Thursday, May 26, 2016

Where We Want to Live by Ryan Gravel —
A Nanaimo perspective

In Where We Want to Live—Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Generation of Cities, author Ryan Gravel takes us through the story of how the re-purposing of Atlanta's Beltine rail network became one of the largest revitalization projects in the city's history. It's a story I found touched down in relevance here in Nanaimo a number of times.
Gravel expands the story of the decades long evolution of the Beltline into, in effect, a manual for cities everywhere re-purposing obsolete infrastructure and correcting the mistakes of past generations. Getting new community-building value—social, civic and economic—from old infrastructure.
The story begins with the Masters thesis of a young Urban Planning and Architecture student who after having spent a year studying in Paris returns with a fresh view of his hometown: Atlanta, Georgia (!)
This is where the story first touches down here in Nanaimo. Gravel stresses the importance of the university environment as "nurseries for ideas." I'll be sure to bring Where We Want to Live to the attention of both the new Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program at Vancouver Island University and to the recently appointed Nanaimo Chief Administrative Officer, Tracy Samra. Samra has also been recently a lecturer at VIU in resource management and indiginous rights. She has assigned students a role-playing exercise whereby they represent the City of Nanaimo, the Snuneymuxw First Nation and the Port Authority to brainstorm collaboratively the revitalization of our downtown waterfront rail yards.
Here briefly are Gravel's 8 lessons that he hopes will point us toward "a more intuitive and organic understanding of how to build cities for actual people instead of abstract census numbers." 1. Think big; 2. Include everyone; 3. Promote authenticity; 4. Compel change; 5. Inspire life; 6. Stay focused; 7. Emphasize people; 8. Band together.
He looks at city infrastructure within each of these categories: Catalyst; Health and Well-being; Economic Prosperity; Equity; Civic Identity.
Two things locally come to mind. VIU VP Dave Witty's initiative on the South Downtown Waterfront and a City and BIA led initiative to solve the considerable problems caused by a Provincial highway that tears through the heart of the City.
Gravel describes the critical importance of the community buy-in key to the eventual success of the Beltline. He explores other instances in other cities which "didn't have a viable political framework like [Atlanta's] Neighbourhood Planning Units to effect change..." Concluding that change won't come without it. He mentions examples of City and BIA initiated projects that succeed or fail based on their willingness to risk turning the vision and it's outcome over to the community.
Witty's efforts resulted in what I think Gravel would agree is an intuitive and organic community vision documented and now serving as the basis for next step planning. Though sorry to say by all indications, the process has stalled indefinitely due to the inability of the primary stakeholders to agree and very concerning for me it has apparently disappeared behind closed doors at City Hall where some kind of "master-planning" is going on. Something Gravel didn't cover is the City's ability to co-opt neighbourhood activism essentially neutering it. It has become a common MO with our City Hall and is evident too with the Terminal Nicol Re-imagined Project. It's done with best intentions of course and somewhat more understandable in an environment that lacks the mentioned strong neighbourhood political framework. These inititatives, grass-roots or top-down should begin with Transit Consultant Jarrett Walker's question: Who's not in the room?
Gravel concludes with 4 "positions that might kick-start a new dialogue:" We need to experiment with ideas; we need to develop a political structure for change; we need to stop sprawl; we need to redirect growth. How do we catalyze the creation of the city where we want to live? Alex Bozikovic review: Ryan Gravel’s Where We Want To Live explores contemporary city-building - The Globe and Mail

Monday, May 23, 2016

"Engineers should not design streets"
— @StrongTowns

Both Nanaimo’s 2014 Transportation Master Plan and the more recent Terminal Nicol Re-imagined Project started with asking traffic engineers this  question —
“How many vehicles are currently using our roads and [this is critically important] what are future vehicle volume projections.”
It’s the wrong question and all further planning would be based on their answers. In both initiatives public engagement was sought by a City Committee and activist neighbourhood groups. Good work was done by both but it’s clear to anyone reading the materials released that the needs of the car again trump the needs of the community and its neighbourhoods.
Before the traffic engineers are brought into these processes citizens need to determine what best serves the needs of the community. How do we create inviting, inclusive, safe public streets for all? Including vehicle access of course after more important values are built into our street design. It's at that point the community should seek the valuable assistance of the engineers to realize our vision.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

The struggle to fix the
mistakes of the last generation

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Nanaimo: it's time we
had the Strong Towns conversation

Toby Dougherty, City Manager of Hays KS: Early last year my staff and I conducted a comprehensive fiscal analysis of the city using Strong Towns tactics and attitudes. The result was a bit of a paradigm shift as we were tasked with pointing out that, what most people saw as an asset--new growth--could be viewed as a liability. It was quite a wakeup call and not received well by everyone. The exercise also resulted in a much better understanding of our finances, what drives revenues and what drives costs. After the initial rollout to the City Commission, they asked that I do everything possible to inform the public. The intent of the document was to have something to handout when I spoke to the Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimists, Chamber lunch…

 
Read more: Presenting the Hays Document — Strong Towns
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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

From Project for Public Spaces —
Eight Placemaking Principles
For Innovation Districts


South Lake Union, an innovation district in Seattle, WA.
Increasingly, startups, incubators and accelerators around the world are clustering around leading-edge companies and institutions in dense urban settings called “innovation districts.” By creating shared value, placemaking has much to offer this emerging geography of innovation in cities. It can play an important role in an integrated strategy designed to attract, retain and cultivate talent; to improve networking and communication flows between innovators; and to make the district a distinct, memorable destination. As this article shows, by averting, sharing, and externalizing costs, quality places can also accomplish these goals with a greater return on investment than many conventional approaches.
These eight principles reflect our work with the Brookings Institution on innovation districts, combining twists on some of PPS’s well-known strategies with fresh new observations: Read more: Eight Placemaking Principles for Innovation Districts

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Friday, May 6, 2016

RAIC Festival of Architecture 2016 in Nanaimo will feature outdoor design charrettes of six downtown sites



RAIC Festival of Architecture 2016 in Nanaimo will feature outdoor design charrettes of 6 downtown sites, facilitated by Dr. David Witty, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), Vancouver Island University. From top left: 1. A&B Sound site and parking lot to north; 2. Waterfront; 3. China Steps; 4. Diana Krall Plaza; 5. Hotel Site; 6. Alley Site. More at: Public Programming | 2016 Festival of Architecture
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