{"id":1451,"date":"2011-08-08T09:15:31","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T16:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingvancouver.ca\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2013-01-21T07:10:52","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T15:10:52","slug":"thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Though the summer weather has stayed away, Vancouver is experiencing a growth in street activity.\u00a0 The increased number of specialist food vendors is being rightfully celebrated as the city’s foodie culture breaks out into the street.\u00a0 Parts of downtown and beyond are also regularly closed to improve the pedestrian experience as part of the ‘VIVA Vancouver’ initiative.\u00a0 Downtown Granville Street, for example, is pedestrianized at weekends to accommodate street entertainment and outdoor seating.\u00a0 Yet despite this resurgence I feel something is missing from Vancouver’s public spaces.\u00a0 Newspaper kiosks.<\/p>\n

To a European urbanist the prevalence of newspaper boxes in a city is strikingly impersonal, not to mention lacking in choice and design.\u00a0 This may be a strange time to be defending print media, but the kiosk is not dead (at least not yet) and can be a tool for enriching Vancouver’s public spaces.<\/p>\n

The newspaper kiosk offers a range of benefits to a city’s public spaces.\u00a0 Most obviously it acts as a retail stand and can provide quick and easy access to the daily newspapers, weekly periodicals and monthly magazines. A clever retailer would understand that whilst print media is generally in decline in the western world, the breadth of media has increased and the kiosk should reflect this trend.\u00a0 The media offering should also be supplemented by food and beverages.\u00a0 The kiosk need not become a specialist food vendor, but will benefit from providing access to a bottle of lemonade or freshening mints.<\/p>\n

A further benefit a kiosk can bring is the human touch.\u00a0 This is where the experience moves from a faceless vending machine to increasing street activity.\u00a0 A knowledgeable kiosk operator can inform a customer on the latest magazines available or why that day’s Vancouver Sun is a must-read.\u00a0 Through this role they indirectly take on the role of city custodian.\u00a0 Tourists can ask for directions, locals can inquire about road closures and police officers can glean general information.\u00a0 This may be overly romanticizing the role of a newspaper salesperson, but the streets of Paris, London and Madrid would be poorer without the humble kiosk.<\/p>\n

The kiosk also has a key role to play in the wider design of the streetscape.\u00a0 The more impressive city streets are able to combine minimal street furniture and clear visual order whilst retaining a high level of street activity.\u00a0 There is continuing demand for additional benches, bus shelters, litter containers and bicycle parking on key city streets.\u00a0 Taken together these elements could clutter the sidewalk and ruin the pedestrian experience.\u00a0 This is where design plays a central role.\u00a0 From a quick trawl of newspaper kiosk manufacturers it is evident a number of creative and smart design solutions are available.\u00a0 This includes kiosks which expand and retract to suit the level of offering and can also be safely locked at night, all the time retaining a high level of design.<\/p>\n

So why does Vancouver have no newspaper kiosks?<\/p>\n

There may be a regulatory reason.\u00a0 Firstly, print media is not included in the ‘product’s approved for sale’ set out by the City of Vancouver in it’s rules on street vending.\u00a0 Clearly that will need to change.\u00a0 Currently, just to place a newspaper box on the street requires adherence to at least five pages of detailed regulations.<\/p>\n

But there may also be other non-planning reasons for the absence of kiosks in the city.\u00a0 Is the market too poorly served by daily newspapers to warrant a specialist kiosk?\u00a0 Does the high level of car-based commuting, when compared to European cities, disqualify the need for something to read on a long commute?\u00a0 Or does the distribution system established by media companies prevent a kiosk from returning a healthy profit.\u00a0 Some, all or none of the above may give us a clue.<\/p>\n

