Urban Synergies

Just want to throw in a quick apology to all of youse, as I have been less than apt at posting in the last little bit. Have been crazy with grant applications and shifting to a new job. Exciting, but extremely exhausting and time consuming. I promise I will be back with new and interesting topics of conversation in the near future. Maybe we could take this opportunity to flip the script and you guys can tell me what you want to hear more about. Feel free to hit me up via email or drop a message on the facebook page. Suggestions are more then welcome and hey I can’t hate on opportunities to hear from you and learn about new and exciting initiatives happening around the world.
Hope all is well with you wherever you are!

Image via http://undr.tumblr.com/

Two summers ago I had the great pleasure of working with the Graffiti Transformation Project, through my job at Cecil Community Centre. The Project was cancelled last year and a new initiative started in its place. Not sure how I feel about it just yet, but we are all being given an opportunity to learn more about the program this Thursday.

STREET ART FUNDING IN TORONTO
Info Session about the StreetARToronto Grant program and discussion on innovation and community engagement in public art
Thursday April 19
4:00pm – 6:00pm
Art Starts Community Arts Centre
Yorkdale Shopping Centre (416-656-9994)
3401 Dufferin St. Lower Level
The Neighborhood Arts Network, Art Starts, and Whippersnapper Galleryinvite artists, cultural workers, and interested community members to join us on April 19th for an information session about StreetARToronto funding, followed by a discussion on innovation and community engagement in public art. Special guests will include StreetARToronto manager Lilie Zendel , Joshua Barndt (Whippersnapper), Katherine Earl (Art Starts), Sean Martindale, and more (TBA).

BACKGROUND

In 1996 the City of Toronto launched the Graffiti Transformation Project, a city-wide initiative that aimed to counter illegal graffiti and facilitate neighborhood improvement through youth mural projects. Each summer for the past 15 years upwards of 20 community centers and service agencies across Toronto hosted these programs, hiring professional artists and local youth. Hundreds of murals have resulted from the GTP program and have played a major role in shaping the visual landscapes of our neighborhoods. These programs have too nurtured communities, offered a much-needed platform for legitimized youth expression, and incubated the careers of dozens of local artists.
In late 2011 the GTP program was cancelled by the City of Toronto; a new program, StreetARToronto was launched on March 30th 2012.
This is a FREE event, but space is limited.
Please RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) before April 16th or call 416 828 1419

For all those of you who have been beautifying our public space with street art for years or for those of you who support those who do, come out to this and lets get all the knowledge we need to keep street art alive in Toronto!
         

I woke up Saturday morning with a mission in mind, take to the streets and see what the city has to offer. I made my first and most needed stop at my friends new juice bar, the Juice Dept, a great little spot decorated in minimalist white and poured concrete. I was greeted by my friend Yannick and really who can resist getting a juice with that energy coming at ya? A delicious juice it was! My first libation a custom mix of avocado, mango, ginger and almond milk, was a delectable surprise of creamy and soothing flavours and solidified my need for freshness in my daily diet. I have been back twice and its only Tuesday. Sufficed to say if you haven’t checked it out yet you should definitely swing by for some au natural. Located at 8-160 Baldwin Street, it is a perfect stop on a weekend in Kensington or on your rush down to the financial core. I recommend the “Boogie”, an expertly crafted juice with apple, lemon, passionfruit and childhood dreams (read an adorable 7-year old by the name of Kyran made this one up). For those of you in the twitter-sphere make sure to document your delight @JuiceDept to get all those tweeters salivating. Cheers!

Based on the principle of camera obscura, Paris-based photographers Romain Alary and Antoine Levi bring the outside in with their city centric reflections.

The artist says:
“The hotel Au vieux panier asked me to design a room, I first told them that I wasn’t interested doing just decoration in the room but I wanted
to create something that will look more like an installation. I thought about it also as a huge canvas where I needed to think about the composition
and play with the empty white part of the room to accentuate more the idea of Chaos on the other part. Then I asked my friend Tober who gat a great
old school style for tags, Grizz who is also the man behind the camera and Don Cho who is a Hip Hop singer from Marseille but who used to be
a tagger from my home town Toulouse. It took one week to do the whole thing cause the idea was to exaggerate what you can usually see in some
abandoned places. Too much tags, too much drips, too much sentences, too much throw ups ... What I also wanted to show is that people can appreciate
any type of graffiti, even the more basic, it’s just a matter of point of view ...”

Prismatica by Kit Webster

Stumbled across this eerily fascinating video over on the Urban Tick blog. Watch and Enjoy!

Twas a spellbinding experience, watching Everything Under the Moon by Shary Boyle. Had the great pleasure of taking in the final showing of the series and I must say it was with extreme delight. From the simplicity and playfulness of the application of the overhead projector as tool, to the sharpness and detail of the drawings and transitions from scene to scene. The beautiful voices and the perfect musical accompaniment, weave a beautiful story of the loss of the earth’s creatures and the power of friendship that is created between Idared (a bee) and Limbertwig (a bat) as they venture out to answer their questions about the change they are seeing all around them. The performance was whimsical and educational, and provided a great and stimulating platform for gaining a better understanding of how each of earth’s creatures play a pivotal role in the ecosystem we call home. This show has definitely wet my pallet and incited a great excitement for the rest of what Harbourfront’s World Stage has to offer. Cheers to Shary Boyle and Christine Fellows for an inspiring and truly awesome show!

