"Beneath veneer of scientific neutrality traffic engineering operates to prejudice of anyone on foot" @CityLab

Post by Nanaimo Commons.

---

"A lot of people don’t walk because they are afraid it will kill them before it makes them healthier" @CityLab http://t.co/agAp1qhn3g

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) December 30, 2014

---

From PlaceSpeak — Building a sustainable and prosperous waterfront @GeorgiaStraitBC

Georgia Strait Alliance's Waterfront Initiative is a collaborative effort to build a vision for a sustainable and prosperous urban shoreline in Vancouver and to develop an action plan to make this vision a reality. We are inviting all those with an interest in the future of the city's waterfront to work together—First Nations and all other levels of government, businesses, civil society, and citizens.  More at: PlaceSpeak - Building a sustainable and prosperous waterfront

#Montreal to transform expressway into multi-modal urban boulevard @archpaper

#Montreal to transform expressway into multi-modal urban boulevard http://t.co/r7If0Ki58W pic.twitter.com/XnpoYxozGe
— Architects Newspaper (@archpaper) December 29, 2014

---

Which BC cities are growing fastest? @bcbusiness

Fastest growing municipalities in BC: http://t.co/JenRgy1rQo pic.twitter.com/r3BKaFeiPW

— DIALOG Vancouver (@DIALOGvancouver) December 23, 2014

---

"Urban affordability and parking policy are closely connected" @CityLab

"for every parking stall we don't require developers to build, we can save 25% to 35% of the cost of rent" http://t.co/K6SUib8zSd #cplan
— Urbanpolicy (@UrbanPolicy) December 20, 2014

---

From Mother Jones — Which Kills More Americans: Guns or Cars?

Post by Mother Jones.

---

From Project for Public Spaces — Walkability, Quality Public Space Can Be Created in Communities of Any Size

It is true that larger communities often have greater financial resources than smaller communities to mitigate challenges, but there still are appropriate solutions for each and every community. Take Golden, Colorado – Population: 19,186. You probably think Golden, Colorado is either a resort community or a suburb of Denver. It’s actually neither. A mountain community with its own vibrant, local economy, Golden, Colorado has made a commitment to creating places that are designed for people – not cars. And their economy has benefited greatly from this commitment. Read more: Project for Public Spaces | Walkability, Quality Public Spaces Can Be Created in Communities of Any Size

From Sustainable Cities Collective — Sydney Harbor Development Barangaroo Comes Together

After nearly ten years of planning and development, Barangaroo, a 22-hectare port on the Sydney waterfront, is coming together as a rich, $6 billion, mixed-use development that will fill in missing gaps in the city’s waterfront promenade and offer a stunning, one-of-a-kind park with an embedded Aboriginal cultural center. As Peter Walker, FASLA, PWP Landscape Architecture, described at the ASLA 2014 Annual Meeting in Denver, “it’s the most amazing project I’ve ever worked on.” Throughout Barangaroo, there will be a 50/5o split between buildings and parks. Headland Park, in the north, will be entirely green public space, while Barangaroo South will be entirely developed... offering a mix of residential, commercial, and retail space. 

Read more: Sydney Harbor Development | Sustainable Cities Collective

---

From Next City — New San Diego Park Reconnects City and Waterfront

“It’s supposed to be a hallway connecting the city to the water.” San Diego's new park. http://t.co/5QgYZXdZZM pic.twitter.com/WUFqN1csph
— Next City (@NextCityOrg) December 5, 2014

When San Diego laid out a vision for its waterfront in 1998, the North Embarcadero could have been any city’s under-utilized bayside space. Once a throughway for Navy and fishing traffic, it had been “cut off from downtown with large expanses of asphalt,” according to one document, including roads, large parking lots and superblocks that literally isolated the city from what had once been its front door. Read more: New San Diego Park Reconnects City and Waterfront

---

From Nanaimo Bulletin — Video chat with Nanaimo Councillor Bill Yoachim

---

From StrongTowns.org — Just another pedestrian killed

CHARLES MAROHN I’m fed up with people being killed because my profession contains a bunch of dogmatic idiots. I’m sure the response of some will be: But Chuck, the driver was drunk, this isn’t the engineer’s fault. Ridiculous. If I had a $100 for every time I heard an engineer recommend some stupid tree removal or curve widening because “some drunk is going to come through here and get killed” I would be fully funding Strong Towns with the interest off my latent wealth. We consider the drunk when it suits our purposes -- the free flow of traffic -- and ignore them when it doesn't. That's the sign of a broken moral compass.

The right thing to do here is pretty obvious: SLOW DOWN THE CARS! When you enter into an urban environment, the expectation must be that travel speeds are very slow (I think a 20 mph design speed is too fast – 15 mph would be the top in my opinion) because we need to FORGIVE the common mistakes of humans, both in their cars and out. In a complex urban environment, the only way to do that is to slow down the speed of travel. We must lower the cost of a mistake. Read more: JUST ANOTHER PEDESTRIAN KILLED

Just another pedestrian killed. When will the traffic engineering profession own these tragedies? http://t.co/DduHSRrquS
— Charles Marohn (@clmarohn) December 3, 2014

---

Downtown San Diego "Portland Loo" celebrated @GirlsThinkTank

.@GirlsThinkTank celebrated the installation of a bathroom facility at 14th and L Street. | http://t.co/KDeiXCAXaG pic.twitter.com/S5NinZyEJR
— Anthony Bernal (@AnthonyBernalSD) December 3, 2014

---