st, 2012
April 21, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Where there's smoke there's fire. How is it that Pot generates one of the City's largest public events? [Vancouver Sun]
• Translink cuts Vice President of Policy and Planning, Mike Shiffer [Surrey Leader]
• Even with Funding, Can the Canada Line Be Extended? [Stephen Rees's Blog]
• It's Spreading: Food trucks come to Downtown Surrey with PARKit [Civic Surrey]
• Federal and Provincial Politicians Debate Over ALR and Port Lands Development [South Delta Leader]
CANADA
• Public Process Ongoing for Proposed Revelstoke Bike Routes [BC Local News]
• Man-made ...
April 22nd, 2012
VIDEO: The Social Life of Small Places
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
William Whyte got it right: the legendary urbanist created the film "The Social Life of Small Places" that has become one of the best learning tools for students, professionals, and urbanists about understanding the dynamics of public spaces.
The films is almost an hour long, but its worth that watch on a Sunday afternoon.
April 22, 2012 Earth Day Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
HAPPY EARTH DAY
LOCAL
• Five Fun Things to Do this Earth Day [Vancouver Sun]
• B.C. greenhouse uses captured and stored CO2 to grow food [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Earth Day's ups and downs reflect changing environmental movement [CBC]
INTERNATIONAL
• The Rise of the Green City [The Atlantic Cities]
• Step by Step Illustrated Guide to Combat Climate Change Denial [The New York Times]
• Optimistic Visions of the World After the Oil Runs Out [IO9]
• Turning unused rooftops into thriving urban farms and community spaces in Mumbai
[Places: Design Observer]
• Santa Monica gets its first ...
April 23rd, 2012
Price Points: Beauty = Waste
By Gordon Price // 2 Comments
What's going on behind the shrink wrap?
.
They're doing work on the exterior of the Dal Grauer Substation on Burrard Street (map here) - a critical piece of the electrical system that transforms voltage from high to low.
This is what it looked like after the plexiglass panels had faded:
But originally it looked like this:
Big Green: On the pros and cons of the new city megaparks
By Christine McLaren // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2419" align="aligncenter" width="558" caption="Photo: used by permission under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 License from Chris(UK)"][/caption]
[Editor's Note: Former Vancouver reporter Christine McLaren is traveling around the world as the resident blogger for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile think tank investigating solutions to urban problems. In October the project wrapped up its three-month run in New York City -- which featured programming by Vancouver author Charles Montgomery -- and will travel next to Berlin, and on to Mumbai. This story originally appeared on the Lab's blog, the Lab|log.]
Few in this day and age would contest the value of any land being set aside for the creation of public green space, and I am certainly not one of them.
But when it comes to the benefits we derive from park space in a city, it is worth considering if bigger is necessarily better.
Earlier this month the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, and various other agencies made an announcement that caught the eye of many a public space advocate: the construction of the largest urban park in the continental United States.
Mapping Vancouver Crime – Part 2
By Ian Lowrie // No Comments
[Editor's Note: We are pleased to present the second part of Ian Lowrie's investigation into Vancouver crime patterns. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.]
In Part One of Mapping Vancouver Crime, we looked at intensities of crime at the scale of the entire city as well as its relationship to topography and density. The maps are not intended to deduce the most dangerous neighbourhoods of Vancouver but are rather meant to illustrate at different scales where crime is happening in Vancouver and to take a critical look at the built form of those places.
In Part Two, we zoom in on some of the most affected areas of the city in search for finer grain spatial trends. The following maps give readers information on commercial and residential break-ins at different scales.
April 23, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• City of Vancouver to weed out laws impeding agriculture [Vancouver Sun]
• PavCo challenges Vancouver float-plane terminal over safety concerns [Globe and Mail]
• What's making Vancouver a bastion for geek culture? FanExpo2012 this weekend was the city's largest Con [OpenFile]
• Surrey continues steps towards sustainability [Civic Surrey]
CANADA
• Earth Day rally draws massive crowd in Montreal [CBC]
• Calls for a National Integrated Transit Plan for Canadian Cities [OpenFile]
• Wishes for Vision as Toronto seeks a new chief planner [Toronto Star]
• Ex-urban development fight in Quebec ends in ...
Urban Planet: Dumpster Camera
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Colossal reports on the artistic exploits of a group of garbagemen in Hamburg, Germany. By drilling a hole and suspending a sheet of photo paper inside, this group has turned dumpsters into pinhole cameras. The results are incredible - check them out at ...
STRAPHANGER: A week of excerpts from Taras Grescoe’s new book
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Shanghai, China
For first-time car buyers on the floor of the Shanghai Auto Show, the future looks bright, if not downright dazzling. Throughout the cavernous showrooms, lithe motor-show girls in shimmering nylon evening gowns and leatherette mini skirts drape themselves over aerodynamic fenders, like molten watches drizzled over branches in a Dalí landscape. On rotating platforms, surrealistic concept cars languidly pirouette: the Geely McCar, a tiny hybrid with an outsized hatchback that pops up to release a three-wheeled electric motorcycle, and the chrome-grilled Engrand GE, which features a V-8 engine, rear seat massagers, and a built-in refrigerator that, according to the brochure, “gives access to mobile joy.”
Caught in the crush, a visitor is torn between amusement and awe; it’s hard not to chuckle at cars with names like the Great Wall Wingle Pick Up, the Jiangling Landwind, or the Book of Songs. At the same time, the audacity of China’s carmakers is impressive: the Noble is a near replica of Daimler’s Smart, the Lifan 320 appears to be a clone of a Mini Cooper, and the Dongfeng Crazy Soldier looks like the love child of a Humvee and a Tonka truck. Every few minutes, cameras flash and applause ripples through the showrooms as another “delivery ceremony” is completed: a proud owner is presented with flowers, a framed photo, and a bag of gift s as he is handed the keys to his brand-new Lavida, Cowin, or Beauty Leopard.
The lust to buy is almost palpable. Fourteen million cars were sold in China last year, which means the country has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest automobile market. Over eight days, three-quarters of a million people will pass through the seventeen hangar-like halls of the Shanghai Auto Show — which has now surpassed New York’s to become the world’s largest — lining up for their chance to caress vinyl, shift gears, and slam doors, publicly dreaming of owning modernity’s ultimate consumer item: the private automobile.
The big news at this year’s auto show is that subcompacts are no longer at center stage, and major manufacturers have relegated hybrids and electrics to the sidelines as they promote old-fashioned gasoline-powered sedans. For years, the Chery QQ, a fuel-efficient, jellybean-shaped bumper car that retailed for less than $5,000, was the nation’s most popular automobile. Lately, though, the aspiring middle class has set its sights higher. China’s best-selling car is now the BYD F3, a four-door sedan that bears more than a passing resemblance to a Toyota Corolla, with a sticker price of $9,300. The popularity of the F3, which sold over a quarter of a million units in 2010, is a sign that Chinese consumers have made the Great Leap Forward from economy to midsize.
April 24th, 2012
Urban Ecological Design: A Process for Regenerative Places
By Kevin Zhang // No Comments
Authors: Danilo Palazzo and Frederick Steiner (Island Press, 2012)
Urban Ecological Design: A Process for Regenerative Places takes a very comprehensive and detailed look at urban design. The book is structured to reflect a 10-step process to urban design developed by the authors called the “not-only-one-solution” process. The ten steps are: processes, prerequisites, knowledge, synthesis, options, dialogues, master plan, presentation, details, and implementation.
The book is both brilliant and disappointing, at the same time. While it is filled with an overwhelming amount of urban design history, ...
April 24, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Michael Geller [Developer] and Andrea Reimer [councillor] differ on prescription on eve of housing affordability forum [Vancouver Sun]
• Parking meter revenue acts as a barometer for retail districts [Vancouver Sun]
• Park Board motion aims to protect Vancouver beaches from oil spill threat [Vancouver Observer]
• One of the last Restaurant trains ride into history [BC Local News]
• Downtown Eastside residents turfed from controversial condo planning consultation [Vancouver Observer]
• City agrees to let East is East on Main St. keep its "organic" facade [OpenFile]
• Plans for bike and pedestrian paths to ...