L.E.D. Surfer by Jacob Sutton

I had the great pleasure of attending the event Doors Wide Open at the Annex location of the Centre for Social Innovation on January 24th. Inspired by the book “Making Good” by Billy Parish, this event was a networking event aimed at youth 18-24, in which industry professionals from a variety of community related professions shared their experiences and journeys of how they go to their current jobs/careers. The event was a highly charged, extremely beneficial event that in my opinion should most definitely repeated every couple of months for a new group of youth. Consisting of a speed networking portion (yes think speed dating with a potential employer slant) and a series of facilitated group workshops that helped the youth to discover their own thoughts on getting a job/career and how to think outside the box or break their own patterns where job searching is considered. A couple of exercises that really got me thinking were one in which we had to match professionals to different jobs then they were already doing and explain why we thought they would be a good fit, and one regarding branding, in which we were tasked with with choosing high visibility professionals and brands that we identified with and explained why we would use them to describe our own personal brand. These were great exercises in understanding transferable skills in the professional world and brand identity and evolution. Above all else they were a great way to do a little self reflection.  The speed-networking was also greatly beneficial in that it placed youth in front of professionals who had jobs they would or already have applied for and allowed us to speak with them about their experiences leading to acquiring their job and ask them advice on how to get a job like theirs or within their related field. Helped me immensely in my quest to set up an informal interview or two each month. All in all I met great people and have made a lot of connections both with youth and professionals that I will be working to foster in to the future.

I need to take this time to say a big THANK YOU to the Doors Wide Open team who did a phenomenal job and made what has usually been a rather dry topic matter one in which I was sad to see end when the time came. Great times!

The final exhibition in the Migrating Landscapesseries has officially opened Toronto! Housed in the atrium of Brookfield Place, the exhibition includes the work of 25 teams of architects and of course the amazing work of the Department of Unusual Certainties, adding their signature timeline depicting the development of Toronto through the eyes of migration.  The exhibition runs until February 24th. All of the winning submissions from this competition will be showcased in Winnipeg for the national exhibition, which will be opening on March 15th at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. If you are in or around Winnipeg, check out the winning submissions there. If Manitoba is not in your travel plans, but Italy is, check out the winning submissions in Venice as part of the Venice Biennale, running from August 29th to November 25th. I know I will be there soaking in the amazingness.

*All images c/o the Department of Unusual Certainties

So simple, so beautiful. Love this video called “Dancing Particles - Reflection” by Mohamed Oumoumad.

Found this great building on the Design Defined website. What a great little revamp of a building. I love the playfullness of the slot machine idea.

Production Assistant needed? is it you? Lovehard, a wonderful organization headed up by the lovely Char Loro, is looking for a production assistant intern. Check out the posting here and prepare for your life to be changed!

Leave it up to Amsterdam to not only make a statement and have a ball doing it. The Miktor en Molf project is exactly that, a community pool painted in the gay pride colours, a passion project turned good time, with a wee bit of nudity sprinkled in. Here Here Molf & Roy! Hope your pool does become the second gay monument in Amsterdam.

Sorry I haven’t been up on the blog recently. I have been caught in a tumblr addiction. Check my new tumblr out here. http://theyethatwanders.tumblr.com/ Have been feeling a strong pull to visual inspiration lately, so have turned my focus there for a bit. Won’t be long before I have some great stuff to post on here though. Keep posted.

2011 was an interesting year. One full of personal and professional growth and many realizations that are sure to make 2012 a year of greatness. There are a slew of things I want to get accomplished this year and so I have promised myself that by publishing a 2012 to do list I will be held accountable for their completion. So here goes!

Professional:
1. Monthly music swap - This one I am super excited about and if you know me have probably already heard me talk about it. Keep your eyes and ears open!
2. Put on a large-scale art exhibition
3. Brush up on my technical skills - Practice makes perfect right?
4. Design a public space - whether this project is realized in concept or creation I will be happy.
5. Coordinate an urban art installation - this could take on many different forms, but this one by Theresa Himmer has been floating around in my brain in a big way.

Personal:
1. Learn how to knit - after countless hours watching mi madre knit up a storm, I have dedicated this year to making my mastering of this craft a reality.
2. Travel, travel, travel - I’m thinking within the continent. If there is one thing 2011 taught it was that there is so much to see in North America, Canada especially!
3. Attend more lecture series and workshops - I had the great pleasure of attending the Social Finance Forum at the Mars Discovery District and will now make it a vow to expand my mind.

I am sure as the year goes on things will be added to the list, but in the mean time I will keep you all posted as these things become a reality. Feel free to shoot me an email if these are things your would like to accomplish too, because we all know collaboration is my ultimate forte!

Found this awesome piece of Prague street art on the Fashion Flash blog.. Realized I haven’t said a happy new year to you all, so here is to a great new year upon us, full of great art and community love!

This amazing home created by Ryue Nishizawa is a thoughtful and functional look at what can be done to add usable space to already packed urban setting. The lot measures just 8 x 4m! Found this over at the Today and Tomorrow blog, a new find I am adding to my growing list of daily/weekly searches.

