1. The Place – An idea to make a new or existing public space (such as a plaza, street, sidewalk, laneway, parklet, or park) rain-friendly.

2.  The Intervention - A rain-friendly design feature or element, or seasonal structure that can serve to enhance an existing public space.
3. The Celebration – A rain-friendly pop-up activation (e.g. an event or interactive installation) in a public space that will help build a more positive culture of rain-friendly activity, fostering social connections in the rainy months.

The event takes place:

Saturday, April 6, 2019
9:00am to 6:00pm
800-block Robson Square (south side of the Art Gallery)

A full schedule of activities will be shared via the Facebook Event Page.
#LifeBetweenUmbrellas is brought to you by Vancouver Public Space Network and Viva Vancouver and aims to generate ideas on ways to improve public space and public life during Vancouver’s rainy months. The contest is open to anyone interested in making public spaces more rain-friendly. Multiple prizes will be awarded, including prizes for children and youth under 19. For more info, please visit: https://LifeBetweenUmbrellas.ca

The launch event will provide an overview of the competition, featuring speakers and activities that will help to showcase some of the design challenges and opportunities that come with life in a rainy city. For added warmth and coziness there will also be a hot chocolate bar and fresh-baked cookies!

Joining us for the event will be:

• Joe Fry, HAPA Collaborative
• Andrew Nakazawa, DVBIA
• Ann Livingston, VANDU
• Melina Scholefield, City of Vancouver, Office of Sustainability
• Nick Collinet, Public Disco

Details of the Competition – A Quick Overview

The Life Between Umbrellas design ideas competition will be open to a broad audience, including designers, students, and the general public. The competition will have three streams, allowing entrants to submit ideas on (1) rain-friendly spaces, (2) design features, and (3) events or activations. A number of prizes will be awarded in each stream, and winners will be chosen by both a jury selection process and a people’s choice voting process.

A separate competition website will be live on Friday March 1. In the meantime, for more information on the competition, check out LifeBetweenUmbrellas.ca.

Tickets

Tickets for the launch event are free and available via Eventbrite, but seating is limited. If you book a ticket and are unable to attend, please cancel your ticket so that we can ensure a space for someone else!

Photo by Adriana Calvo, Pixels

There are more than 7,500 metered parking spaces in Vancouver. By reclaiming some of these spaces, we hope to encourage people to re-imagine the possibilities for new and different types of public space in our urban landscape.

The VPSN intervention will be part of several taking place. The Robson Street Business Association has been working with the City’s Viva Vancouver to help create a series of interventions along the street. Be sure to drop by during the day and check out the placemaking magic. You’ll also see other activations by the Vancouver Design Nerds and CityHive.

BACKGROUND
Originally devised in 2005 by ReBar, a San Francisco-based art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure. Since 2005, the project has blossomed into a worldwide grassroots movement: The Vancouver Public Space Network has been undertaking Park(ing) Day interventions since 2008.

– The VPSN Team

Exploring Gastown Public Spaces – Monday, November 27

Recently, we had a chance to support the City of Vancouver’s efforts to “Reimagine Gastown Streets” by exploring a number of the neighbourhood’s key public spaces. For us, this is all part of a larger body of advocacy and placemaking work that we’ve done around Blood Alley, the Waterfront Hub, and Alexander Street (to name a few of our projects).

Coming up next Monday, November 27 at 6:00pm, we’ll be holding a small ideas jam with our team to look at developing a comprehensive set of recommendations that we can use in our advocacy work around Gastown.

If you’re interested in joining, please let us know. Email info@vancouverpublicspace.ca for more details.

“Public Space Day” at City Council – Wednesday, November 29

Speaking of advocacy… City staff will be presenting a number of updates to Council next week, including reports on Plaza Stewardship, Special Events, the Viva Vancouver (public space activation) program, Bute & Robson Plaza, and an update on the Places for People work involving the City’s downtown public spaces.

The VPSN will be reviewing all of these reports over the next few days, and we’d encourage you to do the same. And hey, you should let Council know your thoughts. More often than not, City Council only hears from people who don’t like a particular initiative… but we think there’s lots in these programs and initiatives that’s worthy of general comment and commendation! Consider informing the discussion by sharing your feedback!