STRAPHANGER: Vancouverism and smart transit planning
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Vancouver
It’s hard not to see Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Oregon, as the long-lost twins of Cascadia, separated when they were still young. Both were born as Gold Rush boomtowns, and both grew up as Pacific Northwest regional centers with thriving ports and economies based on logging and resource extraction. Both developed streetcar and interurban networks, and count smaller areas of postwar suburban sprawl than similar-size North American cities. Both opted for regional governance in the 1970s, Portland with Metro, Vancouver with the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver).
Vancouver doesn’t have a growth boundary, but it has de facto limits to growth, both geographical — the Pacific Ocean to the west, steep mountains to the north and east, and the United States border to the south — and legal, in the form of a large stock of agricultural land forever protected from development. Both have central city populations of 600,000 in regions of just over two million. It is only now, in their early adulthood, that the twins are showing signs of following distinct life paths. Portland remains a regional center, a city comfortable with incremental growth. Vancouver has lately become an international hub, a model for its own brand of urbanism, and a futuristic city of glass towers bound together by the soaring elevated tracks of streamlined rapid transit.
I grew up in Vancouver. It was here, working as a courier, that I witnessed one too many accidents, and developed a lifelong aversion to traffic and cars. My family arrived in the ’70s, settling in a neighborhood of single family homes near the university. Streamlined Brill trolley buses, drawing power from overhead wires, ran down the nearest major artery, Dunbar Street, where only recently streetcars had run. The local housing ran from Tudor-style manses in Shaughnessy Heights, a neighborhood built on an eccentric garden city street plan, to stucco-coated Vancouver Specials, boxy working-class homes with low-pitched roofs and second-floor balconies. Coming from Toronto, Vancouver felt like the edge of the world, an outpost of the British empire experiencing a few timid blooms of alternative culture. This was the place I became a pre-adolescent urbanist, pacing out our block and building a model showing how, if you removed the cars, city streets could be made into parks.
When I visit these days — my parents and sister still call Vancouver home — I barely recognize the place. The shock begins when I get off the plane, walk among the totem poles of the coolly West Coast–themed airport, and wheel my bags to the elevated SkyTrain station. The Canada Line, completed for the 2010 Winter Olympics, whisks passengers in Koreanmade electric trains at 50 miles an hour toward the West End. As the driverless light-rail train crosses the Fraser River, I marvel at how thickets of office and condo towers, each cluster corresponding to a SkyTrain station, have cropped up at intervals of about a mile and a half, where once there was only low-rise suburbia. The single-family homes on small lots, which make Vancouver’s west side so reminiscent of East Portland, still exist, but they are now bordered by slickly designed, European-inspired condo blocks with names like City Square and Arbutus Walk. Arriving at the station in Yaletown, once a downtown district of forlorn ware houses, I’m surrounded by “see-throughs,” the slender condominium towers of pale green glass that rise against the snow-dusted coast mountains. After Manhattan, Vancouver’s downtown is now the second densest in North America. In my absence, the backwater of my youth seems to have morphed into a temperate-zone Singapore, a transformation that has spawned a new buzzword among urbanists: “Vancouverism.”
Urban Planet: Cracking Down on Chicago’s Food Trucks
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
“You can’t get me for premeditated selling of a cupcake,” says Chicago truck vendor Lupita Kuri. A police officer noted her intended location from a Facebook post and ticked her for parking in a loading zone. Food trucks are very popular in the windy ...
City of Surrey Request for Expressions of Interest: Grandview Aquatic Centre
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Request for Expressions of Interest, Calling Professional Artists and Artist Teams
Grandview Aquatic Centre, City of Surrey
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Budget: $310,000
Submission Deadline: May 23, 2012 4:00 pm PST
Expressions of Interest are sought for highly visible iconic art work exterior to the Grandview Aquatic Centre at its two entrances, with an opportunity to connect these exterior forms through the building interior. The artwork will be experienced as an unfolding visual narrative as people enter and move through the Aquatic Centre including passing over a bridge elevated over the pools.
THEME
The theme of this ...
April 25th, 2012
STRAPHANGER: The Copenhagen Syndrome
By Matthew Blackett // 2 Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Copenhagen
I was prepared to admire Copenhagen, grudgingly, as you might a doughty Lutheran aunt who prides herself on her strong opinions and sensible shoes. I didn’t expect to become infatuated with the place, jealous of those who got to live there year-round, and, to my wife’s annoyance, an advocate for an eventual emigration to Scandinavian climes.
I’ve been to more striking cities. Copenhagen is like a greatest hits of more glamorous destinations: it has the canals of Amsterdam, the squares of Florence, and the Baroque architecture of Vienna; there is even a single, New York– style modernist skyscraper (the SAS building, all of twenty stories). I’ve been to more exciting cities. Copenhagen’s biggest attraction is the Tivoli Gardens, a nineteenth-century amusement park complete with Ferris wheel and carousel, though the Lego Store and the Bodum Hus, where you can splurge on interlocking plastic bricks and functional coffeepots, are close runner-ups. And I’ve definitely been to balmier cities.
Copenhagen is windblown and rainy, and because it is at the same latitude as Ketchikan, Alaska, the winter sunset — when the sun deigns to appear at all — tends to come at mid-afternoon. Yet the scale of the place is perfect: Copenhagen is big enough to keep you interested, but small enough that you feel comfortable. In truth, though, the depth of my affection probably comes from the way I discovered Copenhagen.
During my first couple of days in the city, I walked and rode the two-line Metro. The brand-new system has state-of-the-art platform doors in its deep underground stations, and gleaming automated Italian-made trains, the kind that allow kids to sit in the front and watch the lights in the tunnel rush by. This being Northern Europe, there are no turnstiles, and passengers board on the honor system. (When I blundered on ticket-free on my first day, a platform attendant smiled indulgently and rode the escalators back to street level to give me a lesson on the proper use of the ticket machines.) From the central train station, eleven commuter train lines, run by Danish State Railways, extend deep into the suburbs. Cheerful orange buses, with low floors to allow easy entry for strollers and wheelchairs, run along most major streets. In fact, Copenhagen is the only city I’ve been where people complain there is too much public transport. When the Cityringen, a circle line that will add fifteen new stations, is completed in 2018, only the residents of the city’s most isolated districts will be more than a 600-yard walk from a Metro station.
April 25, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition becomes HUB to bring cycling to “mainstream” [Straight]
• After Orcas, Bears, & Eagles, a Terracotta army invades the city [Vancouver Sun]
• Development Permit Board okays controversial Sequel 138 project [Globe and Mail]
• Council and park board to formally oppose pipeline expansion [Vancouver Sun]
• Thousands of aging rental apartments at risk for redevelopment [BC Local News]
• Burnaby-Douglas MP calls for national housing strategy [BC Local News]
CANADA
• It was alive, it was dead and now Metrolinx is back to life, maybe [Globe and Mail]
• What ...
Collaborative CityStudio breaks new ground
By Ren Thomas // No Comments
“When have you had your most engaged life experience?” asked Janet Moore and Duane Elverum.
A rapt audience sat in silence for ten seconds.
“No one ever says they had their most engaged experience in a classroom, or at a computer,” Elverum said. “Typically it's when they've been connecting their passion with their work, often it's outside, they're often sharing a struggle with others, working with people to accomplish something they couldn't otherwise.”
Two years ago Moore, Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue, and Elverum, Assistant Professor in design at Emily Carr University, asked this question at a Vancouver Design Nerd Jam in Vancouver. They envisioned a collaboration between the City of Vancouver and postsecondary students, allowing students to work on long-term real-world projects. The idea quickly gained traction at the City, which had just launched its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Greenest City Planner Lindsay Cole asked Moore and Elverum to present their idea to the Mayor's panel. With strong support from the Greenest City team, CityStudio was launched in September 2011.
