The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 16 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 57 posts. There were 92 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 38mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was October 11th with 335 views. The most popular post that day was Week 4: The Post-World-War II Period; Transportation-land use relationships; Ethics.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, en.wordpress.com, royalcityrag.ca, mail.live.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for future city, banksy, dolk, future cities, and banksy art.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Week 4: The Post-World-War II Period; Transportation-land use relationships; Ethics October 2009

Interesting Times re-used May 2009
4 comments

Why be sweet to people? – week 3 October 2009

DOLK and street art; before reading about Urban Planning… September 2009
2 comments

This is Kent Hakull calling: Banksy, the City needs you June 2009

Gil Penalosa spoke at the CAPS-ACEAU conference in Guelph this past February, and I love watching and hearing his presentation over and over again. It’s inspirational and creative; it’s fuel for thought…and action. So, let’s get on with it – watch and enjoy!

The Video

Gil Penalosa inspires planning students

However, I also take great interest in all kinds of planning related ideas and experiences, believing the driving energy behind all my efforts are fueled not by what I am told I have to do but rather by what I feel I should do. I thus celebrate liberty, the liberty to celebrate art and ideas, on this blog now and then, in between my more specialized planning research pondering likely to increase over the next year.

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Edgar Müller got my attention today, when his art was passed along by a fellow planning student. His 3-dimensional art is not of the secret and controversial kind, like fellow street artists DOLK or Banksy, but it nevertheless opens your eyes and perhaps mind when viewing it.

Although, I must admit Müller’s painting does not get my mind working as much as Banksy manages, when he puts out pictures like this:

It can be seen in most aspects of our dominant culture, in the likes of gambling, technological gadgets, food preparation, all-in-one stores, key-ready family houses, complete vacation packages, numbers-based vs. values-based election promises, war declarations, and, naturally, in the never-ending search, sale and consumption of “silver bullets”, be it slimming pills, happy pills, erection pills or a solution to any other instant symptom-based problem at hand.

Whatever urge considered, holding off the urge to achieve instant satisfaction instead of a delayed but promised greater satisfaction is no little challenge.

Urban Planning that Satisfies

Trends in current urban planning takes increasingly place within the built boundary of cities. After decades of intense land development at the undeveloped fringes of cities, now the pendulum is swinging towards rearranging past land uses, increase job and population density and thus also changing the flow of people and services within and between the urban boundaries. It can be labeled Smart Growth, but to city planners it’s in the end a matter of City Building. Immigration is the driving factor, which brings both opportunities and challenges to all cities inside and outside of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Now, there are typically 4 actors in this drama.

• Land owners and building corporations
• The City bureaucrats
• The City Councillors
• The Public

Often the case is that everyone wants what’s best for the City. That’s a good starting point. However, new planning requires new solutions, which require new consumer tastes and products, and new public acceptance. Getting the majority of people (consumers and established residents) to respond positively to the desired changes is one challenge, and getting the drivers of change to responsibly bring about the change (socially, economically and environmentally; i.e. respect community character, public spending and environmental carrying capacity) is the flip-side of the coin.

It’s within this paradigm developers, planners and residents must meet at the middle ground to both reach the objective of smarter growth patterns. Time and education are two major components in this regard. The foreign must learn the local realities and the local must learn the larger context. Instant gratification is however not a likely result to such a process. Thus, to all who want to be part of the change – the march to the ocean for salt was done by foot (a Gandhi metaphor) – and this transformation will likely change participants as much as it changes their neighbourhood.