:: Check out the Council Agenda (contains links to individual reports)
:: Share your thoughts – email mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca

Community Dialogue – Downtown Parks & Recreation – Wednesday, November 29

How would you like the Park Board to provide recreation, such as arts, culture, spaces and facilities, in the downtown core of Vancouver? The Vancouver Park Board is developing Vancouver’s Playbook, a new master plan to guide the delivery of vibrant parks and recreation over the next 25 years. This coming Wednesday, they’ll be holding a dialogue on the future of downtown parks and recreation facilities. The event takes place 6:30 – 9:00pm, at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. It’s free, but registration is encouraged.

:: Register for Park Board – VanPlay Community Dialogue: Downtown
:: More Info: www.vancouver.ca/vanplay

Places for People Downtown – Public Space Makers – Wednesday, December 6

As part of the Lumiere Festival, the City of Vancouver is hosting a Pecha Kucha-style discussion that looks at how our public spaces function. In particular, the event asks What kind of public spaces do we need in Downtown Vancouver? How can we better support the idea of creating public life in a rainy city?

The event takes place at Jim Deva Plaza (Bute and Davie), 6:00-8:30pm. The VPSN’s Paola Qualizza will be one of a number of presenters – so be sure to check out this exciting event!

Five More Public-Space Related Projects that Need Your Input

The City of Vancouver is in the midst of a number of public-space related initiatives that you may be interested in. Though described in a recent media release as “transportation” projects, the initiatives in question will all have the potential to enhance city streets and neighbourhoods in a number of different ways. Projects include upgrades to the Georgia Gateway, improvements to the Cambie Bridge, the North East False Creek Area Plan, the Alexander Bikeway, and Mobility Pricing.
There are various consultation opportunities under way, and while some of the open house opportunities have passed, there are other ways to share your feedback.

:: Read More – Get Involved: New and ongoing public space initiatives need your input

Recap: Arbutus Greenway Design Jam

October 27–29, 2017 saw the Arbutus Greenway Design Jam, an all-weekend event where 100 Vancouverites met to generate ideas for the permanent greenway. Residents discussed how to enhance biodiversity and access to nature in the city, provide spaces for play and learning at all ages, increase opportunities for public art, and honour the layered history and culture of the area.

Naomi Wittes Reichstein, Arbutus Greenway Project Lead for the VPSN, was there. You can read her write-up on our blog.

:: Read More – Building our city at the Arbutus Greenway Design Jam

Gift Ideas for the Public Space Aficionado. Your ideas?

Every few years we public a list of cool gift ideas for lovers of public space. There’s always an exciting mix of things to be found – and some of the best ideas come from readers like yourself.

If you’ve got something you think we should add to this year’s list, please email us at info@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

Volunteer Opportunities?

Interested in lending a hand with our public space work? Our next volunteer orientation session takes place on Tuesday, December 5 at 6pm. Location details are being finalized, but if you’d like to attend please email volunteer@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

Photo credit: Rain Urbanism, by Matthew Soules

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.

We’ll be sharing a longer write-up shortly, but in the meantime – mark your calendars. We’ll be hosting another laneway transformation project in Gastown on August 26.

Big thanks to the folks at the City’s Viva Vancouver program for supporting the event, and to the amazing staff at Miscellany on the ‘Drive, who went ‘above and beyond’ to help us make this happen.

In an effort to address the absence of a comprehensive approach regarding our public spaces in Vancouver, the City has announced the Downtown Places and Spaces Strategy. This follows on VIVA Vancouver, the program behind public space initiatives like Robson Redux and the Parklet Program, whereby private businesses sponsor public seating areas outside storefronts. The new strategy will help the City determine what kind of spaces are needed in our downtown while providing a framework for prioritizing and coordinating their delivery. The strategy currently only covers neighbourhoods on the downtown peninsula, but the Downtown Eastside, False Creek Flats and the communities south of False Creek will be included in future phases.

