Saturday, August 31, 2013

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Patrick Condon in The Tyee
Whose City Is It, Anyway?

Photo by Charles Campbell
What do the demonstrations at Gezi Park in Turkey, the mass protests in Natal, Brazil, and the uproar over recent rezoning in Vancouver's Grandview-Woodlands neighbourhood have in common?

Everything.

Read more: The Tyee – Whose City Is It, Anyway?

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

From Future Cities — Janette Sadik-Khan
To Cities: Take Back Your Streets

Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC DOT Commissioner and president of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), discusses NACTO's mission and forthcoming Street Design Guide: a permission slip for cities change their streets in ways that are out of step with typical national design. More at: Janette Sadik-Khan - NACTO to Cities: Take Back Your Streets | Future Cities 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Monday, August 19, 2013

From KCET.org — City Walk

City Walk is a six-part series that reveals the way walking is transforming cities across America, and in the process, re-connecting us to our bodies, our civic values and public space. Image links to Episode 4. Season one of City Walk features 30-minute episodes exploring various aspects of pedestrian life in cities including: Los Angeles, Portland, Boston, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and New York. As the show explores the "walkability" of these communities, viewers will learn about American history by exploring culturally rich neighborhoods, stunning architecture, monuments and beautiful parks that have helped define the character of each city. More at:  City Walk | Shows | KCET

Sunday, August 18, 2013

California Active Transportation
Safety Information Pages

Pedestrian Master Plans

CATSIP, California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages is a state-supported, non-commercial site dedicated to presenting the latest and most useful online resources to encourage and promote safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-motorized road users in California. Pedestrian Master Plans here. The site is administered by the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at UC Berkeley. On Twitter — @transsafe

Home | CATSIP: California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013

Thursday, August 15, 2013

From @PPS_Placemaking
Co-Creating Social Spaces 2.0 in China

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Saturday, August 10, 2013

From The Atlantic Cities — How Cleveland Lured Young Professionals Downtown

When the Maron family decided to redevelop an entire city block in downtown Cleveland, the area was so blighted no restaurateur would lease space there. A decade later, the East Fourth neighborhood is home to Food Network personalities, a House of Blues, and free Saturday yoga classes. Café-style seating spills into the pedestrian-only street. Apartments on the block are fully leased, and a 100-unit building under construction across the street has already reached full capacity. Read more: If You Build It, They Will Come: How Cleveland Lured Young Professionals Downtown - Sophie Quinton - The Atlantic Cities

Friday, August 9, 2013

A TED Talk Inspires Government
Change in North Vancouver



In his TED Talk, Dave Meslin wondered: What would happen if Nike advertised sneakers in the same way local governments announced important information — with long, bland, black-and-white newspaper ads filled with jargon?
Apathy as we think we know it doesn’t actually exist,” said Meslin, a local organizer in Toronto. “People do care, but we live in a world that actively discourages engagement by constantly putting obstacles and barriers in the way.”
Across Canada, Natasha Letchford — a Deputy Municipal Clerk in North Vancouver — stumbled on Meslin’s talk on Facebook. She found herself highly inspired, in part because she wanted to prove it wrong.
One of reasons I went into local government was because I truly believe that I make a difference. So when Dave Meslin said that government is in some ways trying to deny people an opportunity to involved, I disagreed with him on that,” she says. “I took it as a bit of a challenge.”
We in local government get so focused on making sure that the water’s turned on and making sure that the garbage gets taken away that when it comes to something like statutory notices … it becomes ‘that’s just the way we’ve always done it.’”
As she puts it, “We’re not going out of our way to deny people the opportunity to understand what’s going on. We just weren’t making the time to re-think our standard statutory notices.”
Just before Letchford watched this talk, the senior executive team in North Vancouver’s city hall had asked employees to think about year-long projects. So Letchford decided to update North Vancouver’s notices and signage. Read more at: A TED Talk inspires government change in North Vancouver | TED Blog

Thursday, August 8, 2013

From California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages
Pedestrian Master Plans

CATSIP: California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages is an online resource for improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in California.  Pedestrian Master Plans | CATSIP: California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

From Planetizen — Fearing the Wrong Risks

TODD LITMAN Some risks are tangible – we can perceive them directly. For example, your heart rate probably increases when you stand near a high ledge or face an angry wild animal. A few years ago I took a fall while cycling around a tight corner and ended up with nasty road-rash; ever since I feel a healthy apprehension when approaching similar corners – my body remembers the pain – which has fortunately prevented subsequent falls. Such fear is rational and useful.

But many modern risks are intangible; they are measured statistically by experts and communicated through popular media. Not surprisingly, people often fear the wrong risks. This can have important implications for planning. Read more: Rational Fear | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Economist Todd Hirsch in The Globe
Fostering Public Spaces –
Without Breaking the Bank

Ottawa’s Byward Market
It has been said that the reason people visit Paris isn’t because it’s easy to park downtown. They go because of the culture, the food, the history and the public spaces. Strip all that away and Paris goes from la belle ville to dullsville.

Perhaps Canada’s cities can’t compete with the history and architecture of Paris, London or New York, but they can compete with better attention to public space.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

From Monocle — 5 Most Loveable Cities 2013



They might not be slick or smart, they might be a bit dusty in the corners or a nightmare to navigate, and they won't be making the top 25 most liveable cities list any time soon. But who cares? One thing they are not, is boring. This is Monocle's list of this year's five most loveable cities. More at: 5 Loveable cities 2013 - Monocle Film / Affairs

Thursday, August 1, 2013

From landarchs.com
Top 10 Imaginative Squares

So far, LAN has presented the Top 10 squares of the world in a more traditional sense and the Top 10 modern squares in the form of urban plazas. In many ways, these are the most famous of their typology. Here, a few that challenge the notion of what a public square can be. More at Top 10 Imaginative Squares