HALIFAX - The process by which Rank Inc.’s new business super-complex, Nova Centre, was approved by HRM Council has lacked significant public input since the early stages of development in 2005. The investment of over $50 million dollars per government has, over the last year, prompted community interest groups, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, journalists, and Halifax MP Megan Leslie to direct attention to the lack of due public consultation, especially since the majority of those polled are against it.  The unanimous municipal, provincial and federal funding raises questions about government responsibility to public interest. HRM Open Projects gave artist Scott Saunders the space and means to address this conflict. His installation of Town Square, 100 mannequin figures wearing business suits strewn across the rubble foundation of the former Chronicle Herald building, is an artwork that is not a solution to the outcome of private wheeling and dealing, but is one response to it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was previously published in Spacing Magazine's fall issue. HALIFAX -- Both Moncton and Halifax have their unique challenges in implementing a sustainable development path for their respective regions. This diversity of tactics was on full display during debates this past summer in both cities about road alteration projects. In Halifax, a decision on the proposed expansion of two-lane Bayers Road has been delayed. The project called for a four-to-six-lane widening along significant portions of the street, essentially turning it into a highway corridor for suburban communities leading into peninsular Halifax.

This feature first appeared in the Summer 2011 National Issue of Spacing Magazine. SAINT JOHN - Saint John, like many other cities its size, has suffered immensely from suburbanization over the past few decades. The city has struggled with skyrocketing property taxes and inadequate service delivery as thousands have moved away from the  core — the city’s population is an estimated 70,000, yet the daytime population is approximately 122,000 once people from the surrounding bedroom communities arrive downtown for work. However, two major projects currently underway in Saint John could reinvigorate the city and serve as a model for other Maritime communities that are facing similar predicaments.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Based on feedback from an earlier post on urban density, Spacing Atlantic will feature one of the top five dense residential neighbourhoods in Atlantic Canada each week. Previous neighbourhoods: Uptown Saint John, New Brunswick and Downtown St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador. So, why density? Residential density, the number of people living in a given area, is one of the most important characteristics of urban areas. High densities create vibrant streets, support main street commercial areas, and encourage walking, biking and transit use. But how dense should our neighbourhoods be? What types of buildings create high densities? What do high density neighbourhoods look like? Hopefully this series encourages people to look around their neighbourhood and ask: how does density affect the quality of my neighbourhood? Without further ado ...

SAINT JOHN – We are now a few months into the City of Saint John’s experiment with bike lanes on Main Street in the city’s North End and, from all reports, the world hasn’t ended yet. Traffic has naturally slowed to non-freeway speeds without backing up (or really being noticed at all) and the route sees many cyclists use it every day. It has even been popular enough with pedestrians that the City thought it was necessary to issue a statement saying that the bike lanes are approved for – you guessed it – bicycles only. Too bad for the pedestrians in need of a safer walking route, but that’s another story.

HALIFAX - “In HRM, we have a traffic problem. We need to get people out of their cars,” one HRM resident succinctly surmised at the public meeting regarding the potential widening of Bayers Road held Wednesday evening. “Let’s put money into sustainable, accessible, community-building strategies” which include transit and active transit routes, was the overwhelming message voiced by the 300 or so citizens that attended the public meeting. They demanded that the widening be removed from the Road Network Functional Plan, which is due to be approved by Council later this month.

HALIFAX - Councillor Linda Mosher’s recent comparison of street art to vandalism and graffiti has brought a variety of reactions. One of the most extreme counterarguments? That all street art is legitimate, and that the city itself is a sketchbook. We wanted to ask a street artist how they felt about the recent attack on graffiti art.  Jei Jei Steeves is both within and staunchly unique from the Halifax urban art milieu. She’s a Halifax artist whose stickers of stray kittens have been popping around the city's streets to say things like "Your lopsided breasts are really beautiful," "I support the troops but I don't support the war," and "I don't like the way you're looking at my tits."

Editor's Note: From the desk of District 14 Councillor Jennifer Watts. Read her op-ed piece in the Chronicle-Herald here. WHAT: Bayers Road Widening Public Meeting WHEN: Wednesday, September 14, 7:00pm WHERE: St. Andrew's Community Centre, 6955 Bayers Road, Halifax FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114181238686810 HALIFAX - A public meeting on the proposed Bayers Road widening will be at 7 pm on Wednesday September 14 at St Andrew's Community Centre, Bayers Road, organized by Councillors Jerry Blumenthal and Jennifer Watts. Staff will give an overview of two items before ...