UBC researcher expresses streetcar desires (Vancouver Courier)
Silas Archambault, who studied the Olympic streetcar line for his master's thesis in community and regional planning at UBC, said streetcars not only shape how neighbourhoods develop, but they also appeal to riders who might not catch a bus.
Building on Strengths (Planetizen)
In Lowell, Massachusetts, planner Jeff Speck painted a picture for locals of a transformed city that capitalizes on the strengths of the city to move forward with a greater vision.
Metro Rail: The Solution for India? (The City Fix)
According to Parisar, an environmental organization that works on sustainable development with a focus on urban transport, India is expected to spend 40 billion dollars in metro rail over the next 10 years.
A competition to transform 9,600 aging buildings (GOOD)
Metropolis magazine's Next Generation competition is an annual showcase of bright ideas from emerging designers focused on a major sustainability challenge.
Fascinating slideshow of various landscapes (particularly sprawl) shot from a helicopter (Infrastructurist)
The New York Times Opinionator blog has a fascinating slideshow of the work of Christoph Gielen, a German-born photographer who has been shooting various landscapes — particularly, sprawl — from a helicopter for the past five years.
A free sparkling water fountain in Paris (GOOD)
The average person in France consumes about 40 gallons of bottled water each year. That means they're buying and throwing away a lot of plastic. But what's the alternative when they demand sparking water?
Cambridge parking tickets get yogic redesign (GOOD)
This fall, the city printed 40,000 tickets that feature "citation salutations"—illustrations of calming yoga poses for the driver and the parking enforcement officer to do together.
Two block diet turns Vancouver neighbours into urban villagers (Vancouver Sun)
Neighbours Kate Sutherland and Julia Hilton have hatched a mini-revolution that has transformed two blocks of east Vancouver into a true urban village.
Struggles for Olympic Village low-income housing (Vancouver Sun)
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the city will proceed, if necessary, to find operators for social housing units at the Olympic village without the logistical assistance of the province.
Why is Portland so much cooler than Seattle? (PubliCola)
That is, of course, not an original observation, and if you’re among the throngs who are similarly puzzled, there’s an event this Friday evening that you ought not to miss. Alex Steffen’s sustainability non-profit Worldchanging is hosting a fundraiser, starring the mayors of Portland and Seattle, details here.
Saving shrinking cities (Huffington Post)
Now comes the 'theory' that the salvation of distressed cities is to once again 'shrink,' as if shrinking had been tried before and succeeded somewhere but who knows where.
Can anyone point to one city, just one, where any of these 'renewal' schemes have worked to regenerate, rather than further erode, a city? Just one. No theory please; just real on the ground success.
Map of commuting made worse by sprawl (GOOD)
Americans spend many hours in traffic each year, slowly crawling between work and home. And while most commutes are unpleasant, some are far more congested. Why? A new study by CEOs for Cities has found that what creates traffic jams isn't more cars and fewer highways. It's sprawl. This is a look at the 10 metropolitan areas whose citizens spend the most and least extra time in traffic due to sprawl.
Friday Feature: Shelley
I am the first Canadian born (Calgary) in our family who emigrated from Scotland. I live in Squamish with my partner, Ernie, and 2 dogs. I am an intern architect.
What made you decide to go into your field?
It was a matter of finding what seemed to be the right fit…and came down to a choice between music and architecture. I had a Fine Arts degree but Architecture had the potential of satisfying my urge to sculpt spaces that have a positive impact on people in their daily lives… and it appeared to embody other interests of mine as well.
What did your family think of your chosen field?
Mixed. My father was a physician who saw architecture as art (not good) and thought it was something I should do ‘on the side’! His opinion changed over time.
Who is the teacher who had the most influence on you and why?
I think the most memorable one was my grade 4/5 teacher. While she was big on discipline, she had a big heart and brought creativity and music to the classroom, and got our classroom connected with one in Australia. We would send tapes back and forth of music, readings etc. We learned to knit [something resembling] squares for a quilt we donated to the red cross. She was inspiring in how she got us working together and connected with strangers. She also had a great sense of humour.
What was the biggest hurdle you faced along your educational path? (academic, financial, motivational, family or peer pressure, outside distraction, etc.)
My biggest hurdle was finding confidence to present my ideas and avoiding the cinnamon buns at Yum Yums.
What inspires you?
Beauty, music, travel, great architecture, good stories, going on wilderness adventures, good company, belly laughs, being on the water in some form and really good food!
What schooling is required for success in your career?
A degree in Architecture, and perseverance to get through registration exams.
What kind of people are the most successful in your field? Are there any specific attributes?
Depends how you define success. I see successful architects being those who demonstrate innovation, are inspiring, team people, good leaders and listeners, have a good sense of humour, among other attributes!
What is the best advice you were ever given?
It comes from a quote by Goethe.. in which (in short), he says that it’s not until one is fully committed that providence moves…
Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
So long as people need places, buildings age, a community’s needs change and there are people with a commitment and passion, there is room for new entries.
What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
Go for it! You never know what doors will open up for you.
It comes from a quote by Goethe.. in which (in short), he says that it’s not until one is fully committed that providence moves…
Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
So long as people need places, buildings age, a community’s needs change and there are people with a commitment and passion, there is room for new entries.
What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
Go for it! You never know what doors will open up for you.
Trying out PARK(ing) Day in Seattle
by Amanda Bryan, VIA Architecture
This was the first year that I had enough advanced notice (thanks to a little thing called social media a.k.a. Facebook) to attend Seattle’s annual PARK(ing) Day.
