December 20, 2013 snowfall. Photo by Brent Granby.

Happy snowy solstice Vancouver! Don’t the city’s public spaces look extra cozy under that dusty white blanket? Aren’t you feeling all snuggly-wuggly? For those of you who may be looking at the snow and feeling yet another layer of a holiday-related pressure… stop right now. Grab a cup of cocoa. Sit down. We’re here to help.

We first ran a version of our “Gift Ideas” post last year and it proved to be one of our most popular articles ever. We’ve shared it a few times since them, but we’re now reissuing it with a slew of additional updates for the 2013-14 winter season. Good news for the snow-adverse: some of these options don’t even require you to go outside!

As we noted last time, our gift-giving rituals don’t all have to be about crass cable-knit sweaters (though for some reason those are actually popular this year). For the public space loving urbanists out there, there are a host of things that you can give to your friends and family that will not only make them happy, but do a nice turn for the city as well.

Hang tight – there’s a whopping 18 last-minute holiday gift ideas in this post. All of them are awesome. Enjoy!

(1) Support a local parklet project and contribute to the creation of neighbourhood public space. There are two AWESOME parklet projects currently under development in Vancouver. Design work on both sites are complete, and each project is now using crowd-funding as a means to finance the building and programming of the spaces.

• French Quarter Parklet – will transform two parking spaces (located in front of Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France at Main Street and East 21st) into a vibrant outdoor seating area. The clever design and landscaping (featuring snappy triangle benches) also features a bike car for folks that want to stay on their bikes while having their coffee. The project is a collaboration between Choclaterie, and our good friends at PWL Partnership Landscape Architects and Cycle Chic. Donate to the French Quarter kickstarter campaign here.

• Commercial Drive Parklet - will convert two parking spaces (located in front of Prado Cafe at Commercial Drive and East 4th) into a permanent seating and gathering area for the whole community to enjoy. The Drive desperately needs more outdoor seating areas, and we’re pleased as punch that VPSN friend Julian Thomas and Board member Stewart Burgess are among the collaborators on this fine venture. Donate to the Commercial Drive Parklet Kickstarter here. (Note: this project lost some anticipated grant funding and are now looking to go beyond the initial $3,500 target. In addition to its great placemaking value, the Commercial Drive Parklet will be a vehicle to provide skills training for community youth).

(2) A copy of one (or more) of the excellent books to come out this year by local urbanists. There were a lot of fine books on public space and urban issues to come out this year. We’re happy to recommend two that are near and dear to our heart. (We’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with both these authors in the past and love the work that they do!). Both are available at better bookstores around town.

• Happy City – written by local journalist and city-thinker Charles Montgomery – promises to “change the way you think about urban life,” doing so by exploring the multifaceted connection between urban design and the science of happiness.

• Focusing closer to home is Lani Russwurm’s Vancouver Was Awesome – a visually rich exploration of collects stories of “the people, places, events, and phenomena that collectively have infused Vancouver with a distinct flavor and flair.”

(3) Invest in your community with some Seedstock. Sure Bitcoin gets all the press, but while it may circumvent some of the problems of a global banking system, does it really do anything for local business? Did you know there’s actually an alternative currency that specifically supports local Vancouver business and non-profits? Seedstock Community Currency lets you do double with your money: exchange cash for Seedstock with a local cause to support their work, and get the equivalent amount of Seedstock back to spend at over 80 local businesses! (Find out where here). You can get ahold of money that feels good to spend – or give! – at the local xChange Station.

(4) Go weekly or seasonally with some urbanist subscription action. Like reading about urban issues? Forefront is a weekly long-form essay that covers city-building activities from around the globe. It’s the product of Next City, a superb blog . You can obtain a subscription here. And of course, there’s also our good friends at Spacing, who produce a magazine (and several blogs) that “uncover the joys, obstacles and politics of Canada’s big cities by cutting through the cynicism that often pervades any discussion about urban issues.” Pretty good, eh? Their national issues come out twice a year and are a superb read. Order them here.

(5) Give the gift of edumacation. Vancouver’s Community Centres and public schools offer a dizzying array of classes – everything from sports to singing, music lessons to language studies, fine arts to business, crafts to computers. Classes vary in length, location, and cost, but it won’t take more than a bit of research to see what’s available in your neighbourhood. Information on the city’s 24 community centres can be found here or you can zip over to the Vancouver School Board website to see what’s on offer there. Why not double-up the fun? Don’t just sign your loved one up for lessons… join them for the learning as well!

(6) Get sticky with your neighbourhood. Have you seen the Neighborland app and online platform? It’s a great way to share ideas on neighbourhood placemaking and community building ideas. Not content to stop at online connections, the creators have produced some handy “I want ____ in my neighbourhood” stickers. You can make your own via their open source files or order a set via the Neighborland website. (Of course it goes without saying that you’ll want to place these around your neighbourhood in a responsible, community-friendly fashion.)

