{"id":23613,"date":"2013-12-16T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=23613"},"modified":"2017-12-01T16:04:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T00:04:09","slug":"meet-creator-commercial-drive-parklet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/12\/16\/meet-creator-commercial-drive-parklet\/","title":{"rendered":"Q & A with Julien Thomas, Mastermind behind the Commercial Drive Parklet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week Spacing wrote about a new public space project to land on Commercial Drive in 2014. The project titled Commercial Drive Parklet <\/i><\/a>\u00a0(CDP) is one of the selected projects from VIVA Vancouver\u2019s Parklet Pilot Program<\/a> and is to be located right in front of Prado Caf\u00e9. Excited by the project, Spacing Vancouver’s Alicia Medina Laddagga decided to have a chat with its creator Julien Thomas:<\/p>\n

AML: <\/b>Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your interest in urban transformation? <\/em><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: I studied Charles Hauss’ International Conflict Resolution<\/em><\/a> in university, because the content I learned made me consider my own life decisions. I couldn\u2019t close the book and walk away from the issues of the world; I had to find some way to relate. I decided that the best way for me to participate in these issues was to work close to home. Much of conflict resolution has to do with providing a space for people to heal, being seen, seeing others, learning how to do things differently\u2026 all things that can achieved on a local level through urban transformation. So, it took me a few years of learning from ror1state.org<\/a> about the Balkans, Rwanda, South Africa, and Israel\/Palestine to figure out that we have our own work to do here.<\/p>\n

AML: Can you talk a bit about your other projects and how they relate to the CDP?<\/em> <\/b><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: From the beginning, my work has been concerned with strategically reclaiming public spaces and urban elements to shift conversations and change policy. Here we live in a city whose land mass is composed of 30% publically-owned concrete \u2013 roads, sidewalks, parking lots. You and I and everyone in the city owns these spaces, yet they\u2019re often not oriented towards our collective well-being. So, whether it\u2019s taking junk cars and turning them into mobile food gardens, creating a collaborative process to re-imagine our streets, transforming a traffic circle into a park, re-purposing a disposal bin into a mobile social space, I\u2019ve tried to insert my projects into our everyday relationships with public space and also help us relate to the policies that underpin them.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different with the Commercial Drive Parklet<\/i><\/a><\/em> is that this is a City-driven pilot initiative. For the first time, I\u2019m working with people in the Engineering Department to figure out how citizens can work with civil servants to recreate our urban form. It\u2019s been a challenge, but I\u2019m learning a lot and hope that this is just the beginning of a broader turn towards participatory place-making in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

AML:<\/strong> Why a parklet? Why Commercial Drive?<\/b><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: Parklets take space away from cars and give it back to pedestrians. That\u2019s a pretty powerful symbol that people can experience, and so it\u2019s definitely an urban form that I think is important for a city, or a society, in transformation. Let\u2019s be clear, I\u2019m not saying that parklets are the answer to creating a more self-reliant, healthy, vibrant, engaged city, but they\u2019re part of it. And Commercial Drive is a good place to start.<\/p>\n

I was looking at City Studio<\/a>\u2019s map of projects over their first few years, and I was struck at their strong incidence in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood. This speaks to the community\u2019s active social life and their receptivity to creative projects. I\u2019d also add that I live on the Drive, and so it comes naturally to work on a project minutes from my door.<\/p>\n

AML: Can you give us a bit of how your collaborations came about and how they have influenced the design and location of the parklet?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: Most of the collaborations have happened very informally. Prado is my local caf\u00e9, and I was having a coffee there one morning in July when I overheard Sammy (the owner) talking about parklets. I promptly went over and introduced myself, and here we are today. I met Stewart (the architectural designer) when he approached me to participate in Park(ing) Day<\/em> this past year. I casually mentioned I was looking for an architect for my next project, and he offered up his services! It was very opportune. Stewart has been influential in the design of the parklet, obviously. I came up with a plan and cross-section based on my discussions with Sammy, and then Stewart just took it and ran with it.<\/p>\n

AML<\/b>: How did the \u2018performance\u2019 aspect come about and why is it important to you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: Again this was Stewart\u2019s idea, and I think it\u2019s great. I was reading the MIT Places in the Making<\/em><\/a> report, in which they lay out some expectations for reporting and metrics of placemaking initiatives. I strongly agree that we (urban designers, artists, placemakers) could be doing a better job of sharing our experiences and lessons learned, and that the success of a project should be judged, among other things, on how it helps other projects get off the ground.<\/p>\n

Recording the construction of the parklet in stop-motion is a major legacy piece for the project, and helps other parklet teams to illustrate exactly what they’re trying to do. Getting back to thinking about the context and relevance of parklets in placemaking, the construction phase is really where the project lands, and the transformation takes place. I love the idea of slowing this down for all to see.<\/p>\n

AML<\/b>: When can we expect to see the parklet installed? Is there going to be a launch party?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: We\u2019re aiming to install the parklet March 2014\u2026 maybe Spacing Vancouver wants to document the behind-the-scenes of the project leading up to install? Oh, there will definitely be a launch party! Kickstarter campaign supporters get first dibs, of course!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Alicia Medina Laddaga<\/strong> is an architecture and urban designer\/researcher based in Vancouver. Originally from Mexico where she studied and practiced architecture, she moved to Vancouver in 2011 to pursue a Masters of Advanced Studies in Architecture at UBC. While trying to bridge the gap between two cultures (Mexico and Canada), Alicia keeps on developing her ideas about the ways in which dynamic and spontaneous processes transform cities into vibrant urban environments.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week Spacing wrote about a new public space project to land on Commercial Drive in 2014. The project titled Commercial Drive Parklet \u00a0(CDP) is one of the selected projects from VIVA Vancouver\u2019s Parklet Pilot Program and is to be located right in front of Prado Caf\u00e9. Excited by the project, Spacing Vancouver’s Alicia MedinaContinue reading “Q & A with Julien Thomas, Mastermind behind the Commercial Drive Parklet”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6061,"featured_media":23615,"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":[11230,11232,80,26,28,35,36,11235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-features","category-headlines","category-neighbourhoods","category-parks","category-spacing","category-streetscape","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nQ & A with Julien Thomas, Mastermind behind the Commercial Drive Parklet - 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\/2013\/12\/16\/meet-creator-commercial-drive-parklet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q & A with Julien Thomas, Mastermind behind the Commercial Drive Parklet - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week Spacing wrote about a new public space project to land on Commercial Drive in 2014. 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