Update on the Rainier Urban Farm at the Atlantic City Nursery (Urban Farm Hub )
Great updates on a local project we're involved with.
One big idea – bring Vancouver together (Globe and Mail)
Meeru Dhalwala has come up with a new way to bring people together. The co-owner and chef at the internationally known restaurants Vij’s – described by The New York Times as “easily among the finest Indian restaurants in the world” – and Rangoli in South Granville has a Big Idea for boosting the spirit of community in Vancouver.
Bicycle freight – thinking outside the box truck (Grist)
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, is planning something that, at first glance, is unbelievable. He wants to ban semi trucks from the city.
Bicyclists Outpace Cars in Downtown, Says New Study (Planetizen)
A new study of how people are using the French bikesharing system in Lyon provides ample data for American planners hoping implementing similar systems, and reveals that bicycles are faster and more effective than cars in downtown commutes.
It’s time to update the definition of Smart Growth (Kaid at NRDC)
It has been a dozen years or so, fifteen at the most, since a broad but committed group of advocates and organizations coalesced around a shared set of beliefs that, borrowing from then-Maryland-governor Parris Glendening’s landmark legislation, we called “smart growth.”
Defining Provocative Urbanism (Sustainable Cities Collective)
Amid today’s writing on cities, there is a theme afoot. Something called provocative urbanism could define today’s excitement and communication about cities, as the focus of multiple articles, tweets, videos and lectures.
Ride your bike, support urban farming (Urban Farm Hub)
What’s cooler than growing food in vacant urban space? Riding bikes around Lake Washington to support urban farming!
Real Christmas trees aid the environment? (Sacbee)
The Nature Conservancy is campaigning for people to use real Christmas trees, not the manufactured kind, as a way to lower our carbon footprint.
Pop-up cafes in parking spaces (GOOD)
It's not that New York does everything first, or even better, but when New York experiments, people (and cities) across the country take note. Case in point: the pop-up cafe.
How will cities be shaped by transit in the future? (Grist)
According to Chris Borroni-Bird, director of GM's advanced technology vehicle concepts work, we're about to see a new chapter in the story of cars and cities.
Mass Transit on Track in Tehran (Planetizen)
Over the past 30 years, the overgrown Iranian capital has arrived at unhealthy levels of air pollution and traffic congestion, but with the installation of a metro, BRT system, and bike rental program seems to be heading in a new direction.
City councillor floats downtown public square plan (Vancouver Courier)
Imagine a block in the middle of downtown where you could sit and drink a coffee in the sun. NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton does, and she planned to champion her vision of a public space at city council Tuesday afternoon, after the Courier's press deadline.
EPA Smart Growth Awards Live Blogging, Part 1: EPA’s Approach and the 2010 Winners (The City Fix)
Can Planning Rebuild "Ghettos of the Mind"? (Planetizen)
Dehumanizing urban renewal-era public housing developments across North America are being replaced by mixed-use, mixed income neighborhoods with affordable housing. Yet in Regent Park, Toronto at least, many troubling social problems remain.
Friday Feature: Bill
Joined VIA in September ‐ currently coordinating the Skytrain integration with the Plaza 88 development in New Westminster and soon to inherit the entire Plaza 88 project.
What made you decide to go into your field?
It was about the integrity of architecture, what it has been, what it does and can do and being able to cultivate and employ a particular view of living through built form.
What did your family think of your chosen field?
I come from a lengthy line of radiologists – brother, sister in law, father, aunt, grandfather – I went into architecture….with blank stares.
Who is the teacher who had the most influence on you and why?
Artists -- who are less shackled by the realities architects face.
What was the biggest hurdle you faced along your educational path? (academic, financial, motivational, family or peer pressure, outside distraction, etc.)
Financial yes and pressure from beauracracies along the way.
What inspires you?
The goal of the bigger picture and when 1 and 1 = 3
What schooling is required for success in your career?
For me it was 4 yrs to prove you are worthy to enter architecture + 3 yrs of architecure + 2 yrs to prove you are worthy to practice architecture….. then schooling yourself the rest of your life.
What kind of people are the most successful in your field? Are there any specific attributes?
Good communicators, people who understanding the interconnectedness of things, generally people who have lived enough to know.
What is the best advice you were ever given?
No one gave me any good advice that I can remember ‐ I had to give myself advice.
Is your field growing? (ie. is there room for new entries and is there career growth?)
Not growing so much but morphing – losing something and hopefully gaining something else. The profession needs to expand its influence to open up new avenues.
What advice would you give someone considering a career like yours?
I say start early, get varied life experiences and a broad education then go into architecture. Don’t worry about the fashion or the details they will change anyway. Look for the substance.
a "small pitch" for the specificity of language.
by Richard Borbridge, Urban Planner for VIA Architecture
It is the bane of my every walk to work in the morning.
A short walk down the new Granville Street and there it rests - nary larger than a "no parking" sign, and just gleaming and fresh enough to unfailing catch my eye against the black lamp standard:
A quick look at the definition of ‘pitch’ ranges from the by-product of tar, to a soccer field, to its rightful musical definition - the tone or frequency of a sound (which is high or low, not small or large) and finally, down the list and Chiefly British, "the stand of a vendor or hawker" - which, while perhaps the most relevant, is still a linguistic leap from the City’s intended meaning.
