"Cities are vital in the transition to a sustainable economy"

"Our cities are changing. More than ever, cities around the world are taking action to build sustainable economies. With over 1,000 projects planned worth US $52 billion, a tipping point on environmental action is within reach. But to get there, we need to move even faster."



"CDP is a global non-profit with a world leading environmental disclosure platform. We focus investors, companies and cities on taking urgent action to build a truly sustainable economy by measuring and understanding their environmental impact. Nearly 600 cities disclose their work on the environment to CDP, taking the critical first step for meaningful action."

25 great ideas

"The New Urbanism is a design movement toward complete, compact, connected communities—but it is also a generator of ideas that transform the landscape. Communities are shaped by the movement and flow of ideas, and the New Urbanism has been a particularly rich source of the currents that have directed planning and development in recent decades.



One idea:
"Mixed-use urban centers. Why build a shopping center or "office park," an oxymoron, when you could build a town center or an urban center? Life is more than shopping. Some may find that hard to believe, but it is true. And businesses all over America are flocking to mixed-use urban centers, because that's where workers want to be. They don't want to be imprisoned in office parks for half of their waking lives."



from: https://www.cnu.org/…/2017/10/31/25-great-ideas-new-urbanism

City Design

"We broke down liveability into seven “domains”: walkability, public transport, public open space, housing affordability, employment, the food environment, and the alcohol environment. This definition is based on what we found to be critical factors for creating liveable, sustainable and healthy communities."



"Each of the liveability domains is linked by evidence to health and wellbeing outcomes. They are also measurable at the individual house, suburb and city level. This means we can compare areas within and between cities."

from:

https://theconversation.com/this-is-what-our-cities-need-to-do-to-be-truly-liveable-for-all-83967

and from:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170605-the-psychology-behind-your-citys-design

“We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us,” mused Winston Churchill in 1943 while considering the repair of the bomb-ravaged House of Commons. More than 70 years on, he would doubtless be pleased to learn that neuroscientists and psychologists have found plenty of evidence to back him up. We now know, for example, that buildings and cities can affect our mood and well-being, and that specialised cells in the hippocampal region of our brains are attuned to the geometry and arrangement of the spaces we inhabit."

Public spaces

http://www.businessinsider.com/beautiful-public-spaces-according-to-designers-2016-12

Tactical Urbanism 101

"If you're a public space aficionado or transportation maven, one only needs to sign on to one of the various social media feeds to see the daily movement that is sweeping across the world: groups of people are literally taking back their streets by implementing low-cost, temporary solutions to what they see as simple ways of making their streets safer or more livable."



"In many cities, people have started placing traffic cones at intersections to slow turning vehicles and make drivers behave more predictably when they interact with bikes and pedestrians. In fact, many citizens have formed Twitter groups generally referred to as Departments of Transformation (DOTr) as opposed to the traditional city Department of Transportations (DOTs). These groups are showing their fellow citizens innovative visual solutions to make safer streets with quick strike executions - which sometimes only last a few hours until they are removed by their government. But each week more empowered people are deciding they are fed up and joining the movement and not waiting for their agencies to act. Over the years, this sort of inexpensive, rapid-deployment has been known by various terms, but since around 2010 the term Tactical Urbanism has gained a lot of traction in the transportation community. And not only are we seeing some cities starting to responding positively and making some of these citizen resolutions permanent, but even outright sponsoring and sanctioning their own. So sit back and watch as we visit just a small fraction of the community making this happen!"

Transform Your City With Tactical Urbanism from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

A day in the life of a bench

Fun Friday Links

"This meme was created by Wes Craiglow, Deputy Director of Planning and Development for the City of Conway, AR, and shared with us by the "Transportation Psychologist," our friend, Bryan Jones. He is one of a new brand of engineers who gets how the world needs to change and is working to make it happen. #slowthecars"

from: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/11/1/a-20-mph-street

"In the words of Jan Gehl: “Life happens on foot. Man was created to walk, and all of life’s events large and small develop when we walk among other people. There is so much more to walking than walking. There is direct contact between people and the surrounding community, fresh air, time outdoors …”

from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/sep/12/walkable-city-worlds-most-new-york-melbourne-fes-el-bali

Principles for creating great places

"Effective public spaces are extremely difficult to accomplish, because their complexity is rarely understood. As William (Holly) Whyte said, “It’s hard to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.”

