"A common mistake when trying to design something completely foolproof is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) November 4, 2012

TEDxManitoba — Hazel Borys of PlaceMakersConfessions of a Former Sprawl Addict

http://www.placemakers.com/

From WhatWasThere — Corner of Hastings and Cambie 1900

Thanks to http://pasttensevancouver.tumblr.com/
Source http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/exterior-of-arcade-n-w-corner-of-hastings-and-cambie-streets;rad

Thanks to illustratedvancouver.ca/ Illustrated Vancouver, Drawings of an imagined Block51, unattributed, but... In this documentary short, Vancouver architect Stanley King demonstrates his method for involving the public in urban design. Called the "draw-in/design-in”, the method is applied to a downtown Vancouver area slated for redevelopment. How can it be made to best serve the needs of the people who will use it? Here, sketches prepared by students and refined by adults are used to guide city planners.

Maybe I am not visionary enough, but anything this utopian creeps me out.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/1… #walkable #urbanism
— jennifer keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) November 2, 2012

From The Calgary Herald — Mayor Nenshi To Developers: "Don't Bring Us Crap"

JASON MARKUSOFF, CALGARY HERALD
If developers want the city to cut red tape, they should cut the “crap” from their projects, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Tuesday.

In his annual Chamber of Commerce speech, the mayor lauded the city planning department’s efforts to ease some of the bureaucratic hurdles that home builders and commercial developers routinely complain about — but the city shouldn’t settle for low-quality developments.

“You cannot come as the industry to say to us, ‘It takes too long for me to get my approvals’ if you’re bringing us crap,” Nenshi told the luncheon crowd.

Read more: ‘Crap’ shouldn’t be easier to build, mayor tells chamber

Repair the Square!

Every town has its ceremonial central public square. Nanaimo's is Dallas Square, one block from the waterfront promenade. It's home to the Cenotaph and shares the site with St. Paul's Anglican Church, built in 1931. The original Anglican Church on the site was built in the 1860s.

It has been neglected and harm was done to it some years ago with the creation of a single lane traffic ramp to align with Church Street. At the cost of effectively the loss of nearly half of the potential area of the public square, turning right from Front St. onto Church St. was made slightly more convenient for motorists.

Downtown Urban Design Plan and Guidelines recognizes Dallas Square's importance in "the development of an open space and pathway network throughout the downtown. Existing city owned lands and rights-of-way, combined with private property redevelopment, provide the opportunity for a coordinated park, pathway and open space plan..."

A modest improvement would be the immediate removal of the ramp and a design competition to generate ideas to renovate the square and better connect it to the walkway that leads to the waterfront promenade and parks. The Design Guidelines offered this starting point for fresh design ideas for the square.

More ambitiously, consideration should be given to the acquisition from the Anglican Church of its adjacent property, currently a parking lot. Church parking lots offer a win-win opportunity for steadily densifying downtowns: badly needed revenue for the churches and the creation of badly needed pedestrian scale public squares for the City.

St. Paul's would anchor a brilliant new central public square, modeled on the public squares of European cities.

The renovation of Dallas Square could also signal a badly needed tipping point for Nanaimo: a return to designing human scale public space.

From the Design Guidelines document:

DOWNTOWN PARKS

This downtown plan anticipates further research and design work towards the development of an open space and pathway network throughout the downtown. Existing city owned lands and rights-of-way, combined with private property redevelopment, provide the opportunity for a coordinated park, pathway and open space plan to be incrementally established over time.

With the redevelopment of numerous sites at or adjacent to the downtown waterfront, a number of park sites along the waters' edge walkway and adjacent to Front Street will require redesign. The increased number of residents, as well as a greater number of people attracted to the area in the future, will cause more intensive use and greater demand on walkways and other park amenities. This means that paving, lighting, seating and other features will have to be developed in concert with the building redevelopments neighbouring these parks, paths and public open spaces.

Georgia Park

Redesign and redevelopment should be considered for Georgia Park and Dallas Square. Georgia Park requires attention to good public visibility and safe access across Front Street.







More at: http://parksgo.ca/nanaimo/dallas-square-cenotaph/