April 26th, 2012
STRAPHANGER: The Trouble with Downtown Los Angeles
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Los Angeles
In spite of heroic efforts at revival, downtown Los Angeles can be a pretty forlorn place, filled as it is with polo-shirted security guards on Smith & Wesson mountain bikes fruitlessly trying to herd panhandlers back to the “Nickel,” the city’s skid row. If you know where to look, though, you can catch glimpses of the future Los Angeles once imagined for itself, of enduring architecture and walkable public places, stitched together by rail rather than roads. My favorite piece of Southern California retro-tech is Angel’s Flight, a funicular railway whose two slant-floored cars still haul passengers 300 or so feet up to Bunker Hill, the skyscraper, museum, and concert hall — topped incline that is traditionally considered the heart of Downtown. On Broadway, a plaque in the sumptuously restored Bradbury Building, whose sky-lit interior is all lacquered filigree and exposed cog-works, informs visitors that its architecture was inspired by the 1888 novel Looking Backward, whose author imagined a future in which densely settled American cities would be full of colossal public buildings. One block away, on Hill Street, the words Subway Terminal Building are engraved in the pavement outside an old commercial building that has been converted into upscale condos and lofts. This was where the now-condemned Hollywood subway used to emerge from underground, a mile of tunnel completed in the 1920s in an attempt to solve the congestion problem once and for all by channeling streetcars beneath the pavement and out of the way of cars.
It is a reminder that Los Angeles was supposed to turn out a lot differently. Even as engineers were planning the freeway system that would blow the metropolis apart, ambitious rail schemes were being devised to reassert the hegemony of downtown. After the war, hundreds of business owners campaigned under the slogan “Rail Rapid Transit — Now!” to have mass transit rights-of-way built alongside freeways. In 1963, the Alweg Monorail company of Germany even offered to build Los Angeles a 43-mile monorail operation, for free. “Between 1948 and 1980,” writes transportation historian Martin Wachs, “at least six different plans that included some form of rail transit were placed before the citizens, and all failed to be enacted.”
An Overview of Vancouver’s New Official Community Planning Process
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
Vancouver has a rich history of urban planning and, this spring, the City of Vancouver is launching three new Community Plan processes in Grandview-Woodland, Marpole, and the West End neighbourhoods. A fourth neighbourhood planning program, for the Downtown Eastside, is also currently underway. When completed, these plans will provide clear but flexible frameworks to guide change and development in these established neighbourhoods over the next 20-30 years. As such, it's worth increasing our awareness of the processes currently occurring and what it means for the future of the city.
One of the most significant aspects of the Plan is that it is happening in older, settled neighbourhoods facing increased development pressures. The existing community plans for these areas were developed in the 1970s and 80s. Given the dramatic changes in Vancouver since that time, the existing plans clearly do not reflect the communities’ current challenges including issues around affordable housing, demographic changes and land-use.
A unique aspect of the new Community Plan is that it combines features of both the Community Visions process—used between 1995 and 2010—and the older Local Area Planning process—used between 1974 and 1995. This combination will facilitate addressing complex issues ranging from community-wide concerns about traffic, safety, and street level issues to sub-area plans relating to changes in land-use, commercial issues, and improvements to the public realm, as a whole.
April 26, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Planners oppose lowering Vancouver’s demands to developers [Vancouver Sun]
• A record number of people are applying to build laneway housing [CTV]
• The Royal City's urban revival [The Straight]
• Inside the Greater Vancouver Food Bank machine [The Tyee]
• TransLink unveils real-time bus tracking [BC Local News]
• Aldergrove: Salvaging a village in the deep ‘burbs [Fraseropolis]
CANADA
• Feds move to tighten supervision of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in reaction to over-extension in condo markets in big Canadian cities [CBC]
• How to get urban dwellers cycling: Make ...
Urban Planet: Unique Hydro Pylons
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Hydro pylons can be a bit of an eyesore. In response, Russian creative collective Design Depot has proposed a set of creative approaches to beautify this challenging piece of infrastructure. Spacing asks: is there potential to use these modified pylons in the urban environment? ...
April 27th, 2012
Sim City: Bus Shelters & International Business
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
Bus transit is big in Spacington. The city has adopted new lines, extended a few, and created a multi-city connection. Not bad, eh? Still not great. The Spacington folks are still only using 40% of the bus transit- 40% of the different routes and overall capacity. We have observed the lines, relocated a few things, but still the number teeters under 50%. Why don't they like buses? We tried losing the amount of buses for the optimal transit system- LRT -but for some reason Simingtons were even less trilled to use it.
So here is a map of a bus route in Spacington. This great route connects folks to a baseball stadium, local jobs, and residences from all over the top northern tip of Spacington. The route is straight, on major roads and avenues, and connects a slew of amenties in the city.
April 27, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Emery Barnes Park finally and formally opens, along with other city happenings this weekend [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver app developers build a social network for bus riders [Globe and Mail]
• New West public process making tough decisions on master transportation plan [Vancouver Sun]
• The Drive's Rio Theatre gets saved and goes wet [Open File]
• Plans moving ahead at Ladner waterfront [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Markham’s NHL bait: Will arena make bedroom community a city to rival Toronto?
[Toronto Star] [Globe and Mail]
• Rouge National Park on urban edge of Toronto gets good ...
STRAPHANGER: The Toronto tragedy
By Spacing Vancouver // 1 Comment
This week, Spacing presents five excerpts from Straphanger, the new book by Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe. The book examines the success stories, challenges, and future hurdles of 14 transit systems from across the world, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
TODAY: Toronto (last excerpt)
I’d always planned to end up in Toronto. After all, it was the city where I started.
I was born at the old Women’s College Hospital, near Queen’s Park station on the Yonge-University line, in 1966. At the time, my parents were renting a top-floor flat in a house on Lytton Boulevard, a short stroller’s push from Yonge Street; an auspicious first address for a newborn, it turned out, as it had belonged to one of the inventors of Pablum (his widow spoon-fed me the vitamin-rich baby mush, which may explain why I never developed rickets). When I was only four years old, my parents joined the exodus to suburbia, and we moved to a cookie-cutter bungalow on a curvy street in Burlington, twenty-five miles west along the shore of Lake Ontario from Union Station.
I used to wonder if this early exile from the city was the foundational trauma that led to my lifelong bias against subdivisions, but my Kodachrome-hued memories of Riverside Drive—of netting crayfish in the nearby creek, of walking to Frontenac Elementary School, and of pretending I was Bobby Orr in street hockey games—are for the most part fond, and at worst emotionally neutral. My parents tell me they bought the house as a short-term investment, but if they were hoping the suburbs would be a healthier setting than the city, they seriously misjudged Southern Ontario. Less than a mile from our carport were the multimillion-gallon storage tanks of the Oakville refinery, where British Petroleum was busy making jet fuel, and beyond a tiny stand of oaks known as Sherwood Forest Park lay the Queen Elizabeth Way—six lanes of rushing traffic that, in the days before emissions controls, must have created a formidable cancer corridor of leaded gas exhaust. My parents lasted two years in Burlington, before giving up on the land of loops-and-lollipops and bundling my sister and me onto a westbound train.
Urban Planet: Detroit’s 40 Square Miles of Vacant Land
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
It's well known that Detroit has experienced a large population decline leaving large swaths of land abandoned. The oft cited number is 40 square miles. But as Kate Davidson at Changing Gears reports, nobody is quite sure where that number came from. New ...
Creative Mapping Contest deadline on Monday!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012
COST: Free!
April 28th, 2012
Spacing Saturday: Large Urban Parks, Urban Alleyways and Transit Funding
By Marcus Bowman // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
As Saint John heads into a municipal election Abad Khan recaps a tumultuous year while attempting to frame the upcoming vote and the challenges the city faces moving forward.
Alexandre Laquerre uses historical images to show how government office blocks have dramatically altered the urban context in Hull.
My City Lives, takes readers on a three part guided tour of the historic 'Old Town Toronto' neighbourhood with guide Bruce Bell. The first installment introduces the broader neighbourhood, while the second looks at the iconic Gooderham Flatiron Building.
John Lorinc focuses on the topic of GTA transit funding, as the region looks to build off the momentum of the populist subway debates. Lorinc shares the results of a Spacing-Environics poll showing wide support for a gas tax and later goes into detail about the political difficulties ahead.