(7) Take your loved ones out for a bedazzling or ghostly experience. Two of Vancouver’s biggest public spaces – Van Dusen Gardens and Stanley Park – get a special holiday make-over. How about a trip to one or both of these seasonal gems:

• Van Dusen Gardens – Festival of Lights
• Stanley Park – Christmas Train

(8) Support your local street performer. (Go retro, buy a CD!). There’s tons of local musical and artistic talent to be found around the city – on the streets and in transit stations. Like something you see or hear? Lots of street artists offer CDs, sketches and painting for sale – a perfect opportunity to support the local scene and share some of the magic with a friend.

(9) Stay informed and stay up to date – While on the subject of street vending, keep your eyes peeled for two other items that make for great gifts. The Hope in Shadows calendar features top-notch work by DTES photographers and Megaphone Magazine. Revenue from both of these projects is used to provide education, training and support to low-income people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

(10) Historical pictures. Who doesn’t like to see the way we used to live in years past? The Vancouver Public Library has a great selection of old photographs of Vancouver – which can be purchased for reasonable cost on Floor 7 of VPL Central. Or, you can go the DIY route and visit the Vancouver Archives on-line catalogue – where they have an amazing assortment of high-resolution photographs that you can download for free. Having the VPL and Archives print your pictures for you may mean a bit of a delay — but not to worry, many of their collections are available on-line and in high-resolution. You can print ‘em yourself via your local photo shop.

(A word to the wise – the VPL and Archives collections are different. So if you’re looking for that perfect photograph of, say, Robson Square during the 1960s paint-in, you may have to visit both facilities).

(11) Friends-of Gift Memberships. Both of the aforementioned organizations (the Vancouver Public Library and Vancouver Archives) have volunteer “Friends-of” groups that support their work. The Friends of the VPL and Friends of the Archives both engage in special projects, raise funds for new acquisitions, and champion the work of their respective organizations. Know someone who likes libraries or gets jazzed about archival fonds? Set them up as a patron of one of these groups by buying a gift membership.

(12) Go green with local nature. For over two decades the Stanley Park Ecology Society has played a leadership role in the stewardship of Stanley Park. They do this through a range of education, research and conservation programs. You can support the good work they do by taking out a membership with their organization, “adopting” a bird’s nest, paying to plant saplings or several other things.

(13) More brightening, less frightening – Bike & Ped lights. There are too many people out there still walking and biking around without decent lights or reflective gear (Velcro bracelets, vests, etc.). Why not keep your loved ones safe by upping their visibility. MEC is an obvious go-to (and their new USB plug-in lights are awesome!) but there are lots of other places to get this sort of gear.

Know someone who’s not a cyclist but ought to be? If they have a bike that’s kicking around and gathering dust – why not surprise them with a tune-up (at Our Community Bikes, Kickstand or your neighbourhood bike shop). Another idea, especially for newer bike users: give the gift of cycling confidence and sign them up for a streetwise biking course with HUB.

(14) Make a gift box on behalf of a friend or family member. The holiday season is festive and fun for many of us. For those less fortunate, the seasonal festivities can also be a time of loneliness and challenge – a time that is further compromised by the city’s cold, wet and rainy weather.

There are lots of organizations around town – Lookout, the Aboriginal Front Door, Covenant House, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, Carnegie, the Union Gospel Mission, the Kettle Friendship Society (to name just a few) – who will take donations of money, food, warm clothing (socks, sweaters, long johns, rainwear), toiletries, and other un-wrapped gifts.

(15) Make your own walking tour. Why wait until May for Jane’s Walk? Plot out a stroll and show your friends and family some of your favourite spots – the architecture you like, your favourite pieces of public art, a hidden park, other good places to meander. Show them why you like the city. Want to amp it up a bit? Put a few more treats into the itinerary – like a stop at your favourite café or restaurant for hot chocolate, or an end-of-walk admission ticket to the VAG or Science World.

(16) Surprise them with some random market magic. Still searching for some stocking-stuffers? You’ve just scored yourself a great opportunity to support Vancouver’s market scene. The annual Christmas Market occupies Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza between now and December 24. For the foodie on your list, there’s the weekly Winter Farmers Market at Nat Bailey Stadium – every Saturday from 10am-2pm). And if you want to go all-in, wander over to Granville Island for any number of specialty gifts.

(17) A membership with Modo – A casual membership to Modo (formerly the Car Co-op) costs $50 and gives you access to a range of vehicles for those times when you actually do need a car (which, for lots of folks, isn’t as as often as they think). It turns out that the self-same membership also gives you a bunch of other perks as well.

