 [CBC] Wins is a jogger, and Rae is a cyclist. Wins jogs to and from the office several days a week year-round — six kilometres each way. During the non-winter months, Rae bikes to work at the university — 11 kilometres each way. We think of it as a way to see the city, check on buildings under construction, say hi to neighbours and friends on the way, enjoy the weather, be healthy. It's our thinking time. There's just one problem. At least two or three times a week, we witness a car failing to stop at the stop sign or crosswalk, or drivers going right through the red lights, turning into the pedestrian crossing lane, you name it … and our very lives are threatened. (Just in case you're wondering, yes, we wear an unfashionable number of fluorescent stripes, belts, vests and flashing lights.) We're not the only ones. Read more →  [CBC] "The City of Leonia refashions itself every day.… It is not so much by the things that each day are manufactured, sold, bought that you can measure Leonia's opulence, but rather by the things that each day are thrown out to make room for the new." [Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino] We know garbage is produced at an alarming rate. We also understand there are at least two costs associated with this so-called garbage. The first is the expense of taking it to the landfill and managing that landfill. Second is the value of the resources (metals, glass, compost, etc.) squandered by not reusing them. Our apparent overall indifference to these expenses and lost revenues may lie somewhere between a sense of privilege (as in the obsession with "the new" in the Invisible Cities excerpt) and not having the right systems in place to help us recycle. Read more →  [CBC] It takes a lot of courage to cross the street as a pedestrian, even if you're crossing "safely" at a controlled intersection. And crosswalks — well, they can be even more treacherous, as in, "Is that car going to stop? Yes … no … yikes, it's zooming past!" So what's a pedestrian to do in this dance with death? It's not as if drivers actually want to mow a pedestrian down, right? Read more →  [CBC] "Where's the planning department?" It's a question raised recently with accounts of some City of Winnipeg building inspectors using their days for personal activities. With a planning department tucked away — hardly visible from the street and with no clear front entrance — it comes as no surprise that the good work of city planners sometimes goes unnoticed. Read more →  [CBC] Pop up, Winnipeg! For a lively city, a safe city! We urbanites in Winnipeg love what our lively city has to offer. And we want our city to be safe. We are speaking about how we, young and old, all have the right to enjoy walking on the streets, riding our bikes, sitting at cafés, sunning ourselves, doing our work in public places, celebrating with our friends and families. Who goes to a city because they have great parking? And yet … look how Winnipeg is peppered with empty lots and gravel or asphalt deserts — otherwise known as parking lots — that were once developed (and will in future be redeveloped). Read more →  [CBC] Who among us hasn't desperately needed to find a washroom at some point and couldn't? Add in chronic health conditions, gender issues, economics, age, racism, child care, disabilities — you name it, and the need for public toilets in Winnipeg just screams for attention. Read more → Reimagining Point Douglas: how the historic district could become a model for a changing Winnipeg4/22/2019
 [CBC] Winnipeg's Point Douglas area is one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods — one that has a rich history, but also faces its own challenges. But as we look to its future, Winnipeg can lead with a new model of urban development in North and South Point Douglas. A model based on inclusion. A model of reconciliation. A model that recognizes the district's history and speaks directly to sweeping currents of change in Canada . . . Read more →  [CBC] The challenges with the Portage Avenue building are obvious — at 650,000 square feet, it's large and expensive to renovate. It's also been at the heart of a debate between advocates who supported the building's heritage status and the building owners who did not. What to do? . . . Read more →  [Canadian Architect] We need more public toilets now. We cannot rely on private businesses and the few-and-far-between public toilets in parks. A great city is only as great as its public toilets. This credo is even enshrined in a United Nations commitment made by our country in 2012: Canada recognizes the human right of everyone to safe drinking water and basic sanitation as essential to the right to an adequate standard of living. That is why we designed the Pop-Up Winnipeg Public Toilet . . . Read more → |
BridgmanCollaborative's CO-LAB! blog shares our passion for architecture, design and urban issues. What makes a good city? We ask careful questions, we listen, we work for change.
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