{"id":2957,"date":"2010-01-28T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=2957"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:59:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:59:17","slug":"representing-halifax-exploring-the-potential-of-the-city-through-mapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/28\/representing-halifax-exploring-the-potential-of-the-city-through-mapping\/","title":{"rendered":"[Re]Presenting Halifax: Exploring the potential of the city through mapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"[Re]Presenting Halifax\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2685\/4310147878_08abb0d1b4_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"[Re]Presenting Halifax\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/feature-representing-hfx-60.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\" \/><br \/>\n<em> This is the first of a series of explorations through maps of the Halifax region.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Revisiting maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of Halifax that have long been buried can only help to further the discussion and debate about the current direction and future vision for the region.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The overall objective is to re-present the city within the historical and contemporary socio-political, spatial, and ecological dimensions and challenges in a manner that helps to reveal opportunities and contribute to a wider discussion on current conflicts, debates and developments. The \u2018agency\u2019 or capacity of the map is explored in parallel to the region\u2019s ability to adapt to and meet some of the increasingly diverse needs and demands of the city, its users, and inhabitants.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This proposal loosely imitates recent interpretive mapping exercises as published in <\/em><a title=\"Mapping Boston\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mappingboston.org\/html\/book.htm\"><em>Mapping Boston<\/em><\/a><em> and <\/em><a title=\"Mapping London\" href=\"http:\/\/www.blackdogonline.com\/all-books\/mapping-london.html\"><em>Mapping London<\/em><\/a><em> (among others), that demonstrate a renewed interest in both mapping\/map as process and product. While this exercise is much more modest in scale, it is also well suited for collaboration and contributions for others interested in the topic &#8211; so, please, join in on this subjective cartographic journey through the past and potential of Halifax! Anyone interested in contributing to this interpretive reading of the city is encouraged to send an <\/em><a title=\"enquire [at] haliform [dot] com\" href=\"mailto:enquire@haliform.com\"><em>email<\/em><\/a><em> with suggestions, ideas, or proposals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4011\/4307594426_018c0abe86_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Map of the city of Halifax, Halifax Co., N.S. 1878\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4011\/4307594426_018c0abe86_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"754\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I begin with a rather simple plan of the city centre and immediate surroundings produced in 1878, as it offers a glimpse of the city as both expanding port and fort town &#8211; a colonial town &#8211; yet, before its relationships to the landscape were eroded beyond recognition.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>At this point in time, the Halifax Common lands are strong features and, although not much more than pastures, suggest a central <em>sponge <\/em>for the peninsula &#8211; the centre of a natural drainage and purification system. Freshwater Brook &#8211; today almost completely buried, canalized and diverted &#8211; flows north to south from the North Common and empties into the harbour near the bottom of Inglis Street (at a point that is prone to flooding today).<\/p>\n<p>While much of the original path of Freshwater Brook has remained parkland &#8211; from the North Common, Public Gardens, and Victoria Park &#8211; the most recent plan for the North Common proposes the further hardening of paths, entrance and one baseball field (converting it into a small plaza). Presented in isolation from its surroundings and any remnants of natural systems, the plan for the North Common seems incredibly short-sited, as it simplifies a complex site in the heart of the city.<\/p>\n<p>The second image (below) shows the extent of urbanization on the peninsula by 1917 (dark grey). Heavy rail infrastructure lines are visible along the water\u2019s edge, with the main rail station located at the base of where the MacDonald Bridge approach sits today. Tramlines extended nearly the length of the peninsula, from the area now known as the Hydrostone to Point Pleasant Park (those shown here existed between 1878 &#8211; 1898). Other lines running west along Cunard Street and Spring Garden Road facilitated expansion away from the harbour, which had always been the main structuring element.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4038\/4307595062_d3d06d339c_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Modified map of the city of Halifax, Halifax Co., N.S. 1878\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4038\/4307595062_d3d06d339c_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"754\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Three strong natural elements &#8211; sponge, river, shoreline &#8211; overlaid by high capacity, high frequency transit infrastructure hints to a strategy for sustainable development of the region, achieved through the integration of city and nature. Yet, this is not what we see today. Still, much of the potential held within this image of the city still exists &#8211; buried beneath layers of asphalt or hidden by incoherent planning and development decisions.<\/p>\n<p>With the city trumpeting <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/12\/18\/hrmbydesign-part-iv-transportation\/\">HRMbyDesign<\/a> as a sustainable way forward for the region, and pushing to increase the number of people living on the peninsula, there seems to be too many (and too hollow) visions and far too few plans and strategies to make it happen. By shifting the emphasis from invented, intangible, and rigid notions of precincts or districts to stronger contextual qualities of the physical landscape, we may finally be able to take a first step towards a positive shared future.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2762\/4306853975_f616afa90c_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"Google Earth Satellite photo with map overlay\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2762\/4306853975_f616afa90c_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Base map from the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.davidrumsey.com\/luna\/servlet\/detail\/RUMSEY~8~1~33074~1170437:Map-of-the-city-of-Halifax,-Halifax\"><em>David Rumsey Collection<\/em><\/a><em>;\u00a0satellite image taken from <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/earth.google.com\/\"><em>Google Earth<\/em><\/a><em>; maps modified by author. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the first of a series of explorations through maps of the Halifax region. Revisiting maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of Halifax that have long been buried can only help to further the discussion and debate about the current direction and future vision for the region. The overall objective is to re-present the<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/01\/28\/representing-halifax-exploring-the-potential-of-the-city-through-mapping\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;[Re]Presenting Halifax: Exploring the potential of the city through mapping&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8057,"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":[5864,5866,5867,393],"tags":[412,847,1248,340,1731,516,351,336,671,417,1730,1729,416,1165],"class_list":["post-2957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-green-space","category-history","category-infrastructure","tag-representing-halifax","tag-author","tag-boston","tag-environment","tag-forward-for-the-region","tag-google","tag-halifax","tag-historical","tag-london","tag-mapping","tag-natural-systems","tag-satellite-image","tag-urbanism","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>[Re]Presenting Halifax: Exploring the potential of the city through mapping - 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\/2010\/01\/28\/representing-halifax-exploring-the-potential-of-the-city-through-mapping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[Re]Presenting Halifax: Exploring the potential of the city through mapping - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the first of a series of explorations through maps of the Halifax region. 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