Found this over at robotmafia.com. Beautiful footage of the projections placed on the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in celebration of UAE National Day 2011.

Can I get an amen for those who are able to capture the natural processes of earth so eloquently?!? Take a lock at these shots of a volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain of south-central Chile. The volcano had layed dormant for 50 years before erupting on June 4, 2011. Absolutely stunning shots for National Geographic  give us the great pleasure of seeing what is truly a spectacular event.

Stumbled across the CJWHO Tumblr... wow! Design knows no bounds and the imagination is a powerful thing when allowed to run free. Makes me wish I had gone in to architecture. Guess I can still spectate with awe though.

Need I say more? Found this amazingness on the Dezeen Blog.

Sala Buit

Size:
2,5m x 2,5m x 2,5m (four rooms)
5m x2,5 x 2,5 (three rooms)

Sala B
c/Comercial, 3
Barcelona
Spain
2011

Sala B, Absolute Art Space Gallery. 27th of April- 7th of June 2011 Barcelona

Its been a minute since I regaled the masses with a post in my urban noshing section and no I am not finding myself in a state of dieting. It has just been a case of lack of inspiration for the purpose of what I want this section to reflect, good food cheap! Step in my lovely co-worker Angelina and a great recommendation for lunch around the corner from the Manifesto office (37 Bulwer Street, if you haven’t already stopped by) and you have Avenue Open Kitchen & Deli. Located just one block south of Richmond and Spadina, on a small street name Camden, sits a gem of a restaurant with an old school flare and warm family vibe. Serving up well made home cooking/diner fare, this place packs a wallop for a very fair price. The menu is a mix of sandwiches, meat and potatoes, homemade pies and lots of TLC. In my inaugural experience I opted for the daily special, a hefty roast beef plate that did not disappoint. I was presented with a double meal portion of fresh roast beef with homemade gravy (and plenty of it), mashed potatoes and peas. I opted for a piece of pie as well, as it was calling me from behind the glass and the whole ordeal cost me a mere $12. It was a meal worthy of a nap by the fire afterwards and wowed my tastebuds again on its second round down for dinner. So sufficed to say if you havent checked out Avenue Open Kitchen & Deli, there is no day like the presnt and I assure you your tummy will thank you.

Haruka Kojin via but does it float. Love how the magnification plays with depth and perception.

Every so often an idea comes along that is so simple, that one must think “why we have not thought of it before?” Enter the Swap-o-matic, a vending machine with a conscience and mind for the future. The premise is simple, put something in, get something out. Not every transaction needs to be a give and take, but credits are given and/or taken away based on the user’s past giving/taking history. Watch the short promotional clip for a better understanding and if the mood should strike you, acquire a swap-o-matic for your local haunt or even home.

This is such an inspirational project! Have to give a big shout out to the Polis Blog for turning me on to this. This needs to be replicated in all cities. Gone are the days of the static gallery. Lets take our galleries to the street and make our everyday lives a little more colourful.

Came across this photo series by Rafia Zubiria in my endless searching on the interweb. Really enjoying the haunting nature of the idea of home just floating away.

Continuing on sharing the love for my extremely talented friends, here is a video from Notes to Self. Big things coming from these guys! Keep your eyes and ears open!

There are those rare occasions in life when you meet that one person who shakes you to your core with their insight and talent, their warmth and their gumption. This person for me is my friend Mila. She is constantly inspiring me to push myself further and to take greater risks, all while being my sounding board of reason and a much needed boost of confidence every now and again. One of the greatest things about Mila is her ability to inspire others. Her very presence and every word make you just want to be a better you. She has done just that across the pond in merry ole’ England, lending her beautiful voice to a Marmaduke’s song entitled “Calling London”. It is a haunting acoustic ballad about her departure from London, after a year long Masters in Cultural Studies. Just had to share this when I heard it. Hope you enjoy it is as much as I.

I have to also say thank you Mila, for being you and for being my friend. Here is to many years of friendship and love to come.

Found these amazing images on But Does It Float. Really loving the curation of images and quotes on this website. Very evocative and thought provoking.

Check the final video of the All Good on the Hood event at 99 Sudbury. Got some dope footage of the MOVEMENT All Styles dance event too. Enjoy!

Found these great images over on the Dethjunkie Tumblr. The vastness of the crowd, the impeding doom of the implosion and the eerie figure at the end of the tunnel all caught my eye. Have always been very interested in photography and how different angles and treatments can create such intriguing and provoking thoughts and conversation.

Stumbled across these amazing sequin installations by artist Theresa Himmer out of Iceland. To say that I love these is an understatement. From far away they may not look like much, but when the sun hits them or you get up close and check the detail they are amazing! Definitely another artist to keep your eye on.

Hey Y’all! Its been a hot minute since I have checked and shared a piece of life with youse. Life has gotten somewhat hectic, but extremely exciting. This past week I have started working on some really interesting projects, which you will need to keep your ears and eyes out for. One such project is the Defining Moments Project with Taking IT Global. The project is a partnership between TIG and Heritage Canada, which aims at creating a conversation about Canadian history and identity through a series of workshops being run across the country by regional and community facilitators, and culminates in an arts competition. A winner will be chosen from each province/territory and their work will be displayed in a national travelling exhibition. There are also a series of great prizes being given away too!