Public and private

The strategy will seek opportunities for the creation of public spaces on both publicly and privately owned land, specifically looking at street rights-of-way, including plazas, sidewalks, parklets, laneways and the spaces in front of retail and office buildings. A more concerted effort to activate downtown’s open spaces will address the concern that increased density and redevelopment in Vancouver are resulting in a loss of public space. Many office and retail buildings provide welcoming spaces through the provision of pedestrian shelter, patios and plazas. In recognition of this, the strategy will find ways to retain and encourage these privately owned public spaces.

Urban Pasture Parklet outside of Café Crêpe, Robson Street, Vancouver. Photo: Steve Chou under Creative Commons 

Data collection

Part of the process will be an inventory of current public spaces in the city and how these spaces are being used. The Standing Committee of Council on Policy and Strategic Priorities recommended that the work of the Vancouver Public Space Network be acknowledged in this regard and that the strategy be informed by the knowledge and data already gathered. A “public space and public life” study, to be conducted this summer, will help the city collect data while engaging Vancouverites in the planning of the strategy. The public can also expect the implementation of pilot projects throughout the downtown in order to test ideas and provide “action while planning.”

Pop-ups

Right now, the City is offering a funding opportunity for pop-up projects that will help activate and reimagine public spaces. An applicant can apply for up to $5,000 to implement an idea. Proposed projects must be:

• Interesting, fun, and engaging
• Easy to set-up and move
• Deliverable within the budget and timeframe

As part of their pop-ups, successful applicants will be asked to include in their projects a short survey for the public. Feedback from this survey will help the City gather input on future public space initiatives.

For more details and to apply, visit the City’s website here. Applications are due by 5 PM on April 28, 2017.

All photos by Creative Commons license

A quick post to let you know that City Council has just approved the creation of a permanent plaza on the 800-block of Robson. This move will pedestrianize this popular block, expanding Robson Square across the street right-of-way, and allowing for year-round programming to take place.

This is very exciting news, and we want to thank Mayor, Council and City staff for supporting this idea. This new and enhanced space will make a big contribution to public life in Vancouver. As Lon Laclaire, the City’s Director of Transportation noted: “it will be the premier plaza on the downtown peninsula.”

Council heard from about a dozen speakers, including the VPSN, several business associations, and community groups, in a discussion that ran over several hours. A lot of issues were raised around design, programming, stewardship, and transportation. These are all things that the City will be looking at through a design process that will unfold over the next year or so. (City staff noted that there will be further consultation on that, so stay tuned for future opportunities to share your ideas.)

In the meantime, a toast to the new plaza! After many years of discussion, and some great summertime experiments, it’s great to see things move forward with this important public space.

Photo credit: City of Vancouver. Corduroy Road. – 2013 summertime installation at 800-Robson.

On Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19, one of Vancouver’s most popular downtown streets will become an extravaganza of festivities. The Granville Social will feature a full 10 blocks worth of events, bringing together an array of music and arts programming, markets and community groups, mini-festivals, kid-friendly activities and more. It will be one of the liveliest events of the summer!

The VPSN is very proud to be part of the team putting on this event, but we need your help to make it happen.

Can you lend a hand?

We need to put together a volunteer crew that can help with key event-related activities: from helping to oversee the activations on one or more block, to stewarding the art zone, to assisting with volunteer management. There’s lots of ways to contribute!

We are looking for people that can work a minimum of one shift (though more than one would be ideal!):

• Saturday, July 18 – 11:00am to 3:00pm
• Saturday, July 18 – 3:00pm to 7:00pm
• Sunday, July 19 – 11:00am to 3:00pm
• Sunday, July 19 – 3:00pm to 7:00pm

UPDATE: While there are still spots available for all shifts, we are especially looking for extra help on Sunday morning and afternoon.

Ideally, volunteers will also be able to attend a short orientation session on the evening of Monday, July 13 (7:45pm @ Creekside Community Centre).

Get in touch!

If you’re able to help out, please let us know at your earliest convenience. Contact our volunteer coordinator, Michelle Pollard, at volunteer@vancouverpublicspace.ca.

Thanks for helping to make summertime Vancouver such a fun place to be!

- Your friends at the VPSN!

vancouver.ca/vivagranvillesocial
#GranvilleSocial