Alanah Heffez discusses how plans for rejuvenating a Montreal school yard were dashed when it was realized the green space will be expropriated for the impending expansion of the controversial expansion of the Turcot interchange.
A special guest contribution by Michael O'Shea reveals a fantastic winter use for underutilized urban alleys in the winter by showing an example of how one Montreal alley was converted into a hockey rink that created a neighbourhood gathering space.
April 28, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Stephen Quinn's tour of Our Dumb Vancouver [Globe and Mail]
• Transit cop suspended two days for tasing SkyTrain fare evader [Vancouver Sun]
• PNE Forum bans electronic music concerts after noise complaints [Straight]
• Surrey 'Parties for the Planet' for two days at Central City Plaza [Surrey Now]
• New Westminster Pier Park set to open with party on june 16 [Vancouver Sun]
• Eight B.C. mayors sign letter in support of marijuana legalization [Straight]
• Pickton inquiry: street nurse Bonnie Fournier wins fight to testify on missing women [Vancouver Observer]
CANADA
• ...
April 29th, 2012
April 29, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• Photos: Official opening of Emery Barnes Park [Vancouver Sun]
• NPA councillor wants policy change for parking reserve fund [OpenFile]
• Incoming SkyTrain connectivity to Tri-Cities worries youth worker [Vancouver Sun]
• Judy Rogers, Bob Rennie appointed to B.C. Housing board [Straight]
• Affordable housing a challenge for former Vancouver councillor, among others [OpenFile]
• Public meeting wanted on Stawamus Chief Provincial Park boundary [Straight]
• Visualizing BC's Climate Changed Future [The Tyee]
• Five Disasters to Befall BC [The Tyee]
CANADA
• National strategy proposed for TTC funding [CBC Radio]
• A brief history of Toronto's ...
April 30th, 2012
Price Points: The Final Opening of Emery Barnes Park
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
Price Points began last July with this image:
.
.
It's Emery Barnes Park, in the heart of Downtown South (map here). And it's time to return.
This weekend the park had an official opening. It wasn't the first, since the park has developed in stages since the turn of the century, at the time Downtown South - roughly the district east of Burrard between Robson and Pacific - was being considered for the transformation immediately evident today: now a 21st century West End.
The City had a long-established policy that wherever new residential development was being considered, it would be accompanied by new green space. The challenge in Downtown South was the absence of open land: to build a park required acquisition and demolition. Land had to be purchased, at market rates, in one contiguous piece. The cost would be in the millions: the park construction itself: $3 million; the acquisition of the land: probably ten times that.
It was here that the concept of Development Cost Charges was first used and embedded in the rezoning. For every square foot of development that occurred, there would be an imposition of about $6, consolidated by the city and to be used only for parks, child care and replacement low-income housing.
Some say cost charges are one of the reasons housing is so expensive in Vancouver, though that's disputed. There's no doubt the resulting use of those dollars adds value to the neighbourhood - a win-win. People get a park, and developers get an amenty which adds value to the product they're selling: the surrounding condominiums.
Today is deadline for Creative Mapping Contest!
By Matthew Blackett // No Comments
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping.
DEADLINE: By the end of the day today! If you want to submit and cannot meet today's deadline please send us an email [ creativemapping@spacing.ca ] and we can work something out. We're more concerned with quality entries than with strident deadlines!
COST: Free!
Mapping Vancouver Crime – Part 3
By Ian Lowrie // No Comments
[Editor's Note: We are pleased to present the third and final part of Ian Lowrie's investigation into Vancouver crime patterns.]
What makes a street safe? Is it high fences? Street lights? The police? Your trusty iPhone? One or the other, there are certainly streets within which one feels safer walking down than others. As we are well aware, one will even go out of our way at certain times of day to take a route that makes us feel less vulnerable. What kind of streets offer such perceived safety?
In the final part of Mapping Vancouver Crime we will follow up on the trends seen in the city and neighbourhood crime maps and take to the streets to explore the spatial details that offer either feelings of security or fear. A considerable amount has been written on the topic and to help relate the discussion to Vancouver I have chosen to look at two residential streets with contrasting spatial organizations: one within the area of Kerrisdale (also highlighted in Part Two), and the other street belonging to the Strathcona neighbourhood.
April 30, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• A New Vancouverism [Atlantic Cities]
• New Westminster’s Plaza 88 - The Good, the Bad, and the Industrial [City Caucus]
• BC Launches Hyper-local Poverty Strategies [The Tyee]
• RCMP fear B.C. man’s murder in Mexico could spawn gang war [Globe and Mail]
• Public art in Canada: Vavcouver's best and worst [Open File]
CANADA
• Saving lives by slowing down on Toronto's streets [Globe and Mail]
• Markham councillor lets Bettman meeting slip [National Post]
• Steve Galluccio’s “love letter to Montreal” [Gazette]
• Desperately trying to keep the civil in Montreal's ...
Urban Planet: Street Vendors’ Guide
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
New York City's 10,000 street vendors face myriad rules and regulations. Add to that many first languages other than English and it becomes easy to see how cart owners could face steep penalties for simple infractions. To address this issue and empower the city's ...
May 1st, 2012
May 1, 2012 Headlines
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
LOCAL
• One of Vancouver's original Starbucks to close [Vancouver Sun]
• An idea from New York, for Vancouver: a how-to guide on street vending [OpenFile]
• Aerial photos of Vancouver taken between 1946-1967 [OpenFile]
• 11 North Vancouver schools for sale -- or not [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• China bests Canada in tackling climate change, Strong says [Globe and Mail]
• Lansdowne Park appeal quashed; Ottawa at "very important crossroads" [OpenFile]
• Wildrose's Danielle Smith on Alberta's urban-rural divide [OpenFile]
• Battling over Bixi [Montreal Gazette]
INTERNATIONAL
• Peter Katz looks at New ...
On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture can Change Your Life
By Andrew Cuthbert // No Comments
Edited by Amy Walker (New World Library, 2012)
There is no doubt that cycling culture is changing and becoming more popular as a means of traveling around the city. This being the case, there seems to be new cyclists hitting the streets everyday and it is precisely for those beginning to make cycling a greater part of their life that Amy Walker’s new book, On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture can Change Your Life, is particularly relevant.
Edited by Walker, the book contains contributions from people from all points in the cycling spectrum and although targeted towards new cyclists, it provides something for cyclists at all levels. Topics touched upon within the book range from choosing a cycling shop for your first bike to the ins and outs of “freak bikes”. The Cascadia Region is well represented by prominent local cycling champions like Jeff Mapes (Pedaling Revolution; Portland, OR), Amy Walker herself (Momentum Magazine; Vancouver BC) and the late Terry Lowe (VACC, Momentum Magazine; Vancouver BC).
HEADSPACE: Author Gabriel Campanario discusses the Art of Urban Sketching
By Noah Van Der Laan // No Comments
Sketching is a way of discovering communities, showing lively streetscapes, soaring architecture and intriguing faces. Gabriel Campanario's book The Art of Urban Sketching presents a visually arresting, storytelling take on urban life driven by artists drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches. Starting tomorrow, Spacing will showcase three excerpts from this book.
Spacing: What is the link between urban sketching and the public realm? How does urban sketching contribute to city building?
Gabi: Urban sketching connects space with the people who use it. It increases awareness of place. You need to spend time looking at something to be able to draw it. An urban sketcher always has his eyes peeled when out and about in the city. I see with those sketchers eyes, often tracing the skyline or the outline of buildings. One of the benefits of urban sketching is that it brings appreciation to the spaces one inhabits and the subtle beauty which can be found even in the texture of a wall or brick.
Spacing: Do you consider the visual art as an important tool for engaging citizens and bolstering public participation?
Gabi: Art is very individual. Sketching creates an interpretation of a space that is then shared with others. It's a very unique transaction. People like this book even if they don't draw, because they can see cities through the artists' eyes. I see art more as a communication tool, rather than meant to be put in a frame on the wall. My background is in journalism, and sketching is a way of communicating my experiences. If I can show you my experiences then I don't need to tell you, you see how I'm interpreting my own city. Art is important in experiencing your own city because anybody can understand it, it's in a universal language. it crosses borders, languages, and backgrounds.
