Reopening Vancouver: People, Streets, Food & Cars
How do we maintain safe physical distancing practices when enjoying the city?
On a typical commercial street’s 3.5-metre-wide sidewalk, two pedestrians can safely pass each other with two metres between them. However, couples must go single file when passing to maintain a safe distance.
Some suggest that this space can be found beyond the curb, in the parking lane. Perhaps we could create more curbside parklets, now seen in front of a few restaurants and coffee houses. Parking spaces could become umbrella-sheltered restaurant patios – think of a trattoria in Italy.
One of the earliest examples of space reallocation and pedestrian use of a parking lane: the hundred-block Lonsdale in the City of North Vancouver
Perhaps we could create more curbside parklets, now seen in front of a few restaurants and coffee houses. Parking spaces could become umbrella-sheltered restaurant patios – think of a trattoria in Italy.
Cities from Oakland to Paris are turning hundreds of kilometres of these streets into “slow streets,” with signs limiting cars, letting pedestrians, cyclists and people who use mobility aids use the street to move and get physical activity safely. Could we do the same with Vancouver’s greenway network?
Presenters include
- Vancouver City Councillor Lisa Dominato, who has presented a resolution for the city to explore some of these opportunities
- Urbanist Tamim Raad, Principal of Access Planning
- Clare Warner, Coordinator of Public Spaces and Placemaking at the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association
- A guest from the Vancouver Public Space Network
Wednesday, May 20
12:00 pm
Hosted online. Registration required (currently full),