I had the great pleasure of attending an orientation session in Toronto with some of the other regional and community facilitators from around the country, which was a truly inspirational experience. I was particularly struck by a young Inuit gentleman, names Allen who spoke very eloquently about his experiences living in Nunavut and how history shaped his connection with Canada. It was an experience, I wish all could have partaken in and one that I will cherish, as it allowed me to gain a unique insight in to the triumphs and challenges of native peoples in this country.

As a community facilitator of this project my task is to reach out to the Toronto arts community and in doing that I have partnered with Manifesto to host the workshop. It will be held at the beautiful new Manifesto space located at 37 Bulwer Avenue, on November 12th from 1-4pm. The workshop is very interactive and explores how we come to identify with Canada and being Canadian and how moments in Canadian history have helped shape those identities. There are room for 25 participants and spots will be filled on a first come first serve basis, so if you are interested in participating please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

As the day draws closer my excitement grows. Hope to see some of you there and I can assure you it will be a provocative and inspirational experience.

This just blew my mind a little. What can I say I am sucker for the metropolis and who knows, maybe this will be the future model for transportation planning and relief of congestion.

First and foremost I want to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in Scion x Manifesto All Good on the Hood. It was a pleasure working with you all. To the artists, you are all so talented and totally wowed me with your creativity and skill. For those of you who came by and supported the dealership events, bid in the silent auction or voted for your favourite hood, thank you! It was a great project to work on and I hope that you walked away from the experience with either your favourite piece of art, a new found respect for artist talent or at least just a good feeling about this project.

After all the voting was tallied it was the very talented Jimmy Chiale who walked away with the $2000 cash prize. Congrats Jimmy! (and what a happy kid he was) Check out a time lapse video of his work at http://www.themanifesto.ca/allgood

It has been a crazy month with an awesome ending. On to something new I guess. Looking forward to what the future has to offer.

For the last 12 years I have been a die hard east ender, first living North of the Danforth at Chester and now down at Carlaw and Gerrard.  My love of the east end is strong, but my move from the danforth to gerrard meant a huge scaling back in extremely close access to restaurants. Yes Queen St East, is just at fifteen minute walk, but what can I say, I was spoiled by living a block away from all the culinary wonders of the Danforth. Fear not though! On my streetcar ride a week ago, I noticed that there was a new, what I thought was a coffee shop, delicately placed at the corner of Logan and Gerrard. The window adorned by a simple crossed hammer logo and name “Hammersmith”. I had the great pleasure of dining there for brunch just yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the flavours and quaintness of the spot. Being a new restaurant, the menu is rather small and missing my requisite brunch dish of Eggs Benedict, but that did not stop be me from ordering. Steak and Eggs it was for me and boy was it ever delicious. The meal came with sliced flank steak, cooked to perfection, medium rare, with 2 duck eggs laid atop it and a sides of sauteed tomatoes and bacon and onion hash. To top it all off I ordered myself a freshly made peach lemonade, which was tart, and thick with just the right hit of peachy goodness. All in all A+ for Hammersmith. The meal came in at $20, which i figured fair for fare. So next time you are in the hood, whether it be cruising the queen strip for furniture and antiques or grabbing a coffee at Te aro, think about heading just a little north and trying out this cute new resto. Its worth it most definitely!

Hey y’all! Just wanted to check in and give you an update. My apologies for my neglect. It has just been a crazy couple of weeks with the All Good on the Hood Scion activation. Speaking of, we are reaching the halfway mark and I have had the pleasure of working with some great artists, Steve Carty, Georgina Walker, Fly Lady Di, and Birdo. Next week is a full one with events happening at the following locations and times:

September 13th
Yorkdale Scion 3-7pm
Ken Shaw Scion 5-9pm

September 15th
Scarborough Scion 5-9pm

September 17th
Meadowvale Scion 11-3pm
Maple Scion 1-5pm

September 18th
Erin Park Scion 1-5pm
Burlington Scion 4-8pm (This event will be taking place at the Turtle Jacks Restaurant)

September 19th
Downtown Scion TBA

And do not forget about your chance to come and bid on hoods at the All Styles Dance Event. The pieces are looking dope. Can’t wait for next weeks fares. Hope to see you all there!

Check out the time lapse videos of the pieces here: http://themanifesto.ca/allgood/

For the last two weeks I and my great friend and colleague Lauren Passander have been coordinating the set up of a series of live art events being put on by Scion Canada and theManifesto Festival of Community & Culture. The events see artists using Scion car hoods as their canvas and are set to be dj, live art, bbq affairs open to the public and general merriment. Running from August 27th to September 18th, they are taking place at dealerships across Toronto and the GTA. The hoods, once done, will be taken down to Manifesto’s All Styles dance event on September 23rd and displayed for silent auction and public voting. The top 5 publicly voted cars will be taken to Dundas Square where they will be voted on further and the winner will be given a $2000 prize.

We had the first of these events today at the Mississauga Toyota Scion dealership, with an amazingly talented artist called Mediah who wowed us all with his precise spray can strokes and attention to detail. Shot a couple photos, but more will be posted on the Manifesto website, along with a blog that will document each event, as well as the final events. The next event is happening at the Yorkdale Scion dealership, located at 3080 Dufferin Street. SO if you know whats good for you, come through and check out Li Hill as he shows us what he is made of, while Dj P Plus gets us groovin’ on the ones and twos.  The event runs from 4 to 8pm. Be there or be square!

