Planned art installation? Spontaneous intervention? New bike parking? We’re not sure what the inspiration was for these bikes playfully hanging from a tree in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park but it definitely got our attention. We love these unexpected and creative changes to our public spaces that make them more enjoyable experiences. Let us know if you saw this over the weekend and bonus points if you can tell us why the bikes were in the tree.
photo by Melissa Daniels
Here’s our weekly review rounding up the best stories and ideas in public space from cities around the world. This week we bring you Detroit’s urban farms, lessons from the Netherlands, Toronto’s Park People, and why the design of transit stations matters.
The Lidenhof Quarter in Zurich’s Old Town has a medieval feel with narrow passages, squares and fountains. I love the old-world charm I’ve come to expect from European cities, and envy the few who live in contemporary apartments amid beauty and history. Wandering about the Old Town between its many iconic churches, I stumbled on a hidden hilltop park that was a pseudo-spiritual experience. I will let you in on one of Zurich’s best kept secrets.
Our blog has grown quickly since our 2011 launch and we’re looking for new contributors to cover urban experience in Toronto and cities around the world.
We have some great opportunities to get involved:
Contributors
We are open to like-minded urban enthusiasts from a range of backgrounds. You don’t have to be a journalist but strong writing and photography is key. Contributors will be expected to produce one article per month at minimum.
Internships
We take on graduate students in journalism, urban design programs and marketing/social media programs. This is a great learning experience, with a flexible schedule, if you’re interested in blogging, editing, web site management and content promotion.
Contact us to learn more these roles. Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you’re interested in working with OpenCity.
Here’s our weekly review rounding up the best stories and ideas in public space from cities around the world. This week we bring you how to use your bike as a paintbrush, exploring the urban environment from a kid’s point of view, and a Twitter inspired building in Seoul.
Here’s our weekly review rounding up the best stories and ideas in public space from cities around the world. This week we bring you a visualization of shipping routes from around the world, a new Vancouverism, the Maputo People’s Wall, and an interview with author Taras Grescoe about his book on public transit, Straphanger.
As the days begin to get warmer, I am looking forward to spending some time at Sugar Beach, one of the newer waterfront public spaces that is part of Waterfront Toronto’s ambitious revitalization of the Toronto’s shoreline. The beach owes its name to Redpath Sugar, a still working piece of Toronto’s industrial past that remains adjacent to the park.
It’s not unusual to see a huge ship carrying thousands of tonnes of raw Brazilian sugar docked at the refinery, unloading its burnt-yellow cargo with cranes that send metallic clangs over the water. I love watching the workers who in turn gaze over the railing of the ship at the people lounging under Sugar Beach’s bubblegum pink umbrellas. It must be an uncommon sight to these workers to be able to stare at sunbathers and kids playing in water fountains while they do their work; but then again, it’s uncommon for a public space like Sugar Beach to share such close proximity to working industry.
Here’s our weekly review rounding up the best stories and ideas in public space from cities around the world. This week we bring you a new book on public transit around the world, a William Whyte film on the use of public spaces, and Georgia’s new bold architecture.
By Brandon Yan
This space on Granville Street near Broadway used to be a bus shelter for Translink’s 98 B-Line, a rapid bus system from Vancouver to Richmond that became extinct with the completion of the Canada Line. Since September of 2009, this sad space has sat unloved and unused: the number 10 bus that now runs along Granville Street stops about five or so metres to the north so no one waits here. Sometimes you’ll see the odd person sitting on the bench.
Whenever I see a sad space in the city I always envision its potential. A few months ago, the Vancouver Public Space Network (a group that I volunteer with), organized an ‘Ideas Jam’ and I brought up the possibility of transforming this old bus shelter into something useful again. A group of us came up with some pretty great ideas but I thought it’d be even better if we asked the community what they wanted. So, I bought a bunch of peel and stick chalkboard panels and some chalk and this past weekend I gathered a few friends and volunteers and we set it up. I kind of prefaced the whole experiment with a quote from Jane Jacobs: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
Here’s our weekly review rounding up the best stories and ideas in public space from cities around the world. This week we bring you Toronto typography, a Vancouver bus shelter turned community message board, Boston crowd-sources their potholes, and how white roofs could help keep us cool.
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