Vancouver Public Space Network » SFU

Urban Inspirations: Locally and Abroad

VPSN — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:00:32 +0000

Imagine landing in Vancouver after a visit to a distant place. Is there anything missing here you’ve already seen elsewhere? Even the great things in Vancouver can benefit from fine tuning. How about issues that need fixing?

When Michael Geller invited his audience to share their ideas at his April lecture, his presentation finally delivered on its promise: 12 ideas on how to make Vancouver a healthier, friendlier, more beautiful and creative city. After the presentation, the number of audience members who waited to share their ideas was impressive.

One of the last mic holders during question period was a foreign student. He charmingly confessed to riding the Skytrain without paying. He’s been doing that ever since he realized he could. No Skytrain official approaches Japanese looking riders to check their fares. His point was not to brag about fare evasion and definitely not to complain about racism. He would actually like to see in Vancouver systems similar to those he knows from Japan — systems that work.

“The world is a more complex place than we think,” Geller informed us. That “world,” me included since 2002, is coming to BC and Vancouver in a rate higher than local society’s natural growth (Births – Deaths vs Immigration). This city can become better but might find itself sliding the opposite way. It’s not the first time I came out of a local discussion thinking, “Vancouver is a culture, about to be consumed and trashed like any other commodity in our world”.

Although Vancouver is sufficiently welcoming to new insights, it is also notoriously conservative and tied with too many restrictions. It’s not perfect – it’s changing. For some, it’s too much; for others it’s not fast enough. “Act quickly”, Geller urged. This tension between NIMBYism and impatient pressure for change can trash Vancouver. It is no one’s intention but it can certainly happen.

Do we need to protect ourselves from a looming future or should we find the right mechanisms to improve what we already have? We could strive “to be like ______” (fill in the culture of your choice), but eventually we can work with what we have here. Introducing new ideas, locally sourced as well as imported, is an embraceable and worthy challenge.

There’s a difference between seeing and looking, between looking and observing. In my own travels, I take Geller’s advice and “go to the non-exotic and look for the uncommon.” What’s great about this approach is that you can apply it without even leaving Vancouver. Many of our side streets can be depressingly uninspiring. But as soon as you have an idea that inspires you to do something, moving quickly should be your priority. Know your tools, be prepared and find the issues you really care about.

“The World” is coming to Vancouver to get inspired. Part of it is coming here to stay. In doing so, That World is not only bringing ideas, but making them happen. Let’s open up to that reality and embrace what we already have.

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A version of this post originally appeared on Design is a Matter of Life.

“Youthification” of Vancouver : Redefining Accessibility and the Urban Form

VPSN — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 00:08:21 +0000

by Victor Lam

On September 16th, I had the opportunity to listen to Markus Moos, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Planning of the Faculty of Environment from the University of Waterloo. Mr. Moos spoke at the ‘Rethinking Transportation: New Voices, New Ideas’ event by Translink and the SFU City Program, and examined how the millennial demographic and their values are initiating a phenomenon — dubbed ‘Youthification’ — which is shaping Vancouver’s overall development.

The millennial generation is young adults between 24 to 35 years of age. While they are generally better educated than their parents, they are earning less income and can afford less than their parents in their time. Of the three largest cities in Canada, approximately 38% of millennials allocated more than 30% of their income toward housing in 2006, compared to 32% in 1986 in Vancouver. Other factors such as livability, downsizing, convenience, and environmental sustainability are influencing millennials to live closer to their workplace and along major transit corridors. They are also choosing to walk, bike, or take public transit rather than drive.

With the growing number of condominiums constructed around Vancouver and the spur towards more high-density living, this ‘youthification’ process could have major policy and social implications. Millennials are more likely to seek housing closer to hubs of transportation, with greater access to public space and a diversity of goods and services within their neighborhoods, giving rise to new sets of infrastructure demands and social arrangements. This process is ultimately driving lasting changes that could reshape how millennials live, work, and commute. Stay tuned to the VPSN blog for future posts exploring the demographic transformation of our infrastructure and policies.

Charles Marohn at SFU Harbour Centre – October 24

vancouverpublicspace — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 04:38:32 +0000

Urban transportation expert and co-founder of Strong Towns Charles Marohn is in town later this month – and will be presenting a lecture at SFU Woodwards (NOTE: not SFU Harbour Centre, as we had erroneously posted).

As Gord Price notes, “Unlike many of speakers on urban transportation, Marohn is also a fiscal conservative who makes his case effectively to a small-government audience as much as to urban planners and engineers.” Some more bio: “Marohn is a professional engineer and planner by training. He is is passionate about planning and small towns, but also brings a civil-engineering perspective that results in original ideas.” Marohn is the author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns (Volume 1), writes for the Strong Towns Blog and hosts the Strong Towns Podcast.

You can sign up for the lecture .

The event takes place:

Thursday, October 24, 7 pm
Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (at SFU Woodwards)
149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC

Admission is free, but reservations are required.

Some additional background:

– where Marohn discusses his concept of ‘stroad’ – the street/road hybrid that manages to be both expensive and unproductive.
– “The Important Difference Between A Road and A Street”

Upcoming Lecture: Is Public Space a Public Good? November 8, 2012

vancouverpublicspace — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:48:11 +0000

Reposted from Pricetags

The Warren Gill Memorial Lecture is a highlight of the SFU City Program’s year. Make your reservation now.

IS PUBLIC SPACE A PUBLIC GOOD?

Public space is routinely seen as the cure to every imaginable urban ill, from air quality to obesity. But how much of what we call public space is really public? In this lecture, Mark Kingwell will consider this problem, together with its implications for the notion of urban play and the so-called ‘right to the city’. He will conclude with some reflections on the relationship between the city and the university.

Author and critic MARK KINGWELL is an award-winning professor of philosophy at theUniversity of Toronto and the author or co-author of seventeen books of political, cultural and aesthetic theory, including the national bestsellers Better Living (1998), The World We Want (2000), Concrete Reveries (2008), and Glenn Gould (2009).

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8, 2012

7 pm

Lecture, Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema @ Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (at Woodward’s)

149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

ADMISSION IS FREE, reservations are required.

Reserve seats at www.sfu.ca/reserve.

Event – Re:generation – how we move our city

vancouverpublicspace — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:25:02 +0000

A heads-up to all you transportation fans about the following cool event. It’s an intergenerational dialogue on transportation issues that takes place on January 25 (7-10pm) at SFU Woodwards World Art Centre.

We had a chance to chat with the organizers early in the planning stage and are pretty stoked. They have a great collection of participants lined up and have created a program that touches on the city’s transportation past, present and future.

It’s the first of 4 regeneration events being organized over the next 4 months – each one focusing on a different Greenest City Goal. The other events will be on Zero Waste, Greening the City and Local Food.

You need to register to attend. To do so go to the Eventbrite webpage and follow the steps.

UPDATE. We just got some additional information on the program. Here it is:

Ever wonder about Vancouver rail transit in the 1950s? or the future of automobile ownership? Or wondered what “Active Transportation” was? …. well ….

Elders, Boomers, Xer’s and Young Folk
Tell Their Active Transportation Stories

DETAILS
Wed, Jan 25th, 2012
149 W Hastings, SFU Woodwards
Doors: 630PM,
Show: 7-10PM
Tickets: $5-10 Sliding Scale – No one turned away.
Proceeds: Partial proceeds will be donated to Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC).

RSVP TO RESERVE TIX
http://regeneration2012.eventbrite.com/

FEATURING AWESOME STORIES FROM:
SHIFT, MODO and the TRANSIT MUSEUM SOCIETY

Be regaled about rail transit in Vancouver in the 1950’s + bus transit in the 1960’s. Be Inspired about a local Pedal Powered Urban Cargo Company. Be empowered by the cooperative ownership of Auto’s.

Finally Andrea Reimer will recap the evening of sharing our city’s past innovations and project forward to paint the Greenest City Vision for how we move our city forward!