This jam brings together Julien Thomas, CoV’s passionate Parks Board and Engineering staff and -you- to generate ideas for turning some of Vancouver’s streets into park land. In support of Vancouver’s greenest city goals, we will focus on how to increase access to nature and consider things like accessibility, history, food production, play, ethnobotany, spatial poetics and more. The way we’ll do this – is by using the Green Streets game which leads us through collaborative role play scenarios in order to design a shared vision for the future of specific communities.

Bring food & drink to share – this is a potluck affair! All are welcome – come armed with a playful spirit, an open mind, potluck food, and of course – ideas!

Register: http://streetparkjam2012.eventbrite.com/

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The Vancouver Design Nerds are a network of collaborating designers and artists who share a desire to engage design opportunities with a spirit of creative play and to challenge the normative environment of the city. The diversity of the group enriches the design process and propels discussion far beyond the prescribed parameters of a project, revealing opportunities and unanticipated, often surprising results.

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

If you've dreamed of living in LEGO paradise since you were a child, Dwell has the home for you. In partnership with Pacific Standard Time, the magazine launched a challenge to architects and lego-tects alike to construct a model of an original home inspired by Californian mid-century modern architecture using only using LEGO bricks. The results are well worth checking out.

For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.  Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

Members of the Yip Sang family in front of the Wing Sang Building 1901, photo courtesy of Henry Yip.

Since May is Asian Heritage Month I thought it was the perfect time to spend a day in Chinatown rather than dip in and out of the area as I tend to do.

Our Chinatown is gaining national and international recognition. Last October the Feds designated Chinatown a National Historical Site. In November, the National Geographic named the Dr. Sun yat-sen Gardens one of the top 10 city gardens in the world. It’s long overdue recognition for one of the largest and oldest Chinatowns in North America.

On the surface not a lot has changed in the last 20 years or so. There are the dim sum restaurants, herbal shops, tacky ornament shops and the in-your-face production of food—duck and pig carcasses, live bullfrogs in buckets on the sidewalk, tanks full of exotic fish and an array of fruit and vegetables still a long way from mainstream.

Yet for all the traditional elements, Chinatown is an area in transition. Condos are going up, bars, coffee shops and trendy clothes stores are nudging up against traditional grocery stores, and new business is moving in.

Bob Rennie was one of the first to see the potential when he bought the Wing Sang Building for a million bucks in 2004. He spent another $10 million turning the back of the building, where Yip Sang’s three wives once raised their 23 children, into a private art space to house his massive collection. Past exhibits by Mona Hatoum and Richard Jackson are edgy and interesting, but my favourite was Martin Creed’s where you walked through an office filled with pink balloons, dodged runners on the main floor and sipped champagne while looking at broccoli. Creed is also behind the controversial “everything is going to be alright” neon sign on the building’s rooftop garden which is clearly visible from the Sun yat-sen Gardens, and a good chunk of Vancouver. Rennie regularly holds free public tours of the building and art gallery, but next year he turns into a satellite gallery for the Royal BC Museum with an exhibit of the young Emily Carr.

Boutique agencies like St. Bernadine Mission Communications are finding costs are cheaper in Chinatown. David Walker and Andrew Samuel bought a newish space at East Georgia and Main, a block away from the oddly garish Jimi Hendrix shrine. In keeping with the heritage—it was once a Chinese Laundry—the partners installed the Kee’s Laundry Gallery with photography and art displays from other agency creatives in the city.

It’s transforming yes, but there’s a strong sense of community. Last year, residents of Strathcona and Chinatown were asked to vote on the kind of business they wanted to see open at 243 Union Street—what was once Hogan’s Alley—the black part of town before city planners replaced it with the Georgia Viaduct in the 1960s. Locals decided they wanted a local grocery store on Union and named it Harvest. They even got to choose the graphic designer who’d brand it—Naomi Macdougall from a list of six.

