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Is it time to bring back streetcars to Vancouver?

As I’ve mentioned before, I am working for PlaceSPeak, an online consultation platform. We recently launched a new survey to gauge interest in returning electric trams to the streets of Vancouver. Here is some more information. If you live in Vancouver and you are interested in transit issues, I urge you to take the survey!

Streetcar City 2050

The City of Vancouver is exploring the use of streetcars as a key element of our transition to more sustainable transportation modes. But if streetcars are to be reintroduced in today’s economic climate it is important that they are planned in a thoughtful, evidence-based manner that includes public input.

With this in mind, PlaceSpeak teamed up with Patrick Condon at the University of British Columbia (UBC) to gauge the public’s interest in restoring streetcars—and associated amenities—to our city. As part of this effort we are conducting a survey to gauge residents interest in the reintroduction of streetcars and associated amenities.

Historically, Vancouver began as a streetcar city with electric trams connecting neighbourhoods and the downtown core. By the 1920s, however, the introduction of the car proved so powerful that they quickly became the preferred mode of transportation. In fact, Vancouver’s original streetcar grid left such a strong imprint that many arterial streets continue to thrive. Indeed, if you ask a resident where the heart of their neighbourhood is, they will likely name the former streetcar street at its center.

In recent years, B.C. citizens have been struggling to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the air. In our province transportation produces more GHG than any other sector, and the bulk of that comes from the ordinary activity of residents travelling through the city each day. In Vancouver, we have also been figuring out how to incorporate ‘livable density’ as we plan a sustainable, affordable, and livable future for our residents.

Streetcars may be able to help with both. According to Condon, one part of the solution may be returning to our ‘routes’ and reintroducing streetcars to Vancouver:

Vancouver is slowly on track to meet our 2050 goals for reducing GHGs. We walk more, bike more, use transit more, and our cars less and less. But to make the next big leap requires us to think now about electrifying the transit system. It won’t help if we all use buses if those buses belch diesel fumes. Streetcars are one solution; and for many streets the cheapest one available. Our city grew with the streetcar. It might grow more sustainable with it again.

“Density without transit is just dense”, says PlaceSpeak CEO Colleen Hardwick:

For Vancouver to meet its environmental goals while accommodating forecasted population growth it is crucial that we diversify our transit options. Streetcars are the missing link in our transportation infrastructure.

Find out more and take the short survey at www.placespeak.com/streetcarcity2050

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The Lost Tribes of New York City [Weekend Watch]

Urban Anthropologists, Andy and Carolyn London interview some of New York City’s more overlooked citizens.

londonsquared.net

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Friday 5: Articles for Urbanists

My weekly curation of news and views for urbanists:

A Bicycle made of Lego. (Click on image for link)

The Value of Transportation Enhancements; Or, Are Walking and Cycling Really Transportation? An important current policy debate concerns whether the next U.S. federal surface transportation reauthorization should require spending on “enhancements,” which finance projects such as walkways, bike paths, highway landscaping and historic preservation. (Planetizen)

Planned Communities Are People, Too: The future of planned communities will involve lessons learned by the industry’s greenfield pioneers that can be applied to smaller, denser, and more complex projects in the urban core and inner ring. (Urban Land Institute)

The Canadian Government’s New Web 2.0 Guidelines: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly: For those uninterested in reading the 31 page, 12,055 word guidelines document here’s a review (David Eaves)

The Lure of the City—A Review by Edwin Heathcote: This collection of essays edited by Austin Williams and Alastair Donald mounts a defence of life in urban space. (Financial Times)

Building diverse communities: ‘Ethnic enclaves’ are raising concern all over the world, but can they be good for a city? (Calgary Herald)

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Friday Five: Articles for Urbanists [Nov 12th-18th]

This week’s round-up of articles for urbanists:

Satellite image of Dallas–Fort Worth. [Courtesy of NASA
Thinking of not voting? Think again: Casting your ballot for mayor, city council and trustees has a real effect on your daily life (Surrey Now)

Megapolitan America: Although they occupy only 17 percent of the contiguous 48 states’ land base, America’s megapolitan areas are more densely settled than Europe as a whole. (Design Observer Places Journal)

Jane Jacobs and the book that inspired a revolution: If cities are the greenest form of human settlement that we could possibly aspire to, Jane Jacobs left us the owner’s manual for how to build them. (Grist)

Why Food Policy is Urban Policy: Forward-looking urban policy must understand and incorporate food systems as a primary and foundational precondition to any and all growth. (CityLab)

Three Smart Ideas for Improving Our Urban World: The next breakthrough in architecture may not come from the likes of Frank Gehry, whose designs. It’s more likely to come from a chemist. (This Big City)

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Unlimited Cities [Weekend Watch]

I received the link to this video from Alain Renk. Alain is from UFO—Urban Fabric Organisation. The video showcases UFO’s Ville sans Limite (Unlimited Cities) initiative. Unlimited Cities is a participatory platform used by architect to enable citizens to change their neighborhood. It is a rapid prototyping tool that allows people to “bring their ideas and react to architectural or urbanistic proposals in a situated way.”

