Vancouver was one of the first cities in North America to experiment with traffic calming – in particular in the West End at the beginning of the 1970s. And one of the ways chosen to stop through traffic was to create parks where the streets were. Like this:.
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Three were built West of Denman in the 1970s, and then four East of Denman in the 1980s. And then, not so many. (Though I welcome nominations of any built over the last two decades, preferably with pics.)
Perhaps we are entering a new era of miniparks. I came across two in the last few weeks: one under construction at 17th and Yukon:
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The other at Bute and Davie – Jim Deva Plaza:
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No doubt they will be different in character. Here’s a rendering of what the City approved for Deva Plaza (named after LGBT activist Jim Deva):
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It looks idyllic, of course (I see bubbles have replaced kites in the rendering biz), but not particularly reflective of the neighbourhood. Here’s a suggestion from Copenhagen of what to do with an urban space:
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This is Oscar’s, one of the best-known LGBT restaurant/bars in the city. The windows open to the adjacent space, where the chairs and tables cluster to create a convivial environment. Even blankets are provided on the cooler nights.
I think Jim would like that.
Pulled from street view, but there are two ‘mini parks’ along 37th west of Knight.
http://s32.postimg.org/3r5ftfb2d/Capture.jpg
Another on James St at about 27th– the ‘Bunny Trail’
http://s32.postimg.org/6l9i9mb45/Capture.jpg
Not really ‘Parks’, but interesting ways to break up the block without a full blown road.
True and little traffic circles too . . .
The termination of Hornby Street between Hastings and Canada Place. Not sure what year. These a new one going in at 17th and Yukon too.
That one’s on top of a multi-storey parkade. Set the roof at street grade. Elevate the planted areas to accommodate growing medium, add some flowering Pink Perfection cherry trees (sure to draw lots of photographers in spring). Have a bit of open lawn on the sunniest spots (hard to get downtown, but we appreciate the effort). Build a wide, mid-block pedestrian allee. Throw in a chocolate cafe and a seasonal upright piano and presto!
Something for everyone.
The Copenhagen example is much more “communal”-looking than the plan approved for Bute St. Fortunately it’s not too difficult to arrange deck chairs. There’s even a few restaurants in the adjacent frontages.
I guess your complaint about the Jim Deva Plaza is that the patios (or potentila patios) of the lining coffee/restaurant (or potential future bar) are not made integal part of the plaza as has been done in your Copenhaguen example. (In fact, the Jim Deva design presented above quite achieve the opposite! )
for the record the Oscar patio was looking like it before
Notice also the treatement of the pavement: Copenhaguen has adopted a “bike calming” treatment for the surface plaza: I don’t see that in the Jim Deva plaza design…
I seem to remember something about having the restaurants open up to the plaza. I see Hamburger Mary’s is being renovated. I would assume they’re working that into their reno.
The Jim Deva plaza will still be a cycling route. People when they are cycling should yield to people when they are walking. The design has the ramps in the centre so that would mean that cycling would usually happen through the centre.
The trial they did for a year was educational. There were very few incidents of cycling/walking conflict and they only ever happened when the picnic tables happened to be arranged such that there was no way to cycle through.
There’s a principal here to learn. If people have a need to get through, then blocking them will cause problems whereas providing an outlet will not.
The Jim Deva plaza will still be a cycling route.
yes absolutely… but does the designers of the space are aware of it?
the artist renderings fro the project show explcitly the kind of conflicting siuation you mention (if not clear enoygh for the “day use”, it is more for the “night use”):
http://www.dailyxtra.com/sites/default/files/styles/media_image_style/public/Jim_Deva_plaza_nightime_0.jpg
People when they are cycling should yield to people when they are walking.
“should” leave to the good will of a cyclist is one thing – “shall” encouraged by design is better. There is a fine balance to maintain to ensure the success of a shared space:
-One is to ensure that pedestrians are priortirized everywhere in the space (means feeling confortable everywhere) -> that involves that they don’t feel other mode as a thread (due essentially to excessive speed and/or unpredictable behavior)
-Another (in fact recently disovered) is to ensure that some part of the space is keep off limit to any mode other than pedestrians -> that is important for elders and more espically for visually impaired people (which don’t want to be in the way of other mode).
Here is an example of how that is achieved in Lund.
https://inlund13.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc00110.jpg
the strip of coblestones on the left serve as a guide for the visually impaired people- something nowadays pretty much automatically included in all European shared spaces (the lack of such guide “off limit from other mode” in some early iterations has been considered as a major issue). notice also that the stroller is offered a smoother path that the cyclists)
It’s many months later and Jim Deva Plaza has now been built and Voony, you were right. The design ended up not having a defined place for cycling and there have been conflicts. It’s a shame since there are no alternatives to cycle but Bute St. I would never want to cycle on Thurlow and Jervis isn’t so nice either.
Is it too late to have the plaza redesigned?
There was a planning decision not to design a specific place for cycling, but to allow bikes to pass through at pedestrian speed. The same approach is planned for the 800 Robson plaza. Design consultations will take place early in the New Year.
Cafes and plazas …. always a good way to activate the edges.