From Planetizen — The Underlying Patterns of Urban Street Design

Chuck Wolfe / Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence, France

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Have you ever wondered why some places seem built for automobiles as opposed to humans? In a recent study, J. Alexander Maxwell and fellow researchers from the University of Strathclyde’s Urban Design Studies Unit find evidence that before the rise of the automobile, cities developed on a walkable “human” scale, with main streets that rarely exceeded 400 meters (a little more than 437 yards). Along with Charles R. Wolfe, they argue that this uniformity reveals an underlying pattern to pedestrian city settings, which should be considered in contemporary urban design and policies. Read more: The Underlying Patterns of Urban Street Design | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network

Amanda Burden Ted Talk — How Public Spaces Make Cities Work

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From Urban Toronto —The Canary District: Toronto Gets a New Neighbourhood in 2016

Toronto will see something extraordinary happen in the West Don Lands in 2016: a whole neighbourhood will be born over the course of about six months. Starting that March residents will begin to arrive, and by the time the new school year hits in September 2016, 3,000 people will live, work, shop, eat and play in a number of new buildings stretching across several blocks. There will be shops, restaurants, a park, a main street promenade, public art, a great park, and even a new TTC streetcar service. Read more: The Canary District: Toronto Gets a New Neighbourhood in 2016 | Urban Toronto

From Planetizen — Mid-Rise: Density at a Human Scale

All growing cities must find ways to develop at appropriate, transit-supporting densities without overwhelming the surrounding context. The human-scaled, mid-rise building can be a solution—but achieving a good neighbourhood “fit” is not easy. More at: Mid-Rise: Density at a Human Scale

Philadelphia's The Navy Yard —A Campus Built for Business Growth

This example is Philadelphia's Navy Yard redevelopment. The model here a business campus and curiously, residential only added as part of phase 2.

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The Navy Yard is a 1,200-acre, dynamic urban development, offering the Philadelphia region a unique and centrally-located waterfront business campus committed to smart energy innovation and sustainability. Home to more than 11,000 employees and 143 companies in the office, industrial/manufacturing, and research and development sectors, occupying 6.5 million square feet of real estate in a mix of historic buildings and new high-performance and LEED® certified construction. More at: The Navy Yard | A Campus Built for Business Growth | Philadelphia, PA

Island Corridor Foundation Announces Tentative Agreement that Promises the Return of Passenger Rail to Vancouver Island

Island Corridor Foundation announced this morning at a press conference at the Train Station on Selby Street in Nanaimo that there is a tentative agreement between the ICF, Southern Rail and Via that promises the return of passenger rail to Vancouver Island. Needs ratification, if approved it will free up $20 million in fed, provincial and regional district funds to begin rail and bridge repair. That work is expected to take 9 months. There is the possibility of passenger service into the city-owned Wellcox property on the waterfront.

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