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Seattle: Day 2

August 21, 2009 22:58 +0000  |  Public Space Seattle Travel 2

It took a great deal of concentration, but I made it through the day yesterday... barely. I did what I could to explore Seattle in the "free" time I was afforded from the aforementioned mixup with regard to the timing of my arrival. Unfortunately, the exhaustion didn't help and I really wasn't operating at 100% for the entirety of the day... more like 30% actually.

As you may have guessed, my hotel didn't have my room ready (why would they? it was 9am), so I did a little directionless sightseeing. I visited Seattle Center, the remnants of Seattle's own Expo experience years ago. Nowadays, it's mostly an amusement park and science centre. I did however ride the monorail, which was kinda cool. Here's a train that's bigger than the SkyTrain, but likely just as expensive to build. Also, people drive it... but what do you want? This thing came out in 1962.

I did a lot of pointless wandering and learnt a lot about the city in general in my short time. Here's some stuff in my favourite format: point form:

  • The highway system has some really impressive tree-coverage. Where we just mow everything down, Seattle has Great Big fir and cedar trees alongside the highway and twisting around the interchanges.
  • Subway restaurants have spinache and herb havarti. Yum.
  • Much like the highways, the downtown core has a remarkably large tree canopy. It's very common to see trees 2 and 3 storeys high alongside the street. On top of that, a number of these trees have bright green paper taped to them with a notice stating that the tree is protected by the city and cutting it down would result in a substantial fine. Each tree even has an estimated value raning from $4000 to as much as $11000.
  • Many of the sidewalks are also wider than those you might find in Vancouver or Toronto. Of course the trees often take up a big chunk of it, but either way, there's lots of room to walk. However the cyclists appear to use the sidewalks illegally as well.
  • The Pepsi tastes different. They use high-fructose corn syrup here. I don't like it.
  • The busses running around the downtown core are free, however, they suffer from the same idiotic problem Vancouver has: there's no way to know where they go. As a tourist, I'm not really interested on boarding a bus only to find out that it's not going anywhere near where I want to go.
  • Seattle made the same mistake as Toronto with regard to its waterfront: They build a highway between it and the rest of the city. To get to the waterfront, (which looks a lot like Toronto's) you have to go under a noisy, ugly, overpass.
  • The bus shelters are ad-free, and in the nicer parts of downtown, there's great big ad-free maps showing you where you are, and what other stores etc. are near you. They're not as cool as the ones in Gangnam though (the relevant portion is at the end).
  • There are lots of phone booths. I'm not sure if they're actively removing them like they are in Canada, but from my perspective, there's lots.
  • The pedestrian signals are really slow. If you think the car has dominance in Vancouver or Toronto (and it does), you should see Seattle. Cars are the boss.

After surfing in my hotel's lobby, talking to friends with IM and looking for interesting stuff in Seattle for a while, they finally hooked me up with a room and I half-crashed on my bed while I talked to Susan before she went to bed herself. After that, I decided that I needed to stay awake 'till at lest 7 or 8, so I cleaned up and went back out, intending on making my way down to the "welcome party" portion of the Gnomedex conference.

I stopped for "lunch" at 1600 and walked down to the conference centre where I got a badge, a book, and a lanyard & card from Microsoft. The card is intended for Microsoft Surface and let me tell you, it's really cool. Sure, you can trade photos and contacts etc (which are locked into the Microsoft site) but the potential for applications is really impressive. There's a dj-style game, where you take (prefab) audio tracks and load them onto a spinning disc, that you can then layer the sounds and vary the volume based on their proximity to the centre. The disc will even work as a scratch-thingy if you want. I wish Jeremy or my brother were there to try it out.

For the most part, last night was rather tough, not only because of my limited hours of sleep but also the fact that I suck at networking. I just have to care... and I don't. This conference is a hybrid of Nerds and business-types and I just don't feel social enough right now talk to anyone. It also doesn't help that everyone here seems to know everyone: imagine the twitter pools from all over the country coming to one place to twitter... it's creepy.

City Shorts this Thursday

June 14, 2009 18:40 +0000  |  Activism Public Space Vancouver Vancouver Public Space Network 0

The VPSN is holding a fundraiser / movie night this thursday that promises to be both interesting and fun. I'm going to go, and if you'd like to come along, let me know eh?

City Shorts: A Public Space Film Festival – Thursday June 18, 2009

Mark your calendars and join us for our first annual VPSN Film Festival and Fundraiser.

We've assembled an excellent set of short films that look at public space issues, Vancouver's urban scene and city life. Included in this diverse package are movies on urban greening, public art, urban exploring, parkour, billboards and corporate presence, graffiti, and more!

This is the VPSN’s first film fest and fundraiser and we hope you can all make it. It’s part of our strategy to use this excellent series of shorts to remind everyone that great city-making still lies within the hands of its citizens. Not only will you be getting an evening jam-packed with films on the public realm, but you'll also be helping the VPSN too. Silver screen action with an added benefit!

Thursday June 18, 2009. Doors open at 7:00pm, show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets: $10 / $8 Students and Seniors. VanCity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street

Liquid refreshments will be available for purchase. And there will be some lively post-film entertainment to take in as well.

