Tag Archives: Yuri Artibise

This City Life: Citymaker

I was honoured to be profiled in Jillian Glover’s Nueve’s “This City Life” blog as part of a new series entitled ‘Citymakers.’

According to Jillian:

Citymakers is a new This City Life column featuring people who do great things for Vancouver or other cities – whether it is through their love of art, music, photography, public space, nature or any form of creative expression or city issue.

They don’t get  a lot of recognition for what they do. And, they often do it in their spare time, for free or little money, off the side of their desk, mostly while working full-time, 9-5 jobs. But, that is not an issue to them. They pursue their art or passion because they love and care about what they are doing.

Here’s my profile:

Citymaker: Yuri Artibise

Yuri is one of the first urbanists who I met in person after starting my blog. He had moved back to Vancouver after spending several years living in Phoenix, Arizona. Since returning, he has led the way in bringing urbanists and citymakers together for beer and conversation through his initiative to start a Vancouver Urbanist Meetup and more recently, CivicMeet Vancouver.

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Who are you?

I’m a public policy analyst, urbanist, and social media geek who is interested in making our cities more livable, community-oriented places. During the day, I’m the Director of Community Engagement of PlaceSpeak, an online location-based community consultation platform. I’m also Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, an associate editor of Spacing Vancouver, co founder of CivicMeet Vancouver and coordinator of Jane’s Walk Vancouver.

In my ‘free’ time, I can be found running along the seawall, sharing my perspectives on Facebook on Twitter, or engaged in esoteric urbanism debates over beer at a local pub,

 

What motivates you to get involved in city life?

Honestly?  Self-interest. I want to be part of shaping the city that I want to live in.  I learned long ago that if you think you can do a better job, than you better get up and do it.  Instead of simply criticizing from the sidelines, get involved and share your insights.  In simple terms: be a leader, not a hater.

 

Why Vancouver?

When my wife and decided to return to Canada from Phoenix, we spent a lot of time discussing where we wanted to live, and were considering other cities like Toronto and Calgary.  At the end of each discussion, we kept on bringing up Vancouver and ultimately decided that we were meant to return here (we both studied here earlier in our lives).

We have not regretted that decision. Vancouver offers a combination of temperate climate, urban fabric and engaged residents that few other cities offer.

 

Vancouver would be better if____(fill in the blanks)

People would stop to a smell the rain drops every now and then—or asFrances Bula recently posted: “Can everyone stop being so shriekingly pissed off all the time?”

There is a reason the Vancouver keeps being named one of the best places in the world to live.  Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in other cities with far greater civic challenges, but I feel incredibly lucky to live here.

Yes, there is lots of room for improvement; most notably ensuring everybody benefits from the opportunities our city offers. But if we approach our civic challenges from a position of strength and confidence, we will be in a much better position to solve them than if we keep flying off the handle at every decision—or indecision—made at City Hall.

 

Favourite public space?

Granville Island. for now…  but the plaza at Olympic Village is quickly maturing into a great community gathering place.

 

Must have Vancouver souvenir?

For locals, a Vancouver Sun Run t-shirt.  The Sun Run should be on every Vancouverites bucket list. Sun Run has become one of Vancouver’s rites of spring and it blends the best of our health and community conscious urban lifestyle.

For visitors, probably a picture of themselves on along the Seawall. It is truly a special place  that is iconically Vancouver

 

Favourite local hangout?

As a beer fan, I’m really enjoying Tap and Barrel. A great selection of local beers, great staff, owners that care about the community, and some of the best patio views in the city! Other nearby favourites include Narrow Lounge and the Whip. Each had a different vibe that satisfies different moods.

 

Local inspiration (person, place or thing)?

What about an experience?  Running along the seawall at night  - with the city lights reflecting False Creek – is a defining Vancouver image for me.  No matter what struggles I’m facing, having this view of city meeting nature always reminds me why I love living here.

 

Worst thing about Vancouver?

Our inferiority complex.  (See response to “Vancouver would be better if______.”)

 

Favourite Vancouver memory?

Last summer’s Main Street Mosey with the Vancouver Public Space Network when we trekked across the city, from Crab Park on Burrard Inlet all the way down to the Fraser River.  It was pretty cool to share in the communal experience of a group walk, down the entirety of Vancouver’s north-south spine, sharing stories and trivia along the way.

 

Citymakers is a column to profile people who positively contribute to the city (socially, artistically, environmentally, etc.) in their free time. Who else should be profiled here?

Amanda Gibbs, community advocate, engagement facilitator, and my co-conspirator in CivicMeet Vancouver.

