Author: Jeff Speck (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012)

It is official: I have become that pestering individual who sees the opportunity to stay away from automobile use at every turn now, and it is completely thanks to Jeff Speck and his book Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.

I find myself sitting around a table of friends and loved ones, quoting little anecdotal points of information from Speck’s tome in what I feel is the same way he delivered said information in the book: witty, full of character and intrigue, factual and scientific, with enough speed of transition that the reader is fully immersed without feeling lost. Yes, Mr. Speck has made a walker out of me, but let me lay it all out for you, so you too will hopefully enjoy the read as much as I did.

One aspect worth noting is the accessibility of Walkable City. It is presented and bound in a standard size hardcover book, easy to carry, easy to store in a bag or purse, and the entire philosophy of the content follows suit. The overarching message of the book, to paraphrase Speck, is that walkability is not meant to completely replace the car, but instead allow us as individuals to return the car to its rightful place as an almost “last resort.”

Another great feature is that the chapters are never lengthy. Instead, Speck focuses on his specific points and relates them to real world issues, which allows the reader to fully understand the topic from a “life” perspective, rather than an academic one.

The contents are broken up in a straightforward fashion insofar that there are two main sections after a brief prologue—and Why Walkability and The Ten Steps of Walkability—which then leads to (as you guessed it!) a chapter by chapter breakdown of Speck’s ten steps.

The ten steps are broken down into four walk ‘types’ which, in a very unpretentious way, increase the reasoning power behind his obvious countless hours of work putting together the book. The first—The Useful Walk— focuses on car travel and “putting cars in their place,” while also seamlessly moving into mixing use on roads and allowing transit to function properly.

He then moves into The Safe Walk which concentrates heavily on how to protect pedestrians on roads and how to integrate bikes. While Speck touched on other aspects of safety, one thing I was interested in that was not fully addressed, was the idea of safety from crime or dangerous neighborhoods. He did reference it briefly, but I felt it could have been discussed more as it relates to walkability.  But, to be fair, it may not have fit into his steps, and he moved fluidly through the topic without it hindering the validity of the steps.

The third section focuses on The Comfortable Walk where he turns his attention designing the “shape the spaces” and considers the planting of trees and their significant impact on walkability. I found this area fascinating, as he pulled statistics in at what felt the most random of times that backed up his claims. For example, the simple idea that intersections and streets which feel unsafe (i.e. no stop lights, no lines on the road, no visibility etc.) actually reduce traffic accidents was such a seemingly no-brain conclusion. Yet, it was something I had never stopped to think about. And Speck never just gives a fact in Walkable City, he follows them up with a rapid fire slew of studies done all around the world, including some from right here in Vancouver.

The final section looks at The Interesting Walk and it rounds out the book by talking again about the design, as well as the increasingly noted fact that the integration of design teams (design teams, including all disciplines, working together from the inception of a project) yield far stronger walkable neighborhoods. He closes the section by advising readers to “pick your winners,” which in short-verse means to be mindful of the local context, considering carefully which steps are applicable to their particular city. Not all will work equally well.

We are a nomadic culture by nature, as Speck points out, and we have already moved across continents to form cities which have evolved to be un-walkable. But as we develop further, walkability may just have the power to save us from some of the other factors which we attribute to growing global concerns. The book is riddled with ways that people can change and Speck does not discriminate from the top-down, calling out everyone from the individual to the leaders of respective fields.

He cites funny scenarios, like an office that was originally located in the center of a metropolis, but moved further out to build a LEED Gold building with the idea thatthey would be more sustainable. After everything had been accounted, however (i.e. the new travel time for the employees, carbon footprint for supplies etc.) the new building was actually less efficient than the first…..yet it attained LEED Gold. This is how Speck gets his point across: a simple story that humanizes some of the pitfalls or successes we have seen in humanity, followed up by factual data which solidifies his point.

That being said, Speck rarely goes on the attack of something without having a strong example of how a situation could be reoriented to a positive outcome. There is nothing worse than someone who will argue you to no end, yet never comes up with a view of their own, and Speck is not (thankfully) one of these individuals. Speck tears you apart but gives you the proper tools to successfully fix the issue, in return.

I will leave you with a quote from the book that hit home for me:

LEED Architecture without good urban design is like cutting down the rainforest using hybrid-powered bulldozers.

I finish off to demonstrate how Speck manages to get people seeing his point of view—and speaks to the problems facing us today at a number of scales—in a way that comprehensively moves across many scales in an engaging and accessible way. Rarely does he limit his field of view to a strong bias and this ultimately makes his claims that much more influential.

