Temples of gastronomy are not something you necessarily expect in Holland. In general, the country’s food rep leans to the stodgy and the tuberous. But the quirky idea of building a food market shaped like an inverted U that incorporates apartments in its arch – residents’ windows peeking out of a giant raspberry or avocado in the hallucinatory ceiling mural – is thoroughly Dutch, a typical mix of playfulness and practicality. Read more: Rotterdam: Holland's infamous port city may be the hippest place in the country - The Globe and Mail
Pedestrian upgrades in the Old City Quarter are scheduled to be constructed this Fall. Improvements include curb extensions at Fitzwilliam Street & Selby Street and Fitzwilliam Street & Wesley Street. The improvements are intended to create a safer environment for pedestrians by making them more visible to motorists when they are waiting to cross the street. The project also includes installing a rain garden at the southeast corner of the Fitzwilliam Street and Selby Street intersection. Rain gardens are an engineered landscape feature which is designed to absorb and filter rain water through soil layers and plantings, thereby increasing infiltration of rain water into the ground. More at City of Nanaimo: Pedestrian Upgrades underway in the Old City Quarter
It is rare for a city to be given an opportunity to build a brand new neighbourhood in the heart of its downtown. When it happens, it is usually the result of an industry that was once the economic engine relocating out of the modern core.
In Toronto, the railway lands along Lake Ontario have seen a multibillion-dollar transformation into a forest of highrises, altering the city's postcard skyline image into something resembling lower Manhattan. False Creek was once the industrial heart of Vancouver, but today it is home to 60,000 people living in a signature West Coast condo tower neighbourhood.
When the rail yards at the intersection of the Red and Assiniboine rivers were closed 30 years ago, Winnipeg was given that same opportunity -- but went in a different direction... Read more: From parking lot to urban paradise - Winnipeg Free Press
