Saint John, New Brunswick
photo by Bill Lapp (Number Six), member of the Spacing Atlantic flickr pool

Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

• If you've been saving up for a trip to Tokyo's Shimokitazawa neighbourhood, be sure to plan your travels before 2013. The bohemian hotspot is due for revamping and some fear that the very characteristics which make this place a favourite (twisting alleyways, discount shops, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, open air urinals) will be lost. The Globe and Mail shares some local gems.

• Worldchanging shares a recent study from a team of economists at the University of Munich examining the effects of mandatory parking minimums on development in urban and suburban Los Angeles. The study found that parking minimums "significantly increase" the amount of land devoted to parking, to the detriment of water quality, pedestrian safety and non-automotive modes of transportation. The authors suggest that these mandatory minimums often exceed market demand for parking space.

• For the Love of Biking shares some creative bike post designs from Minneapolis's DERO.

• Trust…

In the midst of moving from Woodside to Halifax, I actually found it hard to find the spare time to go out and spend the $100.  The dozens of unpacked boxes sometimes literally created a wall between me and the downtown shops I wanted to visit — only a 10-minute walk away from my new abode.

After a weekend of hard work, I'm ready to head downtown today after work to spend the remaining $50. The first $50? Here's how I used it:

Sunny afternoons in Halifax are best spent on patios with good friends and good…

HALIFAX - For over a year now, installations like these have been cropping up all over the city. A pop-up shop of sorts with only one item for sale: pieces of painted wood with 'Cruise Halifax' stamped on the back and timely messages on the front.

The labelled messages usually reference a large-scale event in town and oftentimes draw on an emotion of civic pride, with a polite plea to purchase one of the artifacts. Along with the milkcrate, plaque or shopping cart that serve to display the various local crafts, is a donation receptacle. No salesperson or artist in sight.

Does anyone have any information about the mastermind behind the artwork? Any theories? Have you ever purchased a piece? Spacing wants to know!

photos by Katie McKay

With the election well underway, Vicki Smallman investigates the mayoral candidates and their potential uses of lawn signs in promoting their campaign. Lawn signs can be an expensive and non-environmentally friendly option in promotion, but are the traditional method in spreading the word.

With church congregations moving out of the city, churches are being secularized and re-purposed in order to preserve the site and make use of an otherwise empty space. Kate Wetherow comments on this phenomenon with examples of the kinds of functions that are no longer restricted to the church basement.

Alex Bozikovic shares a post from his blog, The Mean City, about the community housing building at 60 Richmond that is both exceptionally green, and pretty to look at.

Back from a recent trip to Pittsburgh, Matthew Blackett comments on the tiled mosaics that line shop doorways in the Southside, and promises more comment from the The Steel City.

Sean Gillis tries to make sense of a confusing building approval process in the Halifax Heritage District that could very…

HALIFAX - Last week HRM Council appeared to approve two high-rise developments on Barrington Street – a 17 storey building on the site of the Roy Building and a 20 storey tower to be built on top of the Discovery Centre. Sound familiar? Confusingly, Council seems to have approved the same two towers in April of 2009. Adding to the confusion, both towers are within the Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District, and appear to violate the new downtown plan approved through HRMbyDesign. What exactly is happening with these two proposals?

First, neither project has been granted final approval. Although the Roy Centre project was announced in the summer of 2008, and the Discovery Centre proposal submitted in February 2009, Council has to date only decided what rules the projects will be reviewed under.

In March 2009 Council voted to review these projects under the existing Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) instead of the new downtown plan, which was still being developed through HRMbyDesign. Both proposals are taller than the height limits for Barrington Street that were ultimately set by HRMbyDesign. Consequently, Council felt it would be unfair to review (and ultimately reject) these developments based on the HRMbyDesign standards, which had not…

POLITICS
HALIFAX - A small council protects elite's interests [The Coast]

TRANSPORTATION
HALIFAX - Transit changes hit this weekend [Metro]
HALIFAX - Walking to school beneficial on so many levels [Haligonia]
FREDERICTON - Changes to Queen Street to start Monday [Daily Gleaner]
ST. JOHN'S - MUN rerouting roadways to accommodate heavy construction traffic [The Telegram]

URBAN GREEN
SAINT JOHN - Saint John pushes for dump clean up [CBC]
CHARLOTTETOWN - Charlottetown streets flooded [CBC]

OTHER
CHARLOTTETOWN - Massive rainstorm floods capital [The Guardian]
SAINT JOHN - Saint John tourism grows after N.S. ferry cut [CBC]

Text by Dustin Valen

HALIFAX – Housing a variety of media types and ample public space, Evans’ library reconsiders reading as its sole purpose in favour of creating a platform for social diversity and information exchange. The uniform exterior of the Meta Library is thus a misleading representation of its interior. Evans describes the building as a “framework for linking public gathering, events, and activities”; one that promotes “social interaction through both traditional library elements and contemporary media related functions.”

The resulting ‘social-superstructure’ contains a dizzying variety of spaces that cater simultaneously to a vast number of users as well as the peculiarities that set them apart. In addition to traditional library functions like the collective reading hall and exhibition space, new and intriguing functions include a performance platform, cinemascape, studio workshop, park studios, children’s apparatus, and teenage clusters.

Evans proposes a series of devices designed to connect people to information, as well as each…

• NPR chronicles a growing trend for start up chefs who use trucks, trailers and mobile homes to sell their food to the masses. The overwhelming expense of starting a restaurant isn't stopping these gastro-preneurs from practicing their art.

•  The Globe and Mail reports that for $148 U.S., Japanese Prius owners can now install noise makers into their hybrid cars. The devices make a whirring sound equivalent to the noise of a regular car engine; regulators and automakers hope the move will reduce the number of pedestrian-hybrid crashes which are two times more common than with conventional engines. The device may soon be made available in other markets.

•  New Yorkers are fighting a contentious battle between preserving their iconic skyline and increasing density near the Penn Station transit hub. The New York Times reports on a 1,216 feet tower proposed for 34th Street, two avenues west…

Halifax, Nova Scotia
photo by Dean Bouchard, member of the Spacing Atlantic flickr pool