Originally started in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco design studio, this open source global event has been catching on like wild fire – PARK(ing) Day is now being held in 140 cities, throughout 21 countries, and across 6 continents. I figured that there had to be something to this so two of my coworkers and I trekked down to Pioneer Square on our lunch break to check out a couple of Seattle’s many transformed metered parking spaces.
Our first stop was at Yesler Way & Western Ave to see Miller/Hull’s ‘parking space gone salsa dancing’. Salsa dancing in a parking spot? Absolutely! It really didn’t take much to transform two traditional 9’ x 18’ parking spaces into a dance floor. The local architecture firm laid down some recycled cardboard for the ‘floor’ and piled up old car tires at each end to make ‘chairs’ and then the dancing began. Granted, the city’s best salsa dancers weren’t flocking here to show off their newest moves but there was one couple brave enough to break the ice.
While we didn’t stick around to see who else would join in, I was quite confident that some positive peer pressure would lull more dancers onto the floor if for no other reason than to say they had danced in the street. Who wouldn’t want to have those bragging rights?
Our next stop was a little deeper into the heart of Pioneer Square, on the southeast corner of Occidental Ave, where Olson Kundig Architects rolled out the grass and put up benches for a little sketch fun. Had the sun decided to grace us with her presence, we might have seen a good number of Seattleites lounging on their extra long post demolition benches, soaking up some rays. However, even without the sun, there were at least 15-20 people milling around and a steady trickle of passer-bys coming over to check out this rare sight.
Just to throw in a little extra fun, the architecture firm set-up a brass symbol with a string running up six floors to their office windows where free sketches, upon request, would periodically come zipping down. While we chatted with the firm’s youngest employees, waiting for the signatory ping from the brass symbol to notify us that our sketch had arrived, I realized just how surreal the situation was. We were comfortably occupying a space that has traditionally been established as a ‘no-go zone’ for humans, where I would normally feel uncomfortable even standing there to hold the space while my husband circled the block with the car. This small act of putting down some grass and benches somehow renegotiated the relationship between building, sidewalk, and street.
This phenomenon of temporarily transforming parking spaces into mini-parks may sound peculiar but what an absolutely fantastic way to reprogram the prolific 9’ x 18’ space that happens to occur throughout our entire city. It begs the question, what would it feel like if an entire Seattle city street like 1st Ave or Pike Street had all its metered parking spots reprogrammed for a day? What if an entire street was dedicated to open space and people? Well then we would have Seattle’s first walking street. Imagine that.
This was the first year that I had enough advanced notice (thanks to a little thing called social media a.k.a. Facebook) to attend Seattle’s annual PARK(ing) Day.
Originally started in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco design studio, this open source global event has been catching on like wild fire – PARK(ing) Day is now being held in 140 cities, throughout 21 countries, and across 6 continents. I figured that there had to be something to this so two of my coworkers and I trekked down to Pioneer Square on our lunch break to check out a couple of Seattle’s many transformed metered parking spaces.
Our first stop was at Yesler Way & Western Ave to see Miller/Hull’s ‘parking space gone salsa dancing’. Salsa dancing in a parking spot? Absolutely! It really didn’t take much to transform two traditional 9’ x 18’ parking spaces into a dance floor. The local architecture firm laid down some recycled cardboard for the ‘floor’ and piled up old car tires at each end to make ‘chairs’ and then the dancing began. Granted, the city’s best salsa dancers weren’t flocking here to show off their newest moves but there was one couple brave enough to break the ice.
While we didn’t stick around to see who else would join in, I was quite confident that some positive peer pressure would lull more dancers onto the floor if for no other reason than to say they had danced in the street. Who wouldn’t want to have those bragging rights?
Miller/Hull’s PARK(ing) space at Yesler Way & Western Ave reprogrammed for salsa dancing.
Our next stop was a little deeper into the heart of Pioneer Square, on the southeast corner of Occidental Ave, where Olson Kundig Architects rolled out the grass and put up benches for a little sketch fun. Had the sun decided to grace us with her presence, we might have seen a good number of Seattleites lounging on their extra long post demolition benches, soaking up some rays. However, even without the sun, there were at least 15-20 people milling around and a steady trickle of passer-bys coming over to check out this rare sight.
Just to throw in a little extra fun, the architecture firm set-up a brass symbol with a string running up six floors to their office windows where free sketches, upon request, would periodically come zipping down. While we chatted with the firm’s youngest employees, waiting for the signatory ping from the brass symbol to notify us that our sketch had arrived, I realized just how surreal the situation was. We were comfortably occupying a space that has traditionally been established as a ‘no-go zone’ for humans, where I would normally feel uncomfortable even standing there to hold the space while my husband circled the block with the car. This small act of putting down some grass and benches somehow renegotiated the relationship between building, sidewalk, and street.
Olson Kundig Architect’s PARK(ing) space on the southeast corner of Occidental Ave (left) and our free sketch of ‘a group of architects’ (right).
This phenomenon of temporarily transforming parking spaces into mini-parks may sound peculiar but what an absolutely fantastic way to reprogram the prolific 9’ x 18’ space that happens to occur throughout our entire city. It begs the question, what would it feel like if an entire Seattle city street like 1st Ave or Pike Street had all its metered parking spots reprogrammed for a day? What if an entire street was dedicated to open space and people? Well then we would have Seattle’s first walking street. Imagine that.
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