I have recommended this book to everyone from my fiancé to a marketer, from my mother and a customer service guru, to friends who already walk as much as possible. I will continue to recommend this book to anyone who will listen to me banter on about it for an hour, because I feel that the information presented within can and will change the way individuals look at walking in their cities.  And for once, I learned all of this from a human perspective, without impending doom staring me in the face.

Ultimately, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time is a lighthearted, whimsical, but exhaustingly factual book which should be handed out to every household as a government incentive to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

***

Jeremy Senko is happily lost in the world of theoretical architecture and design. He is forever a student at heart, consistently reading, experiencing and learning about the world he inhabits. More specifically, he recently completed his Bachelor of Interior Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where he pushed the limits (and the patience) of his professors.

The post Book Review – Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time appeared first on Spacing National.

The post-war era defines most of the architecture in Toronto — it’s about time we finally started to appreciate it. And you can do that by showing up to our 28th release party to get your hands on a copy of our newest issue.

In the Summer 2013 issue, our contributors explore a variety of topics related to Modernism and its affects on Toronto’s urban landscape. As Senior Editor Shawn Micallef writes in his essay on Toronto’s mod architecture, “To stand in the middle of Nathan Phillips Square today, after its recent renovation, is to realize how all of Toronto’s Modernism should be treated…. This is how all buildings — the old and not-so-old ones — should be revered: with love, a facelift every couple decades, and some new accessories that give a nod to the contemporary but maintain the building’s inherent style. Yet many Modernist structures in Toronto don’t get this treatment. So much has been left to crumble and fill with debris. The details that made modern spaces and buildings space-age-fantastic have been untended: artfully placed recessed lighting has been left burnt out or smashed in, and extinct fountains are now dry pits collecting detritus. As well, thousands of exquisite Modernist bungalows on residential streets — the era’s equivalent of bay-and-gable Victorians — go unnoticed by most. It’s no wonder Modernism is not universally loved.”

Staff writer Graeme Bayliss examines how churches and synagogues abandoned traditional design and embraced Modernism to attract new believers. Bayliss writes, “The shift from traditional Western religious architecture, with its elaborate ornamentation and utilization of expensive materials, to the generally simple and unadorned Modernist style was not precipitated merely by a change in architectural vogue — after all, when it comes to cultural trends, the sensitivity meter of religious institutions typically operates on a delay of decades. Rather, it was part of a concerted push by religious leaders to shed their elitist image and demystify their practices.”

Thomas Wickes looks at how Etobicoke’s growth coincided with the building boom of the post-war era. This meant everything from residential homes to medical centres to gas stations were built in the Modernist aesthetic. He writes, “Today, these areas such as Etobicoke and North York or Scarborough are often dismissed because they don’t impart an ideal sense of place. In fact, they’ve left a legacy we’re still struggling to deal with: low density, poor transit, and a lack of amenities. For better or worse, Etobicoke’s post-war neighbourhoods have come to define these dilemmas. While it would be a stretch to say that all architecture from the mid-century era is of a fine calibre, that doesn’t mean there aren’t worthwhile discoveries to be made. You just have to know where to look.”

Some of the other features you’ll find in the summer 2013 issue:

• Sam Javanrouh, Toronto’s most popular photoblogger,  is retiring his web site Daily Dose of Imagery this summer after 10 years of posting a photo every single day without interruption.
• Senior editor John Lorinc explores how the City of Toronto and other municipalities are experimenting with new ways of reaching out to local residents during public consultation initiatives.
• Erica Simmons casts her eyes back over 100 years to when “child savers” crusaded by creating such forward-thinking projects as playgrounds. At the time, this was revolutionary and constituted a grand social experiment by the local level of government.
• Graphic artist Marc Ngui was challenged by Spacing editors: if Toronto had it’s own currency what would it look like? Whose image would appear on the bills and coins? His results are one of the most unique visual contributions to the magazine in years.
• Spacing was a partner in the Green Line design competition — we highlight the winners and finalists from this great initiative
• Map artist Andrew Alfred Duggan has created a map of Toronto’s bike lanes and trails that will surely become an essential piece of mapping for the local bike riders

If you do not subscribe to the magazine, you can sign up on our online store now and receive 40% off newsstand prices. It’ll be delivered right to your home or office. And nothing better supports Spacing than having a large, dedicated group of subscribers.

The post Come to Spacing’s release party next week! appeared first on Spacing National.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist
Jerry Waese.

The post STREET SCENE: 4056 appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

In the ’80s New York mayor Ed Koch created protective bike lanes in Manhattan along 6th and 7th Avenues much to the chagrin of a very loud and influential opposition. Within weeks, the bike lanes were torn up.