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Eve Lazarus is a freelance writer with a passion for history and heritage houses. She is the author of At Home with History: the secrets of Greater Vancouver's Heritage Houses, a member of the North Vancouver District Heritage Commission, and blogs obsessively about buildings and their genealogies at www.blog.evelazarus.com. Her next book with house stories of Victoria’s murders, ghosts, brothels, artists and sea captains (not necessarily in that order) will be published this fall.

INTERNATIONAL
• World’s Subways Converging on Ideal Form [Wired]
• Olympic Orbit Tower: Art or Eyesore? [Architect Magazine]
• ArtPlace Looks Back at 2011 and Forward to 2012 [ArtPlace]
• Why The Bay Area Should Have 11 Million Residents Today [Forbes]
• Housing Recovery Tied to Walkability, But It May Depend On Where You Are [The Atlantic Cities]
• What can we do about urban food waste? [Observatory: Design Observer]

***

Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.

It's been in international headlines throughout the past few weeks over false reports that it will be changing its name, but this tiny Austrian hamlet has been "Fucking" (or close to it) since the Dark Ages.

Nestled right near the Austrian-German border, Fucking is home to just over 100 residents. It's credited as being named after  a Bavarian noble named Focko who lived in the area during the 6th century (-ing being an old Germanic suffix meaning "people of"). The first documentation of the settlement was in 1070, when it was called Vucchingen. The next mention, two decades later, was of the local lord, Adalpertus de Fucingin. The name evolved to Fukching in 1303, then Fugkhing in 1532, with the current spelling taking over in the 18th century.

The community got its first international attention during World War II as British and American soldiers had their pictures taken beside the four traffic signs, which simply read "Fucking." British tourists have become very popular in last half century and are notorius for taking lewd photographs and even stealing the signs. The community recently replaced the signs with welded steel and concrete ones to deter theft. While the taxpayers weren't happy with constantly replacing the old (costing €300 each), it did make for some unintentionally funny quotes from local officials:

"We will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed. It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile."

However, it seems the community does also embrace its English meaning. Starting in 2008, Fucking has been home to the Festival of the Fuck Bands, a gathering of similarly-named bands from all over the world.

photo by gemskiii

For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.  Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

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. John Richardson - Professor Forest Science UBC - The Fraser River - North Arm and Estuary health
• Ben West - Wilderness Committee - tankers in Burrard inlet
• Dr. Jonn Matsen - Squamish Streamkeepers - the return of herring to Howe Sound
• Andrea Reimer - City of Vancouver Councillor - Greenest City Initiative - Water Advisory Council discussion

There will be presentations, Q & A, breakout discussions, First Nations participation, environmental group tables etc.
The film will be "Rise of the Salmon People" by Jeremy Williams

For more information check our website: http://www.falsecreekwatershed.org or email info@falsecreekwatershed.org

***

Partners: City of Vancouver Greenest City, City of Vancouver - Sewers and Water, St. George's Blueway, Wilderness Committee, Georgia Strait Alliance, Roundhouse Community Centre, Village Vancouver, North Shore Wetland Partners, City Studio, Gibby's Field.

Table displays by: Hastings Park, Still Moon Society (Renfrew Ravine), Camosun Bog, BC Water and Waste Association, Salmon are Sacred, White Water/ Black Gold, St. George's Creek Blueway, Gibby's Field, Georgia Strait Alliance, North Shore Wetland Partners/Squamish Streamkeepers, Village Vancouver, Stop the Pave/ Burns Bog, False Creek Watershed Society, FCWS Community Mapping Project, VAPOR (Jet fuel at YVR), Wilderness Committee, Stream of Dreams and more

Hope to see you there! Please forward!

Walking the streets of Marpole. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas.

[Editor's Note: We are happy to present the first of a three InDepth Features covering a trio of special Jane's Walk neighbourhood tours around Marpole, Grandview-Woodland, and the West End. These were organized as a unique partnership between the City of Vancouver, Museum of Vancouver and Spacing Vancouver, in light of the ongoing Community Plan process currently happening in each important district. This will be followed by podcasts of the tour, if you missed the Walks, and a final dialogue event on June 19th. Stay tuned for more information.]

