{"id":1803,"date":"2009-12-01T15:24:29","date_gmt":"2009-12-01T19:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=1803"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:56:47","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:56:47","slug":"the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bigworld.lawrenceplug.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Victoria Park\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"392\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>HALIFAX <\/strong>&#8211; With the cold weather here to stay, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.halifaxpublicgardens.ca\/\">Halifax Public Gardens<\/a> has closed its gates for the season. As sad as this is, you won\u2019t find tears in my eyes. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I really do like the Public Gardens, I just wish it didn\u2019t steal so much of the spotlight away from my favourite downtown green space: <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.ca\/maps?f=q&amp;source=s_q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=victoria+park,+halifax&amp;sll=44.641002,-63.57905&amp;sspn=0.001996,0.004823&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=Victoria+Park&amp;hnear=Victoria+Park,+Halifax,+NS&amp;ll=44.641006,-63.57919&amp;spn=0.001996,0.004823&amp;t=h&amp;z=18\">Victoria Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With the gardens now closed, Victoria Park can take back<strong> <\/strong>the limelight. Existing in the shadow of HRM\u2019s most well-known urban park, you\u2019d think it would suffer from neglect, vandalism or any number of a whole host of problems. This couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. Victoria Park is teeming with life. Full of benches, monuments to old Scottish poets and gathering spaces, the park attracts people day and night (despite technically closing at 10pm), summer and winter like few other places in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Part of this has to do with how the park relates to its immediate surroundings. With bus stops on its north, east and south sides, a bike lane running along its eastern edge (one of the few in downtown Halifax) and criss-crossing pathways for pedestrians cutting diagonally through the park, Victoria Park is a model for multi-modal transportation.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Lacking the rod-iron fence of its companion, the park is perfect for everyday use. It\u2019s the kind of place you don\u2019t necessarily see as a destination but a nice route to get downtown, which is part of what gives it its charm. Perfect for pedestrians cutting from University and Tower road to Spring Garden and South Park, it\u2019s one of the best examples in Halifax where paved pathways align with walking patterns, and not vice versa.<\/p>\n<p>Passing through at night is another experience entirely. With scattered lamps illuminating bench scenes in pockets of light, and glowing apartment windows looming down at you from the tall towers surrounding the park (with another one on the way), there\u2019s a sense of being right in the middle of a dense urban centre that\u2019s full of life. This sense that there are lots of \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.livablestreets.com\/streetswiki\/eyes-on-the-street\">eyes on the park<\/a>\u2019 might help to account for all the late-night dog walkers, midnight strollers and solitary walkers keeping the park alive right into the early morning.<\/p>\n<p>More impressive, however, is the role Victoria Park plays in the functioning of the city. Although its northern neighbour has the \u2018public\u2019 moniker, Victoria Park is actually the <a href=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2748\/4150316455_4c787fe459.jpg\">far more public<\/a> of the two green spaces, and not just because it\u2019s open 24\/7 or because it\u2019s not ringed by tall Victorian fences.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Public Gardens gate\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2785\/4087921822_39c2be81da_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Few other spaces in Halifax can claim to have been the site of so many demonstrations, protests and marches as Victoria Park. As for people-gazing, meeting friends, eating outdoors or even sleeping, it\u2019s hard to find a more popular spot. Likewise, for the many families looking for lawns to picnic on and the countless dog owners living in the nearby apartments it\u2019s a godsend, since the tailored public gardens, despite their aesthetic charms, are off limits to both parties.<\/p>\n<p>But nobody&#8217;s perfect. Even in my beloved Victoria Park, there\u2019s still plenty of room for improvement. The park lacks adequate bike parking and could do with a few more benches in the southern half as well as some new drinking fountains. Aside from these relatively minor issues, however, other parks around HRM could benefit a lot from following Victoria Park\u2019s example. Not only does it play a crucial role in bringing residents of the city together, it\u2019s also a model for how future transportation improvements and increased density can work in Halifax.<\/p>\n<p><em>photos by <a href=\"http:\/\/bigworld.lawrenceplug.com\/\">Lawrence Plug<\/a> and Matthew Blackett<a href=\"http:\/\/bigworld.lawrenceplug.com\/\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HALIFAX &#8211; With the cold weather here to stay, the Halifax Public Gardens has closed its gates for the season. As sad as this is, you won\u2019t find tears in my eyes. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I really do like the Public Gardens, I just wish it didn\u2019t steal so much of the spotlight away<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5866,5874],"tags":[351,590,754,1169,1168,1166,384,391,566,1167,385,1165],"class_list":["post-1803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-space","category-walking","tag-halifax","tag-lawrence-plug","tag-matthew-blackett","tag-model","tag-model-for-multi-modal-transportation","tag-multi-modal-transportation","tag-pedestrians","tag-public-space","tag-queen","tag-transportation-improvements","tag-urban-green","tag-victoria-park"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HALIFAX &#8211; With the cold weather here to stay, the Halifax Public Gardens has closed its gates for the season. As sad as this is, you won\u2019t find tears in my eyes. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I really do like the Public Gardens, I just wish it didn\u2019t steal so much of the spotlight awayContinue reading &quot;The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-01T19:24:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T08:56:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\",\"name\":\"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-01T19:24:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T08:56:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Atlantic\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Halifax, St. John&#039;s, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Sydney, Miramichi, Truro, Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\",\"name\":\"Jake Schabas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Schabas\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/author\/jakeschabas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic","og_description":"HALIFAX &#8211; With the cold weather here to stay, the Halifax Public Gardens has closed its gates for the season. As sad as this is, you won\u2019t find tears in my eyes. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I really do like the Public Gardens, I just wish it didn\u2019t steal so much of the spotlight awayContinue reading \"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Atlantic","article_published_time":"2009-12-01T19:24:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T08:56:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jake Schabas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Schabas","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/","name":"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park - Spacing Atlantic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg","datePublished":"2009-12-01T19:24:29+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T08:56:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2601\/4051007255_55f89f5517_o.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/01\/the-queen-of-the-urban-green-victoria-park\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Queen of the urban green: Victoria Park"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/","name":"Spacing Atlantic","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Halifax, St. John&#039;s, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Sydney, Miramichi, Truro, Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e","name":"Jake Schabas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jake Schabas"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/author\/jakeschabas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1803"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13935,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803\/revisions\/13935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}