Urban Planet: LA’s First Pedestrian Plaza
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Welcome to Sunset Triangle - LA's first pedestrian plaza. The street-to-plaza conversion opened in March, modeled after the successful installations in NYC. The street is demarcated with green polkadots and planters, and first reports suggest that LA residents are enjoying their new open space. ...
Jane’s Walk 2012 in Vancouver – May 5 & 6 – Find your walk!
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
This city is made for walking... and with over 20 Jane’s Walk planned in metro Vancouver on May 5 & 6, there’s never been a better way to explore your city!
Details
Date: Saturday May 5th & Sunday May 6th, 2012
Place: Throughout metro Vancouver, including Vancouver and Burnaby and Surrey.
Price: FREE, no registration required.
For more details, please visit: janeswalk.net
On Saturday, May 5th & Sunday, May 6th, thousands of people in metro Vancouver and around the world will take to the street to answer Jane Jacobs’ famous call to “get out and walk. ...
May 2nd, 2012
The Art of Urban Sketching: Montreal
By Noah Van Der Laan // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
MONTREAL
Montreal's small, walkable city center makes the second-largest city in Canada ideal for urban sketching. Local artist Marc Taro Holmes is drawn to the ornate architecture of French and English historic buildings around the Old Port, as well as the many intricate lines of cathedrals and churches.
May 2, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• OP-ED: Pipeline risks are too great for Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Reader's Soapbox: Rize exposes flaws in Vancouver's planning process [Vancouver Courier]
• More than 20 vacancy signs as Vancouver’s Robson Street undergoes ‘transition’ [Vancouver Province]
• New Vancouver shopping district name rankles residents [Vancouver Courier]
• The history of Marpole and it's new community planning process [OpenFile]
• North Vancouver city freezes Central Lonsdale tower plans [Vancouver Sun]
• The Evergreen Line and the future of Skytrain [Fraseropolis]
• A city institution rolls on in Burnaby [Burnaby Now]
CANADA
• The challenges ...
Vanishing Vancouver book launch etc.
By Erick Villagomez // 1 Comment
Michael Kluckner's Vanishing Vancouver book launch is taking place this Thursday, May 3rd, at 7 pm at the Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, 604 253 6442, coopbks@telus.net.
There is some free parking on side streets nearby, meter parking on The Drive itself, and a lot of free parking around the Britannia Community Centre, 2 to 3 blocks north just to the west of The Drive.
The book costs $35; it's a 224 page, full-colour softcover, 8 1/2 x 11 inches. (An amazing price, really, given that the original Vanishing Vancouver cost $40 ...
Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) – Part 1
By Sean Ruthen // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8176" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photograph by Martin Tessler. Image courtesy of Perkins + Will Vancouver."][/caption]
[Editor's note: We are pleased to give Spacing Vancouver reader's a deeper look into Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia - one of the most ambitious sustainable buildings built in the Lower Mainland to-date. The first part of this two-part series, written by long-time Spacing Vancouver contributor Sean Ruthen, was originally published in the March 2012 issue of Canadian Architect.
The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is a new state-of-the-art green building located at the University of British Columbia. This a 5,700-square-metre office building and lecture theatre is remarkable at a number of levels—for just as much as what you don’t see as what you do.
Clearly, the photovoltaic arrays, geothermal heat exchanger and heat recovery unit shared with a neighbouring university building are all readily visible, as is as the green roof, the design elements promoting natural ventilation and daylighting, a wood Parallam structure sequestering 600 net tonnes of carbon, rainwater harvesting, on-site solid waste treatment and a living wall on the building’s west façade.
What you don’t see however is the 10 years it took to realize the project, during which time the public opinion on climate change evolved from ignorance, to awareness, to ambivalence.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Kansas City’s Community Bookshelf
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
Parking garages usually don't make it very high on a city's list of urban beautification projects — most end up looking pretty similar to each other.
Kansas City, MO is one of the citys who have broken the mould. The parking garage of city's downtown public library branch has a 25-foot tall "bookshelf" facade made from signboard mylar that features the spines of a number of local stories as well as many famous works.
Friday, May 4: Architect Darryl Condon at CreativeMornings/Vancouver
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9033" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photograph courtesy of Mathew Smith."][/caption]
On Friday May 4th, 2012, Vancouver architect Darryl Condon graces the CreativeMornings/Vancouver stage at W2 Media Cafe to speak from the perspective of a creative to a room full of caffeinated early bird creatives questing for some inspiration.
With a resume that reads like a dog-eared chapter in the encyclopedia of Vancouver public spaces, Darryl's work has made an indelible mark on the city's urban landscape.
Been to the new ice rink at Robson Square? How 'bout the Hillcrest Community Centre over by Queen E Park? Killarney Community ...
West Vancouver Museum: The Mill Project
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8909" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Bruce Emmett - Digital photomontage, Conveyor (2011)"][/caption]
You are cordially invite to the opening of the upcoming exhibition of new work from artist Bruce Emmett at the West Vancouver Museum.
The Mill Project
Date: May 9 - June 16, 2012
Opening Reception: May 8th from 7pm
Artist Talk: June 9th from 1:30pm
Location: West Vancouver Museum, 680 17th Street, West Vancouver
Bruce Emmett explores a single site in West Vancouver that contains three unique histories: the Vedder River Shingle Mill, West Vancouver High school and the Inglewood "Mil" Skatepark, the first skateboard ...
May 3rd, 2012
May 3, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Vancouver’s intersection with the most bicycle-vehicle collisions [OpenFile]
• BC Liberals and Bob Rennie tighten grip on housing construction in Vancouver [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver council takes stand against smart meters [Vancouver Sun]
• False Creek in Chinatown [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
CANADA
• Slowing Down Cars Saves Lives. So Why Is Toronto's Mayor So Opposed? [The Atlantic Cities]
INTERNATIONAL
• City Dashboard: Aggregating All Spatial Data for Cities in the UK [Information Aesthetics]
• 10,000 pedal for action in biggest bike protest [The Times]
• CNU at 20: A ...
The Art of Urban Sketching: Toronto
By Noah Van Der Laan // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
TORONTO
From red rockets to tall towers, Toronto's iconography is ubiquitous. Architect Eugene Zhilinsky likes to sketch while strolling with his family. Find artist and Spacing contributor Jerry Waese along Dundas Street, drawing streetcars. His column, Street Scene, appears twice a week on Spacing Toronto's site.
The Trend Houses of Canada
By Eve Lazarus // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_8917" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="North Vancouver Trend House - 4342 Skyline Drive, North Vancouver"][/caption]
The North Vancouver Trend House has sold for $1,375,000.
The house on Skyline Drive was one of 11 built in 1954 for Ted and Cora Backer, designed by Porter & Davidson Architects, and sponsored by BC forest industries to boost retail lumber, plywood and shingle sales in the province. The other Trend Houses are in Victoria, Calgary, Halifax, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina and Edmonton. One of the Toronto Trend houses was demolished and the Montreal Trend House came down last year.
The North Van house needs love. What was once wood (and may still be underneath) has been carpeted over, wallpapered and dry walled. It’s looking tired and in need of an update. But at 2,472 square feet it’s still a good size family home with a dramatic split level open concept plan, sweeping vaulted ceilings the width of the house, and floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
TODERIAN: Discovering the worlds of Twitter and urbanism
By Brent Toderian // No Comments
Last week I had lunch with a friend and fellow urbanist, Bob Ransford. Lunches with Bob are never boring, as we get right into things, and often debate. Bob’s a communications specialist and a longtime member of the Twitteratti (@BobRansford), so amongst discussions about strengthening urbanism in the Cascadia Region, and affordability debates in Vancouver, I asked him a question that’s been on my mind for the last month: Is Twitter a positive tool for Canadian urbanism? Put another way, is twitter facilitating smarter discussions on the country’s urbanism, or are we all getting dumber, 140 characters at a time?
I had been very dubious about Twitter while I was a municipal leader, even though I had been blogging as the Director of City Planning for years (I had never sought official permission to do that, and there had been no official rebuke or order to desist, although there was some passive disapproval that I was generally aware of that never became an official issue).