Thanks to the lovely people over at We Heart, I was turned on to this wicked stop motion installation by Melbourne design firm ENESS. It so inspiring to see the new levels of creativity people have grown too. Check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/27461519

As I previously mentioned via facebook/twitter, I have been chosen to be a Community Facilitator for the Defining Moments project with Taking It Global. The project is a cross nation art competition exploring the defining moments in Canadian history that have shaped youth’s Canadian identities. As part of my training for this project I had the great honour of participating in a 3 day orientation that took place in Toronto with all of the regional facilitators from across Canada. Hearing the stories and experiences of each of these individuals was a truly inspirational experience and I would like to take this opportunity to give not only a shout out to the great team at Taking It Global for what was a very raw and intriguing couple days of fun, but also to give a personal shout out to Allen, one of the regional facilitators, who left me in complete awe every time he spoke. This experience has re-ignited my burning desire to explore this fine country I call my own and I definitely encourage those of you who haven’t to do so as well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to plant a small seed of provocation in all of your minds. For the next 5 minutes think about what your Canadian identity is, what makes you Canadian and what do you identify with as Canadian? Once you have mulled over your own thoughts I encourage you to have a candid conversation with a couple friends. I hope it sparks intense conversation and helps you all to think about Canadian identity from a different perspective. Keep the conversation going and keep your eyes and ears open for a Defining Moments Workshop coming to a venue/organization near you.

Found these shots of a real life tardis over on the desire to inspire blog. Who knew all this amazingness lay just behind that beautiful soft lighting and cozy exterior. Having always been a fan of “things are not what they seem”, this is right up my alley.

Trying to catch my breath after a couple weeks of running around and a much needed jaunt to cottage country. Promises are being made now for fun and interesting content coming at you live and direct soon.

Mendel’s Creamery is just one of those golden recommendations that all who know should pass along. Located on Kensington Avenue, directly south of Global cheese, is a smaller cheese shop that also boastes other delicacies including a variety of pickled fares and smoked fish. I was turned on to the place by a former co-worker who was most likely sick of hearing me gripe about how I can never find something to eat for lunch under $5 that actually fills me up. Step in Mendel’s with their delectable cheese sandwiches. For $3.99 you can get a cheese and veggie sandwich, which includes your choice of any cheese in the place and your desired selection of their veggies available, which include anything for artichokes to basic sliced tomatoe. The sandwiches come on a huge sandwich roll and may I say they are very generous with their toppings. Just talking about it is making me want to run out and get one. If you are feeling like you need a little more in your already towering sandwich there is the option to add meat for an extra dollar or two, making this sandwich still probably the best deal around town. So next time you are taking a dip at the Alexandra Park pool or puttering about chinatown or kensington looking for some cheap finds, stop in to Mendel’s. I promise you will not only be satiated, but pleasantly surprised and angling to go back again.

My work at the Department of Unusual Certainties is never short of inspiring and very interesting. For the last little bit I have been helping them do research to influence the spatial layout of the Toronto Design Exchange’s new exhibit Play Nation.

The premise by which the research was used was to communicate the spatial distribution of the physical attributes of Canada that are used during play. The result was a room full of quintessential Canadian “play” items, placed according to the scaled demarcations of Canada’s coastlines, highways, lakes and borders. The whole exercise was an intriguing look at the work that goes in to curating an exhibit and the result a really interesting look in to the how Canadians entertain themselves utilizing the country’s vast size and beauty.

The exhibit is on until October 10th, so check it out!

Just got turned on to the See More Live Tumblr., Some dope stuff on there. Take a peruse.

Urban Synergies is embarking on a new project, entitled the Tag Project. The Tag Project is a collaborative project with artist and academicDave Colangelo , in which participants are asked to contribute to a more literal form of “tagging” by drawing or writing their reflections about a neighbourhood in transition, on paper tags that will be tucked in to building and lane way cracks and crevices. These tags will then be used to create a time capsule, both physical and electronic that will act as a visual reminder of a time past. More information regarding how you can participate in the project will be provided on the Tag Project blog, as well as here on the Urban Synergies website, so keep your eyes and ears open.

Another successful pride has come and gone and can I say Toronto, we always do it proper. Happy Pride to everyone who came out for the festivities, and well to Ford, let me just say this is one of your cities biggest events, along with Caribana, why wouldn’t you celebrate it? The sheer love and happiness that resonates from the people who attend is not something to be missed. It may just be my favourite holiday.

Love love loving Eric Forey a.k.a. Kala’s photography.

Pics of some of the other exhibits.

As some of you may already know I have been doing an internship at the Department of Unusual Certainties, an Urban Design and Research firm based out of the Toronto Design Exchange. I came across the company in my daily blog trolling and was completely enthralled by the premise under which they work. I have been with them for the last 3 months and in that time have learned a great deal and gained endless amounts of inspiration to pursue the ideas that have been floating around in my head.

When I started at the DoUC they were in the thick of putting together several projects they would be unveiling over the summer. One such project was an installation for the summer visual arts series at the Harbourfront Centre entitiled New City Landscapes. DoUC’s contribution to this exhibit was visual representation of an examination of small park spaces across the city, a compelling piece that stretched the length of one of the gallery wall and was accompanied by an explanatory publication. A definite must see.

