[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Currently designated a "primary bike route" in the city's Active Transportation network, proposed changes to Lower Water Street suggest that HRM has no intention of supporting their own plan."][/caption] HALIFAX - On September 19, 2011, traffic patterns in Downtown Halifax were altered in an attempt to ease congestion in the city's core. In this first of three planned phases, a number of streets that currently allow two-way traffic now only permit one-way traffic (including sections of Blowers, Market, Sackville, George, and Granville streets), while a section of Grafton Street will now allow two-way traffic. Subsequent phases in October and March will see Lower Water Street becoming one-way north bound, signals added to the Duke and Lower Water Street intersection, and bike lanes added to both Lower Water and Hollis streets. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Phase 1 came into affect September 19, 2011. "][/caption] In a report to Council, HRM Staff claim that “the highlight of this plan is the creation of new bike lanes on Hollis Street and Lower Water Street”. Why then does this plan sacrifice the safety of cyclists and efficiency of both its active transportation and public transit network?

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Suburban development, Kingswood, Hammonds Plains, HRM."][/caption] HALIFAX - The Ecology Action Center's Jen Powley has been busy since she presented the idea of an HRM greenbelt at Dalhousie's School of Planning Imagine Conference in March. There, Powley positioned the potential greenbelt as providing common ground among residents and a mechanism to achieve the goals and objectives laid out in the Regional Plan. On May 25, 2011 — a short two months later — Powley took centre stage yet again (with other project partners) to announce the formation of Our HRM Alliance. The Alliance aims to shine light on the social, environmental, and financial costs associated with sprawl, while proposing mechanisms to curb it.  In addition to the establishment of a greenbelt, this would mean changes to the commercial tax structure. The proposed changes would go a long way in strengthening existing community centres by encouraging reinvestment and better defining growth boundaries within HRM. “We want to see liveable suburbs and viable town centres, including downtown Halifax,” says Powley in a recent press release for the Alliance.

HALIFAX - The CBC and YMCA buildings occupy a prominent corner in Halifax - a stone's throw from the bustling Spring Garden Road, the Citadel and Public Gardens. In recent years, its neighbours have undergone extensive changes, including the addition of the Martello atop Park Lane Mall and the construction of the Paramount Apartments, directly across from the Public Gardens. And while much of the block has “grown-up”, the CBC building and the adjacent YMCA have sat comfortably, tucked away between civic landmarks, new residential towers and a busy retail strip. But now, the CBC and YMCA are ready and willing to work together to exploit the potential of the strategic place that they hold in the city. View in Google Streetview [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="568" caption="Top: Current view of CBC building from Bell Road. Bottom: Conceptual rendering of proposed development."][/caption] View in Google Streetview [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="568" caption="Top: Current view from South Park Street. Bottom: Proposed development."][/caption] In December 2010, the YMCA and CBC Radio-Canada submitted a Plan Amendment Application to HRM Planning Services to allow for the joint development of their properties. The current application seeks site specific amendments to the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy, the Halifax Municipal Planning Strategy, the Downtown Halifax Secondary Municipal Planning Strategy and the Downtown Halifax Land Use By-Law. Current regulations limit post-bonus building height to 23 metres (CBC) and 49 metres (YMCA); the application seeks to increase the height limit only for the CBC site in order to match current height limits in place for the YMCA parcel.

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - This city is suffering from an affliction of vacancy. Not of vacant spaces themselves, but of an inability to make anything of them. Spacing Atlantic will be co-hosting an event this Saturday for the 4Days unconference in an effort to “generate ideas for the downtown's stockpile of vacant spaces”. With that in mind, this installment attempts to presents two bold alternatives to what are otherwise dead zones within a dynamic urban context. This also provides for further reflection on the previous theme: public land holdings as "non-living pieces of peninsular Halifax". [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Current conditions in the "city centre" of HRM"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Alternative condition - farms and forest - for the "city centre" of the HRM"][/caption]

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - The previous [Re]Presenting Halifax installment explored the morphology of the city through its most basic and anemic form: street pattern. Yet, despite this skeletal representation, relatively little of the city’s structural form — as experienced on the ground — is visible through the street network alone. For this reason, it is useful to look elsewhere — to what not only defines large scale spatial patterns in central Halifax, but that also impacts its social and economic structure. The form and scale of public land holdings and other mono-functional, amassed plots located on the peninsula demonstrate an alternate network, albeit a simple and fragmented one. Large swaths of peninsular Halifax have been claimed by public and pseudo-public entities — universities, schools, federal agencies (i.e. the Department of National Defense and Parks Canada), the Waterfront Development Corporation, and other provincial and municipal bodies. While the City can leverage their own properties, it often has little control or influence — or even communication — with these other "public" land owners. Yet, the use or mis-use of these parcels — specifically on the peninsula — can drastically impact the flow, permeability and vitality of the city itself. In this sense, the question arises: What is the morphological impact of public lands and other large mono-functional zones held within the tight confines of a peninsula? Do they act as connective tissue uniting otherwise separate communities through common ground? Or a cancer that fragments, segregates and adversely affects the health of Halifax? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Figure ground; the built fabric of peninsular Halifax (most urbanized portion only). The Common and Citadel lands appears as a significant urban "void". "][/caption]

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - Halifax is well represented by the grid — a street pattern that is as symbolic of our British colonial past as the Citadel itself. And in many ways, the grid still serves us well today; the narrow blocks have contributed to Halifax having one of the country’s most walkable downtown cores despite it being situated on the side of steep hill.

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - This is a continuation of last week's post about waterfront redevelopment. Similar to the plans presented last week, this post focuses on a plan commissioned for the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission during the early 1970s. Dubbed Harbour Plaza, this 1971 urban redevelopment plan reimagines the Dartmouth waterfront and ferry terminal. In contrast to the plans for Halifax revealed at the same time, this plan presents the redesign of the ferry terminal as a strategic urban project meant to reactivate the surrounding area. While this proposal never materialized, it shares some similar features to the new ferry terminal and Alderney Landing complex.

The [Re]Presenting Halifax series revisits historical and contemporary maps, diagrams and other interpretive readings of the Halifax region. See my first post for the full aims of this project and more information about contributing to the series. HALIFAX - Waterfront redevelopment has been a major focus of cities around the globe for decades. In the case of Halifax, it has been a process that has spanned decades. Halifax, much like Toronto, has struggled to find consensus for a waterfront redevelopment strategy. The plans and images presented here show two early visions for the renovation and revitalization of the Halifax waterfront. Although both plans may have had some influence on subsequent development, the future of the waterfront remains a contentious debate. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The redevelopment proposal from the 1971 plan. In addition to the highrises along the waterfront, it is interesting to note the terraced residential infill proposed at the base of the Citadel (much of which is occupied by the Metro Centre today)."][/caption]