Slides. Dallas Square. pic.twitter.com/4xGZneq9G5
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) November 30, 2021
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Sunday, November 28, 2021
This week 9 years ago I walked the Village at South East False Creek...
A Flâneur Around False Creek
Both North (where I have had opportunity to explore over the last couple of years) and South False Creek neighbourhoods are distinguished by terrific attention to public space. Especially a delight it seems to me in the now established NEFC is the attention to the smaller public spaces that link the street grid with the sea wall and parks and playing fields. Evidently these were successfully negotiated with the developer, mainly Concord Pacific and where a condo tower blocks access to the seawall with "private property" notices, you really appreciate these charming squares and small parks. In contrast to the Village, these spaces have an old-world formality which contributes a groomed and ordered neighbourhood atmosphere.
The public space in the new Village neighbourhood by comparison is wild and wooly — and wet, featuring a swampy wetland area quite popular with ducks. As you enter from the west you pass a community garden — "No picking. Please respect our food" — and a wonderfully chaotic enclosed dog run — from a Great Dane to a silly little thing that would fit in a purse and every size and variety in between and owners visting and trying to maintain some sort of order. The peaceful formality of the north shore is welcome, but the public space and landscaping in the Village creates a distinctive, earthy ambience.
The main square is now enlivened by an upscale food store, brew pub, drug store and cafe, anchored by the Salt building restoration.
Friday, November 26, 2021
Thursday, November 18, 2021
"The fragile ecology of a city neighborhood and the fragile ecology of the Arctic stand or fall together. Because a mounting problem has gone unsolved in cities, in deference to the status quo, the outermost wilderness is finally threatened." Jane Jacobs, Earth Day speech 1970. pic.twitter.com/fjWDExrfJ1
— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) November 18, 2021
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. The Street Life Project. William H. Whyte. pic.twitter.com/CumVQKQIFT
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) April 12, 2020
Monday, November 15, 2021
https://t.co/wClMV6HXy7 pic.twitter.com/LiDp1N7OZe
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) November 15, 2021
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Yes to pedestrianizing Wharf St. It will need distinct identity + connectivity to the waterfront. New building where the parking lot is now behind the arts building—enlarged public gallery perhaps or artist live/work lofts—will bring eyes onto the plaza. https://t.co/MzTdrRgHuB https://t.co/B9WJCC753F
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) November 4, 2021