Toronto!!

"Cities have been described as the
greatest of all human creations"
- page. 8 "Cities: the Groundwork
Guide" by John Lorinc.
[Quote cited from Joel Kotkin, The City: A Global History]

I'm looking forward to investigating this one - and seeing it again with new eyes.

Pics to come!!

Social Networks & Thriving Communities

I've been reading a lot lately on the link between life satisfaction & social-connectedness- and I'm thrilled to be interviewing John Helliwell - an prof from UBC - about it next week. The topic? "Subjective Well-Being and the Importance of Social Networks for Thriving Communities." This article on the Vancouver Board of Trade website argues that successful companies know how the value of connecting financial and human capital: "For success to be sustainable, strong social groups are required within our companies and between our companies and the societies in which we live." The key is engagement. (*more on this later!)

Note to self: read this. (Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam)

This Mess We're In

Lately, I've been reading a lot about cities and all their problems. Sprawl. Low-density suburbs and myths of high-density development. Poverty. Local governments making "subtle distinctions between residents, and deciding which groups are more or less entitled to the city's support" (pg. 14 Cities: a Groundwork Guide by John Lorinc). "Separation of uses" or "single-use" development vs. mixed-use development. Specifically, I am realizing that our city needs a lot of work and I am beginning to have faith that individual neighbourhoods will be the building blocks to creating a more vibrant, future-friendly city.

This song just came on & it seems so perfect tonight:

This Mess We're In: PJ Harvey Feat. Thom Yorke

"the city sun sets over me"

Soon, I'll get to the part about smart growth, new urbanism, sustainable architecture and transit oriented developments (TODs), but for tonight- sing it PJ.

• "Suburbia fails us in large part because it is so abstract. It is the idea of a place rather than a place." -James Howard Kunstler
• "[S]mart growth isn't just about rebalancing the way cities develop. It's also about restoring the notion that our urban spaces should have a "sense of place"." (p. 48, John Lorinc. Cities: a Groundwork Guide")