On March 3, the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) held its ninth annual symposium. Attracting students, academics, politicians and professionals across a variety of disciplines, this yearly tradition provides an opportunity to discuss the planning issues faced in our region and beyond.

A culmination of five months of preparation by first-year master of community and regional planning (MCRP) students, this year’s event focused on the theme of “audacity,” aiming to challenge the status quo and encourage bold ideas that have the potential to shape future planning initiatives.

Sounding the keynotes

The morning’s keynote featured Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Earth Charter commissioner and a board member of the David Suzuki Foundation. She’s currently pursuing her Ph.D. at UBC with the goal of using language research to help revitalize the Haida language. Her speech focused on three fundamental requirements for planners wishing to create systems change:

• an energy revolution
• diversity
• reconciliation

Cullis-Suzuki argued that in the (proposed) Anthropocene age, we must “start being who we say we are,” which means fighting for climate justice and converting to renewable forms of energy. She followed by stressing that “diversity is how we’ll survive”: diversity of biology, culture, people and ideas. Just as important is reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Cullis-Suzuki emphasized that reconciliation is not only about people but about land also, and she called upon participants to recognize that even attending UBC is a deeply political act and part of an ongoing colonization. Most importantly, she asserted, we must work toward reconciliation by building relationships. We cannot do this through one-off conversations but instead need to “keep showing up” and move through difficult dialogue.

Mingling at the ninth annual symposium at SCARP

The event’s second keynote was delivered by Kaye Krishna, general manager of development, buildings and licensing at the City of Vancouver. Relatively new to Vancouver, Krishna spoke of some of her key accomplishments from her previous work at New York City’s housing department. Her passion for working in government was clear, as she stated that despite popular belief to the contrary, “governments can be audacious.” She used New York’s microunit housing developments* as examples of bold and innovative solutions by government to affordability issues. She stated that a change from antiquated application processes to more human-centred service can allow more eligible applicants to get access to affordable housing. Her speech provoked discussion about the potential for similar solutions here in Vancouver. 

Panel play

The day was interspersed with panel sessions on various topics including one called “This is not an open house,” which invited experts to share innovative approaches to public engagement. One of the most memorable involved a placemaking game called PlaytheBlox, presented by Mitra Mansour from Vancouver Design Nerds.

In this game, players adopt the identities of fictional people living in the designated neighbourhood, which is printed on a large map in the centre of the table. With their new personae, participants identify places they value in the neighbourhood and make suggestions for placemaking interventions using the colourful stickers, symbols and markers provided. The goal is to foster empathy and encourage communication among community members. Accessible to all ages, PlaytheBlox provides a fun, interactive way to get people thinking about the potential of public space around them. The result: an animated map representing the different interests that make up the community.

SCARP students and faculty are already looking forward to the symposium’s 10th anniversary next year. In the meantime, those interested are invited to attend the school’s year-end Planning Studio event on March 31. Master’s students will present their work on planning projects conducted under the guidance of municipal, community and institutional partners.

*More information on New York’s microunit housing is available here.

Top photo: PlaytheBlox, an interactive game fostering empathy and community collaboration

Audacity is about inspiring future planning initiatives, taking a stance against the status quo and demanding a push for new and daring ideas, innovations and actions.

Keynote speakers

Severn Cullis-Suzuki is an Earth Charter commissioner and council member, host of the APTN TV series Samaqan Water Stories and board member of the David Suzuki Foundation. She has undertaken study of the endangered Xaayda kil (Skidegate dialect of the Haida language) and was a founding member of the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society. She holds a B.Sc. in biology from Yale University and an M.Sc. in ethnoecology from the University of Victoria.

Second keynote TBA.

Plus 11 dynamic planning-related breakout sessions, workshops and discussions.

PIBC members are eligible for 7 CPL credits.

Need to know

• When: Friday, March 3, 2017, 8:00 am – 6:45 pm
• Where: Great Hall, AMS Nest, 6133 University Boulevard, UBC, Vancouver
• Register: www.symposium.scarp.ubc.ca
• Cost: General $99, students $39
• Contact: info.scarpsymposium@gmail.com
• Twitter: @scarp_symposium
• Facebook: Audacity: 9th Annual SCARP Symposium

This iconic building took around two and half years to build is now home to a community of students, faculty members and researchers. Situated on a large open space, the Pharmaceutical building with a slanted exterior definitely stands out and catches my eye every time I walk by. The idea behind the Pharmaceutical Building design emerged from a tree metaphor. This tree metaphor illustrates the intertwining of the tree canopy, which is inspired by the evolving development of modern medicine. This is why the interior of the building is built mostly from cedar wood, which also reflects pharmaceutical drugs having derived from plants. The interior captured my attention with the overarching stairs, slanted walls, lecture rooms that still have the smell of cedar, and huge windows that bring in natural light.