This year, the City of Vancouver will be starting community plans for three neighbourhoods: Marpole, the West End and Grandview-Woodlands. In addition to the usual open houses and community meetings, the City has been using its new Public Engagement Division (within its Communications Department) in innovative outreach.

On May 6th the City, Museum of Vancouver, and Spacing Vancouver partnered with local residents and designers to hold walking tours of the three neighbourhoods as part of Jane’s Walk. The Marpole walk was hosted by landscape architect and urban designer Margot Long, and local resident Jo-Anne Pringle. Lil Ronalds, the City planner working on the Marpole plan, and City Councillors Heather Deal and George Affleck also attended.

Some of the residential streets within Marpole have significant tree canopies. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas.

One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Marpole is economically and socially diverse. Primarily a residential neighbourhood, it is bounded by 59th Avenue, Ontario Street, the Fraser River and Granville Street. This massive area is intersected by several major arterials—including Oak Street, 70th Avenue, and Marine Drive—which contribute commercial and industrial land uses, but have also led to physical and social barriers within the neighbourhood. The legacy of streetcar routes and a branch rail line from Steveston to Vancouver are also evident in the existing land use and street patterns: the Metro Theatre being the last reminder of a thriving commercial hub generated by the interurban rail line.

Architecturally, Marpole is home to a wide variety of housing types, from beautiful historic homes to three-storey walkup apartment buildings. Some of the streets have laneways, and there are "lane streets" where houses back onto one side of the street and front onto the opposite side. Of particular interest is the area south of 70th Avenue, which was rezoned for multi-family residential housing in the 1950s. Block after block of three-story walk-up rental housing contributes to a very different urban character than the single-family housing or main street commercial land uses prevalent in other parts of the neighbourhood.

Abbeyfield House is one of many historic buildings in the neighbourhood. Photo courtesy of Ren Thomas.

Several unique historical features include a former boy's reformatory at 59th Avenue and Selkirk, Abbeyfield House at 67th Avenue and Hudson Street (the City's first children's hospital, now an independent living facility for seniors), and a granite cairn acknowledging an Aboriginal midden at Marpole Park. Although the park was named after Richard Marpole, who was superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway when the first transcontinental passenger train arrived in Vancouver, the cairn acknowledges the significance of the site as a burial ground for the Musqueam people hundreds of years before European settlement.

The neighbourhood was a major player in retail history, as well.  In 1928, Nat Bailey opened the first White Spot Drive-in at 67th and Granville. Although we didn't see it on the tour, author Joy Kogawa's childhood home is also in Marpole, at 1450 64th Avenue; the home provides a reminder of the experiences of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War, and is maintained by the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society which offers on-site writer's workshops.

On a walking tour scheduled for two hours, we spent three trying to see enough of the neighbourhood to understand it. Marpole definitely doesn't have a singular character; its diversity means that it appeals to a wide range of people and is constantly changing. Many of the local residents who did the walk were new to the area: I spoke to one man who had only lived there for a few months and another who had only been in Marpole for a year. Both had lived in other cities and when it came to choosing a Vancouver neighbourhood, this is was their top choice. Another young resident had lived there all her life, her grandmother and other family and friends lived in the neighbourhood, but she acknowledged that people tend to stick to their own little areas within Marpole. At one point on the tour, a long-time resident in her 90s chatted with us from her window as we discussed the visual contribution that her garden made to the adjacent laneway.

If you missed the Marpole Jane's Walk and would like to know more about the neighbourhood, tune in to the podcast: Olive Dempsey from the City's Public Engagement Division recorded the event. If you're a local resident, keep an eye on the Marpole Plan process: there are all sorts of local events planned and online tools that allow you to participate.

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Ren Thomas is an urban planner interested in the complex social spaces, interactions, and policies found in cities. She has written extensively on issues such as public transit provision, affordable housing policy and city governance on her blog, www.renthomas.ca.

