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: North End Halifax, Nova Scotia; Uptown Saint John, New Brunswick; 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 ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is cross-posted from the Halifax Media Co-op by Rocky Lis. Check out the original here. HALIFAX - A multi-million dollar upgrade involving re-painting and repaving of the Macdonald Bridge is currently underway. One of the goals of the Halifax Harbour Bridges authority that operates the bridge is to become a recognized leader in sustainable transportation demand management (TDM). Vehicular traffic is becoming more congested around the Macdonald Bridge as the HRM population rapidly grows, making sustainable TDM particularly pertinent. Encouraging cycling commuting by improving infrastructure ought to be a key component in pursuit of any sustainable TDM program.

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 ...

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 ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is kindly cross-posted from the Halifax Media Co-op. Check out the original here. Also, Spacing Atlantic has created a Facebook Event to easily notify and inform others of the Public Meeting on Bayers Road Expansion, please help us get the word out! https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114181238686810 HALIFAX - There's no way to get around it.  Metro needs better transit. Fortunately, the It's More Than Buses group have big ideas of how to fix that. After several public meetings,  this week they unveiled a proposed High-Frequency Public Transit Network [PDF] and a set of guiding principles. It's an exciting and promising approach led by the Planning and Design Centre (PDC) in Halifax in partnership with Fusion Halifax.  More than 100 members of the urban and suburban public participated in the meetings.  Also present were Eddie Robar, the new head of Metro Transit,  and Richard Butts, HRM's Chief Administrative Officer.

WHAT: It's More Than Buses - Mobilize Public Support WHEN: Wednesday, September 7 – 6:00pm WHERE: Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre HOW MUCH: Free The third and final It's More Than Buses session will focus on mobilizing public support to implement the ideas developed by participants at the previous two sessions. We will also review our high-frequency transit network concept for HRM, a synthesis of the ideas mapped out by participants at session 2. Guest speaker Paul Bedford, former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, will open session 3 ...