UBC Tennis Centre

Home to eight indoor tennis courts and one outdoor tennis court, this building is a very well lit. The building is also built and designed so that tennis tournaments could be televised as well. The architects behind this building pushed for a series of windows running horizontally across the south side of the building. This creates transparency from the building to the streets. The idea was to create a greater sense of safety on the sidewalk, especially at night. However, only a few windows were installed due to the limited budget.

Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Home to a variety of different species, but perhaps most famously known for where the exhibition of the blue whale is located. This museum always causes students walking by to take a second look at the enormous blue whale’s skeletal body that extends the whole upper museum floor. Often students think that the museum is only where the blue whale is shown but they don’t realize the museum extends underground, full of amazing specimen. Definitely a worthwhile visit. The building is connected to three other research buildings which seems like they are built separatly, but are actually connected underground. It is also built perpendicular to UBC’s Main mall, West mall and East mall. Additionally, in the centre of the building is a large open green space with long benches that creates a very welcoming atmosphere for people to enjoy. This museum is an excellent way to welcome public education as well. Previously, many of the specimens were preserved in jars and kept behind closed doors in the research labs. However, because there was a great potential for public education and no reason why these amazing specimen should be hidden from public display, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum was built.

UBC’s Alma Mater Society is hosting a Community Transit Forum to discuss the future of the Broadway corridor. The event will take place on Thursday, May 2nd, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway.

The Broadway corridor (from Commercial Drive through to UBC) is a key economic, residential, institutional and cultural area for Vancouver and British Columbia. It boasts the highest concentration of jobs in B.C. outside of the downtown core. More than 100,000 public transit trips occur in this part of the city each day, making it one of the most heavily used diesel bus routes in North America.

Broadway’s current and potential demographic and economic development has driven recent discussion about the future of the corridor. Given the ongoing discussions regarding the future of the corridor, the AMS is inviting a number of speakers to lead a discussion, with community input, on the kind of future that is envisioned for Broadway. Informed debate will help the community shape and articulate its own future within a rapidly growing region.

Vancouver Public Space Network’s Karen Quinn Fung will be participating as a panelist to share her views on this issue through her experience as VPSN’s public transit project lead, and to bring forward VPSN’s interest in enhancing Vancouver’s public spaces to the dialogue. Other panelists include Yuri Artibise (Yurbanism), Claire Havens (SFU’s Carbon Talks), and Arno Schortinghuis (HUB – Your Cycling Connection).

Want to join us? Register online at the event’s Eventbrite site. Looking forward to see you there and hearing from everyone on this very important topic!

In the course of providing feedback for this process (such as proposed road space arrangement, mode alignments, station placements, and the comprehensiveness of the evaluation process), there are three key factors that apply across the board as TransLink and stakeholders move forward on a decision:

• The status quo is not working. With the desired growth in employment density along the central Broadway corridor as desired by the City of Vancouver, the over-crowding on transit on Broadway can only get worse. While the precise trajectory of other factors affecting travel, such as the nature of growing demand for trips to UBC, is uncertain, it is more than clear that we have passed the need for incremental increases capacity and require more than buses.
• We want the most people able to access transit. Our ideal is that the chosen solution moves the most people possible while maintaining high safety, convenience, accessibility and affordability for today’s and tomorrow’s population. We urge respondents to keep in mind that Broadway has the potential to be a “great street” and currently serves as Vancouver’s second downtown. This is an important factor while weighing the options for the transit alignment. The transit option selected will have an impact on public realm development and how roadspace will be allocated on Broadway for the future.
• How we fund what we decide to build matters. Many aspects of public-private partnerships deserve closer scrutiny, not least because they alter the balance of whether transit operators are able to take profits from some parts of the system to help fund transit operations in other places, such as buses serving seniors, low-income individuals and others who depend on transit. While funding is a primary consideration in later stages of the study, we should ensure we get the system that meets our needs on a wider spectrum of factors, not simply in moving us around.