Some nights and restless days in a former factory in Montreuil in May and June 2011.

The initiative Unlimited Cities was presented by UFO for the first time in June 2011 during the french festival “Futur en Seine” in Paris. (English version – courtesy Google)

GIVING RISE TO A COLLABORATIVE URBANISM
The prototype Unlimited Cities is the first step toward collaborative intelligence tools designed to enrich the debates on the future of our urban environments. For these discussions to be productive, it is necessary to build bridges between planning professionals and citizens who possess countless expertise and knowledge.

This request from professionals both great modesty and great ambition. Modesty, because the citizens listening can challenge many assumptions and habits. Ambition because collaborative urbanism is intended to invent new frameworks for match the stakes posed by the accelerated changes from one connected planet .

villes-sans-limite.org (to test the prototype, remember to connect with an iPhone or IPAD)

Cities Unlimited is a module of the collaborative research project Urband, supported by European funds FEDER in Paris Region, led by UFO with Preview, Think-Out and 3 research laboratories : Telecom ParisTech, LAA CNRS and LIPN Paris 13

Alain Renk for UFO

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6 TEDx Talks on Cities

It’s TEDx season. Between now and mid December, 100′s of independently organized TEDx events will be held throughout the world, including here in Vancouver as well as Phoenix. For those unfamiliar with TEDx events, here how the main TEDx site describes them:

Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

As a TEDx alumnus, I have a special place in my heart—and mind—for these local events. Sure, the main TED events boast an impressive array of the world’s top minds, but the diversity that is on display at TEDx is unparalleled. The is especially true when it comes to talks about urbanism and cities. While was challenging to simply find five TED talks on cities, I had the opposite problem with TEDx; my challenge here was narrowing it down to just 5. In the end I failed to narrow the list to simply 5 and had to throw in an extra one.

Here are 6 of my favourite TEDx talks on cities.

Dan Burden presents the case for creating communities that are centered on people and not cars. He identifies the benefits to the community in terms of both vitality and economic well-being. As a leading expert in his field of creating livable communities he talks about the processes he uses and the results of his many projects.

Christian Sottile is principal of an urban design firm based in Savannah. His work has received over 25 awards, including an international Charter Award from the Congress for New Urbanism, and awards from the American Planning Association and the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. As a professor of Urban Design and Architecture at SCAD, USA Today named Christian one of the Top 100 Academics in the Nation.

Sustainable urbanisation of cities can create space for engaging all community members aged from 8 years through to 80 years.

As Director of Design & Urban Environment for the City of Melbourne with nearly 40 years experience as a practising architect and urban designer, Rob has produced a large number of strategic urban design solutions and projects in addition to design-research based urban projects and strategies, and has attracted over 100 state and national awards for excellence. A champion of both the arts and environmental sustainability he has worked to ensure that good urban design is established as a platform for city development into the 21st Century.

Using insights drawn from his work in business, entrepreneurship and social change, as well as modern GIS data, Naheed Nenshi explores the challenges of how a modern city like Calgary grows, and what some of the implications are for creating inclusive communities.

A brief look at trends shaping the way we will live and how cities must adapt to be successful. Carol Coletta is president of Coletta & Company, a consulting firm leading the start-up of ArtPlace, a new initiative to spark a creative placemaking movement across America. For the past six years, she was president and CEO of CEOs for Cities. In 2008 she was named one of the world’s 50 most important urban experts by a leading European think tank and as one of the top 50 urban thinkers of all time by readers of PLANetizen.com.

Even with the extra video I included, I had to leave out several great talks. If i missed your favourites, please let me know in the comments

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Friday 5: Articles for Urbanists [Oct 29th-Nov4th]

This week’s collection of curated news and views for urbanists:

NBC Universal via Atlantic Cities

Making Local Government Funny in ‘Parks and Recreation’: Writer Dan Goor talks about turning bureaucracy into comedy (Atlantic Cities)
Better urban planning can reduce crime: How better urban planning decisions could dramatically break the cycle of crime in many neighbourhoods and help curb illegal activity on our streets. (Vancouver Sun)

Policies for a Shareable City: The Sharable website is about half way though a 20 part series that will cover 20 policy areas to inspire way to make the “common wealth” in cities accessible to all residents. (Sharable)

Anatomy of a Smart City [INFOGRAPHIC]: The 19th century was a century of empires, 20th century was a century of nation states and the 21st century will be a century of cities. (Urban Times)

Building Community: From Empty Spaces to Meeting Places: How will community be built in the 21st century? If you want to know the lie of the land, sometimes you must literally see how the land lies and what human beings have done to it. (Huffington Post UK)

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What Can Vancouver Learn from Melbourne?