I understand that these signs are intended to coordinate the level of intensity of a performance on the street and the city's introductory PDF confirms as much:
However, what the signs do say is gibberish.
The imprecise use of words and the overuse of imprecise words is hardly a new lament in the English language. My closest friends would be quick to point out that I’m hardly innocent. However, I'm not sure what prompted the City of Vancouver to establish ‘pitch’ as its go-to word in the busking regulation business.
I fear it’s the same prompt that has misrepresented “green” in many aspects of our lives, and so variably defined “sustainability” so as to be a deeply felt throwaway word. What do you think of when someone says “street”? Does your vision of the street demarcate public space, does it include the sidewalks or just the roadway from curb to curb? Is “road” any better? The principle of precise and relevant language continues to dog our public spaces, partly because these most commonly used words are so common and imbued with each person’s experience and perspective, rather than any formal definition.
A large component of the work of design professions is communicating - mostly through pictures. The reason both words and images exist simultaneously is because they serve different, complementary purposes. All too often however, we need to describe an image in words, which is when communication can break down. We fall back on the 10,000-or-so words most frequently used words in our vocabulary, choosing those that just ‘feel’ right, or we turn to neologisms and mash-ups that strive to fill in the blanks between our 7,000 favourites and the 171,476 words in the OED.
In this era of Google’s instant search (just type “define:” people) a bit of second-guessing is easy. Alongside the radical transformations words are undergoing as a result of new technologies - from the Internet to our infrastructure - it is vital that we share our meanings, not just our words.
So let’s all SaveTheWords and pledge a little more precision. Let’s hunt down just the right word and take back the nuance, especially in public spaces. Like “pitch”, when you only have one word to make your point, it had better be right.
PS
Since this writing they have appliqued operational hours on the signs. Any suggestions for a better busking word? “To small audience”, “little busk stop”? If they stickered over them once, they could do it again... perhaps better.
PPS
Other signs with problems
It is the bane of my every walk to work in the morning.
A short walk down the new Granville Street and there it rests - nary larger than a "no parking" sign, and just gleaming and fresh enough to unfailing catch my eye against the black lamp standard:
"up to small pitch"The great eighth note above says "play here!" to the newly unshackled busking community – the eighth note… and the word Busking. But the words below speak clearly to an agonizing misrepresentation of musical performance knowledge.
A quick look at the definition of ‘pitch’ ranges from the by-product of tar, to a soccer field, to its rightful musical definition - the tone or frequency of a sound (which is high or low, not small or large) and finally, down the list and Chiefly British, "the stand of a vendor or hawker" - which, while perhaps the most relevant, is still a linguistic leap from the City’s intended meaning.
I understand that these signs are intended to coordinate the level of intensity of a performance on the street and the city's introductory PDF confirms as much:
Small pitch (S)
Minor amplification, designed for passers-by, not designed for crowd building
Medium pitch (M)
Medium amplification, small crowd building, less than 50 person audience
Large pitch (L)
Medium + amplification, circle crowds, middle of street or large plaza spaces, 100+ person audience
Minor amplification, designed for passers-by, not designed for crowd building
Medium pitch (M)
Medium amplification, small crowd building, less than 50 person audience
Large pitch (L)
Medium + amplification, circle crowds, middle of street or large plaza spaces, 100+ person audience
However, what the signs do say is gibberish.
The imprecise use of words and the overuse of imprecise words is hardly a new lament in the English language. My closest friends would be quick to point out that I’m hardly innocent. However, I'm not sure what prompted the City of Vancouver to establish ‘pitch’ as its go-to word in the busking regulation business.
I fear it’s the same prompt that has misrepresented “green” in many aspects of our lives, and so variably defined “sustainability” so as to be a deeply felt throwaway word. What do you think of when someone says “street”? Does your vision of the street demarcate public space, does it include the sidewalks or just the roadway from curb to curb? Is “road” any better? The principle of precise and relevant language continues to dog our public spaces, partly because these most commonly used words are so common and imbued with each person’s experience and perspective, rather than any formal definition.
A large component of the work of design professions is communicating - mostly through pictures. The reason both words and images exist simultaneously is because they serve different, complementary purposes. All too often however, we need to describe an image in words, which is when communication can break down. We fall back on the 10,000-or-so words most frequently used words in our vocabulary, choosing those that just ‘feel’ right, or we turn to neologisms and mash-ups that strive to fill in the blanks between our 7,000 favourites and the 171,476 words in the OED.
In this era of Google’s instant search (just type “define:” people) a bit of second-guessing is easy. Alongside the radical transformations words are undergoing as a result of new technologies - from the Internet to our infrastructure - it is vital that we share our meanings, not just our words.
So let’s all SaveTheWords and pledge a little more precision. Let’s hunt down just the right word and take back the nuance, especially in public spaces. Like “pitch”, when you only have one word to make your point, it had better be right.
PS
Since this writing they have appliqued operational hours on the signs. Any suggestions for a better busking word? “To small audience”, “little busk stop”? If they stickered over them once, they could do it again... perhaps better.
PPS
Other signs with problems
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)