"In our 1999 book “How to Turn a Place Around,” PPS identified 11 key elements in transforming public spaces into vibrant community places, whether they’re parks, plazas, public squares, streets, sidewalks, or the myriad other outdoor and indoor spaces that have public uses in common. This was a key milestone in our history, as this book helped to launch and define the placemaking movement."

1. The community is the expert
2. Create a place, not a design
3. Look for partners
4. You can see a lot just by observing
5. Have a vision
6. Start with the petunias: lighter, quicker, cheaper
7. Triangulate
8. They always say, ‘It can’t be done’
9. Form supports function
10. Money is not the issue
11. You are never finished

For more information, visit: http://www.therenewalproject.com/11-principles-for-creating-great-community-places/.

Shadows in the city

"If you’re staring at your phone you’ll probably miss them. I mean shadows are everywhere, do you really pay that much attention to them? Artist Damon Belanger was recently commissioned by the business owners of downtown Redwood City, California to inject a little life into the downtown core."




from:
http://twistedsifter.com/2017/08/shadow-art-by-damon-belanger-redwood-city-california/

Fun Friday Links!

https://betterdwelling.com/city/vancouver/a-brief-history-of-foreign-buying-of-vancouver-real-estate/#_

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-housing-on-fire-with-biggest-price-gains-since-1990

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/concord-pacific-affordable-artist-rental-units

http://globalnews.ca/news/3655790/5-new-public-spaces-to-enjoy-in-vancouver-this-summer/

http://www.metronews.ca/views/2017/06/26/how-canada-has-contributed-to-city-building-around-the-world.html

https://www.curbed.com/2017/8/8/16112426/canada-urbanism-tech-toronto-trump

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/luxury-sunshine-coast-development-pits-city-against-citizens-in-expensive-court-battles-1.4227136

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-short-term-rental-crisis-mcgill-study-housing-vancouver-bc-1.4240787

https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/07/what-facebook-can-learn-from-company-towns/533832/

http://www.archdaily.com/800496/the-economic-and-social-power-of-walkable-cities

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2017/08/07/million-dollar-neighborhood

http://www.metronews.ca/news/world/2017/08/07/mexio-city-s-one-word-fix-for-congestion.html

http://shifter.info/forget-all-the-other-reasons-you-should-be-riding-a-bike-this-is-the-one-that-matters/

Fun links of the day!

Mapping Every Single New York City Pedestrian Plaza



"New Yorkers do a lot of walking, most of it very quickly. After all, there are places to go, people to see, and things to do. But there are rare occasions when there is the time and desire for a leisurely stroll. Enter the pedestrian plaza—those stretches, often subsuming actual vehicular roadways, where one can walk, sit, and (occasionally) do a whole host of other things."

from: https://ny.curbed.com/maps/mapping-every-single-new-york-city-pedestrian-plaza

"Everything about gentrification is controversial — even its definition. One recent study by sociologist Michael Barton compared how the New York Times and researchers used the term to talk about city neighborhoods; he found very little agreement about where change was happening. That’s not the only thing we can’t agree on. Gentrification is painted alternately as a destroyer of neighborhoods or a savior of cities. These competing views are driven in part by misconceptions about what the word means and what it entails."

from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-gentrification/2016/06/03/b6c80e56-1ba5-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html

and:

http://newurbannetwork.com/ten-tips-planners-convert-shopping-center-village-center/

Public space

"Generally speaking, a public space is a place that is accessible to the public at any time of day, such as parks, beaches, squares, roads, sidewalks, etc. These spaces all serve different functions, and can easily just be seen in spatial terms. Yet with the effort of communities, they can be turned into lively, creative spaces that bring people together. While there are plenty of reasons why public space is important, here are the top five."



from: https://culturedays.ca/blog/2015/09/10/top-five-reasons-public-space-important/

Places for people downtown

"Rethinking alleys matters because livable gathering places in the heart of city blocks sparks neighbor-to-neighbor engagement, and cities grow healthier with more person-to-person interaction in public spaces full of life."

from: http://alleyactivation.org/

Alleys acts a thoroughfares for pedestrians. They are mid-block connections and can become livable spaces, acting like make-shift parks and places for public art and more.