TransLink will be reporting back on feedback it has received near the end of 2011, when decision-makers at TransLink and the Province will settle on a preferred alternative.

Want to keep in touch with the Vancouver Public Space Network’s work on this issue? Send an e-mail to Karen Fung (quinn AT vancouverpublicspace DOT ca) and we will be sure to keep you in the loop.

From Wednesday, March 30, to Wednesday, April 6, TransLink will be holding a series of community consultation workshops in different areas along Broadway to share where they are at with Phase 2 of the UBC Rapid Transit study. Since Phase 1, a new crop of considerations have appeared, so now is a great time to get caught up on the status of the study!

The Vancouver Public Space Network did a lot of thinking about the Broadway Corridor last year, when we held a series of open workshops exploring the concept of Broadway as a ‘Great Street’ called Transforming Broadway.

These workshops, as well as TransLink’s UBC Line Rapid Transit Study website, are a great way to learn more about what’s possible and what both TransLink and people in the area think, whether they work, live or play in or around the area. Transit — both in terms of getting around and the ‘fixed infrastructure’ which supports it — is a huge defining factor of both public space and life in Vancouver generally.

We highly encourage you to attend the workshop, attend TransLink’s online webinar on the topic, or weigh in online. If you participated in their workshops last year, or if you need to get caught up, I recommend checking out TransLink’s summary of what they heard in their Phase 1 Consultations.

A late announcement about two events taking place tomorrow, October 6. I’ll be carrying the public space torch to a pair of interesting conversations dealing with the practice of urban design, planning and cultural placemaking.

First up, I’ll be at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) to give a lunchtime presentation on Planning the Good City – the Role of Public Space in Creating Cities that are Liveable (and Fun). I’ll be using the opportunity to look at the role that public space plays (when its well designed and programmed) as the ‘glue’ that binds together the modern, liveable cities. I’ll be looking at some broad questions around urban public life and the idea of planning and designing for conviviality, as well as spending some time looking at the specifics of the Vancouver scene. The talk takes place at West Mall Annex (1933 West Mall in room 150).

Later on, I’ll be shifting gears and pedalling over to the Museum of Vancouver, visiting one great cultural facility to talk about another. The occasion is the last of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s workshops on the proposed gallery relocation. Although billed as an “information session” the event will follow a panel format, and I’m looking forward to a discussion that can engage critically (as best possible give the short amount of time) with some of the issues around the move. VPSN friend Lance Berelowitz (who helped with some of our Where’s the Square work) will be hosting the event, and I’ll be joined on the panel by Michael Audain and Kathleen Bartels (of the VAG) and Landon Mackenzie (Emily Carr). The Museum can be found in Vanier Park, 1100 Chestnut Street).

Both events are free and open to the public.

Says the November 3 communique: “Mayor Sam Sullivan and Vancouver Councillors Peter Ladner and Suzanne Anton today invited residents, businesses and community organizations to provide their views about plans to complete the Millennium Rapid Transit Line to Central Broadway – and ultimately UBC.

An on-line survey at www.mayorsamsullivan.ca supports the three phase public involvement process for the Millennium Line completion announced in July.

“In addition to promoting sustainable development, completion of the Millennium Line will create economic opportunities, support EcoDensity and increase access to the Broadway corridor, health services and the University of British Columbia,” said Mayor Sullivan. “Making Vancouver one of the world’s most sustainable communities is one of the five goals we have established for our government. Completing the Millennium Line is Vancouver’s top transit infrastructure priority.”

The on-line survey invites Metro Vancouver residents to give their opinion on a series of questions about the proposed Millennium Line completion project. Earlier this year, Translink confirmed plans for a $1 million Broadway West Millennium Line Study.

Councillor Ladner said, “I am particularly interested in the potential of the Millennium Line extension to connect the Great Northern Way tech campus to the region and enable it to be the heart of the next downtown for Metro Vancouver.”

“Completing the Millennium Line will help us achieve the targets we have established to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Councillor Anton. “This survey will give us an opportunity to hear from stakeholders at the start of the project so that we can make the best decisions possible.”

Last month, Mayor Sullivan hosted the first in a series of roundtable sessions to support the Translink planning and consultation process. More will be scheduled before the end of the year.”