CANADA
• Canada ready to open its doors to more immigrants, Kenney says [Globe and Mail]

INTERNATIONAL
• Neglected, Rotting Trees Turn Deadly [The New York Times]
• City, Museum or Amusement Park? The Problem With Venice [Next American City]
• The Limits of Density [The Atlantic Cities]

***

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

From the makers of Walk Score and just in time for "Bike to Work Week" comes Bike Score - the online tool for assessing neighbourhood bikeability. The tool uses data including the locations of bicycle infrastructure, amenities and hills. And Canadian cities are featured too!

With files from the Calgary Herald and Forbes

Image from Bike Score

For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.  Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

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.

The book is roughly divided into three parts: discussion of the courtyard house as a type, relevant case studies, and conclusions. The first group of chapters lay the foundation for the book. They begin with a discussion about the California context and the necessity of studying housing types that can respond to the many pressures that are being exerted on Los Angeles—such as population growth, housing shortages, and a lack of affordable housing. This leads into the argument that, of the housing types available in the city, courtyard housing offers the most promise as a solution to their urban dilemmas both pragmatically and culturally.

After addressing the general questions as to why studying courtyard house is relevant, the next two chapter focus on analyzing the courtyard house type, from its Spanish precedents and adaptations through to its spatial characteristics and the relationship between its parts. The analysis is clear, accessible and rigourous with several photographs and diagrams showing how these ideas have been designed and built.

The typological discussion of the ends with a comparison between typical "modern" concepts of housing that spurred new housing forms to express fabrication goals (i.e. mass production and the use of repetitive units) versus that of the courtyard house—which encompassed a more sophisticated spatial understanding of dwelling within the landscape and city.

The second section of the book is dedicated to 28 diverse case studies of, what the authors argue, are the most outstanding courtyard houses in Los Angeles. Each case study has a text description of the designated project, accompanied by plan drawings and several (black and white) photographs. This gives readers an excellent understanding of the project being discussed in both abstract and real terms. Particular attention is given to the wonderful projects of Arthur and Nina Zwebell - a couple who designed and built some of extremely interesting courtyard housing projects in Los Angeles.

As a whole, the case studies are both fascinating and informative, showing how the basic elements of the courtyard type—discussed earlier in the book—were adapted and transformed in response to various site conditions. This section ends with a compilation of plan drawings of all the case studies drawn adjacent to one another at the same scale: a great inclusion that allows for direct comparisons between projects and demonstrates the versatility of the type.

The third, and final, section of the book looks more closely at issue of aesthetic style as well as lessons learned from courtyards. Bringing the book to a great close, the latter focuses on how some of the courts have changed with the past decades as well as how the courtyard type addresses the problems of the city - such as densification and affordability.

As a whole, this book is excellent. However, it does have its shortcomings. One of the biggest is that the plans have no scale or dimensions drawn with them. Thus, designers who want to quickly understand how big or small spaces are relative to one another and whether a particular case study project is readily applicable to a particular site one may be working on, may find themselves quite frustrated—especially given how simple it would be to include a scale bar. Less importantly, those who have some form of aesthetic ethics may question the arguments within the book defending eclectic and spanish revival style. I, myself, had no problem with it.

But, to me, the power of this book lies not in their Los Angeles-specific argument of style, but in the call for well-scaled, humane environments that can adapted to diverse households (what many would argue is lacking in high-rise towers) and its rigourous analysis of the generic courtyard housing type. By clearly and succinctly distilling the basic components of this house type and demonstrating how these elements have been adapted to various site conditions by different people, Polyzoides et al. have given designers, planners, developers and housing connoisseurs of all cities something of enduring value.

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For more information, visit the Princeton Architectural Press website.

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Erick Villagomez is one of the founding editors at re:place. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with academic and professional interests in the human settlements at all scales. His private practice - Metis Design|Build - is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places. You can also see his drawing and digital paintings at his Visual Thoughts website.