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Urbanism Speakeasy: Urbanism for the non-urbanist

USpagetitle alt Urbanism Speakeasy: Urbanism for the non urbanist
Earlier this month, I was honoured to be asked to be the first interviewee for ‘Urbanism Speakeasy” a great new urbanism podcast by Andy Boenau, an urbanist and transportation engineer from Richmond Virgina.

The audio podcast can be found on Chirb.it.

 

Here is an overview of what we talked about:

The influence of an unqualified urban planner

The Yurbanism brand is about 3 years old. In short, it is Yuri’s views on urbanism. What’s particularly interesting about Yuri’s views is that they are not bound to traditional schools of thought. His background is in public policy and administration, not urban planning or city planning.

Yuri’s strong online influence is probably rooted in his curation of articles and stories he picks up from around the globe. He has over 5,000 Twitter followers, and estimates he’s personally met 20% of those people at tweetups and conferences.

 

Turning community ideas into action

What inspiration or optimism can be shared with people who want to improve their hometown but don’t have any idea where to begin? Yuri talks about answering the question of who was responsible for urban decay, and who was now doing work to revitalize Phoenix? He also talks about encouraging people to get involved in the planning and development of projects early on – before bulldozers start moving dirt or demolishing buildings.

One way to get people more familiar with their community’s character and physical traits is organizing walking tours. To get to know a city, you have to get out and walk it. Yuri describes the Jane’s Walk initiative, how it was introduced in Phoenix, and the momentum that followed. Rather than simply having participants follow around an “expert” tour guide, Yuri describes the events as walking conversations. Politicians and professional planners have an opportunity to hear firsthand what the community observes and what they’d like to see change in their community. See things you might not normally see and hear stories you might not otherwise hear.

 

The Jane Jacobs factor

Jane Jacobs famously said design is people. Yuri agrees, and adds his own spin: design is dialogue. He talks about ways to defuse tensions from opposing parties. The first step can be as simple as inviting people over for a coffee or beer. Writing boisterous or nasty letters and emails grabs headlines, but sitting down and listening to all points of view can help build relationships that might otherwise not have existed. (Editor’s note: the Urbanism Speakeasy vouches for the neighborly empowerment of hops and barley.)

The one constant about urban planning is that nothing stays the same. Even when the physical structure and character of a neighborhood stays in place, the dynamics still change. People age, children move out of the house, new people move in, etc. This is both an exciting part of community evolution as well as a significant challenge for planners.

Social media in community planning

With the explosion of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook, the public involvement process is far different from just a decade ago. Yuri describes traditional, face-to-face engagement strategies and modern, high-tech strategies as part of the same continuum. Not only can both forms of engagement coexist—they need to coexist. He observes that the average age of people in a formal public hearing is about 60. Young people are often not interested in an evening meeting about a road project, for example. And parents with school-aged children often can’t get away from home for a 7 PM public meeting. Social media allows for information sharing without every person filling a physical meeting hall.

One of Yuri’s current ventures is PlaceSpeak, an online consultation platform. He talks about what makes it unique in today’s crowded technology world and why you should be interested in it. Find out how anonymity can breed contempt and how PlaceSpeak fosters productive dialogue among neighbors. Yuri talks in-depth about ways to convert a public process into an online process.

 

Translating technical jargon to regular people

Describing the technical process of a public works project is always challenging. Basic concepts are often lost amidst jargon like road deficiencies, design speeds, floor space ratios, density, and more. Yuri acknowledges that different people learn in different ways, and he describes how the average person can become better informed about public projects.

 

Connect with our guest

If you want to connect with Yuri or just watch him from a distance, check out his Yurbanism blog, his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. As far as we can tell, there is only one Yuri Artibise out there. So you can also track him down by just searching online for his name.

Urbanism Speakeasy: Urbanism for the non urbanist
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Learning from Phoenix and Vancouver: An Interview

Recently, my good friend Taz Loomans contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to do an interview on my time in Phoenix and my thoughts after leaving.  Here’s what I had to say:

 

Life After Phoenix, a Retrospective

Firefly Living is happy to present a retrospective interview discussing Yuri’s thoughts about his time here in Phoenix.
photo 167 Learning from Phoenix and Vancouver: An Interview
Uptown Phoenix. Photo by Taz Loomans.
Taz Loomans: What do you miss most about Phoenix?

Yuri Artibise: I miss the weather, especially this time of year, but even in the summer, there is a quality to the sun light that you just don’t have in northern cities. I also miss the close-knit community of urbanists working together. While there is a great and very accomplished urban community in Vancouver, we are busy doing our own things and I haven’t been able to connect with others as closely as I did in Phoenix. It seems the adage that adversity brings people together is true, especially in an ‘urban desert’ like Phoenix.

Taz Loomans: What did Phoenix have the Vancouver doesn’t?

Yuri Artibise: Beside climate (and great tamales!), Phoenix has an affordability that Vancouver simply doesn’t; even before the economic downturn, Phoenix was an affordable place to follow your dream. This led to a more entrepreneurial culture that I miss. Vancouver has a lot of great things going on, but the high cost of living means that security comes first for a lot of people. Despite it’s often inward looking perspective the region has great potential as an incubator for social entrepreneurship.

Taz Loomans: What do you miss least about Phoenix?

Yuri Artibise: The lack of urban form in the city, even downtown.  I still pinch myself when I walk outside and see almost everything I strove for during my time in Phoenix, realized in Vancouver, from walkable streets, to mixed used developments to bike lanes, even dog parks! If anything Vancouver may be a bit TOO livable icon wink Learning from Phoenix and Vancouver: An Interview  as it’s desirability have driven prices sky-high.  (As a result, real estate is the number one topic of most discussions, as it was in Phoenix, just for opposite reasons).

Taz Loomans: From the perspective of someone who lived here and now has left, what do you think Phoenix’s biggest pitfalls are?

Yuri Artibise: First and foremost the extreme political climate. It is the question I am asked about here. Second is sustainability.  I know many Phoenix residents don’t want to hear it, but Andrew Ross got a lot right in his book, Bird on Fire.  I mean there isn’t even recycling pickup in apartments!  But seriously, while things like xeriscaping and shade are important, until the region drops the growth industry mantra and starts thinking seriously about things like residential water restrictions, limiting suburban expansion and significant investing in social infrastructure, especially K-12, the future of the Valley doesn’t look great.
In this regard, the sustained economic downtown may be a blessing in disguise, as you will be forced to do more with less. Hopefully politicians will stop looking to external investment as a way to disguise the great harms that that region’s (sub)urban form has done, not only to it’s long term environmental sustainability, but also it’s social and economic sustainability as well. I know that people there don’t want to hear it, but there is a reason that these issues keep being raised by outside commentators like Ross and expats like Jon Talton.

Taz Loomans: From the perspective of someone who lived here and now has left, what do you think Phoenix’s biggest opportunities are?

Yuri Artibise: Phoenix’s biggest opportunities are frankly the great expanses of vacant lots and empty storefronts. Combined with the entrepreneurial spirit and low-cost of living mentioned above, the city could become a great laboratory for sustainable desert living, in a manner like Detroit has become a beacon for rust belt revitalization. But to do so, the region needs to seriously consider ways to reconsider its relationship to its climate—not simply push for solar panels and rain barrels. I’m not sure that Paolo Soleri had all the right answers, but his radical rethinking of desert living are closer to what the region needs. Frankly, I didn’t see that thinking in the most of the current crop of so-called sustainable architects who pushed xeriscaping large lots and shade sails over private pools as sustainable solutions.

Taz Loomans: Would you ever come back to live Phoenix, given the opportunity? Why or why not?

Yuri Artibise: One thing that I have learned after returning to Vancouver is that this is ‘home’ and where my heart is. However, Phoenix will always be a special place for me, and I’d love to opportunity to return, at least part-time.  I think that there is a lot both cities can learn from each other, and I’d love to help help this process.

Taz Loomans: What can we learn from Vancouver here in Phoenix?

Yuri Artibise: There is a lot, obviously, given my earlier comments, but first and foremost, Phoenix can demand more from it’s developers.  One of the things that has made Vancouver such a livable city is the high level of amenities that the City of Vancouver demands—and receives—from developers, especially when rezoning properties. This helps make sure that new developments are more complete communities, with access to daycare, transit, park space or cultural facilities.
Additionally, Vancouver has the greenest building standards in North America.  While Phoenix is applauding itself for adopting a voluntary green construction code,Vancouver requires all new buildings to be at least LEED Gold. Such requirements have been criticized by developers, and have been named a cause in driving our sky-high real estate prices, but I think they have been an important factor in making Vancouver such a livable and sustainable city.

Taz Loomans: What can Vancouver learn from Phoenix?

Yuri Artibise: One thing that it lacking in Vancouver is official neighbourhood input into planning decisions. While the city has an active and the speaking list at rezoning often tops 200 speakers, we have no equal to Phoenix’s Village Planning Committees.  As a result, many neighbourhoods feel that their perspective is overlooked in planning decisions.
Another idea that Vancouver could borrow from Phoenix is the percent-for-art program that funds public art throughout the city.  While Vancouver has a well-respected public art program, and public art is often included in the public amenity packages I mentioned earlier, it would be nice to have dedicated source of funding, and more integration of public art into civic utilities and infrastructure. While Vancouver has some great art in our parks and urban core, our highways overpasses are nowhere near as cool as Phoenix’s icon smile Learning from Phoenix and Vancouver: An Interview .

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Jane Jacobs—Neighborhoods in Action

A great video produced by the Active Living Network (a project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). It features an interview with the urban goddess herself.  The clip explores the role of the built environment in physical activity and public health.  It’s 9 minutes and 46 seconds VERY well spent).

I love her support for skateboarding as an important of youth physical activity.  Lots of good aphorisms at the end as well.

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My Professional Network, Visualized

LinkedIN has developed a fun tool called LinkedIN Maps.  It pulls in data from your profile and allows you to view and tag a visual representation of your own network.  Here’s an image of my network.

 

My Professional Network, VisualizedUsing data on shared connections and companies, the map groups these connections into clusters, which are colour coded. The larger dots (or names in larger fonts) indicate people with more connections. The user can also zoom in to see a single name, which if clicked on, highlights that person’s connections.

While it is creates a cool visual, and it’s fun to see the inter-connections among my friends and contacts (six degrees anyone?), I’m uncertain about it’s ongoing usefulness.  But then again I’m not a data scientist.  LinkedIN’s Chief Scientist, DJ Patil is, so I’ll let him explain it:

 

If we’re not already connected on LinkedIN, please send me an invite.

 

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Creative Generalist: I Connect the Dots

I’ve always hated the question “What do I do?”  Even when I had a specific job with an official title, I found the question limiting. It is too often used to pigeon-hole people into various silos. That is why I like the term Creative Generalist.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

—Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love Creative Generalist: I Connect the Dots

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Locals and Tourists in Vancouver.Image by Eric Fischer

The concept of creative generalist isn’t new.  Indeed, some of the greatest minds in history were generalists and made their mark by connecting the dots in a variety of fields. Issac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and, even my hero—Jane Jacobs—were all generalists. Each was able to connect ideas from various fields and create silo shattering ideas.

My Evolution

At first I didn’t identify myself as a generalist.  I was a public policy specialist.  But as my government career progressed, I begin to see this wasn’t truly a speciality, rather it was a sub-generalization.  My peers were becoming specialists not just in public policy, but in environmental policy or fiscal policy or urban policy. I tried to follow a specialization first in international trade policy—building on my international studies undergraduate education— and later in First Nations policy.

I found, however, that delving deep into the intricacies of specific subject areas didn’t hold my passion.  Instead, I was apt to take a step back and see how the various policy silos related to each other.  This led me to thrive in roles in policy co-ordination and community building.

Just What is A Creative Generalist?

There is the old adage “Jack of All Trades Master of None.”  I disagree with this. While a generalist is indeed a jack of all trades, s/he is also a master of  one of the most important skills. This is connecting the dots and moving ideas forward. Generalists are experts at researching, analyzing and integrating ideas from a range of fields. They are also adept at working in concert with specialist representing a range of (often idiosyncratic) cultures and personality types.  By working in many worlds, generalists often see things others don’t.

Ideas cannot be limited to the confines of a silo. They need space to run around and occasionally bump into strangers.

—Steve Hardy

Creative Urbanism

I think my needs to connect the dots is why I love urbanism.  Vibrant neighborhoods don’t specialize.  They serve multiple purposes and are home to a variety of people with a variety of skills. Indeed, I believe that North American cities went off track in the 1950s and 60s.  This is when urban planners stopped looking at cities as web-like ecosystems and started looking at them in a linear fashion, separating property types, and more detrimentally, people types.

Development is differentiation emerging from generality, the process is open-ended and it produces increasing diversity and increasingly various, numerous, and intricate co-development relationships.

—Jane Jacobs in her book The Nature of Economies Creative Generalist: I Connect the Dots

Creative Generalist: I Connect the Dots
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My Personality at Work

entp%20cleaning My Personality at WorkMe and Myers Briggs

Most people are familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory. I was initially skeptical of the concept. However, after taking numerous tests over the past 20 years and getting the same result, I’ve come to a reluctant acceptance.  I am ENTP.

ENTP=Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving

While I couldn’t find any faults with the test’s assessment, I never felt like it offered an adequate explanation of my professional personality. So I stored the information in the back corner of my mind. I only brought it out when required at various HR sessions and team building retreats. At least the Myers-Briggs test was consistent—if not completely compelling—in it’s descriptions.

Logical Explorer

It was not until coming across the writing of Donna Dunning that I realized that  Myers-Briggs was more than simply four letters to mull over. It can be used to as a framework to explain more rounded personality types. Donna identifies holistic personality types that brings together the four preferences and packages them together.  This makes it easy to highlight your personal brand.

According to Donna’s research, I am a Logical Explorer.

Explorers are constantly scanning the environment looking for associations and patterns. They naturally link ideas together and see connections. They like to focus on what could be rather than what is. They see many possibilities in everything they can sense, experience and imagine. Explorers are enthusiastically and outwardly focused on the future and like to initiate change. They see every situation as an opportunity to try something different.

[The Logical side] balance this approach of innovation and initiation with an internal focus on logic and analysis. They like to create a complex system of patterns and models by evaluating and critiquing new information.

Logical Explorers make up between 3-5% of the population.

The Possibilities are Endless

Coming across this description was a revelation to me. It joined two seemingly opposite personality traits: my desire to explore and find new information, and my ability to logically analyze and look for patterns in data.

The extroverted part of me enjoys spending a lot of time interacting with others and gathering new insights and ideas. However, the more introverted part needs downtime to reflect on and analyse the insights I have gathered. This also explains why I am night owl. The world seems to move a bit slower after midnight, allowing me the opportunity to think and ponder.

My intuitive side loves the spontaneity of new ideas and new people. Of not planning but ‘going wit the flow.’ While deadlines motivate me, I am a firm believer that the perfect is the enemy of the great. Most assignments are better viewed as iterations rather that completed projects. In other words—for the explorer in me—everything is a work in progress. Products can be improved upon in the future based on experience and feedback.

As a result, my ideal career would let me respond to ideas and people constantly. it would offer the freedom I need to explore and analyze to get great results. I enjoy dealing with internal and external clients in fast paced environments. I pursue solutions through analyzing, evaluating and recommending options. I like to work with diverse people and see new possibilities and new ways of doing things that help me not only with the challenge at hand but others as well

In Summary

Some of the traits of a Logical Explorer that I most identify with are:

  • I like to work with and create new ideas.
  • I make connections and see relationships between things and ideas.
  • I would rather initiate and conceptualize projects than complete them.
  • I anticipate, seek, and create change, and like to help others do the same.
  • I balance innovation and initiation with an internal focus on logic and analysis.
  • I like to create systems of patterns and models by evaluating and critiquing new information.
  • I am as comfortable in a suit and tie as in sandals and t-shirts

So that’s me—or at least how I like to work—in 700 words or less. I hope you now have a better idea of how I operate; especially while working and writing.

I’d be interested to here from my readers what your Myers-Briggs personality typology is, and if you feel it is accurate.

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A City Celebrates

On Tuesday, the city of Vancouver erupted in celebration after the Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in double overtime.The Western Conference Champion Canucks advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994!

It is moments like this that add to the stories of a city, and give it texture. It also brings residents together in celebration, adding to a feeling of belonging. While I wasn’t part of the 2010 Olympic hockey gold medal celebration, I was lucky enough to be in the thick of things yesterday!

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My friend, Jen, and I celebrate on Granville St. in downtown Vancouver

Here’s hoping that it was only a dress rehearsal for the Stanley Cup!

FOUR MORE WINS!!!!

 

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My Visual Résumé

As many of you know, my wife and I recently moved to Vancouver.  I have been without a steady income for over a year now, and given the economic (and political) climate in Arizona, work prospects did not look good for me there.  So we have made the tough decision to pack things in and get a fresh start back in our homeland of Canada.

While I am diligent about keeping my résumé up to date, I am using this transition as an opportunity to explore new ways of marketing my self and my skills.  One idea I have to use this site as a platform to share this information more widely.  While ultimately targeted as prospective employers and clients, I hope that it is also of interest to my regular readers, as it will allow you to get an idea of where I am coming from and how the ideas and opinions I share here were influenced and shaped.

As part of this effort, here is a my visual résumé. A typical résumé—or curriculum vitae—is often a long and boring document highlighting  education, work experience, and other achievements.This format has been around since the “snail mail” days and it still works but it’s format and ubiquity make it hard to stand out in a tough job market. This visual resume is an attempt to stand apart for the crowd a bit.  I hope you enjoy it.

 

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