Halifax, Nova Scotia Photo by Dean Bouchard, member of  Spacing Atlantic's flickr pool.

With lots of neat-o, community urban events taking place this weekend - from Metro transit bus rides discussing sprawl, Mobile Art project unveilings, the final walk with Aimee Brown in Point Pleasant Park to Open Street parties -  I thought I would consolidate the Events Guides, so you can map out your weekend plans in advance. WHAT: Taking development issues on the bus: Ecology Action Centre's 37th Day of Action WHERE: Metro Transit Route 14, meet and jump on at Barrington & Duke, South WHEN: Saturday, May 28, 12:48pm, SHARP!! HOW MUCH: $2.25 HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY (HRM) -  As part of Ecology Action Centre's 40 days of Action to celebrate the organizations 40th year of operation, grab your bus pass and join EAC’s Built Environment Committee for a healthy debate about the past and future of Halifax' city’s growth. This event is all about jumping on a bus and riding through various HRM development types - from the city’s core through the subdivisions to the edges of metro - while having a discussion on growth and development. What do our neighbourhoods say about us? The event encourages dialogue regarding HRM development and the impact it has had on the city's economics, the environment, and the notion of community. The bus tour is organized by the Built Environment Committee at the Ecology Action Centre, but all residents of the city are invited. Special “on the bus” guests include:  Jennifer Watts, City Councillor of HRM district 14; Andrew Murphy, Accountant and developer who worked on the proposed changes to HRMs' regional tax structure; and two more guests that have yet to be announced.

HALIFAX - Collectively, the Halifax Cycling Coalition, Planning & Design Centre, Dalhousie Office of Sustainability, Spring Garden Business Association and the Nova Scotia Bikeways Coalition have organized a critical cycling event titled Building a Cycling Culture: Learning from the Netherlands, tonight from 6:30 – 9pm at Dalhousie University. The cycling event will feature a public talk by visiting speaker and cycling advocate Hans Moor. WHAT: Bike Lecture and Panel Discussion: Hans Moor from the Netherlands WHEN: Thursday, May 5 , 2011 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm WHERE: Kenneth C. Rowe Building - Dalhousie University Room 1011 HOW MUCH: Free! This free event will begin with a drop-in from 6:30-7:00 where drinks and snacks will be provided; additional information about the hosts organizations will be available and the recently completed Institutional District Bikeways Plan Posters will be on display. The lecture featuring Hans Moor will be from 7-8. Following Hans' presentation, a panel of local cycling advocates will join him in a conversation about how to apply ideas from the Netherlands in HRM. An opportunity to ask questions will also be provided to the public. The Netherlands is known internationally as a world leader in cycling infrastructure and culture. For tonights event, Hans will speak to the HRM community about the trends, economics and low cost solutions he's experienced with regards to cycling in the Netherlands and discuss possibilities of applying them in the Canadian context. Hans will also elaborate on the personal benefits of cycling culture and the cost effectiveness of cycling; illustrating that cycling is not only about enjoying a slower pace of life, but even more a remedy against increasing health and infrastructure costs and  reducing the personal finances of individuals.

HALIFAX - Critical Mass is a monthly community cycling activity which allows anyone that can ride a bike a chance to safely ride on Halifax city streets for their own personal enjoyment and empowerment. While cyclists go to Critical Mass for several different reasons - social, political, recreational, environmental - many cyclists note 'it feels pretty good to be the dominant force on the road for a change.' In general, the Halifax Critical Mass group organizes group rides in an effort to advocate for safe, accessible and continuous bicycle infrastructure throughout HRM; to ...

HALIFAX - What will the the final public participation session for the Dal, SMU, Capital Health and IWK Bikeways Plan reveal this Wednesday, March 23rd? The Cities & Environment Unit (CEU) will present to the public, ideas for the Bikeways Network in the Institutional District, as well as provide some of the potential infrastructure interventions for key routes based on previous public engagement discussions. There will be a presentation at 5:30pm to provide some explanation of the findings collected from past ...

HALIFAX - For the 3rd annual Mayor’s Award for Excellence & Innovation in Planning competition, eligible  post-secondary students living in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) were challenged to conceptualize how cities will function in 100 years. Applicants were provided a selection of questions as imagination foder for their entries - questions like,  how will we get from point A to point B? What will our homes look like? What will we eat? And, where will our food come from? The annual competition became a fixture at the recently past IMAGINE conference at Dalhousie University's  School of Planning. In line with the mandate of the conference, the Mayor’s Award was an opportunity for aspiring planners to get creative, to imagine what life could be like in the city in 100 years (or more), and to illustrate the importance of long-term planning. Although only post-secondary students were eligible to submit, the criteria was otherwise wide open, and could include any combination of words and images, hand-made or digitally constructed. The award, worth $500, was solicited by the School of Planning and the Mayor of Halifax, with submitted entries a focal point of discussion and interaction, during the IMAGINE conference. Conference organizers and participants were asked to vote on the most innovative idea, with the award going to Kourosh Rad, whose winning entry is illustrated above.

HALIFAX -  In 2005, Halifax's north end collective consciousness came together to sprout Imagine Bloomfield in an effort to renew and preserve a nexus of history, community and cultural activity relevant to the needs of the area. Since 2005, needs assessments have been conducted, consultants hired, volunteers amassed and finally in 2010 a MasterPlan for redevelopment of the site was tabled and accepted unanimously by Halifax Regional Council. Recently, Imagine Bloomfield reported that “an implementation process report is expected to begin being acted upon in 2011.” Without saying, Imagine Bloomfield is an incredible project which has been inspired by the the passion and dedication of a group of people and has successfully inspired city planners to imagine new ideas for their property to move a little quicker to get this development off of the ground. Based on my own observations and experiences of developments and planning in Halifax for the last 9 years, the skeptic in me still wonders when this project will in fact bloom. Seriously - IMAGINE - planning in Halifax. From March 10- 12, 2011, Dalhousie University graduate students from the School of Planning have organized a conference titled IMAGINE. The intent of IMAGINE is to explore long-term planning through speakers and activities to create an understanding of how long-term planning should and can influence how cities are planned today. The conference will facilitate the sharing of ideas and lessons learned between professionals, academics and the community, while exploring a combination of initiatives and ideas from a wide range of speakers with diverse backgrounds.

HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY -  Obviously, the city needs more bike racks and with all the exciting hype around cycling infrastructure in HRM (surveys and consultations), the city will likely need more bicycle parking. If you could park your bike - not on a fence, not on a parking meter, not on a tree - where would you park it? Submit your creative and/or functional bike rack ideas to the Sustainable Environment Management Offices' (SEMO) HRM ...