Again, this is not the most opportune time to be promoting print media.\u00a0 One need only view the recent film ‘Page One’ to understand the pressures within the New York Times to adapt to new media forms such as Twitter and the Huffington Post.\u00a0 So establishing a newspaper kiosk in Vancouver will not be easy.\u00a0 But if undertaken correctly it can offer a diverse range of retail services and bring wider benefits to the city’s public spaces.\u00a0 At a time when the city is experimenting with temporary street closures to stimulate street activity, perhaps something a little more permanent is the order of the day.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though the summer weather has stayed away, Vancouver is experiencing a growth in street activity.\u00a0 The increased number of specialist food vendors is being rightfully celebrated as the city’s foodie culture breaks out into the street.\u00a0 Parts of downtown and beyond are also regularly closed to improve the pedestrian experience as part of the ‘VIVAContinue reading “Thinking outside the (newspaper) box”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6022,"featured_media":1676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_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":[11232,91],"tags":[5160,5169,5156,5162,11611,5165,5167,398,5164,1272,5168,11610,5161,5157,5170,565,5163,3,5158,5159,5166,4953,692,214,1899],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-media","tag-car-based-commuting","tag-city-custodian","tag-clever-retailer","tag-creative-and-smart-design-solutions","tag-food","tag-food-vendors","tag-huffington-post","tag-indepth-features","tag-knowledgeable-kiosk-operator","tag-london","tag-madrid","tag-media","tag-media-forms","tag-newspaper-kiosk-manufacturers","tag-page-one","tag-paris","tag-print-media","tag-public-space","tag-retail-services","tag-retail-stand","tag-the-huffington-post","tag-the-new-york-times","tag-twitter","tag-vancouver-2","tag-vancouver-sun"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver<\/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\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Though the summer weather has stayed away, Vancouver is experiencing a growth in street activity.\u00a0 The increased number of specialist food vendors is being rightfully celebrated as the city’s foodie culture breaks out into the street.\u00a0 Parts of downtown and beyond are also regularly closed to improve the pedestrian experience as part of the ‘VIVAContinue reading "Thinking outside the (newspaper) box"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-08T16:15:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T15:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Quigley\" \/>\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=\"Chris Quigley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/\",\"name\":\"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-08T16:15:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T15:10:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/e5e660c4dc46ecc2cae5b91d988ccf73\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":448},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver 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\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/e5e660c4dc46ecc2cae5b91d988ccf73\",\"name\":\"Chris Quigley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6634cbf0c2232a124699006af897eff0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6634cbf0c2232a124699006af897eff0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Quigley\"},\"description\":\"Chris Quigley is a qualified urban planner who has recently moved to Vancouver after time spent as a planning consultant in London, UK. He has a wide ranging interest in contemporary cities and regions, in particular planning policy, architecture and city branding. His personal blog explores international episodes of urbanism and can be found at www.musingsofanurbanist.blogspot.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.musingsofanurbanist.blogspot.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/chrisquigley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver","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\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Though the summer weather has stayed away, Vancouver is experiencing a growth in street activity.\u00a0 The increased number of specialist food vendors is being rightfully celebrated as the city’s foodie culture breaks out into the street.\u00a0 Parts of downtown and beyond are also regularly closed to improve the pedestrian experience as part of the ‘VIVAContinue reading \"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2011-08-08T16:15:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T15:10:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":448,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris Quigley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Quigley","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/","name":"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-08T16:15:31+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T15:10:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/e5e660c4dc46ecc2cae5b91d988ccf73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/NewspaperBins.jpg","width":600,"height":448},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/08\/08\/thinking-outside-the-newspaper-box\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thinking outside the (newspaper) box"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver 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\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/e5e660c4dc46ecc2cae5b91d988ccf73","name":"Chris Quigley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6634cbf0c2232a124699006af897eff0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6634cbf0c2232a124699006af897eff0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Quigley"},"description":"Chris Quigley is a qualified urban planner who has recently moved to Vancouver after time spent as a planning consultant in London, UK. He has a wide ranging interest in contemporary cities and regions, in particular planning policy, architecture and city branding. His personal blog explores international episodes of urbanism and can be found at www.musingsofanurbanist.blogspot.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.musingsofanurbanist.blogspot.com"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/chrisquigley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1451"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16783,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions\/16783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}