Where's the Square Voting Ends this Week!

May 21, 2009 15:05 +0000  |  Public Space Vancouver Public Space Network 2

Where's the Square competition

For the past few months, the Vancouver Public Space Network has been holding a design competition to create a new "grand gathering place" in Vancouver – a place for festivals, markets, rallies, buskers and more -- Think Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, or even Piazza San Marco in Venice. Over 100 design teams signed up for the competition, 13 were short-listed. Now it's time to pick a winner.

Cast your ballot at online, but do it soon! Voting ends Friday May 22.

It's the most fun you’ll have with civic engagement all day :-)

If you’ve got time, come on out to Heritage Hall (Main and 15th) on May 27 (7:00-9:00pm) when the VPSN will announce the winner. It’ll be a great evening. For further reading on the reasoning behind the competition, visit WheresTheSquare.ca.

Oh, and for those who might be interested, this one is my favourite.

Vancouver's First Reverse Easter Egg Hunt

April 07, 2009 07:41 +0000  |  Fun Stuff Public Space Vancouver 1

For those of you who live(d) in Toronto, and for those who are long-time readers of this blog, you're probably familiar with the concept of the Reverse Easter Egg Hunt. Newmindspace has been doing them for years and this time 'round Melanie has got it in her head that she and I should put one together of our own... so here it is:

Picture it: 3am on Sunday morning, a completely empty Granville Island, and a bunch of mischievous Vancouverites running around hiding plastic Easter eggs stuffed with happyfuneaster messages.

You could be a part of that. Doesn't it sound exciting? Sure it does.

We'll be meeting at 3am under the Granville Island sign. Bring some pre-stuffed plastic eggs of your own, or grab some of ours, and then start running around the island and depositing them anywhere that suits your fancy.

This event is free and open to anyone who wants to play, and will take place whatever the weather. We'll have plenty of eggs to share, but if possible please bring some of your own eggs, stuffed with fun and clever messages.

Some Do's

  • Do tell your friends and invite them to come along!
  • Do bring some of your own plastic eggs, if possible.
  • Do dress warmly - it will be the middle of the night and probably a little chilly.

Some Don'ts

  • Don't fill the eggs with any food items. People don't want to eat strange food they find lying around, and it may end up spoiling and attracting vermin.
  • Don't write messages that are hateful or offensive. The idea is to bring a smile to someone's face, so please write something that would make you smile.
  • Don't make a mess or cause any damage to the island. We want to brighten people's days, not piss them off.

If you're on Facebook, you can sign up for this event.

Yes, it's going to be at 3am, but it'll be really fun I swear. You should come! Bring your friends even! And if you're so inclined, we could really use the help actually stuffing the eggs this Thursday between 4:30pm and 9pm (come for all or a portion of the night) at UBC's Instructional Resource Centre (IRC), in front of the Woodward Library.

If you have questions just email me or comment here and I'll hook you up :-)

Earth Hour is this Saturday

March 26, 2009 01:52 +0000  |  Activism Energy Environment Public Space Toronto Vancouver 9

I'm going to participate. I'm not really concerned about the effectiveness of that single hour's darkness on energy consumption as a whole, rather I'm more interested in taking a moment (or in this case, an hour) to reflect on our habits and maybe even convince others to slow down a bit. Besides, who doesn't love a party in the dark?

As always, Toronto is having a party in Nathan Phillip's Square while Vancouver still lacks any real public space capable of such an event. If you know of anything that Vancouver is doing that's interesting please let me know.

Where's the Square

January 30, 2009 19:09 +0000  |  Public Space Vancouver Vancouver Public Space Network 2

One of the groups I sometimes work with, The Vancouver Public Space Network has been putting together a big competition that I thought I'd share with you called Where's the Square?. The idea is fun and Good things could come of its results so if you have a creative streak, you might be interested:

Have you ever dreamed of what Vancouver might look like if it had the type of celebrated public square or plaza that characterizes other cities around the world? Think of the festivals, markets and concerts, as well as the opportunities to meet friends, have a coffee and people watch! There's no shortage of reasons why good public squares are the most popular and memorable places to congregate.

So what about our city? Here's where you come in.

The Vancouver Public Space Network is currently running a Design Ideas Competition. The "Where's the Square?" contest is open to anyone who feels like they have a plan for a grand gathering place inside the city boundaries.

We're looking for ideas from city-lovers, planners, artists, philosophers, architects, urbanists, students of any discipline and visionaries from all walks of life. The competition has some fairly straightforward parameters covering the size, accessibility, programming and utility of the square... but after that, it's all up to you. Most importantly, we don't have a set location in mind. Instead, we're looking for entrants to come up with a plan for where the square could be situated.

The "Where's the Square?" competition runs until March 20, 2009 and is open to individuals or teams. There will be two prizes, based on a juried review of the entries as well as a "people's choice award." A variety of other supporting events will also be taking place throughout February, March and April.

Interested in participating? The Competition Brief and other related materials can be accessed at http://www.WheresTheSquare.ca.