Along with the DoUC’s piece were pieces by Khoury Levit Fong, David J. Lieberman and Jason Van Horne. These photos are posted in the post above.

So next time you are on a bike ride along the water or showing some visitors around Toronto, pop in to the Harbourfront Centre and check em’ out.

This marks my first forray in to reporting on the city’s food playground. My intention with this new section is to provide an insider look to access and availability of nutritious and affordable food choices. My first entry is about one of the many vietnamese restaurants around town. Pho Phuong is located at 712 Queen Street West and is the sister to a restaurant of the same name on Dundas Street West. As far vietnamese food good, the menu provides a pretty standard offering. However everything is more expensive then one may be used to at your regular or local vietnamese haunt, with a Jackfruit milkshake coming in at $5 and entrees averaging between $10 to $15, and some over that. Now I must state here I have walked past this restaurant many times, but have always been hesitant to go inside, first because I usually got distracted by Terroni and second, because there are never many patrons, which is usually the most sure sign of good food. On a colder afternoon one Sunday, my mother and I stopped in after our vintage shopping along Ossington, and I have to say were somewhat underwhelmed by the food. I ordered a beef and vermicelli dish, which I almost sent back, because of an unidentifiable odour coming off my beef. After much coaxing from my mother and assurance that it was because the beef was not organic and perhaps had some chemicals in it, something that did not make me want to eat it any more, I dove in. Taste, was what you could expect after that earlier description, pretty lack lustre. Standard, but lack lustre. My shake was good and I have to say quite large! My mom ordered the vietnamese pancake, and though she ate most of it, also complained about a lack of flavour and general disappointment. All in all I guess the final verdict is walk the extra blocks to Pho Hung on Spadina if you are keen on vietnamese, or even back west to Ossington for the Golden Turtle, which is not only excellent food, but also cheaper.

I’ll leave with you with well wishes on your next vietnamese feast and please feel free to leave suggestions about places to try, as eating on a budget can be difficult at best and tips are always welcome.

Like many cities around the globe, Toronto is always in a constant state of transition. Whether it is the mass amounts of development happening down by the waterfront, or the exponential real estate development happening in the GTA, Toronto is always a buzz with change. That being said, I have always found it interesting to see the relics of urban transition, those pieces of physical form that are left, perhaps in waiting or untouched by the neighbouring development. As the east end of the city develops, particularly the South Riverdale and Lesliville areas, it has been my great pleasure to walk around take note of the changes. Brad J. Lamb has left his mark with projects such as the Flat Iron Lofts and the Printing Factory Lofts are the newest example of warehouse conversion. However, what I have become most intrigued by is the small stretch of properties between Pape Avenue and Jones Avenue along Dundas St. E. This stretch of Dundas is completely lined with garages, as if the properties have turned their back on the street. An ode to an earlier time when Dundas St. E was a less travelled thoroughfare, these houses are the remaining relics of an otherwise quickly gentrifying neighbourhood, populated by young professionals and their new editions to the world. As the the neighbourhood continues to change I will keep my eye on this stretch in constant wonderment of what it will be come.

Really loving Anna Gaforth’s work. She definitely leaves her mark on the installation experience, with her quirky and playful pieces. Check out her stuff at: http://crosshatchling.co.uk/

Was researching the previous post and came across this video of an urban art installation in the process of being put together. equally interesting article none the less.

Came across this really interesting installation series by Berlin-based artist Sweza on the Pop-Up City blog. This video is one part of the series, a small music box installation at a pedestrian-crossing. . This is the stuff that makes the pedestrian experience so delightful. Would love to see more of this stuff on the streets of Toronto.

Loved this photo posted on Urban Photo, entitled “Ghost train,” by c_c_clason out of Vancouver.

Are you a fan of farmer’s markets? Are you perhaps located in the Parkdale area? You are in luck! The West-end Food Cooperative’s plan to open a permanent food cooperative store is getting closer and closer to reality Announced on May 9th, the food cooperative is looking to open a store by the end of year, drawing upon the popularity of the Sorauren farmer’s market and creating a permanent local food source.

For more information stay tuned to the West-end Food Co-op’s website for progress on the project

Well, another successful Hot Docs Festival has come and gone and I’m happy to say I hit the circuit hard, viewing 7 of the movies offered. It was a jam packed week and a half with ups and downs reminiscent of any good psychological thriller. It started with When the Drum is Beating, a wonderful film about the long-running success of the Haitian People’s Band, Septentrional. This film was a gripping look at a country in dire straits bound together by the power of music and in particular a 20 piece orchestra that has been around for 65 years. It is a group made up of the people for the people and definitely a must see film. Also among the viewings were Position Among the Stars, which took me back to my childhood days in Jakarta, Housing, an Italian film about life in the council flats of Bari and The Samba Within Me. Along with those films I also caught the screenings of Dolphin Boy, a awe-inspiring tale of a boy suffering from post traumatic dissociative disorder and his journey through an experimental treatment with dolphins, Phnom Penh Lullaby, a story about life among the prostitutes of Cambodia and Inside Lara Roxx, an inside look at the life of pornstar Lara Roxx, one of the only adult film stars to contract AIDS while shooting.

