24 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Architecture, Viewpoint
As they say, photography is about light. In that sense, so is architecture. When they come together to complement each other, voila …
Which is why everyone has seen a picture like this — New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in 1954:
24 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Affordability, Housing, Urban Design, Urban Planning
Tags
The headline says it all.
And the rest of the article, by Adam Belz of Minnesota’s StarTribune, is worth the full read as well. It touches on a few Vancouver nerves.
Here’s an excerpt:
A city staffer explained the rising burden of rental prices on poor residents, and gently pushed a central theme of the draft plan — that the city must build more homes in more places — to a group peppered with skeptics.
“If you just let the market promote density, that doesn’t necessarily trickle down to affordable housing,” said Lara Norkus-Crampton, a south Minneapolis resident. “If it was just density that provided affordable housing, then Hong Kong and New York City would be the most affordable places on the planet, and they’re not.” Read on >>
24 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Climate Change, Metro Vancouver
The Board of Metro Vancouver (Greater Vancouver Regional District) has committed to pursue a regional target of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, from 2007 levels, by 2050.
In alignment with this target, Metro Vancouver is developing a Climate 2050 Strategic Plan – learn more in person at next week’s public dialogue:
Wednesday, May 30
Noon – 2:00 pm
(lunch at 11:30)
BCIT Downtown Vancouver Campus
555 Seymour Street
24 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Ohrn Images
This fish-themed mural is overlaid by guerrilla-style graffiti, and spiced with a little urban detritus.
Click to enlarge
23 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Annals of Motordom, Mobility Pricing
The Metro Vancouver Mobility Pricing Independent Commission will release its report tomorrow. (Expect to hear the pat-pat-pat of running feet as politicians distance themselves from anything that looks like a ‘road tax.’)
This report will be just the opening round as everyone in the region deals with the inevitability of transformative change in our transportation system.
Regardless of the options, one of the key (and most contentious) issues is the concept of ‘fairness.’ In April, economist Marc Lee at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives provided of the first, detailed outlooks on this issue, in the CCPA’s report “Getting Around Metro Vancouver.” Read on >>
23 Wednesday May 2018
On Monday, we posted about the ‘Changing Vancouver’ blog by John Atkin and Andy Coupland.
Coincidentally, Andy sent along these panorama shots of the east end of False Creek, taken from a vantage point on the old and new Cambie Bridges — in 1978, 2003, and 2017.
Definitely worth clicking to enlarge. More panoramas to come.
23 Wednesday May 2018
“Shanghai: Life in the Megacity” is a 24-minute video by Germany’s DW Documentary, offering a glimpse at the quality and pace of daily life in China’s most populated metropolis.
Beneath the breathtaking skyline of gleaming glass high rises and pulsating neon, 24 million residents work to raise their families, make ends meet, and find their foothold in an increasingly competitive environment. Read on >>
23 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Architecture, Vancouverism
As one commenter recently noted, we do seem to be giving Vancouver House (“Our Looming Tower“) a lot of love.
Perhaps because it’s so photogenic, as seen this last weekend.
But this is not the falling tower that is today’s subject.
23 Wednesday May 2018
Recently, I participated in a CBC Radio “On The Coast” dialogue with CBC’s Michelle Eliot. Karen Reid Sidhu, Executive Director of the Surrey Crime Prevention Society, joined me in addressing motor vehicle speeds, and the question of why convenience is sometimes viewed as more important than reducing crashes, injury and death on our roads.
There are some organizations promoting the idea that vehicular speed has no impact on safe road use. For example, Sense BC ran a campaign against photo radar in British Columbia, which was implemented on highways in the 1990s to save lives. The program was disbanded, and as we reported in late 2016 deaths and injuries of vulnerable road users have increased in this province over much of the past decade.
Dr. Perry Kendall, recently retired as BC’s Provincial Medical Health Officer, has detailed the 280 annual deaths and injuries from vehicular crashes in his report Where the Rubber Meets the Road.
Meanwhile, Sense BC is running a campaign today odiously entitled, “Speed Kills…Your Pocketbook.” Read on >>
23 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Active Transportation, Bicycling, Ohrn Images, Transportation
I’m here waiting for the train on the Adanac bike route in Vancouver, and my Mobi bike share time is creeping towards the 30-minute limit for this ride.
Mild anxiety ensues. But as the graffiti says on one of the signal housings — “relax”.
Click to enlarge