Now, New York has a fairly impressive network of 285 miles of bikes lanes, all a part of a comprehensive 21st century transportation initiative.

How did New York and similar cities beat what New York magazine dubs ‘bikelash’? Here are three key points:

• Mobilize grassroot support for bike lanes
• Pressure from business leaders who recognize that bike lanes are an asset to their companies
• Frame the conversation around what is good for the city, not just what is good for cyclists

The bottom line in the bike-lane debate is that bike lanes make city streets safer, and are good for business.

Via Yes! magazine

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Bike friendly cities beat the odds, overcome ‘bikelash’ appeared first on Spacing National.

The plastic bag issue is returning to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday. City staff are recommending a “comprehensive  education and communication plan as the course of action,” with a budget of $300,000-$400,000. In other words, not to do very much at all.

The 5-cent plastic bag fee is unlikely to return, by the looks of it, but it’s worth taking this opportunity to consider its merits. The fee was not only effective (use of plastic bags dropped by 53%) but it was also a simple and elegant way to achieve this effect.

The 5-cent fee was an example of the “Nudge” theory of public policy, popularized by the book Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. The idea is, essentially, to find ways to use small, targeted measures to shift people’s behaviour rather than heavy-handed and expensive regulations. It’s portrayed as a cross-partisan idea because it combines the liberal desire to encourage more socially constructive behaviour with the conservative ideal of people being able to choose their behaviour, and of minimizing government activity (the UK Conservative government is apparently keen on it). The idea has probably been over-hyped, but it’s useful in some cases, and plastic bags is a good example.

The good thing about the plastic bag fee is that it leaves some choice, or indeed the possibility of backup. I’ve been using reusable bags since before the fee, but sometimes I realize I need to buy something when I don’t have a bag with me. It’s good to have the option, and plastic bags are generally stronger, easier to carry, more waterproof and more re-usable than paper bags. And you’re more likely to reuse a plastic bag if you know you paid something for it (rather than if you just saw a City ad in the subway, as is being proposed).

One common complaint about the plastic bag fee was that retailers kept the money. But that was not actually a bug, it was a feature. First, of course, it gives retailers some incentive to actually charge the fee. But more importantly, it meant that the fee didn’t require any bureaucracy, any government oversight to calculate and collect the fees. We got a public policy goal (less waste) without having to expand government at all.

It was hardly a windfall for retailers, either. First, bags do cost retailers – probably a couple of cents a bag. As for the other 3 cents, that would pay for about 10 seconds of the time of a retail employee earning minimum wage ($10.25/hr) – just enough time for them to say “do you need a bag with that”? In other words, the 5 cents just about covers the employer’s costs in time and material for providing plastic bags. The 5-cent fee wasn’t a cash grab by either retailers or government — it simply made consumers to pay something like the actual cost of their decision to use a store-provided plastic bag.

One factor that may play into the opposition to a bag fee is that the quality of the bag varies widely from retailer to retailer. I now shop at a Foodland, which provides reasonably thick, strong bags that can almost always be reused. But I used to shop at Metro, which provides really flimsy bags that almost always get punctured on first use. It would indeed be aggravating to pay for one of those, and I suspect that factor contributed to the opposition (David Shiner, when he introduced the motion to abolish plastic bags, complained about their flimsiness). A simple solution to this problem would be to establish a minimum thickness of bag, as some other jurisdictions in North America have done, to ensure that any bags distributed are reusable.

A poll conducted for the city (PDF) showed that citizens are split exactly 50-50 on supporting or not supporting the 5-cent plastic bag fee. That’s probably too close for most politicians. But it leaves open the possibility that the fee could be re-introduced in the future.

Photo by Sam Javanrouh

The post The elegance of the plastic bag fee appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

To coincide with the cover section of Spacing’s summer 2013 issue, we bring you a series of posts by local architect Robert Moffatt that examine Modernist buildings in Toronto.

Located on the curve of Spadina Crescent at 33 Robert Street, Lord Lansdowne Public School opened in 1961 amid a massive building program to accommodate Toronto’s growing hordes of Baby Boom children.

Lord Lansdowne exemplifies a particularly English strain of Modernism first popularized at the landmark 1951 Festival of Britain. The Festival’s slightly fussy yet cheerfully exuberant buildings, with their bright colours, varied materials and animated forms, were fresh and optimistic and promised a brave new world ahead for a country finally emerging from years of war and austerity.