The City of Vancouver is looking for ideas from the public to improve its downtown places. "Vancouver’s public spaces – our plazas, squares, streets, laneways, pathways, and waterfront – are where public life happens."

from: http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/places-for-people-downtown.aspx

Alley Oop is only of those places:

#pink and #yellow #downtownimprovement in #vancouver #placesforpeoplevan

A post shared by Cherish (@cherish2028) on Jul 20, 2017 at 2:30pm PDT

For more information, see: http://hcma.ca/project/more-awesome-now/

And it is not just Vancouver. "2017 seems to be the “Year of the Alley Activation” in Seattle. Two separate alley activation projects just wrapped up in Chinatown and the University District, and two more projects are still on the way for Pioneer Square later this year. The most successful and beloved active alley known to Seattleites and visitors alike is Post Alley, which weaves its way through the Pike Place Market Historic District featuring a mix of restaurants and specialty shops, the famous gum wall, and its iconic namesake signage."

from: https://www.theurbanist.org/2017/06/30/alley-activation/

Maps of Canada

"It’s always a surprise when people first learn that the very tip of southwestern Ontario is at a lower latitude than parts of California—which got us wondering: How do other parts of the country line up with the rest of the world? Here are the results, using Earthtools.org. Most of the cities on this map, and their global counterparts, lie within less than 50 km of each other, latitudinally speaking, of course. Only Quebec-Ulan Bator and Fort McMurray-Moscow are a full degree apart."



"Here’s a different way to look at Canada’s population. The circles represent the relative population density of each province. And yes, we know people do live in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but there are so few of them, and their geographies so vast, that you’d have to go a couple of decimal places before they’d register."



from: http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/putting-canada-on-the-map/

30 years of building transit in China

"30 years of transportation data on display, makes the development of the past few decades seem all the more mind-boggling."

"The boom in China’s metro construction is likely to continue. In 2016, the national government also eased the rules on which cities could build metro projects, in the hopes of accommodating increasing urbanization. Previously, construction had been limited to cities with 3 million people and $1.53 billion in annual revenue."

from: https://www.inverse.com/article/31849-china-metro-gif-visualization

Urban space - with and without cars

from: https://stephenrees.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/smaller-lighter-greener-are-micro-evs-the-future-of-city-transport/

and:
http://i-sustain.com/30-2/

Meanwhile over on Instagram

#afternoonwalk #coalharbour #downtown #vancouver

A post shared by Cherish (@cherish2028) on May 26, 2017 at 8:04pm PDT

Sprawl vs. density

"This combination of faster population growth in outlying areas and bigger price increases in cities points to limited housing supply as a curb on urban growth, pushing people out to the suburbs. It’s a reminder that where people live reflects not only what they want — but also what’s available and what it costs."



"A few large metro areas did, in fact, become more urban between 2010 and 2016. "



from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/upshot/seattle-climbs-but-austin-sprawls-the-myth-of-the-return-to-cities.html

New ways to build shopping malls

"Hong Kong’s urban mall developments have become the envy of other cities—including Shenzhen and Shanghai—that are looking for ways to build compact, transit-oriented, lucrative developments. The Asian hyper-dense urban mall is also making an appearance in American cities. Miami has Brickell City Centre, a five-story mall in the heart of the city. Covering three city blocks, it’s topped by three high-rises (and was built by a Hong Kong developer). New York City is building a seven-story mall attached to two skyscrapers in Hudson Yards, America’s largest private development. The Santiago Calatrava-designed Oculus—the centerpiece of the World Trade Center—has a mall with over 100 stores, with its white-ribbed atrium attracting an army of tourists taking pictures with selfie-sticks. Since the hub connects office buildings with train and subway stations, the stores are also “irrigated” by the 50,000 commuters who pass by each weekday. In short, the mall isn’t “dead”—it’s just changing."