A few of my planning, design and architecture friends working in other city halls were tweeting, some as “citizens”, and others referencing in various ways their official positions. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. I saw many public officials (mostly politicians) getting in big trouble from poorly thought-out tweeting. Although I’ve always had the disciplined approach that I don’t write or say anything in social media that I wouldn’t be prepared to say on the record to a reporter, or “shout from the street-corner at Robson and Burrard” (a thought process I used through 6 years of blogging from City Hall), I had always concluded that the risk wasn’t worth it when it came to Twitter.
As I was leaving the Vancouver Chief Planner role in February, one of my former colleagues took the liberty of setting up an account for me, strongly encouraging me to use it as part of the “free voice” I would have after leaving city leadership. Indeed, the reasons and circumstances under which I was leaving City Hall, I was told, were already “burning up the Twitter-verse” and if nothing else, I would want to monitor that.
Urban Planet: Mapping the World’s Road, Shipping and Air Routes
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Welcome to the Anthropocene - the era where human activity is the greatest single force shaping the surface of the earth. This video from Gizmodo charts the many ways we are changing the planet and the incredible connectivity we have achieved as a result. (LA Curbed)
Image from ...
City of Vancouver launches re:THINK Housing – a global ideas competition for affordable housing in Vancouver
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
The City of Vancouver is launching re:THINK Housing, a global ideas competition to create affordable housing solutions for Vancouver.
Affordable housing consistently ranks as a top concern amongst Vancouver residents, and re:THINK Housing seeks to generate big, bold and innovative ideas for new affordable housing.
“Affordable housing is one of the toughest challenges we face in Vancouver, and we need fresh, bold thinking in terms of how we build affordable options for the people who live and work in our city,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “This competition is an important step to getting dynamic, maybe even controversial ideas into the public realm and hearing directly from our citizens.”
May 4th, 2012
May 4, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Neighbourhood bully harms Downtown Eastside planning process [Vancouver Courier]
INTERNATIONAL
• What’s the Secret to World-Class Transit Systems? Congestion Pricing [Streetsblog]
• SPUR, David Chiu push SF urban gardens [SF Gate]
• Thinking of a master plan: Portland’s mayor on building prosperous cities [Grist]
• Biggest Source of Fatality' for Young People Worldwide [The Atlantic Cities]
***
The Art of Urban Sketching: Victoria
By Noah Van Der Laan // No Comments
This week, Spacing presents excerpts from The Art of Urban Sketching, the new book by Seattle-based artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario. The book examines a global movement driven by urban sketchers drawing their cities and sharing their visual dispatches.
VICTORIA
For local architect Matthew Cencich, Victoria's Chinatown neighbourhood and downtown ornate architecture are favourite sketching subjects. The climate in the western Canadian city is relatively mild, but it's often wet and chilly, so sketching outdoors can be a challenge. Still, Cencich says he has done some of his best sketches in winter, often making it back to a coffee shop chilled to the bone and vowing not to return until spring.
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9097" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of it caught my eye."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Construction is heating up to complete the 9.3 kilometre bike/pedestrian loop around Victoria airport. The paved path will be separated for safety of users along the entire route, and by the end of next year will connect with both Sidney and the regional Lochside trail once complete.
Suggestions that Langley Township wants to split from Metro Vancouver and form their own regional district is causing a little bit of a stir.
Sim City: Fire!
By Dylan Collie // No Comments
A fire broke out in Spacington. In fact, two fires broke out in the little city this week. There has been a couple close calls with fire before but this week with the combination of derelict buildings sitting side by side, the flames broke out and spread the neighborhood. Since this is the first semi-major disaster In Spacington, we thought we'd share:
SPRE Hot Topics: A Question of Real Estate
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Does your not-for-profit organization currently own property or a building that you don't think is fully meeting your needs?
Do you think your property's value is not being used to its full potential?
Do you think you own the perfect property for a major redevelopment?
Are you challenged finding their right partner for your endeavour?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, we hope you will join us for an informative evening with speakers from itySpaces Consulting Ltd., as well as two real-life case studies from Vancouver: the YMCA who ...
Urban Planet: Changing Fault in Traffic Accidents
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Sarah Goodyear at The Atlantic Cities comments on our changing understanding of responsibility for traffic accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians. Headlines from the 1930s suggest that the driver, by nature of their heavier vehicle and the purpose of a street, was nearly always ...
Find the Plaques to Make History
By Spacing Vancouver // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_9107" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Fraser Street Stories Plaque."][/caption]
Guest Feature by Michael Klassen
There's evidence that our community connections are made more tenuous by modern urban living. There was a time when the neighbourhood school and local church stitched together the fabric of community. Today, a parent is just as likely to enroll their child out of the local school catchment as in, while our churches struggle to maintain their flocks in an increasingly secular world. It's got so bad that the Vancouver Foundation is funding a study on our isolated lives, and seeking ways to bring us closer.
As a volunteer community organizer, I've seen what a struggle it is to get people involved in their own neighbourhoods. In Vancouver's boroughs, there are many obstacles to making a connection with your neighbours – language and cultural barriers, poor urban design and lack of public space, distractions such as TV and internet, and yes, even the lowly remote control garage door opener. It's possible that you could live in our city and never have any human contact with your neighbours.
The times demand that we use our imaginations to strengthen communities, like building homes that have a stronger connection with the street. With the internet we're more connected than ever, yet we're arguably more disconnected as communities at the same time. It's likely we spend more face time with our smart phones and computer screens than talking face-to-face with friends or loved ones.
Release: CityStudio Students Attend to Vancouver Orphaned Spaces
By Spacing Vancouver // 2 Comments
The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) announced today that students from CityStudio have undertaken work on an innovative project - The Orphaned Spaces Project - that will greatly enhance the city’s neighbourhoods.
The primary goal of Vancouver’s Orphaned Spaces Project is to provide increased access to nature by manifesting the potential of an otherwise underutilized piece of City property. CityStudio students, Victoria Veidner, Martyna Purchla, Becky Till and Jaclyn Bruneau spent their spring semester mapping the entire Grandview Woodlands neighbourhood. “When Deputy ...
May 5th, 2012
May 5, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Oil threatens culture and wildlife in Gitga'at Nation's remote and beautiful territory [Vancouver Observer]
• Saturday Supermoon over Vancouver [OpenFile]
• Is Port Metro Vancouver a sprawl machine? [Price Tags]
CANADA
• Why Canada needs a flood of immigrants [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• Architects Branch Out [The Architect's Newspaper]
• The Uncertain Legacy of America's Pedestrian Malls [The Atlantic Cities]
• Fracking drives pronghorn herds out of Wyoming habitat [New Scientist]
• City council grapples over BC Hydro smart meters [Vancouver Courier]
***
May 6th, 2012
May 6, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• 2012 Top Ten Endangered Sites [Heritage Vancouver]
• The subtle charms of downtown Maple Ridge [Fraseropolis]
INTERNATIONAL
• Pixelizing Dutch Landscapes [Architizer]
***
May 7th, 2012
May 7, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Sky-high housing prices in Vancouver's west side short-lived [Globe and Mail]
• Looking at Trees [What Floats to the Top of My Desk]
INTERNATIONAL
• Condo Dreams in a Mansion Town [The New York Times]
• 7 cycling lessons for Northwest biking hold-outs [Crosscut]
***
Price Points: Tale of a Tile
By Gordon Price // 1 Comment
What's the story behind those blue tiles? And where is this building?
Vancouverites of a certain age (i.e. mine) might recognize both the building - the Blue Horizon (map here) - and its developers, the Wosk brothers. Author Michael Kluckner, in his new book Vanishing Vancouver: The Last 25 Years, explains the tiles - as well as the story of a Wosk development proposal that changed Kitsilano at a turning point in its history:
Ben Wosk (below) and his brother Morris (below right) left a distinctive imprint on the Vancouver skyline. Unmistakable pale-blue tile – supposedly an unwanted shipment they obtained at a bargain price – clad nearly all their buildings, including the Wosk’s Furniture stores that dotted the Lower Mainland. “A wizard he is / That’s why it is / Nobody undersells Wosk’s” went the jingle in countless radio ads over the years.