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]

***

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

Did you ride your bike to school as a kid? According to this piece on NPR, back in 1969 nearly half of children got to school on foot or by bike. Today, that figure is closer to 13%. Reporter David Darlington talks about what has changed - from concerns about liability to sprawling neighbourhood design to a changing understanding of bikes as recreation rather than transportation.

Image from sfbike

For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.  Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca

Dubai Marina is one of the defining places of its own city, while also being remarkably similar to Vancouver's False Creek. (Image: Dmitry Moiseenko - AirPano.com)

On April 19th, developer-designer Stanley Kwok sat down with architecture critic Trevor Boddy as part of the Museum of Vancouver's presentation of the Maraya Project to discuss his perspective on the built landscape—more specifically his two most notable waterfront mega-projects: Vancouver's Concord Pacific in North False Creek and Dubai's Emaar Dubai Marina.

Part One of this InDepth Feature, explored the career and political wrangling used by Stanley Kwok to become one of the most influential players in shaping North East False Creek's Concord Pacific—Vancouver's most iconic development model. In this part, we will peer through to the other side of the looking glass at the United Arab Emirates and see, not only how the urban design of Vancouver was emulated in Dubai Marina, but how Vancouver planning and planners became an integral and lasting influence on the new Middle East.

Vancouverism is growing strong in the Gulf states...(Image: Halcrow.com)

Mind you so are other "isms". (Image: Imre Solt)

The City as Architects' Play Thing

Kwok describes the Emirates as an “Architects Paradise” where designers are seemingly limited only by what pleases their client. There are few regulating bodies especially when it comes to development, and there is seemingly unlimited funds from the Sheikhs, owners and power brokers of the Emirates. Generally, their tastes are for the biggest and best of what money can buy. The Oil wealth of the nation allows them to be flashy and ostentatious with buildings reaching the very limits of engineering and/or being made of rare luxurious materials.

As such, the Emirates is a display yard of architectural and development types, attempted icons, engineering marvels, and more than its fair share of what the likes of comedians John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman refer to as "stupid building syndrome" [Video/Podcast Exerpt]. Furthermore, as long as a project can be successfully argued to those with the power and money, it can and will likely be built. Referring specifically to his two large developments, Kwok constantly compared the ratio of public meetings between the two projects—120 for Vancouver and zero for Dubai.

The resulting form can be chaotic, but also has a regularity of multiple developers trying to make iconic towering structures, competing in a veritable forest of other supposedly iconic towers.

Dubai Marina from the other side fo the Freeway. Density yes, but still dominated by the car. Note, Palm Jumierah in the background. (Image: Hatim Saleh choppershoot.com)

Emaar is one of Dubai’s largest developers, and their Dubai Marina is a grand example of the trend of "luxury through simulacra". In this development, the replication False Creek’s waterfront amenities and building types are so effective that, in some places, it is hard to distinguish the two.

The differences, however, are most poignant where Dubai Marina follows the general Emirates penchant for grandeur and opulence. For example, the buildings within the development have few, if any, limits for height or spacing while the Marina itself is truly a "false creek", in that it is completely artificial—dug from the desert and back filled with seawater with dredged channels to connect to the Gulf of Arabia.

With the power and will to construct virtually anything, the Sheikhs began looking at ways of building the best that the world had to offer within the Gulf States. Sometimes it involved bringing "Top Men" to the Emirates, but initially it involved jet-setting around the globe seeing what existed. Many of the Emirati leadership had been educated in the West, and became accustomed to North American styles and forms of living.

One such well-connected Emirati, Mohamed Ali Alabbar —Chairman of Emaar— was traveling to experience North American examples of neighbourhood developments in the late 90s, when Kwok was given the offer to hold a last-minute presentation to show off the successes of Concord Pacific in False Creek. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity, Kwok was able to sell the luxury of False Creek's density and waterfront living to the Emaar representatives by taking them out into the middle of the inlet on a yacht while describing the project.

