Tag Archives: placemaking

A Geography of Grieving: Space, Place and Giving Ground to Loss

We move in our communities and help shape them. But we rarely speak of how grieving and loss change how we perceive and connect to places, or how that connection to the land and community helps us move forward. It’s an aspect of placemaking–the way we create places around us to be distinct–that I’d never considered until it became such… Read more »

Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place 2016: Links & Highlights

The 2016 Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference  happened in Vancouver, BC from September 12 to 15 and I thought it might be interesting to pass on a few highlights. With an event program the size of a heftier magazine and held in conjunction with the Project for Public Spaces and Placemaking Week, the conference felt somewhat like the… Read more »

Building Great Cities Starts with Teaching Kids to Build

“Okay,” I say looking over at my construction partner, “you ready?” “Ready,” she says, giving her safety glasses one last nudge and shifting the electric jigsaw in her grip. She is determined.  She is capable.  And she is six years old. And just like that, she pulls the saw trigger, the blade whirs as we both help guide it, and… Read more »

Sense and the City, Part 1: Your Nose Knows

The other day I wasn’t just walking through the city, I was stomping. My mind was a swirl of angry thoughts and I was moving fast across the pavement.  I was completely focused inside my head and paying exactly zero attention to the world around me. Not the gathering dusk or other people or the buildings.  They were technically in… Read more »

When Activist Worldviews Collide

      4 Comments on When Activist Worldviews Collide

Ever experienced a community process where you shared a common objective with others but your approaches seemed worlds apart and maybe even resulted in strife and conflict? Such a situation often seems all too common and can be demoralizing.  Even more so, conflict over styles of approach has real implications in terms of our ability to make change happen. So,… Read more »

The Little Things That Make a City

      No Comments on The Little Things That Make a City

I was struck by how little things truly make a difference in a city at our neighbourhood barbershop this week. Under its previous owner, the Cook Street Barbershop had become grimy and seemingly unloved.  Walking past on the way to the grocery store next door, there was never a reason to pause.  The windows were dirty, the inside looked grim… Read more »

Water, water everywhere: sustainable redevelopment in Kolding, Denmark

Kolding, Denmark's Bioworks facility.

From the Vault: I originally wrote the following story for Momentum Magazine in 2003 and had completely forgotten about it until speaking the other day with a co-worker interested in aquaponics. That chat made me remember the first time I’d ever seen water, plants and urban fish in action together, in Kolding, Denmark.  While over a decade has passed since this… Read more »

Rockin’ it New and Old School: Transit Data and Planner Scratch Maps

It goes without saying that changing technology has had huge impacts over the last 20 years, and its impact on how we plan cities and transit systems is no different. This post is about some of the best parts of those changes…and a love letter to the “old school” practice of marking up maps that I still believe is an… Read more »

The Five Essential Ingredients of Successful Community Engagement

Whether shaping community plans or organizing to make change, how we come together has as huge an impact on our success as what we do or talk about while we’re there. Over the years I’ve been a part of many different processes, organizations and projects geared at making change happen. Based on what I’ve learned—sometimes the hard way–here’s my take… Read more »