DARTMOUTH - What do you get when you speak 'Hansel and Gretel' into the iPhone app Dragon Dictation? Well, to the surprise of Adriana Lilley, it wasn't Hansel and Gretel, it was 'Girlface'. Girlface seemingly fits into the concept of Lounders GETting Over It performance walks, where she edits the visual urban environment through digitally projected fragments. Recently, over a cup of tea at Steve-O-Renos, I talked to Brian Lilley, professor of Architecture at Dalhousie Unviersity and a participant in Lounders' walking series; so far, Lounder has initiated two walks in the GETting Over It walking series - Solstice Walk & South North. Lilley initially met Lounder through The Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture and Expanded Bodies: Art, Cities and Environment. Lilley appreciates the GETting Over It walking series for their 'augmented experience' - pushing and pulling him out of his regular routines and ways of experiencing the city. He tells me about his adventures in London where he studied at the Architectural Association and worked for architectural firms in both London and Berlin. With worldwide experiences of urban infrastructure and architecture, Lilley enjoys how Lounder provides clever insight into the walks helping participants experience urban geography in a way in which they would have never considered before. Regarding Lounders' themes of the walks, he explains that "there is a guide or intent, but no fixed way of interpretation; the character of the walk depends on how the walk is experienced." Lilley mentions 'states of liminality' and the 'derive', as a way of understanding and experiencing Lounders' walks. He describes the dérive as a city comprised of a series of fragments which are reassembled by the urban protagonist.  The dérive was defined by Guy Dubord, a french marxist and situationist who is well-known in regards to 'psychogeography'. Derive - and Lounders' walks - helps Lilley move beyond routine ways of seeing, thinking and understanding architecture and the urban landscape; and further allow him to consider new alternatives. Liminality on the other hand, is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective state, conscious or unconscious, of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes.

HALIFAX - Has ecocide caused something you love to become a zombie? Join Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and make a statement about the environment on Friday the 13th for EAC's Zombie Walk for the Environment. The event has been advertised as a messy, costume-heavy parade. WHAT: Zombie Walk for the Environment WHEN: Today - Friday, May 13, 2011, 5:30pm WHERE: Meet at Camp Hill Cemetery on Robie Street HOW MUCH: Free Ecology Action Centre (EAC) has noted that the tentative walking route for today's Zombie Walk will proceed from Camp Hill Cemetery at Robie street through the cemetery and emerge on Summer Street; the Zombies will turn left walking towards Spring Garden Road then turn left on to Spring Garden and will walk down Spring Garden towards Barrington. From Barrington the group will turn left on Grafton, right on Blowers, left on Argyle to the final Zombie resting place - Parade Square.

HALIFAX - “As HRM continues to grow, so do the challenges of balancing Downtown revitalization, regional growth, transportation, and environmental and economic sustainability,” said Paul MacKinnon, Executive Director of Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC). “What we build and where we build it dictate all of these things.” Last November, David Donnelly and Bruce Lourie spoke at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture and Planning for the event Exploring ways to Grow. Similarly,  Donnelly and Lourie will be speaking tonight, for this year’s 10th Anniversary Carmichael Lecture, presented by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) in partnership with the Ecology Action Centre. The Carmichael Lecture will discuss strategies for  managing urban sprawl and how sprawl impacts the downtown core of Halifax, NS.  Both events were organized to advocate for and provide a critical, smart growth platform for the 5-year review of Halifax Regional Municipalities (HRM) Regional Plan. Visiting speakers, Donnelly and Lourie, were instrumental in establishing Greater Toronto's Greenbelt, which will have a major impact on how Toronto reinvigorates its downtown, resists sprawl, and protects its local food source. WHAT: 10th Anniversary Carmichael Lecture WHEN: Thursday, May 12, 6:00-8:00 pm WHERE: Atlantic Ballroom, Westin Hotel, 1181 Hollis Street HOW MUCH: Free Kate Carmichael was the former DHBC Executive Director and a tireless advocate for Downtown Halifax. This year marks the 10th anniversary of her passing and DHBC continues to honour her memory by inviting speakers to share ideas and stimulate change in Halifax. Invited lecturers speak on topics designed to inform and educate on key issues that create a thriving Downtown.

HALIFAX - Today and tomorrow ( May 7 and 8), Haligonians will take to the streets for a series of free urban neighbourhood tours that inspire citizens to get to know their city and each other by getting out and walking  for Jane's Walk Halifax. Jane's Walks' are coordinated nationally and internationally in the spirit of Jane Jacobs - a highly regarded community, grassroots urban planner. 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961); this critically-aclaimed publication serves as an ongoing powerful critique of urban renewal policies. Jacobs went on to publish other books and to successfully protest major urban projects that endorsed urban sprawl.  Her community-centred vision started with the idea that local residents know best how to shape and improve their neighbourhoods. Foremost is her simple yet revolutionary idea that dense, mixed use neighborhoods are the key to the health and survival of a city. Decades later, her vision and approach has become a model for generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists. Following Jane Jacobs' influential visions on what makes cities great and how to advocate for their inherent community value, Jane’s Walk was developed to cultivate further a broad understanding of how cities – their economies, neighbourhoods, communities, and institutions – organically develop and thrive. The Walks also work to advance walkable neighbourhoods, to increase urban literacy and promote neighbourhood cohesion, civic engagement and leadership. Jane's Walk Halifax coincides with more than 30 city walks across Canada and in more than 70 cities worldwide in celebration of Jane Jacobs’s birthday on May 4th.

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 REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY - Residents are invited to attend an official unveiling and artist talk for the Prospect Road Community Centre Public Art installation on Saturday, April 23 from 7pm- 9pm The artwork is a collaboration between artists Ivan Murphy and Norbert Sattler. The piece was commissioned by Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) through a public solicitation and peer jury selection process as part of HRMs mandate to provide public art as a component of all future municipal building projects. HRM partnered with the Prospect Road Community Centre and the Resource ...

HALIFAX = To celebrate one of the Ecology Action Centre’s (EAC) first successful campaigns that stopped plans for a four lane highway plowing through downtown Halifax,  there will be a picnic and demo at the Barrington Street Bus stop across from Scotia square overlooking the Cogswell Interchange today, Friday, April 22nd from 11:30am to 1:30pm. The picnic and demonstration at the monstrous Cogswell Interchange will recall the EAC's struggle to prevent a four lane highway from obliterating downtown Halifax and most importantly the event will collectively imagine a brighter future for the existing monstrous Cogswell Interchange. WHAT: EAC's 40th Birthday Picnic and Demo WHEN: Today - Friday, April 22nd (Earth Day), 11:30am – 1:30pm WHERE: Barrington Street Bus Stop, across from Scotia Square overlooking the Cogswell Interchange HOW  MUCH: Free Today's event celebrates one of EAC’s earliest victories and kicks off the organizations 40 Days of Action celebrating their 4o years of operation. “We wanted to do something really big to celebrate forty years of action,” said Policy Director Mark Butler.  “We are organizing special events around the big issues in Nova Scotia: food, energy, water, and our coasts, climate change, environmental racism, forests, fisheries, sprawl and sustainable transportation.  There’s something for everyone.”