1998 Concept Plan of Dubai Marina. This is relatively close to the final product, save for connecting inlets behind the freeway. (Image: Emaar)

The rest is history. Vancouver's waterfront model impressed Emaar so much that they replicated many of the design elements down to the minute details. The urban seawall in Dubai even has inward facing railings from the same manufacturer as those used in North False Creek.

The grander design of the marina was to dig a trench into the Emirati desert—nearly the width of False Creek in some places—that would encircle the island of tower developments. Kwok's design concepts of the "Lagoon Plan" little more than a decade ago quickly became "approved" designs and building was focused around developments that matched his concept plan.

The original architect's design for the inlet was for only a thin watercourse that would allow yacht traffic into and out of the site. However, Kwok was adamant that the width had to be enough to feel like an inlet and not a canal, in order to gain any aesthetic public value out of the investment. The end product is still thinner than False Creek but maintains a degree of openness.

Most developments in the Emirates are metaphorical islands onto themselves—internally connected but only attached to their larger context via an auto-dominated freeway system. There are also the notable actual island and peninsula developments, such as the geometrically fetishistic planning of Dubai World and Palm Jumiera, that are as artificial as the man-made Dubai Marina inlet, but for the most part are void of any consideration as to how they work as a integral part of the city, beyond being objects in and of themselves.

The structure of Dubai is relatively linear, running parallel to the coastline and growing from freeway infrastructure that developed north and south from an old fishing village port based off an inlet in the centre. Yet, surprisingly, as the Emirate responded to growth, it uncharacteristically spent resources on developing an elevated metro along its main freeway route.

Dubai Marina includes two stops along the transit alignment. While development is strongly densified around these transit hubs and connected by pedestrian bridges, the stations are located adjacent to— and, not inside—this relatively large development.

The development mainly connects to the city through the freeway at two interchange points and has a hierarchical network of streets within the site that feed off an arterial ring road offset from the freeway. The internal connectivity within the ring road is clear, however. While the scale of the block structure is still a far cry from Vancouver's, it is vastly more human scaled than much of Dubai - outside of the traditional organic arabic village at the city's core. Six bridges cross the Marina and rational block structures are defined within this system.

Reflecting Vancouverism with Local Distortions

Dubai Marina Build-out aerial plan. / False Creek scaled aerial photo. | Red Bar = approx. 1 km Blue Dots = Metro Stations (Base Images: Emaar - Imre Solt/ Google Earth)

The relative rational structure owes to a bit of learning from—and altering of—Vancouver's mega-project planning. Three Vancouver innovations, in particular, are found in the Dubai development:

First, the properties were subdivided and sold to multiple builder developers. Kwok felt this was done too early in the process with planning developing very closely to a concept vision plan as opposed to a more refined planning document. It is also important to note that the "ownership" model was one of the first of its kind in the Emirates and the Middle East. We'll get into the social impacts of the latter in the next part, but from an urban design standpoint, subdividing the blocks into smaller parcels within a street structure inhibited the tendency—especially in this region— for developers to create independent, internally-oriented superblocks.

Second, Dubai Marina tackled the problem of underground parking differently than False Creek, where density regulations in Vancouver's zoning necessitated costly "tanked" parking structures below grade. In Kwok's design, the ring-road and other major roads were raised to allow structured parking to be built at surface but not create blank streets. Along the Seawall, retail and residential units wrap the "front" of these parking structures, while the streets run above.

Finally, the podium-tower building type —the most evident similarity— has differences that are indicative of the relative scale of the Emirati development. Although the tower-on-podium form is carried forward in Dubai, the heights and distances between towers are strikingly different. Vancouver’s tallest building is 250m, where as the buildings on the Marina are often 50m beyond that - at about 60 stories. Moreover, towers in Vancouver are limited in distance from each other by more than 80ft to maintain peekaboo views and reduce overlook and shadows from neighbours. In contrast, the Dubai Marina towers are packed closely together. This is not necessarily a bad things given that shade is beneficial in such a hot climate. Nonetheless, zoning does not limit distances.

