CASCADIA
• Pandora Avenue development runs into traffic dilemma [Victoria Times Colonist]
• Growth of Portland bicycle traffic slowed in 2012 [Oregon Live]

CANADA
• Premier Kathleen Wynne, Paul Godfrey had different visions [Globe and Mail]

INTERNATIONAL
• The Potential Problem With Personalized Google Maps? We May Never Know What We’re Not Seeing [The Atlantic Cities]
• Google Maps helps reunite man with family 23 years after he was kidnapped on his way to kindergarten [National Post]
• New York apartment dwellers furious over artist’s photos taken through windows [National Post]
• Does Living Near Fast Food Restaurants Increase Your Risk of Obesity? [The Atlantic Cities]
• First Rentals: Native New York Style [New York Times]

The post Vancouver’s Urbanism Headlines: Weekend appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Kelowna City Hall wants residents to explore new ways to get involved in municipal affairs during this year’s Local Government Awareness Week, May 19 to 25. To encourage informed participation, the city has a public engagement RSS news feed accessible from kelowna.ca/getinvolved. Also, during planning processes, the city seeks input on upcoming parks, transportation, utility and community projects through open houses, workshops, surveys, online tools and social media.

Residents living in 1940s era summer cottages rented from Metro Vancouver in Belcarra Regional Park have won a small victory in their bid to stay. On Thursday, the Environment and Parks committee deferred a decision to consider demolishing the seven cabins maintained by the Belcarra South Preservation Society after hearing from residents.

Saanich may have its work cut out for itself after open houses found mixed public reaction to two proposed community allotment gardens in the municipality. The first, planned for Gorge Park, received 77.3 per cent support, according to survey results posted online. The second proposed park, currently slated for a parcel of grass behind Saanich Commonwealth Place, received much less support. Fifty-nine per cent of survey respondents don’t like the proposed location.

[Thompson-Nicola] Regional planners are worried the loss of the mandatory long-form census will make it increasing difficult to plan for the futures of small communities. ”Is it debilitating? No. It does make it harder for policy planning,” Regina Sadilkova, the TNRD’s director of development services, said Thursday.

Weighing in at a whopping 180 pages — the combined 36-month effort of over 100 volunteers and city staff — it’s being called a major milestone, both on account of its sheer accomplishment, and what it means to the City of Nelson’s future. Made official this past Monday night, the City’s newly revised Official Community Plan (OCP) was adopted as Bylaw 3247 by Mayor John Dooley and city council.

The post Neighbourhood Watch appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Sitting like a mirage in the desert, Masdar City might just be on the frontier of a new – environmental friendly – urban life.

The city is an $18 billion  project in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and is scheduled to be completed by 2015. It will be home to 40,000 residents within a two square mile radius, where cars are simply not allowed. Each building in the city being toted as carbon-neutral and residents are transported about via PRTs (Personal Rapid Transit) pods.

A 148-foot tower draws cool air down to create a perpetual breeze in the courtyard of the Masdar Institute.

Via Popsci

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 Masdar City: eco-friendly city of the future appeared first on Spacing National.

CASCADIA
• Trans-poor-tation 4: A mighty toll order [Crosscut]
• Understanding cities through urban diaries [Crosscut]
• Victoria parking machines could sell bus passes [Victoria Times Colonist]
• No new streetcars from United Streetcar this week: Portland City Hall Roundup [Oregon Live]

CANADA
• Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal [Toronto Star]

INTERNATIONAL
• Here’s What a Metro Station in Saudi Arabia Looks Like [The Atlantic City]
• Hungry City: Bunker in Ridgewood, Queens [New York Times]
• How to rile up a crowd (in D.C.) talk building heights [Washington City Paper]
• ‘Bring on more gentrification,’ declares Detroit’s economic development czar [Motor City Muckraker]
• With Security, Trade Center Faces New Isolation [New York Times]

The post Vancouver’s Urbanism Headlines: Friday appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Shot with a Braun Nizo Super 8 camera mounted on a bicycle. The camera had an intervalometer so it automatically shot a frame of film every so many seconds. I redid the ride in 2011 and photographed stills at key points in the film to show then and now. The Vancouver radio is from the early 70′s.

