From PBS NewsHour －Urban designers transform these streets into pedestrian paradise

New York City’s streets underwent a radical transformation under the leadership of Janette Sadik-Khan, who served as transportation commissioner from 2007 to 2013. In the new book “Streetfight: A Handbook for an Urban Revolution,” Sadik-Khan and co-author Seth Solomonow share the lessons from six years of redesigning the streets of New York City with more plazas, bike lanes and rapid bus lanes. Read more: Urban designers transformed these five spaces into pedestrian paradise | PBS NewsHour

From Co.Exist — Car-Free Neighbourhood Redesigns Suburbia

It's possible that some people might own a car in a new neighborhood designed for Mannheim, Germany. But they won't be able to drive up to their doors: The entire neighborhood is car-free, with parking hidden underground.

Instead of roads, the neighborhood will have sidewalks that connect with paths in a surrounding park. "Essentially the project recreates the park experience on a residential scale, and removing the road allows the park to permeate throughout the site unrestricted," says Johannes Pilz, one of the architects from the design firm MVRDV, which worked on the development for Traumhaus, a German affordable housing developer. This New Car-Free Neighborhood Redesigns Suburbia | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Why Vancouver has 5 times more kids than Seattle, 9 times more than Portland

"Why Vancouver BC has 5 times more kids than Seattle, 9 times more than Portland?" DECISION https://t.co/ndhxSeYHEt pic.twitter.com/PazNAX4cKh

— Gil Penalosa (@Penalosa_G) January 7, 2016

When a developer builds a family apartment in Vancouver BC’s downtown peninsula, the dining room comes with easy-to-clean floors that can handle spilled yogurt or spaghetti. Condo and rowhouse projects must have accessible stroller storage and outdoor play spaces, ideally where parents can look out a kitchen window and keep an eye on their kids. 

As of Canada’s 2011 Census, downtown Vancouver’s urban neighborhoods were home to nearly five times more kids than Seattle’s and nearly 9 times more than Portland’s. Read more: Sightline Institute: Are you planning to have kids? (Part 1)

From The Link — Japanese Architect Manabu Chiba Presents Alternative Design to Canadian Audience — People First Urban Planning

Graphic Madeleine Gendreau 

Madeleine Gendreau  Walking through the city, it’s often forgotten that the environment in which we live has been wholly and meticulously planned to dictate our every move. Each intersection, metro entrance and building orientation has been sent through scores of plans and approvals to be put in its exact place. Read more: A People First Approach to Urban Planning | News – The Link

From Urban Land Magazine — Growing Small: How Smaller, Infill Urban Developments Are Making a Big Difference

Small development is incremental. It is perhaps even surgical at times—helping infill the broken teeth of existing urban blocks or properties that have disappeared or become obsolete. 

Small development is often highly designed and “curated.” Infill development of a distinctive site within the fabric of an existing neighborhood is almost always a unique endeavor and cannot be formulaic. A project that works anywhere will not work in such a location. It has to be carefully thought out—optimizing a Rubik’s cube of density, parking, life-safety requirements, and appropriate contextual design, among many other elements.

Small development often manifests the best thinking in sustainability and mixed use. This is because the intellectual capital that gets poured into solving the Rubik’s cube begets more focused thinking about what the project should do for its environment and community. 

“Small” can heal and transform. Incrementally adding to neighborhoods adds new energy and activity, helping reveal or “polish” the intrinsic value of the existing fabric. “Small” is often the seed that leads to transformation of and reinvestment in neighborhoods at the edge.

Read more: Growing Small: How Smaller, Infill Urban Developments Are Making a Big Difference - Urban Land Magazine

Good point @Bill_McCreery Here's 1 #Nanaimo Fitz St commercial with rental above. @StrongTowns @UrbanLandInst pic.twitter.com/niOJrSK5dY

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) February 18, 2016

#StreetoftheDay — Rue Alsace-Lorraine, Toulouse

Jenny Morris photo

Today my friend Jenny Morris, on her Toulouse morning walk turned a corner onto Rue Alsace-Lorraine and saw what she described as "a flotilla of umbrellas."

