September 2nd, 2010
Atlantic Snapshots: Princess Street
By The Photographers // No Comments
Saint John, New Brunswick
photo by Bill Lapp (Number Six), member of the Spacing Atlantic flickr pool
September 1st, 2010
World Wide Wednesday: Hotspots – Tokyo, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Copenhagen
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• If you've been saving up for a trip to Tokyo's Shimokitazawa neighbourhood, be sure to plan your travels before 2013. The bohemian hotspot is due for revamping and some fear that the very characteristics which make this place a favourite (twisting alleyways, discount shops, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, open air urinals) will be lost. The Globe and Mail shares some local gems.
• Worldchanging shares a recent study from a team of economists at the University of Munich examining the effects of mandatory parking minimums on development in urban and suburban Los Angeles. The study found that parking minimums "significantly increase" the amount of land devoted to parking, to the detriment of water quality, pedestrian safety and non-automotive modes of transportation. The authors suggest that these mandatory minimums often exceed market demand for parking space.
• For the Love of Biking shares some creative bike post designs from Minneapolis's DERO.
• Trust Copenhagen to find an unexpected solution to the problem of illegal bike parking. Copenhangenize reports that the City has started a program to move illegally parked bikes near Metro stations to designated bike racks. The team of "bike butlers" will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future. The positive reinforcement appears to be working - "when the project started in April they were moving around 150 bicycles a day. Today that number has dropped to between 30 and 50."
Photo by ajari
August 31st, 2010
Big Day Downtown
By Lauren Oostveen // No Comments
HALIFAX - Downtown Halifax has certainly gone through some changes in the past few years. While some of my favourite shops have come and gone, it's important to remember that in order for downtown to thrive, it's up to us to support the unique businesses, stores, and restaurants that call downtown home. Enter: The Big Day Downtown, a promotion from the Downtown Halifax Business Commission that highlights the great things to do in Halifax's downtown core. 30 bloggers received $100 and were unleashed onto the mean streets of Halifax with one simple instruction: to document what they did with the money.
In the midst of moving from Woodside to Halifax, I actually found it hard to find the spare time to go out and spend the $100. The dozens of unpacked boxes sometimes literally created a wall between me and the downtown shops I wanted to visit — only a 10-minute walk away from my new abode.
After a weekend of hard work, I'm ready to head downtown today after work to spend the remaining $50. The first $50? Here's how I used it:
August 30th, 2010
Local Craft Mystery
By Katie McKay // 4 Comments
HALIFAX - For over a year now, installations like these have been cropping up all over the city. A pop-up shop of sorts with only one item for sale: pieces of painted wood with 'Cruise Halifax' stamped on the back and timely messages on the front.
The labelled messages usually reference a large-scale event in town and oftentimes draw on an emotion of civic pride, with a polite plea to purchase one of the artifacts. Along with the milkcrate, plaque or shopping cart that serve to display the various local crafts, is a donation receptacle. No salesperson or artist in sight.
Does anyone have any information about the mastermind behind the artwork? Any theories? Have you ever purchased a piece? Spacing wants to know!
August 28th, 2010
Spacing Saturday: Lawn signs, churches, and heritage
By Nicole McIsaac // No Comments
Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.
With the election well underway, Vicki Smallman investigates the mayoral candidates and their potential uses of lawn signs in promoting their campaign. Lawn signs can be an expensive and non-environmentally friendly option in promotion, but are the traditional method in spreading the word.
With church congregations moving out of the city, churches are being secularized and re-purposed in order to preserve the site and make use of an otherwise empty space. Kate Wetherow comments on this phenomenon with examples of the kinds of functions that are no longer restricted to the church basement.
Alex Bozikovic shares a post from his blog, The Mean City, about the community housing building at 60 Richmond that is both exceptionally green, and pretty to look at.
Back from a recent trip to Pittsburgh, Matthew Blackett comments on the tiled mosaics that line shop doorways in the Southside, and promises more comment from the The Steel City.
August 27th, 2010
High-rise confusion on Barrington
By Sean Gillis // 2 Comments
HALIFAX - Last week HRM Council appeared to approve two high-rise developments on Barrington Street – a 17 storey building on the site of the Roy Building and a 20 storey tower to be built on top of the Discovery Centre. Sound familiar? Confusingly, Council seems to have approved the same two towers in April of 2009. Adding to the confusion, both towers are within the Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District, and appear to violate the new downtown plan approved through HRMbyDesign. What exactly is happening with these two proposals?
First, neither project has been granted final approval. Although the Roy Centre project was announced in the summer of 2008, and the Discovery Centre proposal submitted in February 2009, Council has to date only decided what rules the projects will be reviewed under.
In March 2009 Council voted to review these projects under the existing Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) instead of the new downtown plan, which was still being developed through HRMbyDesign. Both proposals are taller than the height limits for Barrington Street that were ultimately set by HRMbyDesign. Consequently, Council felt it would be unfair to review (and ultimately reject) these developments based on the HRMbyDesign standards, which had not been finalized when the tower applications were submitted to the Municipality. The Council vote, which happened last week, was needed to amend the Heritage By-law — a step that was missed in 2009.
Headlines: This Week in Review
By Andrew Bateman // No Comments
DEVELOPMENT
CHARLOTTETOWN - Charlottetown apartment proposal scaled back [CBC]
SAINT JOHN - Saint John mayor argues Rockwood Park limits [CBC]
ST. JOHN'S - Clean up George Street before revamp: councillor [CBC]
POLITICS
HALIFAX - A small council protects elite's interests [The Coast]
TRANSPORTATION
HALIFAX - Transit changes hit this weekend [Metro]
HALIFAX - Walking to school beneficial on so many levels [Haligonia]
FREDERICTON - Changes to Queen Street to start Monday [Daily Gleaner]
ST. JOHN'S - MUN rerouting roadways to accommodate heavy construction traffic [The Telegram]
URBAN GREEN
SAINT JOHN - Saint John pushes for dump clean up [CBC]
CHARLOTTETOWN - Charlottetown streets flooded [CBC]
OTHER
CHARLOTTETOWN - Massive rainstorm floods capital [The Guardian]
SAINT JOHN - Saint John tourism grows after N.S. ferry cut [CBC]
August 26th, 2010
HRM by Re-Design: Meta Library, Part Two: Social Superstructure
By Dustin Valen // No Comments
A series that examines urban and architectural issues in Halifax by way of unbuilt proposals authored by different designers, this week featuring a project by graduate architect Thomas Evans for a new Halifax Central Library. All drawings and images courtesy Thomas Evans.
Text by Dustin Valen
HALIFAX – Housing a variety of media types and ample public space, Evans’ library reconsiders reading as its sole purpose in favour of creating a platform for social diversity and information exchange. The uniform exterior of the Meta Library is thus a misleading representation of its interior. Evans describes the building as a “framework for linking public gathering, events, and activities”; one that promotes “social interaction through both traditional library elements and contemporary media related functions.”
The resulting ‘social-superstructure’ contains a dizzying variety of spaces that cater simultaneously to a vast number of users as well as the peculiarities that set them apart. In addition to traditional library functions like the collective reading hall and exhibition space, new and intriguing functions include a performance platform, cinemascape, studio workshop, park studios, children’s apparatus, and teenage clusters.