This and other festivals alike are one of the greatest parts about Toronto in the warmer weather.  We are so lucky that we have festivals like this in our city and it is the devotion of the fans that keep them growing and thriving. Thanks again to all the volunteers who helped make this festival possible and please check out some of the documentaries. They are all a unique look in to their differing subject matter and provide great insight in to various aspects of the human psyche. A pleasure as always Hot Docs.

Just an hour north of the city lays the town of Orillia. Its an in-between place, mixed with rolling farms and subdivision sprawl, but on a sunny Saturday afternoon it became the place of beautiful sites and some much needed relaxation. I think every good city dweller deserves a slice of country heaven every so often and how great is it that we can escape to such places by only travelling just over an hour north of our urban metropolis. Thanks ladies for a wonderful weekend and thanks Orillia for providing a much needed vacation from the urban hum.

JR continues his captivating work around the globe. Word is he has just added two new pieces to his latest series in Venice Beach. Have always and will always really like the way he captures the souls of his subjects.

Well thats just genius! Re-posted from The Pop Up City.

A couple of my friends have relocated their homestead to a lovely 3 bedroom house at greenwood and queen. Now that I am a frequent visitor due to proximity and the lure of general merriment I have become a regular on the 31 Greenwood Bus. In particular I have been catching the 31B at 11:43pm (I know, far too often I make this trip) bus that takes a special trip down Eastern Avenue. What always struck me about this trip, besides the disorienting nature of its turns, was that everyone, except me, would get off the bus at the one stop between Leslie and Greenwood on Eastern. The entire bus empties every time, leaving me perplexed, but utterly fascinated as to where all these individuals are going. It wasn’t until a lazy evening when I decided to take a cab down to my friend’s house that my cab driver informed me that it was a branch of the Canada Post Office and that it was in fact the sorting centre.

Now as I watch all the faithful employees take their nightly pilgrimage towards the night shift to sort our cities endless amount of snail mail I am in complete awe. It is an awe that is unexplainable, but heavily routed in a fascination with the various jobs that make the city run and the wonderful people who commit their time to aiding the process. Every time the doors open and the bus empties I am almost star struck with admiration for these people. I watch them almost annoyingly, staring, wanting to ask so many questions. Why I am so drawn to them I think is a feeling I will never be able to fully grasp, but for now I am glad I have somewhat answered the mystery of where they go.

p.s. I will try and take pictures next time this phenomenon occurs. However, no promises as I am sure those starting their shift may not be as in to the idea as I am.

Killing it as always, my home boys in MTL doing a lil street justice.

Just finished reading “The Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Spaces, by Sharon Zukin. It was a really interesting look at the demise of authentic urban spaces utilizing various neighbourhoods and past times of New York and its inhabitants as points of reference. It was not the easiest book to read, as I felt it repeated itself quite a bit unnecessarily. However, it was a poignant look at the dual role that revitalization can play in both creating and degrading the authenticity of urban spaces. One of the thoughts that stuck out to me the most was the division of ideologies between key stakeholders in the revitalization process. On one hand you have the present community vs the future community, and their constant battle to keep or acquire what is already theirs or is to be theirs. You take that and add the battle between advocacy and grassroots community groups fighting for the rights of the already existing community and those from outside the community who would like to see the neighbourhood maintain its unique attributes with the flip side of the argument, those who are pro-redevelopment through demolition at the cost of those exact attributes. Placed directly in between are the visionaries trying to pioneer and promote a new way of thought that saves the identity of the neighbourhood, while promoting and fostering redevelopment. On a brighter note I do believe that there is a new generation of planners coming up in the world that will bridge the gap between both sides of the argument. Now its just a matter of getting them in to those decision-making roles and fast!

All in all a recommended read, especially if neighbourhood revitalization and community design is your forte.

The first woman to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics in 2009. What guff, eh?

So my ever inspiring mother is in the process of finishing an art degree in her free time from consulting. She was given an assignment in her sculpture class that required her to make something interactive. What does she do? A reverse garage sale!  Let me state here that this does not mean that she paid people to take stuff, but rather that she gave everything away for free in exchange for the taker providing her with a one sentence explanation as to why they took that item. Genius, right?!? She got the most interesting responses too! What I thought was the most genius part of the project was its simplicity and its ease of conjuring response. It reminded me that it just takes a small gesture to get a positive reaction out of people and what a reaction it was! All the stuff was gone in 48 hours, with her replenishing it every couple of hours.

Some of the responses she got:
*Little Glass Vase - “Going to use it for my potions”
*Low Fat Cooking Book - “Trying Again”
*Guatemalan Wall Hanging - “To take to the office for my communal work table”

What simple and easy way of engaging the community! Kudos mom! What a great project!

Detroit absolutely fascinates me. I think for some obvious reasons and also for some allure I haven’t quite put my finger on yet. Here is a video about revitalizing Detroit as an “Art Economy"for your perusal. What would you do with the Detroit if it was handed to you?  How would you revitalize and rebuild it?

A good friend of mine, Lauren Passander, published a beautiful book of photography called “Liminality” for her final project of the Ryerson University School of Photography. The lasting impression this book left on me, besides the haunting and exquisitely composed images, was the intriguing notion of the state of liminality. The liminal state, in its truest sense, is one “characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy.” As I settle back in to the swing of things here in Toronto, I feel as though this liminal state is very much at the forefront of my existence.