from: https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/05/decline-of-shopping-malls-hong-kong-design/526764

Street design guide

"One of the central arguments made by the guide is that most street design prioritizes private motor transport over not only every other mode of transit but also over use of street space that does not involve transport. In contrast, the guide lays out a hierarchy of user priority that sees pedestrians as the most important users to consider with cyclists and transit, people doing business and providing services and users of personal motorized vehicles following in descending order."



"In the foreword to the guide, NACTO chair and former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said, “For the last century, streets around the world have been built around automobiles. Wide lanes for traffic and little room for people became the rules of the road in most corners of the globe, dividing cities, stifling economic growth and creating dangerous congestion. This guide marks the next step toward changing the old road hierarchy, with designs that save lives, prioritize people and transit, reflect diverse communities, and better serve everyone on the street.”

from: http://architectureau.com/articles/Free-global-street-design-guide-launched/

Better mental health through urban design

"Individuals residing in cities are more likely to develop a mental illness such as depression, anxiety or schizophrenia than those that live in rural areas. When individuals are suffering from a mental health illness, it affects more than just the individual - it impacts their surroundings as well. In this article we explore how cities not only affect mental health but also how designers can help reduce mental health illnesses related to urban design."

from: https://caddetailsblog.com/post/2017/3/20/xzf1wv7lsiu03d6npru0dexj31b5hj

also from:  https://qz.com/934976/mental-health-problems-of-people-who-live-in-cities-need-to-be-solved-by-both-urban-designers-and-health-professionals/

"But urban planners can design the urban environment in ways that systematically address mental-health opportunities. For example:

• Expanding access to green spaces—such as parks, street trees, or even office-window views of nature—has been proven to benefit mental health.
• “Active design” is not simply a physical health effort: Because regular exercise can be an effective way to address some forms of mild depression (as well as reducing anxiety and some of the symptoms of dementia, ADHD, and even schizophrenia), interventions like creating walking circuits in a park or installing safe cycling infrastructure can have substantial mental-health benefits.
• Positive social interaction increases self esteem and feelings of belonging as well as mitigating loneliness and anxiety. In order to encourage this, public spaces can install features like benches and chess tables to facilitate social interaction and provide settings for community activities."

Cities - Melbourne, Australia

"Melbourne in Motion is a time-lapse video which will take you on a journey through Melbourne. The distinctive style of this video is intended to stimulate the feeling of traveling through time and space in Melbourne."



"This time-lapse video is 4 minutes in duration, and features more than 40 different locations in Melbourne with about 20,000 images which were edited and composited in 3 months. Regardless of whether you are new to Melbourne or have lived in the city for a long time, this time traveling experience will provide you with new visual perspectives for this vibrant city."

Happy streets and sidewalks!

"Public space designs that provoke fascination can boost human wellbeing. We are excited to share with you the results of our latest groundbreaking public space in public space psychology."





"Can more fascinating public space designs actually boost human wellbeing?" Apparently.
"Our results suggest that cities can build health and happiness by pursuing a set of design methods we have come to call Restorative Urbanism."

from: http://thehappycitylab.com/project/shore-to-core/

Nature-based solutions

"This new online resource showcases how communities across the country have successfully mitigated the effects of extreme weather by relying on green infrastructure."



"Naturally Resilient Communities is an interactive tool featuring 30 case studies of places that rely on nature-based solutions to protect themselves against climate threats like flooding and coastal erosion."

from: https://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2017/04/a-guidebook-for-city-planners-on-green-infrastructure/522396



and from: http://nrcsolutions.org/

Parks and the elderly

"Despite urban planners' best efforts to accommodate this demographic phenomenon, many public spaces like parks are currently lacking age-friendly infrastructure. This means that seniors miss out on the physical and social benefits that parks can provide."



