Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city. WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping. DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012

HALIFAX — As the debate rages regarding new urban developments such as Skye Halifax and the new Halifax YMCA, questions have arisen over the relevancy of  HRM by Design, Halifax's own community-consulted planning document for the downtown region. Dalhousie’s School of Planning is presenting a (timely) student-run conference, SHIFT 2012. A place to engage with urban planning practitioners, urban design enthusiasts and people just generally interested in shifting the cultural debate around peninsular Halifax.

HALIFAX - So what's Switch? Inspired by Bogotá, Columbia’s Ciclovia, Switch is a regular event that encourages people to enjoy their city by walking, biking, skating, dancing, and moving around their city safely and comfortably. Just like the skating oval on the Common was instantly embraced by the HRM community, Switch will offer the opportunity for everyone - pedestrians, joggers, bicyclists, skaters, etc. - to get to many destinations on the Halifax peninsula in new, healthy and fun ways. What: Switch Halifax When: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 6:30 - 8:00 PM Where: FRED salon & ...

Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city. WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE? The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc....) DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012 KEEP UP TO DATE: Visit the Creative Mapping Contest web page for updates and feel free to "RSVP" to our event listing on Facebook in order to receive reminders about the deadline and other announcements.

That's right, Spacing is now offering a subscription to readers who only want to get our national edition! It'll cost you $15 for 2 issues, or $25 for 4 issues. Even better, you can buy it as a gift subscription for someone else! Up until the summer of 2011, the print edition of Spacing had been primarily focused on Toronto urban issues. We happily launched a special national issue in June (we even had an event at The Hub in Halifax to celebrate the release). The editors of Spacing have decided to continue ...

Across the Spacing urban blog network each week we're asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know their favourite things about their respective city. THIS WEEK: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge(s) in your city? If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers that use this site usually provide the best quality images (and often with ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is cross-posted from the Halifax Media Co-op by Rocky Lis. Check out the original here. HALIFAX - A multi-million dollar upgrade involving re-painting and repaving of the Macdonald Bridge is currently underway. One of the goals of the Halifax Harbour Bridges authority that operates the bridge is to become a recognized leader in sustainable transportation demand management (TDM). Vehicular traffic is becoming more congested around the Macdonald Bridge as the HRM population rapidly grows, making sustainable TDM particularly pertinent. Encouraging cycling commuting by improving infrastructure ought to be a key component in pursuit of any sustainable TDM program.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Long-time supporter of Spacing, Robert Ouellette, wants residents of Canadian cities to take part in his new project called MESH Cities. Whether they knew it or not, anyone who followed Toronto’s Port Land debacle over the last few weeks got a first-hand introduction to the power MESH Cities have to shape our communities. Let me explain. We’ve been hearing a lot about so-called “smart” cities in the news recently as the major computing and infrastructure players like IBM, Cisco, GE, and Siemens look at the next frontier in the trend towards ubiquitous computing. That new frontier is our cities. Whatever you might think about a computer-driven modernity, MESH Cities are not just smart cities. MESH Cities go beyond the management of infrastructure to the heart of what makes cities worthwhile—their livability. Metaphorically, MESH Cities are the offspring of an improbable marriage between Jane Jacobs' ideals and ubiquitous city computing. Their kids, in this context, are named MESH: M=Mobile, E=Efficient, S=Subtle, H=Heuristics This is how the www.meshcities.com website introduces the concept.