Jenny Morris photo

Bing Thom re-imagines downtown Vancouver

MT @rdtvan: Bing re-imagines #downtownVancouver http://t.co/W4h9TXU8Vx #rdtvan http://t.co/ioZirDl557 pic.twitter.com/dipdZwWywm

— Bing Thom Architects (@BTArchitects) July 4, 2015

Street of the day: Istanbul, Turkey — @NathanNWE

#streetoftheday Istanbul, Turkey. pic.twitter.com/af4yJAzdZd

— Nathan Lewis (@NathanNWE) May 17, 2015

@WilliamPennFdn — $11 million Philly investment: "Reimagining the Civic Commons”

Can civic places, including libraries, parks, trails, plazas and community centers, be reimagined to make cities more successful? The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and William Penn Foundation are investing $11 million in an initiative led by Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Conservancy to test this idea. The initiative will explore whether reinventing and connecting these public places as a network of civic assets will help cities attract and keep talented workers, advance economic opportunity, encourage residents to become more engaged in shaping their communities, and begin to level the playing field between more affluent communities and those in need. Read more: Building more successful cities the focus of new $11 million investment to reinvent Philadelphia’s public places.

Charles Marohn in The American Conservative — Cities for People—or Cars?

One hot summer day I walked through an old, neglected neighborhood, the kind of place where feral cats stalk mice in the weeds near cracked foundations. I carried a tape measure and clipboard, for measuring the width of the sidewalks, the spacing between trees, the length from the back of the curb to the front of the houses. I was channeling my inner New Urbanist, my desire to practice a primitive form of urban archaeology. I was attempting to discover deeper truths about what makes a city successful. Read more: Cities for People—or Cars? | The American Conservative

From Price Tags — How Vancouver does successful retail

Sam Newberg – known as ‘Joe Urban’ – sent this request to Price Tags:

 We’re having a crisis of urban design in Minneapolis. (How the City of Minneapolis Actually Influences Building Design). We’re talking too much about materials and not enough about frontage. One of the comments in this post is from a city planner who is sticking up for his staff at the city, but I still think we need to do a better job at frontage. More doors, more active, not just windows. Any advice on what specifically Vancouver does to get better results? More at: Advice for Minneapolis: How Vancouver does successful retail | Price Tags

Women in Design: An interview with Johanna Hurme of @546arch @spacingvan

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

#Nanaimo waterfront park lease referendum upcoming — I share some thoughts with Mayor + Council

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

.@NanaimoCommons @1sidewalkballet @DarrellBellaart Time to scale back such a grandiose project. Build a hotel that fits the scale of Nanaimo

— Andrew Jones (@andrewtrevjones) February 14, 2015

From @StrongTowns @TheSchoolOfLife — How to make an attractive city

A great pedestrian experience has 4 elements effecting #walkability. Great design considers all 4. pic.twitter.com/ITJIpyQOek via @skyejduncan
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) February 4, 2015

More at: An attractive city — Strong Towns

BC Sustainable Energy Association — BCSEA Kamloops presents Gil Peñalosa Feb 3

Urban design might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to the BCSEA. Why bring in an urban advisor rather than an energy expert? According to Cheryl Kabloona, Chair of the local Chapter, it’s because urban design dictates lifestyle, and lifestyle has a huge impact on people’s energy footprint. “For example, if you have a city where people can enjoy a nice walk to work instead of an aggravating commute, you’re improving health, you’re saving money, you’re building a friendlier, happier community, and you’re using a lot less energy,” says Kabloona. “There are so many ways that the physical infrastructure around us influences our energy choices.” Read more: BCSEA Kamloops presents Gil Peñalosa | BC Sustainable Energy Association

The (amazing) density of Barcelona Eixample @cnunextgen

Post by CNU NextGen: The Next Generation of New Urbanists.

From CBC Radio — Ideas with Paul Kennedy Witold Rybczynski: Art We Live In

We love and hate them, but we can't escape them either - we're all obliged to live and work in buildings, and we all have strong feelings about how they look, how they function, and how they affect us.

Witold Rybczynski plays architecture tour guide to explore some big questions: What makes buildings work (or not)? What were the architects thinking? And what do buildings tell us about ourselves, our times and what we do? More at: Art We Live In | Ideas with Paul Kennedy | CBC Radio

Twitter List — Architecture, Design

Tweets from https://twitter.com/1sidewalkballet/lists/architecture-design

Canadian Cities — Comparison of Typical Downtown Block Sizes

Select Canadian cities: Comparison of typical downtown block sizes. pic.twitter.com/2efUqZ6CXC
— Brent Bellamy (@brent_bellamy) April 10, 2014

In Walkable CitiesSize and Nature of City Blocks is Crucial

RT @urbandata: In walkable cities, size and nature of city blocks is crucial. Figure-ground maps: pic.twitter.com/Lx8kgs29GS MT @BrentToderian

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) March 8, 2014