The school’s festive inspiration is most evident in the main classroom building. A nine-sided circular pavilion, its serrated roof of folded concrete plates is ringed by 18 tapered steel pylons radiating outward from a central core. Similar folded-plate roofs atop the rectangular gymnasium wing and the main entrance help to unify the three-part composition, as do the miniature pylons supporting the entrance canopy. Walls of black, brown and tan brick are enlivened by sharp white trim and spandrel panels of lemon yellow, marine blue and a rich orangey red. A final architectural whimsy is the freestanding exhaust stack, wrapped in multicoloured stripes like a giant candycane. The black Gabbro boulder guarding the Spadina corner was deposited on the site by a glacier some 12,000 years ago before being unearthed during excavation.

Lord Lansdowne was an in-house project by what was then the Toronto Board of Education: Peter Pennington was the design architect, overseen by the board’s chief architect Frederick Etherington. As well as commissioning numerous schools from leading Toronto architectural firms, the Board of Education team designed many inventive examples themselves during the 1950s and early 60s. Other notable in-house designs include the combined Davisville Public School and Metropolitan Toronto School for the Deaf at 43 Millwood Road, an extension to Williamson Road Junior and Senior School at 24 Williamson Road, and the Winchester Junior and Senior Public School at 15 Prospect Street. The Board’s former headquarters at 155 College Street, completed in 1961 to designs by Page & Steele, features exemplary materials and craftsmanship.

You can read more posts on Modernism by Robert on his blog Modern Toronto

The post MOD TORONTO: A circular school — Lord Lansdowne PS appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

To go along side our new issue’s theme of Modernism, Spacing is creating a line of t-shirts celebrating some of our favourite Modernist buildings.

Completed in 1965 and designed by architect John B. Parkin, this building served as the headquarters for Bata Shoes in North York for nearly 40 years. After Bata moved their operations to Switzerland, the building was demolished in 2007 to make way for an Ismaili cultural centre and park.

Our Bata HQ t-shirt will be officially released at the end of June, but util then you can take advantage of our pre-order sale and save yourself $5. The pre-order sale is limited in numbers, but if you don’t end up getting your hands on one, they will also be available at our upcoming Toronto launch party (along with a lot of other new merchandise).

As this is a pre-order sale, all orders will not ship until the end of June, please take this in to account when ordering.

As well, to make room for all the new merchandise we’re introducing over the course of the summer, we have lowered the price on all of our other t-shirt designs to $20 — that’s 1/3 off! This is our last run of these other designs so stock is very limited.

The post Pre-order sale for our new Modernism t-shirt appeared first on Spacing National.

PLEASE NOTE: 130 tickets have already been reserved (please pay your $5 ticket price when you arrive at the door). If you do not show up with your reserved ticket by 7pm it will be made available to the public. There are 50 tickets available for walk-up purchase. 

Spacing — in partnership with CodeRedTO and the University of Toronto Institute of Transportation Engineers Student Chapter, and U of T’s Cities Centre — is happy to present Jarrett Walker’s lecture “Abundant Access: Public Transit as an Instrument of Freedom”. There will be a Q&A session after Walker’s lecture.

Walker is one of the most active and vocal advocates for public transit. He believes that transit can be simple, if we focus first on the underlying geometry that all transit technologies share. In his talk here in Toronto, Walker supplies the basic tools, the critical questions, and the means to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing transit services.

In his book Human Transit (Island Press, 2013) — which will be available for purchase at the event — explains the fundamental geometry of transit that shapes successful systems; the process for fitting technology to a particular community; and the local choices that lead to transit-friendly development. Whether you are in the field or simply a concerned citizen, here is an accessible guide to achieving successful public transit that will enrich any community.

Walker has been designing public transit systems for over 20 years. He is an independent consultant in North America and Principal Consultant with MRCagney in Australia. He writes the popular transit blog HumanTransit.org.

The post Spacing presents Jarrett Walker lecture Wednesday appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

• Rob Ford assault: Woman arrested for allegedly throwing drink at mayor [Toronto Star]
• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admits it’s time to hire security after alleged drink throwing [Toronto Star]
• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford reacts to thrown drink incident at street festival [Globe and Mail]
• ‘You got a little shower’: Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford brushes off ‘unfortunate’ juice-throwing incident [National Post]
• Ford staffer can’t talk about Toronto’s embattled mayor, but he can sing about beautiful women [National Post]
• Absolutely addicted,’ Rob Ford says… about city council and the land transfer tax [National Post]

OTHER NEWS

• Toronto to study new garbage disposal options, including incineration [Toronto Star]
• The new buzz? Backyard beekeeping [Globe and Mail]
• A trip up Toronto’s Old City Hall clock tower [Globe and Mail]
• May 2013 real-estate stats[The Grid]

The post Toronto’s Urbanism Headlines: Monday appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist
Jerry Waese.

