WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown) HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5) RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing The editors of Spacing and contributors of Spacing Vancouver are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes. This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).

As we mentioned last week, Spacing will continue to publish a national edition of the magazine twice a year (plus two Toronto-centric editions a year). That means we need to expand our cast of contributors (more specifically photographers). If you love to photograph your city — wherever that may be in Canada — we want to see your images. You can add us as a contact on Flickr, or if you really want to be helpful to our production team, you can add your photos to the national issue's Flickr group. ...

With the success of Spacing's first national issue — our special summer edition has sold twice as well as any previous issue we've ever published — our editors have decided that we will continue to provide our readers with pan-Canada coverage of everything urban. Since 2003, Spacing has published 22 issues with all but one of them focused exclusively on Toronto urbanism. As we've expanded our blog network across Canada — Montreal in 2007, Ottawa and the Atlantic cities ...

Across the Spacing Blog Network today we are asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know which work of local public art is your favourite (feel free to name more than one). We want to hear back from our readers on what they like/dislike about our shared public spaces so we plan to run this feature with regularity. If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers ...

OTTAWA — Long-time City Councillor and recent mayoral candidate Clive Doucet has joined Spacing's city blog network as Urban Policy columnist for Spacing Ottawa, it was announced today by Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton. “We are delighted to have an urbanist and writer of Clive’s accomplishment with us at Spacing,” Thornton said. “Our mandate at Spacing is to explore the urban landscape, and as his career has shown, there is no one thinking more clearly and incisively about urban issues in Canada. There are few writers with more practical experience on the challenges facing cities in an age of economic contraction than Clive Doucet.”

SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo. I know I'm stating the obvious when I say this: parking a vehicle downtown, in Halifax or any city, can be a challenge if not entirely frustrating. But the parking policies of a city go a long way in determining how a city is experienced at street level. For instance, the city of Prince George, BC has nearly 50% of its entire downtown area covered in parking lots. The downtown of many Canadian cities ...

Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton catches up with photographer Justin Van Leeuwen about photo-walking the city. Erin O'Connell takes a look at front porches and the ways they are used in neighbourhoods as a method of interacting with the community. Émile Thomas lists the top five books about urban spaces. Including his own recaps of why they're an important read. Spacing's publisher, Matthew Blackett, starts a discussion about the usability of subway maps. In Toronto the map is simple, because there are only 69 stations compared to New York's 486.  Which is why graphic designer Eddie Jabbour wants to redesign New Yorks map — to make it less intimidating. John Lorinc compiled a pros and cons list for both the Presto smartcard and open fare payment systems that are being proposed as fare alternatives for the TTC.

LISTEN TO TODAY'S SUMMER SHORTS 017 ON SPACING RADIO You know when you're exploring a city for the first time and you turn a corner only to stumble upon something completely unexpected? This is what happened to Spacing producer Mieke Anderson on a recent trip to London, England. Initially, it was only a faint sound barely within earshot. Then suddenly she was face-to-face with the St Mary-le-Bow Church and consumed by the ringing of its famous bells. Wandering the streets of London you'll still hear ...