The danger is to lose the patience, settle for the quick satisfaction and miss the opportunity to reach a twice as good outcome (that’s a marshmallow metaphor). This goes for all parties, naturally. As the video illustrates, that’s easier said than done…

Let the new blood flow

Urban planning is dominated by plans at local, municipal, regional, provincial and even national and international levels, which for the most part have to be in conformity. Urban planning is also dominated by Growth (a quantitative distinction to the more qualitative Development), from the local to the international level as well. In addition, culture plays a significant role. Thus, the way society operates and normalizes elements of religion, economy, politics, environment, education, language, logic, sexuality, ideology, values, priorities, tastes and preferences influences what is wanted and what we get. (To expose my fascination of the dark side of this topic, I admit to take great interest in movies like: Fahrenheit  451, Nineteen eighty-four 1984, Animal Farm, and also Equilibrium.) But the matter of fact is that the gap between poor and rich widens, the fences and walls between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ expands and strengthens, the control over resources and mass-production sits in fewer hands, and the economic, political and environmental consequences bring us closer to the ‘tragedy of the commons’. (Sorry for the doom and gloom)

Banksy

Nevertheless, it is the ability to critically reflect on what society is doing to us and what we are doing to the society that makes Banksy so interesting to me.

A critique of the madness of the system, if you will. But also a celebration of the beauty of the individual. And this is an important message, that “system builders” (among them, urban planners) must keep in mind. The room for rebellion with a cause is of great value, in stark contrast to the individual, self-destructive, trivial rebellion whole generations seems to adapt while they smoke their brains out, drink their sadness away and destroy all energy and originality required in the production of thoughtful art.

Urbanism and Resilience

To embrace all the passion present concerning urban planning and resilience is likely future planners’ greatest challenge. Be it suburban sprawl or slums, they are now part of our urban fabric and the objective should be to avoid their negative and destructive qualities. That does however not directly mean eradication in exchange for something new.

Basic needs may be served in the suburb, but at what cost and for how long? The slum may not easily provide basic needs or corporate and government land-speculative profits, but they are the most absorbent space for new urban dwellers without land or money. The question is, how can basic needs be better served? (Thanks Brugmann, your insight is brilliant.)

For this we need to better understand, appreciate and utilize theory of urbanism and urban resilience. Curious? I am. I can see myself easily devote my professional energy to this topic for years to come. So thanks Banksy; you share and generate passion, and, as is well documented, passion is one of humanity’s most energizing and stimulating emotions.

I had this incredible urge to travel last week, but the sunshine came, convincingly lulling me to the rhythm of long breakfasts with eggs and coffee, while reading Spacing Magazine; seeing the trees turn green and birds building nests; giving in to Cooper’s tireless begging for play and fun; sipping hand crafted beer while reading the Book of Negroes; watching once more the Lord of the Rings.

My travel bug left me. I have all I want here at home for now.

The sunshine.

The company.

The leisure.

The activity.

Hoping the bug will still be my friend and return when needed, not being offended by this false promise.

So, what is there to do, in Waterloo?

List to do, in Waterloo:

• read magazines and books
• play with Cooper
• have fun with Kerri
• play soccer with a new team
• take photographs
• hike trails wide and far
• upgrade a CV and organize files on the mac
• further advance thesis background research
• attend a public meeting in Guelph
• eat ice-cream
• explore Toronto
• write letters to friends on the other side of the pond
• make lasagna

“Det er eit sutalaust liv”, my mom used to say. And that’s OK. It’s great to enjoy this short period of worry-free daily activity.

Vancouver
“Being in Vancouver” is a powerful pull factor. I can feel it in my mind these days, generating emotions and visual poetry silently deep in the back of my head where dreams start their journey. I’ve had this happening before, pulling me to destinations without knowing when or how to get there. We’ll see, but I do like the feeling of walking against the wind.

UBC: SCARP
I’ve never heard of Leonie Sandercock, John Friedmann or Lawrence D. Frank either, and I’m very glad they’ve been brought to my attention by Karen Quinn Fung, currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Planning at the University of British Columbia. It’s almost kind of funny, but they all focus on topics of great interest to me. I have an international development studies background, I find planning/development theory more interesting than technicalities of planning/development praxis, and I’m currently writing my thesis on public space and equity. With Karen’s help, this little bit of ‘dream fodder’ makes my day. Happy.