The post STREET SCENE: Wheels in Kensington appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

Check out this unique world map by Awesome Maps that details all of the hottest surf spots around the world. It is one in a series of maps that Simon Schuetz and illustrator Lars Seiffert of Awesome Maps are creating for adventure lovers around the world.

Currently Awesome Maps has launched on Kickstarter in order to raise funds for a bucket list map they want to create. The map will include all the marvels around the world that everyone needs to visit.

Awesome Maps has also created a snowboarding map as well as a world soccer map.

Via Slate.

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Awesome Maps: a German startup makes cartography cool again appeared first on Spacing National.

Contribute your photos to Spacing’s Flickr pool

The post Urban Mosaic appeared first on Spacing National.

• City of Toronto Walking Portal (links to policies and programs)
• Toronto Pedestrian Charter (2002)
• Toronto Walking Strategy (2009)
• Vibrant Streets Guidelines (PDF) (includes street furniture placement guidelines)
• Accessibility Design Guidelines (PDF)
• Streetscape Manual
• Traffic Calming Policy (PDF)
• Wayfinding Strategy
• Toronto Seniors Strategy
• Toronto Public Health: Walk to School
• Toronto Public Health: Walk into Health
• “The Walkable City: Neighbourhood Design and Preferences, Travel Choice and Health” (PDF) (Toronto Public Health report, 2012)
• “Road to Health: Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto” (PDF) (Toronto Public Health report, 2012)
• Traffic Signal FAQs
• List of walks offered in Toronto (also for adding walks to this list)
• Pedestrian Collision Statistics, 2011 (PDF) (change the year in the URL to see earlier ones)

Various non-municipal organizations also provide useful information about walking policy and programs in Toronto:

• Metrolinx walk-to-school strategy
• Chief Coroner of Ontario Pedestrian Death Review (PDF)
• Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (independent work on walking and cycling policy)
• Jane’s Walk Toronto
• Jane’s Walk/University of Toronto Suburban Walkability Studies
• Active and Safe Routes to School
• 8-80 Cities

If I’ve missed anything, please add them in the comments.

The post Toronto Walking Policy Resources appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

PICKERING AIRPORT

• Pickering airport foes prepare to fight once more [Toronto Star]
  
• Pickering airport gets green light, but is it needed? [Toronto Star]
• Pickering airport plan finally scheduled for takeoff [Toronto Sun]
• Ottawa pledges new GTA airport, expanded national park  [Globe & Mail]
• Pickering to get airport on Pickering Lands, Flaherty confirms [National Post]

CITY HALL

• Nick Kouvalis tells Mayor Rob Ford to ‘get healthy’ [Toronto Star]
  
• U of T’s (astro)turf war heads to City Hall [Toronto Sun]
• Council votes to allow permanent residents to cast ballots [Toronto Sun]
• Left-leaning councillors laud congestion [Toronto Sun]
• Jaye Robinson says mayor’s office told her to stop speaking to media [Toronto Sun]
•  Councillor booted from executive has no regrets  [Globe & Mail]
•  City council backs electoral reform  [Globe & Mail]
• Councillors vote to seek end of ‘first past the post’ system in city elections [National Post]

OTHER NEWS

• Ontario teacher’s new headquarters an architectural lesson: Hume [Toronto Star]
• in the park, civility goes to the dogs: Fiorito [Toronto Star]
• TTC fires ‘director of loss prevention’ [Toronto Sun]
• Dilapidated, ‘spooky’ Spadina landmark is getting a $50-million facelift  [Globe & Mail]
• Dundas street fair a watershed moment for the once grimy thoroughfare [National Post]

The post Toronto’s Urbanism Headlines: Wednesday appeared first on Spacing Toronto.

The weather in most regions of Mongolia is incredible fierce and now they are looking to harness those long winters and harsh winds to generate clean energy for future generations.

The wind turbines in Salkhit Mongolia will each tower 384 feet upward, and each blade will be a whopping 120 feet long. They have been engineered to withstand the severe weather that blasts the land.  Each turbine can produce 1.6 MW and the entire project is projected to produce 50 MW and 168.5 million kilowatt hours. Estimates project the wind farm will save the country 122,000 tons of coal and keep 180,000 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Via TreeHugger.

Urban Planet is a roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Mongolian wind farms spark new future of clean energy appeared first on Spacing National.