I’m outta here – back at the beginning of April. I may have the opportunity to blog a bit while out of town, but otherwise you’ll have to get your urban fix from other sources.
And here’s the best one:
WE: VANCOUVER / 12 MANIFESTOS is the feature exhibit these days at the Vancouver Art Gallery – “an opportunity to shift our perspective, to scrutinize the life of the city itself, to observe its continual transformation and to acknowledge some of the extraordinary people and projects leading that change.”
I confess, I expected a lot of ‘Art Talk’ – the vernacular of artists talking to artists – and exhibits that required explanations to be comprehended. There’s a little of that, but fortunately so much more. And it’s big, covering the main floor of the Gallery, worthy of several trips rather than trying to take in all at once.
Here’s the review from the Sun. Here is the link to the microsite: WE: Vancouver . And here are some highlights:
OCCUPY:SHAPE Architecture & the concept of laneway housing in the Strathcona neighbourhood
MOVE: Critical Mass speaking to the bike movements throughout the city
REMEMBER: Robert Kleyn’s Kingsway project, Michael Turner’s 167 feature films
DETOUR: The Goodweather Collective is the group who contributed to the roundabout project rethinking the way these spaces could be utilized –
VIDEO: the Goodweather Collective website has a good little video which illustrates this of a person going up to hug the trees in the roundabouts. (Can those trees be real?!)
EVENTS you may like to attend in the Gallery in conjunction with exhibition:
Tuesday, March 22 at 7pm: Tour of WE: Vancouver/Trevor Boddy
Join architecture curator, critic and consultant Trevor Boddy for a special tour of WE: Vancouver. Curator of such exhibitions as Vancouverism: Architecture Builds the City and Dialogue of Cities at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, Boddy provides a critical interpretation of Vancouver’s urban development and planning in relation to the exhibition.
Saturday, April 9, 9:30am-5pm: Conference / SUSTAIN: Vancouver
How might current models of culture, ecology and economics shape the future of urban living? How can we reimagine the place we live? This one-day conference will present eminent speakers in an exploration of present and future sustainability, including Michael Green of MGB Architecture, Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon, co-founder of Living Lab, and Nick Sulley, founding principal of Shape Architecture.
Please visit our website for speakers and details at www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. For tickets, please call 604.662.4700.
Tickets: $65 adults; $55 members; $30 students (with valid ID).
Thanks a big bunch to Jennifer Wheeler.
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I hope to be back for this, but you should plan to take in the presentation from this year’s Fellow at SFU Urban Studies:
The Sustainability Dividend of Building a Better Bus System: Evidence from Seoul’s Public Transit Reform
Featuring Kee Yeon Hwang
President of Korea Transport Institute, Dr Hwang, will explore how Seoul took its metropolitan bus service to a new level beginning in July 2004, through a reform of operating practices that greatly enhanced performance and service quality. This acclaimed reorganization of policy demonstrates the capacity of local government leadership to positively impact the economic efficiency of public transit, the consumer welfare of transit users, and the sustainability of urban mobility.
This free lecture is at SFU Surrey, Room 2600 – March 31, 6:30 pm.
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RESILENT CITIES IN THE FRASER VALLEY
If you read my post on the End of Strip in Abbotsford, you can see some of the challenges they face. But willing to take them on.
Something apropos from the Planning Institute of B.C.:
Corey Newcomb, an organizer, says:
We are trying to bring the discussion on resiliency and sustainability out to the Fraser Valley – where arguably it is needed most. This symposium is the brainchild of Sharon Fletcher, Director of Planning in Mission, and is aimed at changing the way the rural communities of the Fraser Valley approach city-building and links with transportation, food security etc.
We have some great speakers and I think it is a worthwhile event.
