Vancouver Public Space Network

This is how starchitects fail. Vancouver House was supposed to breathe life into the jossscape beneath the Granville Bridge. But the novel Bjarke Ingels tower ...fails on the ground level. We get a big box drugstore and blank walls, where fine-grained entrepreneurial spaces could have breathed life into this concrete canyon. Cities have the power to demand better public space edges. Why don’t we use it? #urbanism See more

We are excited about our upcoming event with Urbanarium and VDW titled: Redesign Public Space! Get your tickets now for an engaging design studio as well as a mapping activity of what public spaces you love! And which ones you like to Redesign! #RedisignPublicSpace

It is Library Month and we are proud to share a project close to our hearts. We've been updating the Indigenous materials catalogue subject headings (about 20,0...00 so far!) to reflect the shift away from historical, colonial views of Indigenous people to current language. We are grateful to University of British Columbia (UBC) Xwi7xwa Library, MAIN (Manitoba Archive Information Network), Greater Victoria Public Library, Hamilton Public Library and Red River College (Manitoba) whose work helped guide us. We are excited to see more libraries join us in this important work. The Indigenous Decolonization Project is part of our ongoing commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. We know there is a lot more work to do. vpl.ca/truth-reconciliation

West End fan? Today's the last day to complete this survey on the Beach Ave temporary path design: https://shapeyourcity.ca/making-streets-//beach-ave-survey

Lumiere Vancouver is excited to be bringing a new piece to JDP this year: Prismatica! . Created by Raw Design out of Toronto, and first shown in Montreal, Prism...atica was created to engage visitors and invoke a feeling or mood from day to night. . The piece consists of 25 pivoting prisms that act as kaleidoscopes that glimmer under natural light by day and provide atmospheric lighting by night. . Prismatica will be lighting up Jim Deva Plaza from November 5 - 19th, 2020. We can't wait to see your photos! See more

Today is the last day to take our survey on the temporary path on Beach Avenue. Do you like it, think it can be improved or should it go? Fill out the survey to let us know. Your feedback will help us refine a modified design and inform future decisions. http://ow.ly/6VUn50BBos8

Today at 6:30PM PT!

Our survey on the temporary path on Beach Avenue closes on Tuesday. Do we keep it, alter it or get rid of it? Take our survey before Oct. 12 to let us know your thoughts. Your feedback will help us refine a modified design and inform future decisions. http://ow.ly/6VUn50BBos8

Do you work or volunteer with a community group? You can apply for a Neighbourhood Matching Fund to creatively enhance parks and public spaces through art, environment, or stewardship projects. Deadline is Nov 3, 2020 at 4pm. Details at vancouver.ca/NMF

Earlier this week, City Council discussed a report on the Vancouver Plan an ongoing planning initiative that is intended to create a framework for city-wide growth and change. After a year of engagement with the community, the process has now resulted in 10 provisional goals. Public space parks, plazas, streets, libraries and community centres appears to be woven throughout. Our take: while it’s good to see public space *implied* in the provisional list, it would be ...more helpful to see it actually highlighted in the language of the goals. A strong network of city-serving and neighbourhood-scale public spaces and places is critical to the wellbeing of a growing and diversifying city. Naming this need is important. http://wp.me/p4seIs-2rQ

This year’s Vancouver Christmas Market is cancelled. The holiday marketplace usually features more than 80 vendors at Jack Poole Plaza between November and Dec...ember. Organizers say they’re postponing the annual event to 2021 to keep vendors and guests safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter posted online, organizers said they spent every moment possible looking for ways to pull off the annual event. But they couldn’t get approval under the province’s safety guidelines. All public gatherings in B.C. are capped at 50 people, including indoor and outdoor seasonal fairs. Organizers say they’re looking at ways for people to enjoy the Christmas market from home this year. Photo taken in 2019 by Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press.

"If you look at even some very, very old aspects of architecture and design, going all the way back to the stoa [covered walkway] of the ancient Greeks [and] the stepwells of ancient India, people have been trying to wrestle with how to account for rain in different ways..." https://www.cbc.ca//british/inside-out-vancouver-1.5765423

Attention business owners who have had to shut down their storefront: Sign up to have your boarded windows decorated by an artist, free of charge! https://join.vancity.com/mural-project/

"This panel discussion addresses the social as well as physical qualities of our homes and intimate communities as a big part of the story of coming through a pandemic intact. We address the connections between social cohesion and public health and ask what it will take to insert principles and practices of kindness and sociability in urban policy, moving forward from the pandemic." http://www.sfu.ca//being-kind-how-much-sociability-matters

DREAM WEAVER (2020) - When you find yourself downtown Vancouver, go see my new mural with @laurenbrevner ! Be sure to take a step back to see the many woven int...ricacies of Salish art in this piece: the ceremonial button blanket, the thunderbird, hay chqa. DREAM WEAVER, an intentional blend of cultures, is a symmetrical, teachable, powerful reclamation of minority groups in the Lower Mainland. Under the Creator’s Eye, the women will be a daily reminder that our past is always present and that our actions are entwined with the physical and spiritual world. Thanks to @vanmuralfest for the opportunity to diversify and return Salish art to downtown Vancouver. Thanks to @michaelrobertbock for grueling the scaffolding with us. Thanks to @reduxdelux for the help painting. Thanks to @davidvertesi for the opportunity to make our work. Thanks to @drewstuff for curation of the multiple projects around the Bentall building! Thanks to @hudsonppi for sponsoring the project! Photography by @me_sh_ele #vanmuralfest #coastsalishart #laurenbrevner #jamesharry @blm_van@vanmuralfest @downtownvan #vanmuralfest #vancouvermuralfestival #salishart #coastsalishart #indigenousart #northwestcoastnativeart #publicart #mural #muralart #muralpainting

Did you stop by one of our pop-up plazas this summer? If so, we’d love to hear from you! The future of these pop-up plazas will be decided in the coming weeks a...nd your input on whether the plazas continue on or come back next year is needed via this survey: http://ow.ly/DniM50BDMcb Pop-up plazas were launched this summer as part of our COVID-19 community and business recovery efforts. The plazas are helping to make use of public space for residents to eat, visit, rest, and enjoy the weather while maintaining a safe distance from others. The picture below is from our plaza at 21st and Main. For a map of plaza locations and more information, visit http://ow.ly/Iekb50BDMca

Every Child Matters. Today, we honour our family members and all of the Indigenous children who were sent to Residential Schools and Day Schools. The annual Or...ange Shirt Day on September 30th creates awareness about the harm Residential Schools inflicted on the children. It is an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy they have left behind. A day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter, and so do those that have been affected. The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to Residential Schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year. To read more: https://www.orangeshirtday.org/