"Creating inclusive spaces for all age groups requires an understanding of the different needs that elderly people may have compared with the typical target demographic of a park: children and/or families. One easy solution to making a park more suitable for aging individuals is to provide plenty of seating options, not only within the park, but also en route to the park. Unlike younger children who can sit on the grass (or spend most of their time running around), elderly people need spots where they can sit and easily get up from. When choosing seating arrangements, consider a variety of seats that can accommodate small and large groups, let an individual sit alone, provide conversational opportunities, and lastly be moveable."

from: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/3/23/are-parks-alienating-the-aging-population

Fun Friday Links

http://www.placemakers.com/2013/05/09/identifying-the-sabermetrics-of-urbanism/


10 steps
http://buildabetterburb.org/ten-steps-toward-pedestrian-friendly-suburbs/

Zombies
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.ca/2016/08/zombie-urbanism.html

The future of cities
"What does “the future of cities” mean? To much of the developing world, it might be as simple as aspiring to having your own toilet, rather than sharing one with over 100 people. To a family in Detroit, it could mean having non-toxic drinking water. For planners and mayors, it’s about a lot of things — sustainability, economy, inclusivity, and resilience.
Most of us can hope we can spend a little less time on our commutes to work and a little more time with our families. For a rich white dude up in a 50th floor penthouse, “the future of cities” might mean zipping around in a flying car while a robot jerks you off and a drone delivers your pizza. For many companies, the future of cities is simply about business and money, presented to us as buzzwords like “smart city” and “the city of tomorrow.”


from: https://medium.com/@oscarboyson/the-future-of-cities-ba4e26c807fe#.3yf4y3ni6

https://pricetags.wordpress.com/2016/07/06/the-true-story-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-country-lane/



http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2016/12/a-chat-with-the-mayor-of-roundabout-city-usa/511466/

and:



"LEED is everywhere you go—just look around. In your neighborhood, your office building, your local school, your church and beyond, the LEED green building rating system is changing how you live, learn, work and play."

Wow!

"Melting glaciers, from Greenland to Antarctica, have become symbols of global warming — and monitoring their retreat is one major way scientists are keeping tabs on the progress of climate change. Now, scientists are trying to bring the issue a little closer to home by using time-lapse photos to show the effects of climate change are already occurring."



from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/03/you-cant-deny-climate-change-once-you-see-these-images

Mapping the solar potential

"Google has long stated its ambitions to run its global operations solely on renewable energy, and now it wants to lead by example. The company has updated its interactive Sunroof map that helps people estimate whether it makes sense to install a solar panel on their roof." 

from: https://thenextweb.com/google/2017/03/16/google-sun-map-solar-panel/

and:

https://blog.google/products/maps/shedding-light-solar-potential-all-50-us-states/

New urban parks

"The urban park, from well-manicured, small lots in residential neighborhoods to massive, city-defining landmarks such as Central Park, have long been centerpieces of city life. But in an age of climate change and evolving urban-planning concepts, parks are being viewed through many different lenses.

More that just escapes to help residents reconnect with nature, parks and public spaces are now used as tools for engagement and environmentalism and means to promote resilience, knit together neighborhoods, and help revitalize cities. Landscape architecture is fast becoming a centerpiece, not just a facet, of urban design.



As spring weather begins to sweep the country, it seems like a good time to look at some of the parks and public spaces that have recently opened or will open later this year. Here’s a list of some of the projects—community gathering spaces, new examples of engineered nature, or important reflections of cultural heritage—that will continue to redefine the role of parks."

from: http://www.curbed.com/2017/4/3/15161690/park-landscape-architecture-public-space-2017

A look back

"During the High Line’s planning stages, Hammond and David set up offices inside a local community agency in order to make themselves accessible to public housing tenants, and solicit their opinions on design. But the questions they asked at their “input meetings” were essentially binary: Blue paint, or green paint? Stairs on the left or the right? They rarely got to the heart of what really mattered."

