DIY-ing cities

 

Book review from here:

http://spacing.ca/vancouver/2023/02/07/book-review-diy-city-hank-dittmar/

"Three critical examples from DIY City of the kinds of policy changes available to politicians, community organizers and planners in fostering small incremental change include:

Allowing Small Scale Development

In most municipalities, new development is regulated through a constellation of bylaws, whose primary purpose is to ensure new projects proceed in a way that reflects community values. However, when applied to smaller projects, these bylaws can play against a community’s goals for things like housing. For example, Dittmar cites examples in certain places where getting permits for new buildings is easier than retrofits to existing ones. By creating barriers for small projects, poorly designed regulations stymie small-scale builders who, in aggregate, have a sizeable collective power to make progress in adding new housing supply.

Encouraging Meanwhile-Uses

“Meanwhile-uses” are temporary activities that can take place in a space while financing and approvals are being arranged for more complex developments. This can take years for big projects, and unless there are clear incentives or requirements to maintain some level of activity, sites can sit empty the whole time. Meanwhile-uses can include those on bare ground or in existing buildings. Examples from Dittmar’s book include a variety of artisan and market spaces which can actually draw more interest to a site and create added value and a sense of place. If done well, meanwhile-uses can be incorporated into what comes next and continue the story. However, if meanwhile-uses are desired, they must be permitted, encouraged, or mandated.

Formalizing Informal Arts Spaces

Reducing barriers and regulations is a common theme throughout DIY City, but it is not to say that Dittmar wants to do away with them altogether. In most cases, building codes and bylaws were created to protect people from fire, earthquakes, electrical, or other potential hazards. However, a city’s most culturally productive sites can find and grow in some of its oldest and most at-risk buildings. Instead of condemning these spaces and removing them in the name of public safety, Dittmar argues that cities should recognize the value of these spaces and work with tenants to ensure they are safe. One grassroots tool is the D.I.Y. Harm Reduction Manual, a crowd-sourced manual full of recommendations designed to help organizers make their venues safer."

Image from here:

https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/building-a-sustainable-city/

Legends of the profession - founder of Urban Design Associates, David Lewis

"David Lewis, FAIA, has been one of the most influential architects of the past half-century. Exiled for his anti-apartheid activities, he came to the United States at the height of the civil rights movement and helped pioneer a new orientation to the public from professionals engaged in city-building."

Redevelopment

“Why amenitize an office park when you can build a town center?”

from:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/12/22/turning-office-park-town-center

Car-Free Neighbourhoods

"Just off the coast of Toronto, Canada's largest city, you'll find a group of 15 small car-free islands. These are unique in Canada, because they have the only* car-free neighbourhood in the whole country. But just in case you thought you'd like to live here: you can't. There is a waiting list and strict rules for home ownership, which begs the question, why can't we build more of these places today?"

More Car-Free Neighbourhood examples can be found here:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90456075/here-are-11-more-neighborhoods-that-have-joined-the-car-free-revolution

Front Yard Businesses

 Video of the week:

"How do we add mixed uses in single detached neighbourhoods? People have some ideas…"

Implementation can be as simple as:

1. Use corners first;
2. Expand on what's already happening;
3. Create social spaces, and;
4. Create agreements between neighbours.

Adaptive Streets

"Adaptive Streets is an illustrated handbook to inspire and guide citizens, planners and officials to re-imagine how our streets can be adapted to increase utility and delight as well as enhance human and environmental health. The book presents a collection of strategies, demonstrating how they can be implemented in prototypical streets. Adaptive Streets can be used as a community empowerment tool to create new visions to transform the right-of-way."

from:

https://issuu.com/schwin/docs/14_04_26_adaptivestreets_final

 

Video of the week

Math proves it!

"Car-dependent suburbia is subsidized by productive urban places. That's why American cities are broke. But how bad is it, and who is subsidizing who?"

from: https://youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI