Toronto’s current urban planning conflicts rooted in the past

The seeds of Toronto’s modern-day political discord, as it pertains to urban development, were planted in the 1950s.

According to Stephen Bocking, one thing that’s become prevalent here over the last 20 years is the notion that urban planning has become an intensely political activity. That belief would be false in his view.

Bocking, professor & chair of environmental & resource studies, Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., made a Nov. 7 presentation, “Building Postwar Toronto: When Planning And Politics Collide”, at the Toronto Public Library’s Annette Street branch in the Junction neighbourhood. His talk was part of the library’s “History Matters” lecture series. Continue reading on Spacing.

Vancouver’s Empire strikes bland

The Canadian Football League’s (CFL) B.C. Lions are going back to their roots for the coming season by returning to the site on which historic Empire Stadium once stood in Hastings Park in East Vancouver. It’s just too bad the Lions have called for building a drab, uninspiring structure to discourage their fans from becoming emotionally attached to the outdoor field.

The original Empire Stadium, built in 1954 for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, was the reason Vancouver landed a CFL franchise in the same year. At one time, it was Vancouver’s premiere outdoor amphitheatre. Among its many highlights: it was the site of the first televised sports event broadcast live to all of North America (The Miracle Mile) and The Beatles played there in August 1964. After the Lions and the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club moved to BC Place in 1983, Empire Stadium was without tenants and it was demolished 10 years later. Continue reading on Spacing.

Addressing racism and the War of 1812

Prior to the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I attended the final day of a three-day history symposium at Fort York on Oct. 9 to hear Ontario’s former Lt.-Governor James Bartleman speak on the subject of how best to celebrate the forthcoming 2012 bicentennial of the War of 1812. I got more than I bargained for.

The “Sense of Place and Heritage Trails: Realizing the War of 1812 Bicentennial” conference at the Cultural and Heritage Tourism Symposium 2009 was organized by Centennial College and presented in association with the City of Toronto at the historic site, Oct. 7-9.

Bartleman served as an ambassador in Canada’s Foreign Service for 35 years prior to serving as Ontario’s Lt.-Gov. Simply put, the retired diplomat gave the audience a two-pronged history lesson on the War of 1812 and the subsequent racism this country’s aboriginal population has endured since the European powers-that-be decided the natives were no longer useful militarily. Continue reading on Spacing.

City Builder: Vancouver urbanist Janet Moore

It doesn’t take long to realize that Janet Moore isn’t the type to accept the status quo. On the contrary, the assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue has forged a career fostering community engagement and urban sustainability — with a focus on providing opportunities for students to engage with the city outside their school’s walls.

“I think those four years of undergrad have such potential for students because they have so much energy and enthusiasm,” she says. “We don’t treat students as though they have the capability of doing something in the real world.”

That’s precisely what Moore set out to rectify with her CityStudio Vancouver project. Co-founded with Emily Carr University assistant professor Duane Elverum, CityStudio Vancouver aims to accelerate sustainability in post-secondary education and provide students with opportunities to work on Vancouver’s most challenging urban sustainability problems. Continue reading on Spacing.

How to transform an alleyway into a thriving public space

Peek down an alleyway in any city and what will you find? Shadows, garbage bins, concrete, perhaps danger. With an aim to demonstrate how to transform these oft-ignored corridors into attractive, thriving public spaces, Livable [sic] Laneways and the Vancouver Design Nerds teamed up to give an alley in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood a makeover.

On Saturday, July 30, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the last of three artful events the two organizations have been co-hosting in conjunction with VIVA Vancouver will be held near the Main Street and West Broadway intersection – in the north-south laneway next to the historic Lee Building, a few steps west of Main. Continue reading on Spacing.

What’s with our ‘fracking’ water?

It hardly seems worth the health and environmental risks yet in true wild west fashion the oil and gas industry’s practice of ‘fracking’ for shale gas deposits in northeastern B.C. goes largely unmonitored by the provincial government. Moreover, both the oil and gas industry and the provincial energy regulator downplay the amount of water that’s being used for these operations and their significant environmental impacts. Continue reading on Spacing.

Can Vancouver become the ‘best place on Earth’?

It’s heralded as such far and wide: “Vancouver – the best place on Earth” to live. It’s too bad the city doesn’t quite live up to the billing.

Vancouver certainly has the potential to be the best place on Earth to live and work (or at least in North America). At present though, it’s simply a beautiful but challenging environment to thrive in.

Some might say Vancouver requires an actual civic identity, such as those projected by the likes of New York, Paris and (*gasp*) Toronto. Others may suggest it’s time to recognize that almost everything that’s transpiring in Vancouver today has a direct correlation to past events. Continue reading on Spacing.

High time Canada reviewed oil transport laws

In the aftermath of the horrific Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it’s time for a public review of how oil is transported in Canada.

And that’s precisely what a Vancouver-based protestors group dubbed No Tanks! is hoping for as it raises public awareness of the issue through a forthcoming action on Burrard Inlet on Sunday, Oct. 17^th.

As reported in the Vancouver Courier on Sept. 1^st, the group is opposed to oil tankers navigating the waters around this city and it is organizing a flotilla of boats to protest what it says is a dangerous way to move oil. Noteworthy, is the group’s concern in the increase in oil tanker traffic in and out of Burrard Inlet. “Traffic more than doubled from 28 in 2004 to 70 (ships) last year.” Continue reading on Spacing.

Vancouver Police Museum a bloody good time

Chris Mathieson takes on the glow of an excited child on Christmas Day when he starts talking about blood stains, prohibited weapons, and autopsies.

For instance, while explaining how autopsies are conducted, the executive director of the Vancouver Police Museum (240 East Cordova Street) gleefully holds up a typical kitchen knife — the tool of choice for coroners, not a scalpel — and mimics how cadavers are gutted. He’s seen actual autopsies take place; it’s one of the “weird privileges” of his job, he remarked.

“Most autopsies are done using a standard sharp knife, and you’re basically butchering someone,” he explained. “The first thing that happens is separating the flesh from the ribs . . . once the skin has been pulled back, rib cutters are used. You can imagine the snapping, crunching sound as you break through each rib. They used to use custom-made rib cutters, but nowadays they use garden shears (to cut through the ribcage). It’s more economical.” Continue reading on Spacing.