Image of the day

Yaletown, image by Cherish

Mapping renaissance

The art of mapping the urban form is having a renaissance. They "depict and interpret urban change" from Snow's cholera map to strictly digital maps that explore heights and property values, maps demonstrate changes and new ideas in cities.

Cholera cases in London

The arguably most famous or first map was Dr. John Snow's map of the cases of cholera in a London neighbourhood. It helped solve a problem and "was a catalyst for the development of infrastructure," according to The Guardian. Dr. Snow demonstrated that the disease was spread by contaminated water and the pumps the residents were drinking from.

The Setback Principle, image from CityLabs

Map making is an integral part of planning. Some have detailed the evolution of the practice with the top 10 influential diagrams, saying that every image is "an act of persuasion."

DPZ's Transects, image from CityLabs

When planners are exploring ideas to shape cities, the overwhelming amounts of data available now require new ideas and ways to interpret the information. One example, shown below, shows how Anthony Smith used the datasets from the City of Vancouver's open data portal to "conduct spatial analysis and visualization," subsequently produced a community garden and food trees map, overlaid on Google maps, using their interactive features like zoom control.

Image from Healthy City Maps

Building height maps are taking the Twitter universe by storm with examples from Vancouver "with most bldgs under 10m, the built form of #Vancouver is surprisingly suburban" and San Francisco.

Image from http://maps.nicholsonroad.com/

"This kind of open mapping has a way of inspiring change," helping solve pressing urban problems. "When you have a map, it’s something concrete to show (...) it makes it more difficult for local agencies to ignore what’s going on."

Urban noise pollution turned into something beautiful

Vertical urban farming

Urban Farming

How urban environments affect kids too

STREETFACTS #4: Children Have Lost the Freedom to Roam from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

Habitat creation

Image from http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2015/08/urban-habitat-award-slideshow

Do it yourself urbanism

From ordinary citizens wanting to make a difference in their communities to planners using it as an public engagement tool, the practice of do it yourself urbanism is sweeping the profession.

Ever see something that should be there but isn't. This guy did and improved a highway sign. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/guerrilla-public-service/

image from http://www.spontaneousinterventions.org/project/guerrilla-bike-lanes

The same goes for bike lanes. Guerrilla cyclists are painting their own bike lanes with varying levels of success and permanence. http://www.citylab.com/commute/2013/09/will-guerrilla-bike-lane-lead-real-thing/7019/

image from http://parkingday.org/

Park(ing) day is a movement where citizens "transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks."

Tactical urbanism was brought about when two men "realized that public engagement, that thing that is supposed to drive democracy, just wasn’t happening," until they created it - "an approach to neighborhood building and activation using short-term, low-cost and scalable interventions and policies."

Streetmix allows anyone to create a cross section of what you think the street should look like "with options for driving and turning lanes, bus lanes, bike lanes and bike racks, streetcars, sidewalks, parking, trees, parklets and benches, and even wayfinding signs" visualizing real-life scenarios.

Even seed bombing - creating gardens in "unsightly vacant lots, sidewalks, neglected planters and run-down areas. This is done by using some stealth, seed bombs (earth truffles), and sometimes a slingshot. If you're tired of ugly urban deserts this may be the solution for you." 

Whatever the tool, when public engagement is the purpose, the outcome of community planning will be more comprehensive and better informed.

Old infrastructure

First it was the Highline in New York, now it is the Underline in Miami. The decision to keep or get rid of under-utilized infrastructure is a question facing many cities.

The issue is programming - how to take a dead space, usually poorly lit, and make it a usable and activated by people and activities.

According to the Inhabit article, the "new park would be built on underutilized land beneath the city’s MetroRail, connecting downtown Miami on the north with an existing trail at Dadeland South Station. Once complete, the Underline will serve as the green spine for a future 250-mile-long network of bicycle and walking trails."

Image via Inhabit

Seoul re-daylighted its forgotten river, removed a highway, improved its transit and survived. 

Vancouver has recently decided to tear their viaducts down. This creates more issues in reconnecting the street grid. The problem requires creative solutions that work for the surrounding environment and residents.

View protection

View Protection is a hot topic. This article discussed the issue last month and describes the problem as "how to pack more people into the same patches of land, while still making the city’s buildings beautiful, well constructed and pleasant to live in and around." 

Toronto defines the problem saying that "a "tall building" is a building that is generally taller than the width of the adjacent street right-of-way or the wider of two streets if located at an intersection" and adopted new guidelines in 2013. 

Vancouver has its own guidelines here. The city uses "view cones to protect selected threatened public views." 

A balance between density and preserving street life has to be achieved.

Overview of the bike sharing program

Successful planning builds from within communities

Sprawl Repair

Sprawl repair can often be piece-meal and difficult but necessary:
http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/robert-steuteville/21690/sprawl-repair-essential-unavoidable

This podcast reviews the process dead malls are now becoming lifestyle centres: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-gruen-effect/

http://cnu.org/dead-mall-becomes-downtown-sprawling-suburb

Maybe the solution is walkable urbanism? "Turning a metro space into a more walkable urban space, though costly, can reap benefits from economic growth to an increase in development. Walkable urban spaces have a higher amount of wealth and a larger number of college graduates than less walkable areas. From an increase in money spent per week to decreased crime rates—the benefits of walkability are beneficial to all. Learn about walkable urbanism and how it helps drive the economy." from here.

More on Gentrification

"Hypergentrification, defined as a mature stage in the gentrification process when merely affluent residents are displaced by the truly rich, and when commercial real estate properties reach a market value that makes it difficult for anyone but a national or global corporation to pay the asking price." 

http://www.governing.com/columns/assessments/gov-gentrification-local-business-extinction.html

Problems to solutions

If this is the problem: http://www.rtcc.org/2015/07/31/why-climate-change-is-humanitys-defining-challenge/

Douglas Fir. Photo by Steve Armstrong

and we can get "health benefits akin to $10,000 raise or being seven years younger" according to an Toronto Star article.

Why not build green fingers using old rail lines:
http://www.architectmagazine.com/awards/r-d-awards/citation-radical-railbanking_o

Transportation news

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/5/9097713/when-was-the-first-traffic-light-installed

Gentrification news

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/in_fight_against_gentrificatio.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/danila-botha/queen-street-west_b_7934886.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/1b-downtown-eastside-plan-raises-concerns-in-vancouver-1.2569817

and how to predict?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/08/04/how-to-predict-rising-home-prices-and-future-gentrification/

Smart Growth explained

More about tiny houses

https://herox.com/news/393-tiny-houses-are-trendy-but-may-not-be-for-everyone

http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-houses/worlds-largest-tiny-house-gathering-happening-weekend-colorado-springs.html

Tiny homes movement

Tiny home movement or simple living movement



One possible solution to homelessness?

Landscapes as recreational spaces

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/04/playgrounds-for-seniors_n_7452270.html

Parking spot for sale

"According to Richard Collins, general manager of Prompton Real Estate, which is arranging the sale, that’s actually a pretty great deal. He told CBC News it’s not unusual for parking stalls in Vancouver to sell for up to $50,000, with really luxurious spots going for as much as $120,000." Buzz Feed story link here.