It’s a John Butler Trio and their “Valley” song kind of day!

In fact, it’s Friday and I’m wrapping up a last essay for a sixth course on Public Participation and Geographic Information Systems. (Yes, I’m an overachiever, but that’s why I’m doing this blog as well…because I want and can). My life philosophy is to set directions, at multiple levels, according to values and idealism, but at the same time allow the path and the ones along it be as gnarled and interesting as it may be. (The word GNARLED, by the way, is the only word that stuck from the dreadful weekly spelling bees I had to be part of as an international exchange student back in 1997/98 at that white little Baptist High School in Mississippi, USA). Consequently, my thesis research proposal is now complete and ready to sink in and establish itself in my mind over the summer.

Thesis Research

I am curious to research citizen and planner values concerning the physical and social dimensions of public space/realm (Downtown Guelph, Ontario, Canada), and how public space is valued in the City of Guelph’s forthcoming Downtown Secondary Plan. There is much to be said about public spaces. There is much to be said about Urban Growth Centres. There is much to be said about urban equity.

What is valued? How do we plan? For whom are we planning? What role do public spaces play?

Battery Recharge

I’m tired. Fewer posts than anticipated have been produced. It is due to heavy work load and other commitments, trust me. I’m therefore looking forward to Monday – my last essay will be completed by then (crossing fingers) – and I will have a couple of weeks off, before taking on the Research Assistant position I’ve committed to over the summer. Interviewing planners and asking about Smart Growth. Sounds fun and interesting. I’m happy.

Uptown Waterloo is a Urban Growth Centre (1 in 24) within the Greater Golden Horseshoe, centred on Toronto, as identified by the ‘Places to Grow’ Plan. There are requirements to level of density (200 people and jobs combined per hectare) required to be located within the Uptown. Current solution: BarrelYards. It’s basically one big project to solve a substantial part of the intensification requirements. It’s a brownfield development, and there will be commercial, retail and residential units reaching tall into the sky (25 stories, max allowed in the city) with underground parking. Will it be for the rich or the poor, or both? Will it be for the young or the old, or both? But it will likely not be for families. It’s a milking cow, generating money at a scale that makes everyone nod. Eyes are sparking.

Public Consultation is surely part of the plans, but the level of public participation is less impressive (influence on site, design, features, approach etc.). The documents are clear, the people who spoke at the meetings wanted lower and less intrusive buildings, more spread out throughout the city. The citizens can say what they want – that’s their right – but it’s not part of the plans, unless the plans already wanted what the citizens asked. Will these buildings be nice 50 years from now? Will this be better for energy efficiency and social solidarity? Possible, or maybe not. It depends on the economy and occupants and many factors – factors not discussed in open. To me it is clear that the major value that drives this project is money. Sure, it solves good objectives like build up, not out and strengthen downtown through walking, public transport and all such benefits, but does it make the Uptown a better place to be? And for whom?

Urbanism certainly is not addressed in Uptown Waterloo, far from it. It tries to imitate and manipulate and make a corporate silver bullet profit while at it, and who’s to say that there is something wrong about that?! Resilient urbanism takes a very different form, argues Jeb Brugmann. Indoor, climate controlled shopping malls was a calculated business approach to the ‘main street’ traditional independent shopping street. It lives on in the suburbs, but when introduced to the downtown areas it failed. But what is really urbanism? And what is resilience? Why does values that guide planning policies matter in praxis? What does it mean to plan in a values-rational manner? This my friends you will need to read my thesis to better understand, (to be completed April of 2011).

And yes, I am a big fan of Jeb Brugmann. I’ve written extensively about him and his book “Welcome to the Urban Revolution” in posts less than a year ago. And yes, now that I’m steering the direction of the upcoming CAPS conference (February 3 – 5, 2011), I will try to get him to be a keynote speaker!