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. No case of the Mondays here! So, why density? Residential density, the number of people living in a given area, is one of the most important characterisitcs 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...

Captivated by the landscape of Canada's east coast cities? Obsessed with the beauty of a public space, the dirty grime of a back alley, a sidewalk's everyday dramas or the evolving skyline of your hometown? Spacing Atlantic wants your urban photos. Please add them to our photo pool and we will select the best photos to be featured on our blog in our articles and in our Atlantic Snapshot series. Expose yourself and shoot away Atlantic Canada (and don't forget to focus!). Sorry, couldn't help myself. ...

"Machine Space, or territory devoted primarily to the use of machines, shall be so designated when machines have priority over people in the use of territory" - Horvath, Ronald J. 1974. "Machine Space." Geographical Review 64 (2): 167-188. Photo by Danny Cornelissen, Creative Commons ST. JOHN'S - Writing almost 40 years ago, Ronald Horvath wanted to translate technological questions into questions that were explicitly spatial and political. Today linking technology, space, and politics may not seem so strange, but even with Lewis Mumford’s writing preceding Horvath’s, this was still heady stuff at the time. What Horvath does so well is to give our taken for granted assumptions a good shake: the car is not just a technical object, a mere tool to get us from point A to point B. The car is urban North America’s sacred cow, he writes, but “[would] an Indian imagine devoting 70 percent of downtown Delhi to cow trails and pasturage, as we do for our automobiles in Detroit and Los Angeles?”. The language of the comparison might seem a bit anachronistic now – and Delhi's machine space has exploded since the 70’s – but students at Memorial University (MUN) in St. John's, where I teach Geography, love it. Suddenly the technology of the car becomes a lively thing suffused with meaning, symbolism, and myth as well as its own political and economic geographies: “Each year we sacrifice more than 50,000 Americans to our sacred cow in traffic accident fatalities. In search of fodder to perpetuate the existence of our sacred cow, we support despotic governments in oil-rich lands”, writes Horvath.

ST. JOHN'S -  How can we as a community of individuals, organizations, businesses and politicians shape the future of St. John's together? That's the main question Happy City will be asking at their next meeting - "Your City, Your Future" - on Saturday, March 26th, 2011. With facilitator, Bui Petersen from the Centre for Negotiation and Dialogue, participants will also be broken into small groups to discuss three other questions: How do citizens and decision-makers connect? How can decisions best reflect the needs of the community? How can we, as a community of individuals, organizations, businesses and politicians, shape the future of St. John's together? In addition, Happy City will take time to brainstorm a large list of local community groups that are already doing work in St. John's. Collectively, all in attendance will work together to find common connections between these groups, and begin to see how some might work together to "pull in the same direction" on issues that are important to citizens and the city.

ST. JOHN'S - A special lecture will be held tonight at the Johnson Geo Centre at Memorial University to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Department of Geography. Presenting lecturer, MUN Geography Professor Rodolphe Devillers will talk about cartography, surveillance and Geographic Information Systems, during his lecture "Mapping in the 21st Century: New Horizons, New Challenges." WHAT: MUN Public Lecture - "Mapping in the 21st Century: New Horizons, New Challenges" WHERE: Memorial University, Johnson Geo Centre - 175 Signall Hill Rd WHEN: Tuesday, March 22nd, 7:30pm - 8:30pm HOW MUCH: Free Devillers himself, explains:

St. John's, Newfoundland Photo by Nancy Beaton, member of Spacing Atlantic's flickr pool.

ALL OVER - "Jane’s Walk is the street-level celebration of Jane Jacobs’ legacy that combines the simple act of walking with personal observations, urban history and local lore as a way of knitting people together into strong and resourceful communities." Since it's inception in Toronto in 2007, every first weekend of May (to coincide with Jane Jacobs' b-day), Jane's Walk sends swaths of pedestrians out to infiltrate and explore the urban landscape. The walks honour urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians, ...

St. John's, Newfoundland photo by Nancy Beaton, member of Spacing Atlantic's flickr pool.