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

Is it time to design for neighbourhood electric vehicles instead?

 "Half of the work of urban design is deciding where to store cars."

"When designing parking spaces, planners have a size of vehicle in mind—a design vehicle scaled for highway and freeway travel. Yet almost half of all car trips in the United States are for trips under 3 miles,1 which shouldn’t require getting on a highway or freeway. In an era of growing climate threats, we need to rethink what kind of vehicle is necessary for running local trips. It’s time to seriously consider a class of vehicles called neighborhood electric vehicles, or NEVs."

from:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2021/10/13/rightsizing-automobile-local-mobility

Friday video: How radical gardeners took back New York City

"Seed bombs, the "tree lady of Brooklyn," and the roots of urban gardening."

"New York City looked a lot different in the 1960s and 1970s. A sharp economic decline and white flight meant there was mass disinvestment and urban decay, particularly in the city’s lower-income neighborhoods. It’s what Hattie Carthan and Liz Christy noticed in their communities when they each set out to revive their neighborhoods by making them greener. Ultimately, their radical acts of gardening would transform the landscape across New York City."

Friday video: What happens if you cut down all of a city's trees?

"Explore what makes trees a vital part of cities, and how urban spaces throughout history have embraced the importance of trees."

"By 2050, it’s estimated that over 65% of the world will be living in cities. We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces, but trees have always been an essential part of successful cities. Humanity has been uncovering these arboreal benefits since the creation of our first cities thousands of years ago. So what makes trees so important to a city’s survival?"