And this presents us with another great avenue of gift giving to share…

(18) A membership in another co-operative! You’ve probably heard about co-op housing before, but there are also a good number of co-ops that sell goods and services around town. These include the aforementioned Modo and ever-popular MEC, as well as smaller ones like the Vancouver Tool Library or East End Food Co-op. Co-ops are a good place to shop for those who want to support locally owned, member-driven organizations that operate with a concern for community. Buying a membership in a co-op is a great investment and a smart gift – and will turn your holiday gift exchange into a gala event!

If you’ve got other public space gift ideas, please send them our way – via info [at] vancouverpublicspace [dot] ca.

Thanks to  Mike, Kevin, Paola, Julian and Kathleen for their contributions to this post.

Wondering how to spend your Friday evening in the big city? Here’s something fun for public space fans: the launch of the second national issue of Spacing magazine!

Come on out to Canvas Lounge (99 Powell Street). Not only do you get to hang out with other cool urbanists, but as an added bonus you can get your hands on an advance copy of the mag. The fun starts at 9:00pm and runs until the wee hours.

As a special plus, the event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).

You can jump straight to the Facebook event page, or read what it says below.

The next national issue of Spacing is set to be released in early February 2012. If you live in Vancouveryou can get an advance copy of the magazine if you come to the release party at the Canvas Lounge (99 Powell Stin Gastown).

Door cover: FREE!
Copy of mag: $5 ($4 off newsstand price!)

We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes.

This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).

– – – – –

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ISSUE:

– Q&A with Mayor Gregor Robertson: Can he become North America’s greenest mayor?

– The Rise of Roadsworth/Peter Gibson: Contributing editor Christopher DeWolf looks back how this stencil graffiti artist transformed the streets of Montreal and changed how we view street art

– Urbanism for a New Century: Spacing senior editor Dylan Reid outlines the urban design trends of the last decade and where city-building is headed in Canada

– There are also loads of photos, book reviews, and features on the details of Canadian cities.

Copies of this issue will begin to arrive for subscribers after Feb 6th. Newsstand copies will be available across Canada the week of Feb. 6th. For a list of stores that carry Spacing visit this web page: http://spacing.ca/magazine/in-these-stores/

We’re stoked to hear that they’re on the cusp of launching their revamped website, so we thought we’d share this update with you. We encourage you all to check out their site, support their publication, and contribute and stories and photos you might think are relevant (except, of course, the really, really good ones… which you should send to us first).

Anyway, here’s what they’re saying:

A new year, a new look, a new start.

Over the last year, the re:place team has been hard at work creating the foundations from which to make re:place magazine a success. We have been busy drafting a business plan, forming an advisory panel, applying for funding, establishing key relationships, contacting potential contributors, creating the identity of the magazine, and scoping themes for the first three issues. Alongside the magazine development, we have also been moving forward with the development of our website. We recently redesigned our website to include a news/blog/eplace component that will feature short articles, timely news items, videos, links, and photographs. A comments section enables visitors to the site to add their voice to the conversation, while our polls will gage the opinion of visitors on timely issues. Check out our beta website at regardingplace.com.

A particularly exciting development is the strong relationship we have forged with Toronto’s Spacing Magazine. Once our site is ready for launch we will be linking up with Spacing Toronto and Spacing Montreal to create a national forum on public space issues. This relationship will effectively link Canada’s three largest cities and create a vehicle to explore and compare the public realm and urban landscapes across these regions.

All we need to move forward on this is content and regular contributors. This is where you come in.

We invite potential contributors to submit to us short articles or posts that will be published on our website. Topics can range from municipal politics, infrastructure, public spaces, arts & culture, design, transportation, or whatever public realm issue that you would like to comment on. Articles should be short and timely. If you have an image to accompany your post, even better. We are also looking for regular contributors for our website. If you have a lot to say and are looking for a format to say it, please consider becoming a regular blogger.

We will still publish a print edition of the magazine, and we will be looking for contributors for that publication, but given the limited time and resources we have, we are focusing our efforts on getting the website up and running first. In the meantime, we invite your involvement with the website.

Ways to get involved:

1. Submit an article to our e-place.
2. Become a regular blogger.
3. Join our flickr pool. We will be drawing images for our website and publication from local photographers. All photographs will be credited and linked to the photographer’s website. Our flickr pool can be found at http://www.flickr.com/groups/replace/
4. Work on your pitch for our first print edition. The first print edition of the magazine will be a primer on public space in Vancouver.
5. Hook us up with a sugar daddy. Seriously. We are looking for funding sources and potential advertisers. If you have ideas, please let us know!
6. Volunteer to help us organize the launch.
7. Tell your friends. We want regardingplace.com to be the site that people visit to find out about their city. Tell your friends to help make that happen.

If you are interested in contributing, send an email to amanda |at| regardingplace.com