February 2010
20 posts
3 tags
What to do with all these "terrains vagues"?
How timely! … a competition asking us what we think about les terrains vagues … these abandoned spaces that are littered (excuse the pun) here and there across our cities.
What to do with these blights on our otherwise polished and taxable cityscapes? If you have ideas, insights, a project in mind, or just some abstract ranting you’d like to get off your chest, I would suggest...
January 2010
14 posts
4 tags
Landscape architecture at its best: Tanghe River...
Kongjian Yu of Turenscape took a slum and a garbage dump and turned it into this:
(photo found here.)
If they could do that, then certainly we think of something respectable for an abandoned field (that is already 90% of the way there) in the Mile-End, n’est-ce pas?!
I love it, what a great design.
Instead of simply laying grass and putting up street lights and benches (like most...
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La triste disparition d'une institution
Avez-vous vu l’entrée de notre maire (du Plateau) Luc Ferrandez ?
Il parle de la vente d’une institution sur Laurier Est (ci-dessous)…
…et le probable remplacement qui est énormément décevant (le voilà)…
L’article de Luc est très bien, et explique à quel point c’est un dossier difficile. Le proprietaire a le droit de vendre son business (pour...
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A "tool library" for the Mile-End?
(photo found here.)
I have been thinking this would be a great addition to our community. I imagine there are more informal, or closed, versions here already (are there?) but I love the idea of sharing a tool library with my neighbours.
I mean, there are a bunch of projects I would like to do, but I hate the idea of putting out so much money at Home Depot just to get started.
Here’s a...
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WatchAgain, another video showing how streets can be turned into public space. There are some great before and after shots, as well as some diagrams showing how drastically the traffic routing was changed.
We need this sort of thinking in Montréal, and I would love to know if anyone is working on this sort of thing. Do you know?
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WatchAmen, brother. I’ve talked about this so many times, but I like this little (enthusiastic) take on it. “It’s a policy choice.”
Go here for more details, and loads more examples.
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Transforming negative spaces
(all photos found here)
Wandering Ecologies, Weiss/Manfredi’s design submission for transforming Toronto’s Lower Don Lands has just won the American Architecture Award.
The design is based on much of the elements that we have been pushing for through this blog and through our volunteer efforts to save our biggest green space in the Mile-End.
That is, it is premised on reclaiming...
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Watchbikes, in copenhagen, in january. so pretty, these little human-powered vehicles.
:)
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Urban ecology, rewilding, biocorridors...it all...
(photo found here.)
And these folks in New York City have realized it too.
In fact, they have created an exhibit, called Safari 7 Reading Room that helps New Yorkers see the wildlife their city is sheltering.
Based around the city’s 7 Train, the exhibit helps people see the connections between urban infrastructure (and in this case, esp. transportation infrastructure) and wildlife:
...
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WatchLhasa (2e)
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