Kwok suggested that the scale of the spaces created by the artificial inlet in Dubai became too narrowly enclosed as the heights of the buildings grew along the edges. While Kwok feels that the disproportionate scale of the space may have been an oversight, he was clear that he was an opponent to the kind of view-cone height regulations that keep Vancouver towers from blocking views. In fact, he argues that the 1989 policy that forced a limit to Vancouver's building heights is one of his most hated of heavy handed city policies due to its lack of trust in designers' and developers' intent to build positively.

The towers of Dubai Marina reflect off the water at night. (Image: hsmadi)

Maraya

Vancouverism in this new setting—with its vastly different development structures—is distinct, but still representative of the models and ideas produced by Kwok and others out of development the Lower Mainland in the early 90s. High density neighbourhood development in this new contexts allows us a cypher to look at Vancouver's urbanism and Dubai Marina, specifically, gives us an opportunity to see how a city builds without a strict development regimen of policy and regulation.

In the truest and multiple meanings of Maraya - the Arabic root for mirror and mirage - we are able to view a reflection of our urbanism, as it morphs and distorts in a new context.  We reveal ourselves as we reflect on others; hopefully we will be able to learn from both.

***

Don't miss the third and final part - Part Three: Reflections on Place and the Power of Urbanity - that will look at how Vancouver designers became important to Middle East design, how the power of public space and sense of "ownership" has changed the way this region sees itself as an urban community and culture, and how reflections from places like Dubai affect the way Vancouver matures as a city.

**

Other parts:

Stanley Kwok and the Two False Creeks: Part One – Reflections on Developing a Waterfront

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Brendan Hurley is a local urbaner who focuses on planning for adaptive neighbourhood change. His recent work has been internationally focussed, but is strongly rooted in his native Vancouver. Living and working out of the heart of downtown, he remains keenly focused on the region’s development and history.  Brendan is acting as Assistant Editor of Spacing Vancouver, but also consults as director of the UrbanCondition design collective. 

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

We’re a group of West End renters interested in building a web site and undertaking related activities to provide information to BC renters.

In order to make sure the site meets a wide range of needs, we need input from apartment renters in Vancouver. So we’re holding a series of focus groups to present the ideas and get feedback on the proposed web site, its content and other potential services and activities.

Would you be interested in participating in one of these focus groups?

CONTACT US!

bcrentersgroup@gmail.com

604.696.9454

INTERNATIONAL
• In Beverly Hills, Preservation Gains a Toehold [The New York Times]
• Walk Score Launches Bike Score [The Atlantic Cities]
• Louis Curtiss, the Boley Building, and the Invention of the Glass Curtain Wall [Places: Design Observer]

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Image courtesy of Erick Villagomez.

Sunday, May 13, 11 am - 3 pm - Grandview-Woodland Open House - Mother's Day Edition

We'll be having a fun, family-friendly Open House at the Waldorf Hotel.  Drop by and join us for face-painting, button-making, asset mapping and more.  We'll have an assortment of Waldorf 'bits and bites' to snack on (brunch specials also available), the awesome sounds of Joaquin Gonzalez Cardona, guitarist, and an opportunity to learn more about the community planning process and how to get involved.

Takes place at the Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings Street

Wednesday, May 16, 5 - 9 pm - Grandview-Woodland Open House - Weeknight Edition

More Open House fun, this time at Café Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive).  Another great chance to share your ideas on the future of the neighbourhood.

INTERNATIONAL
• First Look at NBBJ’s New Amazon Complex in Seattle [The Architect's Newspaper Blog]
• Habitat for Humanity Tries Big-Scale Approach to Housing in Oregon [The New York Times]
• Do the density, but spare the hi-rises [Crosscut]

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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
• New York, Cultural Capital of the World? Discuss [The New York Times]
• At the 20th Congress for the New Urbanism, a Movement Feels its Age [The Atlantic Cities]
• The Mother of Us All [Places: Design Observer]

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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 to urbanplanet@spacing.ca