“Instead of asking what the design should look like, I wish we’d asked, ‘What can we do for you?’” says Hammond. “Because people have bigger problems than design.”

from: http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2017/02/the-high-lines-next-balancing-act-fair-and-affordable-development/515391/

Housing typologies

... for Quebec:

"Why Québec? Because (...) Québec has a special focus on low-rise developments lacking in a lot of North America."

Side note: low rise is usually under 6 storys. Reference: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/564018

from: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.ca/2017/03/a-catalog-of-density-quebeccanada.html

Town squares 101

"Recipe for a town square:

1. Beauty
2. Walkability
3. Ideal Location
4. Focal Point
5. Pride
6. Community
7. Parking
8. Supply and demand
9. Our voice
10. Health"

from: http://buildabetterburb.org/ten-reasons-town-square/

The secret to life in the city?

"There’s one thing other than my wallet and my travel card I wouldn’t be without in a big city, and it’s my headphones. But I don’t actually listen to music that much: I just activate the noise-cancelling feature, and leave it at that. No sound plays into my ears – instead a quiet fills my head, as if the sounds of the world have been turned down. Until I got noise-cancelling headphones, I had no idea how loud the city always was, and just how hungry I’d been for silence. On public transport, using the noise-cancelling feature will soften the roar of engine and traffic. In the open-plan office, it eliminates the constant chatter and limits interruptions. On an airplane, it’s a revelation. I’m not alone in using state-of-the-art headphones not for music, but to tune out the constant drone of urban living – it’s becoming a modern life survival tool."



from: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/16/noise-cancelling-headphones-sound-modern-life

The difference a park makes

“Urban policy often focuses too much just on housing,” Mr. Emanuel told me, grateful to focus on what has become a central plank of his administration and not talk policing or murder rates. “Housing alone doesn’t make a neighborhood.”



from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/arts/design/chicago-philadelphia-parks-rahm-emanuel.html

The human scale

"Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that integrates transportation and community development"

"Reconnecting America advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges to create better communities for all. Reconnecting America develops research and innovative public policy, while also building on-the-ground partnerships and convening players needed to accelerate decision-making."

from: http://reconnectingamerica.org/who-we-are/

The 20-minute neighborhoods

Definition:
"20-minute neighborhoods are places where residents have easy, convenient access to many of the places and services they use daily including grocery stores, restaurants, schools and parks, without relying heavily on a car. They are characterized by a vibrant mix of commercial and residential uses all within an easy walk. They have higher concentrations of people and are complete with the sidewalks, bike lanes and bus routes that support a variety of transportation options."

from: https://www.eugene-or.gov/1216/What-is-a-20-Minute-Neighborhood

Or comparing a neighbourhood using the three D's method:

• "Distance: how far can you walk in 20 minutes?
• Destinations: is everything you need on a daily basis within that distance?
• Density: are there enough people in the area to support the businesses and facilities you need for daily needs?"

"No one has to give up their car, or walk, bike, or take the bus to anywhere they want to go. Instead, they're aimed at making life easier for those who do want to walk, bike, or use transit -- by strengthening those modes."



"Important, too, the 20-minute neighborhood concept is aimed at meeting the broader strategic goals of Portland being a "high performance city."



from: http://plannersweb.com/2013/07/distance-destinations-density/

Running heatmaps quiz

"Smartphones and GPS watches now leave digital traces behind many urban runners, as they wind their way along the river or round the park. Can you identify the cities from the telltale tracks?"




from:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/01/quiz-identify-world-cities-running-heat-maps-strava

Tall buildings and barren plazas in 1986

"In 1986, CIVITAS initiated a study, No More Tall Stories, which makes the case for lower buildings, with the same heights as their neighbours, and elimination of plazas along Upper East Side avenues. Paul Newman narrates the video illustrating the issue. For more information about this and other CIVITAS initiatives, visit our website: www.civitasnyc.org"