Metro Vancouver is often hailed for its ability to accommodate growth while maintaining a good quality of life for its residents. However, things are far from perfect and the region faces ongoing challenges in creating vibrant, accessible communities and supporting transit, walking and cycling throughout the region.

On October 4, 2011, Rob Adams, the Director of City Design for Melbourne spoke at SFU Vancouver. He shared some of his experiences in leading a stunning transformation in Melbourne. He also offered some ideas about how this success could be applied to development in Metro Vancouver’s key centres.

I hope to write a few posts one some of hs specific points in the near future. In the meantime, here is a video of his remarks. It is well worth the watch if you are at all interested in placemaking.

Creating Places for People — The Melbourne Experience

Q&As

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Friday 5: Articles for Urbanists [Oct 22nd-28th]

This week’s curated collection of news and views for urbanists:

Designing for Density Doesn’t Have to Be Ugly, or Scary: Few architects take the challenge of density done right as seriously—and creatively—as David Baker (Atlanctic Cities)

Public Participation: More than an “Orgy of Public Process” Criticism of participation is not new, but the increasingly strident tone of anti-participation sentiment should worry citizens and policy makers alike. (Next American City)

Encore for Vancouver: What started as a sawmill and railroad town now attracts urban planners from all over the world (At Lincoln House)

Jan Gehl on the Past 40 Years of Urbanism: Famed urbanist Jan Gehl looks back at the writing and thought on how people use the urban environment — including his own — over the past 40 years. (Planetizen)

The Citizen Experience Needs Us: Why UX practitioners should join the Government 2.0 movement: The idea that government is inefficient and unpleasant to deal with is almost axiomatic at this point, but it doesn’t have to be that way. (UX Magazine)

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Is Downtown Phoenix a Recession Ghost Town?

I haven’t mentioned downtown Phoenix for a while. This is mainly because I’ve been busy re-discovering Vancouver and haven’t had much time to reflect on my old stomping ground. However, last week, I received an email from an old acquaintance that I haven’t been able to ignore.

So for may Phoenix readers, here’s one more post for old times sake; and apologies if I channel a bit too much Jon Talton. For my new Vancouver readers, here’s a little education in Arizona urbanism.

Life in the Urban Desert

One of my biggest frustrations living in Phoenix was the sheer number of empty lots and vacant building in the downtown core. No matter how much we tried to make a foothold in the desolation, we were simply overwhelmed by the scale of our task; if not outright rejected.

Based on a ‘back of the napkin’ tally, over 40% of Phoenix’s core is either vacant or a surface parking lot. This is more than most Rust Belt cities, including Detroit. Indeed the entire city of Detroit could fit into just the vacant lots in Phoenix! Yet while the decay of the Rust Belt is a national tragedy, the decay of downtown Phoenix is business as usual.

Making matters worse, the picture below was once a neighbourhood filled with historic—if rundown—homes. But instead of promoting their restoration and rehabilitation, the city cleared the area. The are was first cleared to make room for a fool hardy idea attract a NFL football stadium. The stadium eventually ended up in suburban Glendale. More recently, they have promised a ‘Bio-science Campus that has failed to gain much traction. In the meantime, downtown Phoenix is left with one of the biggest urban scars in North America.

Just south of this picture sits yet another parking lot. It was recently created by the City of Phoenix and Arizona State University on the site of a vintage mid-century hotel. Despite a concerted effort—and even a lawsuit—the powers than be decided that Phoenix needed yet more parking, leaving community members literally stewing on the dusty asphalt.

In cities like Detroit, people are taking advantage of the depressed real estate prices to incubate small businesses. In Phoenix—the epicenter of the real estate industrial complex—property owners, including the city, are sitting on their lots. They are waiting for the real estate market to rebound enough to cover their investment. They’d be better of waiting for Godot. if there is any hope for downtown Phoenix to rise again, they need to cut their losses and move on.

I hate to see downtown Phoenix criticized. Especially because so many people are working diligently to make it their oasis in a urban desert. But sometimes a city needs a slap in the face to wake up and realize their dire straights. Perhaps this dubious distinction from The Fiscal Times is it:

9 Worst Recession Ghost Towns in America: Downtown Phoenix, AZ

Is Downtown Phoenix a Recession Ghost Town?

Downtown Phoenix, AZ

Before the housing market crash, an acre in downtown Phoenix was selling for about $90 a square foot. Today, it sells for $9 a square foot. Empty dirt lots checker the area, where developers once dreamed of high-rise condos and office buildings, and many businesses have closed their doors.

Residents hope building will happen again once the market recovers, but in the meantime neighborhood organizers push for temporary fixes to the eyesore, like planting sunflowers and projecting movies onto the side of existing buildings.

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