Monday, September 28, 2015

From The Globe and Mail
Rotterdam transformation
"a place of non-stop design and innovation"


Temples of gastronomy are not something you necessarily expect in Holland. In general, the country’s food rep leans to the stodgy and the tuberous. But the quirky idea of building a food market shaped like an inverted U that incorporates apartments in its arch – residents’ windows peeking out of a giant raspberry or avocado in the hallucinatory ceiling mural – is thoroughly Dutch, a typical mix of playfulness and practicality. Read more: Rotterdam: Holland's infamous port city may be the hippest place in the country - The Globe and Mail

Sunday, September 27, 2015

From @Sierra_Magazine — Why urban trees
solve so many of our problems

Why urban trees solve so many of our problems. @Sierra_Magazine Via @rdtvan

Posted by The Sidewalk Ballet on Sunday, September 27, 2015

Sunday, September 20, 2015

From Winnipeg Free Press
From parking lot to urban paradise


It is rare for a city to be given an opportunity to build a brand new neighbourhood in the heart of its downtown. When it happens, it is usually the result of an industry that was once the economic engine relocating out of the modern core.
In Toronto, the railway lands along Lake Ontario have seen a multibillion-dollar transformation into a forest of highrises, altering the city's postcard skyline image into something resembling lower Manhattan. False Creek was once the industrial heart of Vancouver, but today it is home to 60,000 people living in a signature West Coast condo tower neighbourhood.
When the rail yards at the intersection of the Red and Assiniboine rivers were closed 30 years ago, Winnipeg was given that same opportunity -- but went in a different direction... Read more: From parking lot to urban paradise - Winnipeg Free Press

Friday, September 11, 2015

From Project for Public Spaces
Havana: Learning from and Building
on a People-Centered City


With improving diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, the country’s public space, and public life, is poised to evolve in new directions, for better and worse. In 2006, Ethan Kent of Project for Public Spaces had the opportunity to witness the unique urban environment of Havana firsthand - and collected some thoughts on what it has to teach the rest of the world, and what should be preserved, and built upon, in the face of change. More than anything though, the city offers an interesting contrast to many of the misdirected development patterns of American modernization. Photo essay at: HAVANA'S PUBLIC SPACES by Project for Public Spacespr

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

"...the managing of traffic should never have been given to engineers. They aren’t trained to understand it, in part because they aren’t trained to understand people or cities.” @BrentToderian




Wednesday, September 2, 2015

From walklobby.tv
How wide should traffic lanes be?