Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Urban design has to come first

Sunday, September 26, 2021

This intersection is the nexus,
the epicentre, of urban Nanaimo

This, where Commercial Street meets Terminal Avenue, this is the most important intersection in Nanaimo. Seriously.
Consider : from this crossroads to the west you are connected to Vancouver Island University; the Terminal-Nicol corridor connects you north and south right to the city limits; and east to Commercial (our Main Street) to the conference centre and the new hotel and beyond to the brilliant multi-use intensity of the harbour.
All paths, by foot or wheelchair, bike or scooter, car or truck, and even under some circumstances teams of dog sleds, lead to and converge right here at the corner of Commercial and Terminal.
This intersection is the nucleus, the epicentre, of urban Nanaimo.
A strong architectural statement is needed here that speaks of pride of place at the epicentre of urban Nanaimo.
From the VIU campus to the west, from the city limits north and south, from the bustle of activities at the harbour and throughout downtown, all points lead to and coverage at this intersection. The epicentre of urban Nanaimo.

Friday, September 24, 2021

Our downtown has a problem.
A highway runs through it.

Downtowns have had a rough ride the last few years. They could use some love.
Nanaimo’s downtown is our front door. We’re a harbour town, a deep sea port with winding streets and a street grid that fans out from the harbour to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Downtown is home to a concentrated mix of activities, public and private. A dynamic mix of retail shops and cafés, professional and industrial services, culture and the arts and is home to thousands.
At the time of the 2016 Census its population was about 5,ooo people. Hundreds of new homes have been added since then. The 2016 Census also told us downtown was more densely populated than any other area of the city; the population a little older, with somewhat higher levels of education and, as with other Census areas in the city centre, a little poorer.
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In Europe it might be called the High Street, in North America, Main Street. In Nanaimo it's Commercial Street, our best street, with a great mix of shops and offices, public and private art galleries, museum, conference centre with direct access to the City Council chamber.
Another thing our downtown has going for it: good bones. You hear this term often when towns and cities consider revitalization. It’s in the street grid, the geography, the topography, the good mix of building ages and types. That sort of thing. Nanaimo’s downtown has an abundance of very good bones.
Cities across Canada are searching for ways to “build back better” as they emerge from the crises still being caused by the COVID pandemic. Our downtown is ready to emerge as the livable and lovable 21st Century urban centre we know it can be.
It’s time we took what is now a highway that runs through our downtown and transformed it into a modern city boulevard. Traffic-calmed and made safe and inviting for all citizens, it can be woven into the fabric of downtown life where now it forms a hostile barrier.

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Thursday, September 2, 2021

From The Walkable City by Jeff Speck

The modern world is full of experts who are paid to ignore criteria beyond their professions.
The school and parks departments will push for fewer, larger facilities, since these are easier to maintain—and show off. The public works department will insist that new neighbourhoods be designed principally around snow and trash removal. The department of transportation will build new roads to ease traffic generated by the very sprawl that they cause. Each of these approaches may seem correct in a vacuum, but is wrong in a city…
Three issues—wealth, health, and sustainability—are the three principal arguments for making our cities more walkable.
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