V6A: Decoding The Downtown Eastside with Poetry and Prose
By Jillianglover // 1 Comment
When journalists toss around mentions of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, they rarely go without immediately noting that it is “Canada’s poorest postal code.” The Downtown Eastside, Canada’s poorest postal code. We’ve all heard that before.
If this is all you know of the neighbourhood, then it’s time you picked up a copy of V6A, a compilation of poetry and short stories from former and current residents of the Downtown Eastside - compiled and edited by John Mikhail Asfour and Elee Kraljii Gardiner.
“The Downtown Eastside may be one of the most written about neighbourhoods in Canada, but how much of that writing is self-generated?” asks Kraljii Gardiner.
The idea for the book came from the Thursday Writing Collective, a series of free, drop-in creative writing classes at Carnegie Community Centre for members of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The Collective is run by Kraljii Gardiner, who was inspired to create V6A after inviting Asfour to one of their weekly meetings.
“John had this sparkling enthusiasm. He bonded with everyone at the meeting and told me afterwards that we must do a book,” said Kraljii Gardiner. “It wasn’t long before we were putting the call out to writers who ever had been part of the Downtown Eastside at some point in their lives. That was our only submission criteria.”
Urban Planet: Errors in New York’s Subway Map
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
In 1979, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled a redesign of its iconic subway system map. The redesign was an attempt to bring clarity to the tangle of colours and lines that crisscross the five boroughs. But as Matt Flegenheimer at the New ...
Exploring Neighbourhood Energy Futures Workshop
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
DATE: Saturday May 12 or Saturday May 26
TIME: 9:30am to 2:30pm
LOCATION: BC Hydro Theatre - Room 1151, Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability - 2260 West Mall
What is the Workshop About?
Increasingly, we are having to think about energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as we plan for the future of our
neighbourhoods. How will planning for energy and reducing GHGs a ect our communities? What opportunities do we have
to address energy and GHG issues, and at the same time maintain, or improve, the things we value about where we live?
What Will We ...
May 8th, 2012
May 8, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• New legislation introduced to better enforce fare evasion fines, plus a few more items [The Buzzer Blog]
INTERNATIONAL
• Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going [The Atlantic Cities]
• Jane Jacobs and the Death and Life of American Planning [Places: Design Observer]
***
Designing Small Parks: A Manual for Addressing Social and Ecological Concerns
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
By Ann Forsyth and Laura R. Musacchio (Wiley, 2005)
Small parks play a pivotal role in North American cities by being the main open space for most neighbourhoods. As such they often are arguably the most significant social space within the urban landscape, over and above providing a soft, natural terrain for people to interact with on a daily basis.
Yet, despite their intimate importance to the lives of everyday citizen, their limited size - and often fragmented distribution - puts small parks at the bottom of the open space priority list, behind larger regional parks and conservation areas whose ecological and social merits are clearly understood and respected. This bias is based on the assumption that the tight boundaries of small parks don't allow for a variety of activities or allow them to be truly integrated into a more meaningful ecological strategy. At the end of the day, nothing could be further from the truth and this is clearly demonstrated in Ann Forsyth and Laura Musacchio's Designing Small Parks: A Manual for Addressing Social and Ecological Concerns.
Urban Planet: Growing Vegetables in Vancouver’s Parking Garages
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
What's tall and full and leafy all over? Vancouver's parking garages. Valcent Products recently signed an agreement with several garage owners to build the 6,000-square-foot vertical farm. The "VertiCrop" farming structure will feature 12-foot-high stacks of growing trays that will move around to catch ...
Release: Museum of Vancouver receives second Canadian Museum Association Award of Excellence in three years
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
Vancouver has one more thing to boast about this spring as its civic museum, the Museum of Vancouver, brings home its second Canadian Museum Association award in just three years.
The MOV — which rebranded and refocused its vision in 2009 and won the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Management in 2010 as a result — used that forward momentum to develop the multi-faceted and highly collaborative exhibition called Bhangra.me, which ran from May 5, 2011 to January 1, 2012. Last week at the Canadian Museum Association annual awards night, the ...
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME – Grandview-Woodland and West End Storytelling Events
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME - Community Storytelling Events
West End Community Storytelling Event
Thursday, May 10 from 7-10 pm
Doors open at 6 pm
Denman Theatre , 1779 Comox Street
Hosted by performer, writer, goof: Morgan Brayton. Featuring local storytellers and entertainment by Drag Divas Regent Empress CoCo and Miss Mandy Kamp.
Tickets are free but space is limited.
Register today at http://westendplanlaunch.eventbrite.ca
Discover your community through the eyes of your neighbours!
Grandview-Woodland Community Storytelling Event
Friday, ...
May 9th, 2012
May 9, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Century old school to meet wrecking ball [News1130]
• Conflict of Interest at City Hall | Condo Tower Approved in Chinatown [The Mainlander]
• Vancouver housing development for women and children gets $1.5 million boost from donor [Vancouver Sun]
• Transit traction stalled in new funding quagmire [Business in Vancouver]
• Moving to Downtown Surrey [Civic Surrey]
INTERNATIONAL
• Infographic: Burbs Going Bust [ArchDaily]
• Building for the Needs of an Information-Based Economy [Urban Land]
• Bellingham park faces big changes from coal-train traffic [Crosscut]
***
Stanley Kwok and the Two False Creeks: Part One – Reflections on Developing a Waterfront
By Brendan Hurley // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9045" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Two defining waterfront public spaces from two definitive cities Dubai and Vancouver (image: Maraya Project)"][/caption]
The Museum of Vancouver —through its Maraya Project—provided a rare glimpse of the behind-the-scenes world of international city building reflected over the time and geography of the works of designer-developer Stanley Kwok. Under discussion the evening of April 19 was the products and impacts of his career’s two defining, influential, and strikingly similar waterfront mega-projects: Vancouver’s North False Creek, and Dubai’s Emaar Marina.
What started off as a send up to the venerable city builder's life, times and works, with co-presenter and local architecture critic Trevor Boddy, transformed into a discussion of the nature of city building itself and its effect on urban cultures.
Kwok’s projects have influenced the development of Vancouver since he emigrated from Shanghai and graduated from architecture at St. George College in Hong Kong. As an architect in Vancouver, Kwok rallied his connections to become one of the guiding forces on the restructuring of the redevelopment of the False Creek rail yards and the redevelopment that would eventually surround BC Place on the northern shores of False Creek.
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Neft Dashlari, a community on the sea
By mikebulko // No Comments
Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.
While it looks like an unused set for the movie Waterworld, Neft Dashlari isn't just the world's first offshore oil rig, it's elevated platforms have become home to a fairly unique urban community with nothing but waterfront property.
ECUAD: Putting Design in Motion Lecture
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Putting Design in Motion
A Lecture on the Kinetic Architecture Systems of TURNER EXHIBITS by Steve Groves, President
Wednesday, May 9, 6:00 pm
North Building, Room 245, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Granville Island
Custom fabricator Turner Exhibits develops unique kinetic architecture systems for contemporary architects, including Olson Kundig Architects, Wendell Burnette Architects, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
President Steve Groves will use examples of their recent work for these and other innovative architects to illustrate creative ways to rethink the traditional building envelope, and to break down the barriers between indoors and outdoors. The lecture will show the importance of establishing clear ...
May Urbanist Meetup, Sunday, May 13, 3pm-5pm
By Yuri Artibise // No Comments
This month's get together is a special event. In addition to the monthly Vancouver Urbanist Meetup, we will also be celebrating last weekend's successful Jane's Walks in Vancouver.
We'll be meeting on May 13th from 3-5pm, in the VIP Room of the Sin Bin.
Come out to enjoy a drink and say hi to your fellow urbanists, walk leaders and volunteers. It will be a great opportunity to share your Jane's Walk highlights and discuss the latest in Vancouver urban planning and development.
As always, feel free to drop in when you can and ...