The post Video Vancouver: A Bicycle Ride-the long version appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

CASCADIA
• Victoria, Edmonton residents raise vegetables and fish using aquaponics [Vancouver Sun]
• Trans-poor-tation 3: No high five for I-5 [Crosscut]

CANADA
• SmartCentres hopes there is life after Walmart — Hume [Toronto Star]
• Hole in Champlain Bridge downplayed by feds [Montreal Gazette]

INTERNATIONAL
• The new Google Maps includes neat new transit comparisons [Buzzer Blog]
• Google Escalates the Competition in Map Services [New York Times]
• Bike Sharing Prepares to Get its World Rocked [Planetizen]
• Berlin: Barbie’s New Home [The Atlantic Cities]
• How to Save Water-Starved Cities [The Atlantic Cities]
• Jim Bassett: “Everyone a Tourist”: On the Photography of Monuments [Places from Design Observer]

The post Vancouver’s Urbanism Headlines: Thursday appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Last VT image: Grouse Mountain at night, Vancouver.

***

Erick Villagomez is one of the founding editors at Spacing Vancouver. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with personal and professional interests in the urban landscapes. His private practice – Metis Design|Build – is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places. You can also see some of his drawing and digital painting adventures at Visual Thoughts.

The post Visual Thoughts appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Eligibility: Open to international artists
Application Deadline: May 31, 2013 (postmarked or hand-delivered)
Project Budgets range from $7,000 – $250,000 (preliminary budget estimates)

The City of Tampa’s Art Programs Division is working with park planners and the Tampa Housing Authority and its partners in creating a cohesive cultural arts plan. This Call to Artist solicits artist interest for both project sites. This project is seeking artists who can work in a team to further enhance the conceptual design plans to capture the rhythms and historical cycles of a community.

This project is open to visual artists with experience executing their ideas from concept to completion, meeting a specified budget and timeframe, and working in the public realm with public agencies.

Note regarding project budgets: The project budgets range from $7,000 – $250,000. These are working estimates and subject to adjustment pending supplemental funding.

For full details on the project and submission requirements go to: http://www.tampagov.net/dept_art_programs/files/RFQ-CTA_PHP-P%20I_ENCORE-053113.pdf

Applications are due on May 31, 2013 (postmarked or hand-delivered).

Any questions regarding this call can be emailed to ArtPrograms@tampagov.net.

***

The post Call to Artists – Perry Harvey Sr. Park & the Encore District – Tampa, Florida appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

CASCADIA
• Trans-poor-tation: Olympia’s $8.4 billion fail [Crosscut]
• Trans-poor-tation 2: Let’s finish what we started [Crosscut]
• Throwing Metro Under the Bus [Sightline Daily]

CANADA
• Changes to Manitoba liquor laws will allow alcohol in spas, hair salons [Globe and Mail]
• Regina looks to use other Canadian cities as inspiration to solve housing crisis [Regina Leader-Post]
• Beer finally coming to Manitoba’s hair salons: NDP pitches law to allow alcohol in spas [National Post]
• Ottawa to work with Montreal on Champlain Bridge: minister [Montreal Gazette]

INTERNATIONAL
• Photographing Tokyo’s Coolest Escalators [The Atlantic Cities]
• U.S. PIRG: The Driving Boom Is Over But the Road-Building Binge Continues [DC Streets Blog]
• Biking in the Motor City: How Detroit, Michigan is Returning to its Roots [Global Site Plans]
• In Poor Margins of Paris, New Recipe for Success Is Local [New York Times]
• As Usual, California Density Goes Its Own Way — Up! [California Planning and Development Report]

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

Believe it or not there’s a ton of fat in the sewers of London, England and it’s a real problem. In what might just be the worst job ever, city workers have to manually unclog sewers and remove the excess fat.

A new power plant – to be built by 2015 – looks to take all this excess fat, oil and grease (FOG) and use it to generate enough electricity for 39,000 homes. Used greased from restaurant deep-fryers will also be used.

London sewers have 80,000 blockages annually. More than 30,000 tonnes of fat will be delivered to the new plant everyday.

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 London looks to burn off fat and generate power for city lights appeared first on Spacing National.

How do you get around your city? Do you cycle? Would you like to cycle? What influences your decision?

There have been numerous attempts to encourage a shift towards active transportation and cycling. The most high profile of these have focused on the construction of physical infrastructure such as separated bicycle lanes, bike parking and destination amenities such as change-rooms and showering facilities. Due to tight city budgets and the slow pace of infrastructure development, cities like Toronto have lagged behind other urban centres which have fast-tracked their cycling infrastructure. In spite of this, Toronto has greatly increased its cycling population. A recent Toronto study estimates the increase in the number of cyclists, from 2001 to 2006, to be as much as 30%. While this increase shows positive signs, there is still significant room to grow.

Researchers from the Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank have been working on the development of A Toolkit to Accelerate the Adoption of Cycling for Transportation. This toolkit takes an original approach: linking behaviour change theory and cycling promotion. The toolkit is based on a thorough review of existing scholarly literature and builds on the practical components of successful cycling programs from around the world. The result is an evidence-based, adaptable model, providing a guideline for a cycling promotion program design.

The Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank will be using this toolkit in a pilot project in 2013. The idea is to move beyond “traditional” cycling campaigns – which often strive to raise awareness, promote the benefits of cycling and provide information. While these initiatives do play a role, many studies have concluded that knowledge and information campaigns alone do not lead to actual behaviour change. The Toolkit to Accelerate the Adoption of Cycling for Transportation recommends a more supported, targeted and “give it a try” approach to cycling encouragement, including these general steps:

1> Segment Target Population

2> Identify & Remove Barriers

3> Implement Commitment Strategies

4> Sustain Behaviour Change

+ Ongoing social support through modeling, local hubs & periodic events

An important additional factor, and one that must be ongoing, is the use of various techniques to draw people in and inspire widespread participation. Techniques such as pledges, small incentives to encourage initial involvement, the creation of social support networks or local cycling hubs, the presence of an enthusiastic cycling “champion” to model the desired behaviour, and periodic, large-scale community events to keep new, as well as experienced, cyclists motivated are some examples of engagement tools. These elements involve the target audience, instill a sense of ownership in the program and help sustain the behaviour change.

The first step, in the process, is to identify and understand the target audience. This could be a particular demographic group: school children, female non-cyclists or senior occasional cyclists, as examples. Ideally the group is one that will, for a variety of reasons, be amenable to cycling. We know, for example, that populations making big changes in their lives are often open to additional new behaviours. Once the group is identified, a more individualized, targeted intervention can be developed and applied.

While education, awareness and information can affect and shape attitudes and intention; barriers ultimately mediate whether they are expressed through behaviour. Common barriers to cycling include fear, perception of safety, perceived lack of comfort, distance, negative stereotypes related to the “image” of a cyclist and the power of habit as a determinant of travel behaviour. Ultimately, it is when barriers, both internally and externally, are low that behaviour change programs are effective.

It is fascinating to see the success of countless cycle encouragement programs in Toronto and around the world. Many incorporate one or more of the steps and tactics presented in the toolkit. Our research suggests the combination of these steps will be more powerful than single interventions. The wheel does not need to be developed from scratch – rather the programs that already exist can be supplemented and looped into a larger framework, in partnership with local community groups. Our work is about expanding, enhancing and connecting communities and activities that support cycling.

For more information, please visit www.torontocycling.org

Or email info@torontocycling.org

Emma Cohlmeyer recently completed her Masters in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto. She has always been intrigued by urban life, cities and the built environment. She is fascinated by the dynamic and diverse ways that people are able to shape and influence their city, while at the same time how urban form is able to shape its population.

Photo by Daniel Gueorguiev

The post Cycling Think & Do Tank: strategies get more people on a bike appeared first on Spacing National.

Written by James L. Sipes—a landscape architect and environmental planner—and Mathew L. Sipes—a civil engineer—the book benefits from both authors professional experience as it brings together the disciplines of architecture, planning and engineering—all of which are indispensible when creating roadways—and presents them as a single integrated perspective. This approach makes the book more accessible without skimping on technical details.

The post Book Review – Creating Green Roadways: Integrating, Cultural Natural and Visual Resources into Transportation appeared first on Spacing National.

As it stands, the Miami Beach Convention Center is nowhere near being the standard for green sustainable architecture, but that’s about to change.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has unveiled plans to transform the 52-acre site, creating the Miami Beach Square, a pedestrian-friendly space in front of the center. The renovations of the existing building will include an ambitious green roof which will also support art exhibitions.

The entire project is meant to revitalize the area: the new Miami Beach Square will act as a front door to the Convention Center.

Via Inhabitat

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 Miami Beach Convention Center goes green with massive overhaul appeared first on Spacing National.

Eligibility: Open to professional artists
Application Deadline: May 28, 2013, 3:00 pm PST
Budget: $100,000 (all inclusive)

The City of Kelowna is inviting public artists and/or public artist teams to enter an open two-stage public art competition. One artist and/or team of artists will receive a commission to create and oversee installation of artworks on two facades of a downtown parking facility (parkade).

For full details on the project and submission requirements go to: https://www.kelowna.ca/iBidOps/scripts/bo002.cfm?bo_id=925

Any questions regarding this call can be emailed to Tracey Lundberg at purchasing@kelowna.ca.

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The post Request for Expression of Interest, Public Art Screens – Library Parkade Expansion appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

All statistics are adjusted for inflation and reflect Canada wide data.

The post Video Vancouver: What is Generation Squeeze? appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.