One more thing: we're asking participants to send us an Entrant Form to let us know that they want to submit a plan. We're looking to get these by the end of the month. According to one of our participants, the record for completing and submitting an Entrant Form is under 60 seconds. If you feel so inspired (and we hope you do!), you can try and beat this time by downloading the form here.

For more information, please email info at vancouverpublicspace dot com or call 778-239-7544.

City For Sale

August 20, 2008 22:47 +0000  |  Activism Politics Public Space The Toronto Public Space Committee Toronto Transit 13

In 2006, Jane Pitfield, one of Toronto's mayoral candidates had mentioned the possibility of selling naming rights to subway stations as a way to help fund the system. As insane as it may sound to some, this idea did gain traction among some supporters in council and the media. At the time, I'd toyed with the idea of creating a corporate-sponsored subway map to raise some awareness around this woman's position, but as it became clear that she was unlikely to win, my interest faded.

However, the idea didn't die with Pitfield's campaign. Toronto City Hall has continued to toy with the idea of selling off the naming rights of public spaces to corporations, so Jayme Turney and Jonathan Goldsbie from the Toronto Public Space Committee started work on a campaign called City for Sale -- an advocacy campaign to raise awareness about the result of this line of thinking as well as push council on considering other options. When I heard about this, I contacted Jonathan to let him know that I had a fun idea in mind that might help them out, and after roughly a week of off-hours toying with Inkscape, and lots of help from the City For Sale volunteers with logo acquisition, "The Wrong Way" was born:

The Brains Behind Ciclovia are Coming to Vancouver

August 12, 2008 22:36 +0000  |  Cycling Public Space Vancouver Vancouver Public Space Network 3

The following was in the Vancouver Public Space Network newsletter today and I thought that I might share it here for those who might be interested. This segment touches on something I mentioned a while back called Ciclovía, an event in Bogotá, Columbia. Apparently, the brain behind that event and others like it down there is doing a talk here in Vancouver. Space is limited, so register now if you're interested:

We are now facing a “perfect storm” of increasing global warming and environmental degradation, growing traffic congestion, an obesity crisis and other public health concerns, soaring energy costs and slowing economic growth. It is time to go beyond baby steps and take some major leaps. We must re-position walking and cycling as key parts of the solution to these major challenges.

As Bogotá has shown, creating great public spaces for walking and cycling contributes enormously to creating healthier, happier, more thriving communities. Hear former Bogota Commissioner of Parks, Sport and Recreation share his experiences and his lessons for Vancouver. The evening is being co-sponsored by Translink, the SFU City Program, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Public Space Network.

Event takes place Wednesday, August 20th at 7:00pm, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street. Admission is free but reservations are required.

TPSC Mirror March

March 20, 2008 22:02 +0000  |  Public Space The Toronto Public Space Committee 0

I may not be in Toronto anymore, but I still get the newsletter from the TPSC and I thought that the Toronto folk reading this blog might wanna know about a fun activity running tomorrow:

Tomorrow, Friday the 21st of March, Art Attack will take to the streets to explore new angles of our common spaces. We shall reflect upon urbanism, springtime, and diversity by promenading downtown with mirrors.

We also intend to re-imagine adverts with reflective materials, covering the faces of photo-shopped models, etc., thus allowing people to contemplate themselves instead of idealised and unrealistic portrayals of beauty.

Time and Location: 3:45 p.m., College & University, on the northeast corner, opposite the massive shiny arc of the OPG building:

Details are available on the Facebook event.

Bring:

  • A sense of adventure
  • Mirrors of varying sizes
  • Mirror balls
  • Unwanted CDs
  • Reflective and adhesive materials
  • TTC fare
  • ...and your ideas

I especially like the bit about putting mirrors over the model faces. If any of you go, lemme know what it was like eh?

The Urban Playground

March 06, 2008 18:45 +0000  |  Activism Public Space 14

I was riding the bus into work today, cruising through the lifeless downtown core in Vancouver and something occurred to me that I want to flesh out here: We need to start treating the city more like our home and less like the place in which we work. We keep expecting the government to legislate fun into our city, but that's not their job. Their job is to keep things working, which doesn't exactly cover "fun", but it's obviously important to making a city an enjoyable place.

For those who aren't familiar with the structure of Vancouver, it's like most major cities in North America: the interesting things happen outside of the centre and when the 6pm rolls around, the whole core becomes more or less a no-man's land. For the Toronto folk, think King & Bay at 7pm, but spread over a 4block radius.

The problem here isn't just that the city is poorly designed here (though that obviously contributes) but that there's no social interest in making this area liveable. People work here, but live elsewhere. Without social interest, the restaurants have no reason to stay open, the developers have no reason to build housing etc. The only things that thrive are the dodgy night clubs and strip clubs up on Granville which, while still being part of living in an urban centre, hardly reflect the interests of the people who live and work there.

We should be hanging rope swings from public art, hammocks from lamp posts and hosting garage sales in public squares. Make the downtown core somewhere where you want to be outside the hours of 9-5... Only then can we expect the government to make that area more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. We have to take the first step, not the other way around -- ground up vs. top down and all that.

Any ideas or suggestions?