May 10th, 2012
May 10, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• In Cycling: Vancouver bamboo bikes up the green commuting ante [Vancouver Courier]
• Vancouver jazz festival moves into heart of the city [Globe and Mail]
• English Bay Cactus Club causing conflict between cyclists and pedestrians: neighbourhood group [OpenFile]
• Social networking comes to your favourite bus stop in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun]
• Most pedestrian-involved crashes caused by turning vehicles: Vancouver study [Vancouver Sun]
• Why Surrey City Centre needs transit commitments now [Price Tags]
• HandyDart service not keeping up to ...
Visual Thoughts
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Welcome to the first entry of a new section called Visual Thoughts. Taking inspiration from giants like Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee) and the prolific Will Eisner, Visual Thoughts will bring together drawings of the local urban landscape with words that speak to a theme related to the image.
Why "Visual Thoughts"? Well, everyday we are bombarded with all types of visual flotsam. Images of everything—from buildings and ads to people and products—are hitting our retinas and interpreted by our brains. More often than not, these images and experiences trigger other fleeting thoughts. A conversation with friends, perhaps? A childhood experience? Maybe a random lesson taught by an elementary school teacher?
Similarly, as we participate in the myriad of conversations we have with people everyday, the words people say often trigger visual thoughts. The bay window in our childhood home where we enjoyed sitting in the sun? The corner store we bought candy from on the way to school as a child? Or, the farms we drove by on the way to our family's house?
In both cases, these apparitions are gone as quickly as they appear, and we continue about our busy daily lives.
New CoV pedestrian- and bike-related council reports released
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
A couple of interesting Vancouver city council reports are now publicly posted. The first one is a pedestrian safety study and action plan that is going to council next week - http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20120516/documents/ptec1.pdf
Here are a few significant stats from the report:
82% of car/pedestrian collisions in Vancouver the pedestrian had the right of way
Vancouver has 2nd highest walking mode share of peer cities, next to Boston
Vancouver is fourth lowest in pedestrian fatalities, behind only ottawa, boston, and stockholm
study finds pedestrian injuries cost society $127 million a yea...
City Conversations – Viaducts or Via-don’ts: The future of upper False Creek
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Viaducts or Via-don'ts: The future of upper False Creek
When: May 17, 2012
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm
Location: Harbour Centre, Room 1425
Admission: Free
For 25 years, the top end of False Creek, potentially one of the most beautiful and accessible parts of Vancouver, instead has been bare land traversed by two elevated roads. Is there an alternative to the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts that keeps traffic flowing? What is their impact on adjacent neighbourhoods?
What might replace acres of asphalt parking lots and chain-link fences? Why haven't existing plans been implemented for two decades? Is now ...
Urban Planet: Foursquare Checkins and the Structure of Cities
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
Is a neighbourhood defined by geographical borders or by the set of people that flow in and out of it? This is the hypothesis being tested by researchers at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Their platform, Livehoods, uses foursquare check ...
Vancouver’s farmers’ market beginning this weekend!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
It's that time of year again.....Vancouver's farmer's market season is upon us. Here are all the locations and start dates:
Trout Lake Farmers Market Saturdays, May 12 - October 20
9am - 2pm each week
North Parking Lot of John Hendry Park at Trout Lake between Templeton and Lakewood south of the 13th Avenue Alley
Please note: There is no parking in the North Lot and no parking on 13th Avenue. Please park away from the area & walk in. Or better yet: walk, cycle or take transit if you can!
Kitsilano Farmers Market Sundays, May ...
May 11, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Architect behind "Vancouver Pair" proposal gives talk in Vancouver [OpenFile]
• West Vancouver centennial marks growth from logging community to wealthy city of 45,000 [Vancouver Sun]
• Urban farm near False Creek to grow organic produce [Vancouver Sun]
• Vancouver mayor heads to Europe to share secrets of success [Globe and Mail]
• No-one named “director of planning” in new Vancouver re-org [State of Vancouver]
• Mayors must decide on joining TransLink board [Surrey North Delta Leader]
INTERNATIONAL
• You Hate Taxes, but You’re Not Moving to Nashville [Bloomberg View]
• How Satellite ...
Neighbourhood Watch
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9464" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Los Paseos."][/caption]
A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Looks like the City of Burnaby will be joining the likes of other municipalities, like Vancouver, in revisiting their city transportation plan.
Great news for single mothers and their children who are at risk of homelessness as a new 36-unit supportive housing development officially opens at the YWCA Alder Gardens in ...
Creative Mapping Contest deadline extended to May 31
By Spacing Vancouver // No Comments
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 31st
Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST
Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city.
To date we have received an amazing assortment of submissions. But we also had a whack-load of requests for late submissions. In the spirit of openness, we've extended the deadline until the end of May.
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Thursday, May 31st, 2012
COST: Free!
WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE (see examples at bottom of page)?
The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc....)
Sim City: City Slums
By Dylan Collie // 1 Comment
Like we mentioned a few weeks ago, Spacington has developed a bit of a slum. As displayed above, this once thriving neighborhood has become an area of little growth, dirty abandoned buildings, and a limited amount of available work. We get it, this slum isn't nearly as "slummy" as it could be- there is still a strong mix of wealths, mixed use, and utilized transit- but the neighborhood has lost it's drive.
Usually in the game, a no job logo hovering above a building represents the lack of jobs in a commutable distance. Basically, it takes too long for a Sim to get to work, or they can't find work.
Urban Planet: Copenhagen Philharmonic Flash Mob
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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.
A Friday treat: listen to the sweet sounds of the Copenhagen Philharmonic serenading Danish commuters. (Huffington Post)
Image from Huffington Post
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 ...
May 12th, 2012
May 12, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
LOCAL
• Winters in Vancouver can be dark [Fraseropolis]
• Surrey Building Stats from 2003 – 2011 [Civic Surrey]
• Reader Soapbox: Son of STIR: New rental policy proposed for Vancouver [Vancouver Courier]
• Controversial 22-storey Comox tower proposal going back before council next week [OpenFile]
• Metro Vancouver refugees struggle to find affordable housing [Vancouver Sun]
• Marpole looks back to its future [Vancouver Sun]
CANADA
• Canada's oil sands means "game over" for planet, warns NASA scientist James Hansen [Vancouver Observer]
• The economics of energy conservation [Globe and Mail]
INTERNATIONAL
• ...
May 13th, 2012
May 13, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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]
***
Grandview-Woodland Open House Reminders
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9500" align="aligncenter" width="271" caption="Image courtesy of Erick Villagomez."][/caption]
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 ...
May 14th, 2012
May 14, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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]
***
West End focus group – participants required!
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9495" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image courtesy of Wikipedia."][/caption]
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
Stanley Kwok and the Two False Creeks: Part Two – Mirrors, Mirages and Vancouverism in the Middle East
By Brendan Hurley // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_9358" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="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)"][/caption]
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.
Urban Planet: Why Kids Don’t Ride to School Anymore
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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 ...
May 15th, 2012
May 15, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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]
***
Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles: A Typological Analysis
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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.
Urban Planet: Bike Score
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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 ...
May 16th, 2012
May 16, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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 ...
Jane’s Walk Special: Get with the plan (Marpole version)!
By Ren Thomas // 1 Comment
[caption id="attachment_9641" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Walking the streets of Marpole. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas."][/caption]
[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.
[caption id="attachment_9643" align="alignright" width="360" caption="Some of the residential streets within Marpole have significant tree canopies. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas."][/caption]
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.
False Creek Watershed Society Event: Water is Life
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
Water is Life Event
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. ...
Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Welcome to Fucking, Austria
By mikebulko // No Comments
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.
May 17th, 2012
May 17, 2012 Headlines
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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 ...
Vancouver’s Chinatown
By Eve Lazarus // No Comments
[caption id="attachment_9657" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Members of the Yip Sang family in front of the Wing Sang Building 1901, photo courtesy of Henry Yip."][/caption]
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.
Urban Planet: Lego’s California Modern Paradise
By Hilary Best // No Comments
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 ...
Video Vancouver: History of the West End neighbourhood in Vancouver, B.C.
By Caroline Toth // No Comments
Design Nerd Jam 6.3: Street Park Jam – Friday, May 18th at 6:30pm
By Erick Villagomez // No Comments
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 ...
