Like us, they’re concerned with the plight of our public spaces come the rainy season, and they’ve decided to launch an initiative to encourage winter-time placemaking. As they note:

With a lack of covered public space in Vancouver, unfacilitated social interactions between people turn scarce in the wintertime. As people are less likely to engage in outdoor activities when it rains this places Vancouverites at high risk for Seasonal Affective Disorder.

By working intimately with nature and embracing the rain, we are able to focus on social healing rather than threaten social and physical wellness. Together, with the community, we will act as urban catalysts to encourage social healing through Seasonal Effective Design.

As part of this Seasonal Effective Design program, they are looking at a variety of ways to enhance the Vernon and Adanac space during the darker months – including weather-proofing, events, and lots more colour. To support this, they’ve recently launched a crowd-funding campaign. If you’ve got a few extra bucks, please consider supporting this worthwhile venture!

:: Support Frida + Frank’s Seasonal Effective Design Initiative

This summer the Vancouver Public Space Network, with a grant from VIVA Vancouver is transforming two laneways into fun and friendly spaces using upcycled furniture, flea market finds, and pallets.

After having hosted an outrageously successful event in East Van, Gastown is the second neighbourhood up! Join us for a casual Backyard BBQ – a laneway activation taking place in the diagonal alleyway connecting Cambie and Cordova Streets on Saturday, August 26th.

This activation will use some creatively upcycled materials to turn an urban space into the suburban dream. Think grilled food, lawn games, music, and maybe even a rogue pink flamingo. 

Backyard BBQ is the Vancouver Public Space Network’s second Laneway Living Room activation for summer 2017. This tactical urbanism project is designed to highlight the potential of Vancouver’s unloved and underutilized laneways by quickly and cheaply transforming them into people-friendly public spaces. We invite you to come to our Backyard BBQ!

 Laneways take up a significant amount of land in Vancouver, and yet only a handful of these spaces are welcoming for people. Recently, the City has taken an interest in turning laneways into places for people, most notably with Alley Oop, a richly coloured lane off Granville Street. But with hundreds of kilometers of laneways in Vancouver alone, much more can be done.

Event info:
12pm – 9pm
Saturday, August 26th, 2017
401 West Cordova (Laneway between Cordova and Cambie – enter off Cordova)

See our Facebook event here.

East Van is the first neighbourhood up! Join us for Grandma’s House – a laneway activation taking place south of Venables between Parker Street and Napier Street (address is 1027 Commercial Drive) on Saturday, July 29th.

This activation will use some creatively upcycled materials to recreate Grandma’s House (yours? mine? somebody’s!) You can expect food, games, big band music, classic movies, and maybe even a spot of afternoon tea.

Event Details:

12pm – 9pm Saturday, July 29th, 2017

1027 Commercial Drive laneway (south of Venables St between Parker St and Napier St).

Here is our Facebook event page.

This story has been updated.

Laneways and alleys take up a significant amount of land in Vancouver, yet remain one of our most under-utilized public assets. Only a handful of these spaces are welcoming for people today – but with a power wash and a little imagination, these spaces can become much more than places to store cars and garbage. Around the world, cities are waking up to the value of re-imagining these spaces as places for people. Vancouver is beginning to see their potential, too.

Canton Alley, Seattle WA (Source unknown)

In the early 2000s, the City-led Country Lanes initiative added a substantial amount of greenery to three laneways. And, if you look hard enough, you can still find these permanent installations sprinkled around the city. From 2011 to 2014, the grassroots group Liveable Laneways created programming – from markets to fashion shows – fora series of these forgotten spaces. And last year, the City committed $100,000 to fund the long-term, large-scale transformation of three downtown laneways. The first transformation, Alley Oop, has already played host to a range of spirited events, and the second, Ackery’s Alley, is shaping up to be an equally exciting space.

Alley Oop, located in downtown Vancouver. Photo: Modacity (Chris & Melissa Bruntlett).

Building on these efforts, and with the support of a grant from Viva Vancouver, the VPSN is undertaking Laneway Living Rooms. This project will use a “lighter, quicker, cheaper” approach to transform two laneways this summer. Rather than relying on costly, permanent installations, VPSN will use materials like refurbished furniture, milk crates, pallets and a lot of flea market finds to realize the Laneway Living Room vision.

20 Ft Wide project, Austin TX. Image by Go Collaborative.

The intent of this tactical activation is to demonstrate the potential to rapidly transform unloved laneways into people-friendly places, at low cost. In doing so, our goal is to inspire neighbours and local businesses to undertake their own laneway projects and strengthen the notion that streets and laneways are valuable public spaces.

The concept of streets as places is particularly important in densifying cities like Vancouver. With more people living closer together, often in smaller spaces, the public realm is becoming – and needs to become – an extension of our living room. Playing with this notion, the Laneway Living Room project will take two traditionally private settings – the living room and the backyard – and make them public. In so doing, two under-utilized alleyways will become transformed into inviting places to linger, hangout, and have a little fun.

Casa do Quarteirão, Ponta Delgada, Portugal. Image by Orizzontale.

Grandma’s Living Room, planned for July 29th, will create a cozy space in East Van complete with tea and cookies, doilies and a range of items that will mix nostalgia, kitsch and a whole lot of upcyled inventiveness. A month later, on August 26th, the VPSN will roll out the green (astro turf) carpet as another alley is transformed into a Backyard BBQ – proving that that the backyard isn’t solely a product of the single-family home.

This summer, Vancouver’s laneways will come to life. Join us in rethinking what we consider public and private, and become part of a growing movement that is tapping into this under-appreciated public resource. Vancouverites deserve more from their laneways, let’s make it happen.

UPDATE: Since this story was first published, we’ve made a few changes to the program. The date for our first laneway activation will be Saturday, July 29 – not July 22 as was originally planned. We’ve also decided to kick things off with Grandma’s Living Room, and then hold the Bacyard BBQ event for our August date. These details have been updated throughout the story.

Want to lend a hand with the Laneway Living Room project? Contact our volunteer coordinator Michelle Pollard at volunteer@vancouverpublicspace.ca