My path towards international work has always been closely tied to my mother’s choice to start her own consulting practice back in July of 1996, a move that placed us directly in the aftermath of the Pol Pot Regime in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.This experience, along with the two previous stints in Indonesia, one in Jakarta and the other in Bau Bau shaped my extreme curiosity in exploring other peoples existence. It is this curiosity that lead me to studying Urban and Regional Planning and subsequently applying for the Worldlink Internship Program, which placed me in Georgetown, Guyana for the last 6 months.

Now that I am back and thinking about what is next on my path towards working in different facets of international community development, I am harkened back to the idea of the liminal state. I truly feel I am in an ambiguous place, and that I am very open to new opportunities, but feel a strong sense of indeterminacy as I situate myself back in to the working world here in Toronto. I understand these are normal feelings and somewhat of a reflection of my general impatience for sitting still. However I do also feel they are a reflection of the people places and things I have seen over the last 6 months.

My experiences in Guyana ran the full gamut from gaining an extremely rich professional experience, acting as an implementation planner and community development planner for the Central Housing and Planning Authority, as well as gaining a very rich personal experience, meeting the beautiful people of Guyana. Through these experiences I have seen and heard a vast array of perspectives on how and why Guyana has landed in its current status. Not to get too personal in terms of thought, but to express myself more pragmatically I would like to say that Guyana is a country with extreme promise in a somewhat stagnant transitional place. This could be said for many countries in the developing world, as the growing gap in wealth dictates a somewhat unknown future for development in many contexts. However in the case of Guyana I believe there is a new generation brewing that I hope can be tasked with breaking the mould and pushing the envelope, especially where community development is concerned.

What I saw most in my daily interactions was the willingness of the public to organize themselves in order to bring about change. What I also became aware of through observation was that many of the people looking to make a difference were younger then 35. This was both people working from inside and outside the community. Community members and agency officials were both interested in seeing positive change and willing to educate themselves on how to do so. This aspect of my mandate, to build capacity both in the organization I was placed in and within the communities, was the most rewarding. It is my hope that there will be a continued move towards facilitating the changes that communities are pushing for and that the communities continue to push. Through moves by both sides maybe the liminal state that Guyana is in can be directed and focused towards a cohesive social movement.

As for me, I am every day growing a bit more acclimatized to a more Toronto-centric existence. I know that the experiences I have gained abroad have effectively changed me forever, but that there is no negative in that. The insights and knowledge I have gained are priceless and will be used to better my approach to community development in the future.

I was always curious to know what colonial living was all about. Here is a glimpse of the beautiful apartment my roommates and I shared for the second half our stay in Guyana. Not bad eh? Have to say there is nothing quite like that soothing breeze and all that natural light. Hope the Toronto rental market has something to offer by way of a similar experience. Insider tips are always welcome.

Well all good things have to come to an end some time right? Tis true, and as such I have officially landed in Toronto after what I can honestly say was one of the richest experiences, both professionally and personally, of my life. I am back to the cold and missing the heat terribly, not to mention the beautiful people who made my time Guyana everything I could have hoped for and more. So here is to you! All the best in your future endeavours and may we cross paths again soon! Till then let us climb to new heights and strive to accomplish all we have set out to.

Have amassed a reading list of sorts while in Guyana. These are not Guyanese reads, but rather a list of books I have told myself I will read in 2011 in hopes of reaching some new insights and inspiring some much needed firing in different sectors of my brain.

1. The Exposed City: Mapping the Urban Invisibles – Nadia Ambroso
2. The Fall of Public Man (1977) – Richard Sennett
3. The City and the City – China Mielville
4. From Here to There – Kris Harzinski
5. The Secret Life of Puppets – Victoria Nelson
6. Re-imagining Detroit: Opportunities for Re-defining an American City –John Gallagher
7. Seeking Spatial Justice – Edward W. Soja
8. The Great Neighbouhood Book – Jay Walljasper
9. All That We Share – Jay Walljasper

Hope some are of interest to you!

A luminescent structure, used for commercial and cultural uses in the heart of Lyon, France. A stunning structure by Jakob & Macfarlane, a Paris-based architectural firm.

Makes the mind expand.

Loving this work by german street artist collective Mentalgassi. Seems there is a never ending stream of creative people taking to the streets. Love how they have captured the subjects true emotions at a particular point in time. Next stop Germany… want to keep my eyes on these ones…

As my time in Guyana is nearing a close (or so I think) I have started to catch myself thinking of all the people and places that have affected me and what my future in this line of work is to hold.
I want to start by saying that my time, professionally, has been one of the most rich experiences I could have asked for. For that I have to thank a whole host of people, but most especially Andrea Smith and Donell Bess Basscom, for taking a chance on an unknown kid (shameless clueless reference). Without these two women I do not believe I would have kept the momentum I needed to adjust to the slower pace of change. Coming from a Canadian context there is a somewhat ingrained habit of fast paced change, an almost wall street-esque work ethic for pushing boundaries and moving towards paradigm shifts. Though I do not discount this ethic and I do believe it has a place and time. What these women have taught me most is how to take that and turn it in to positive incremental change, which is proving to have way more affect. My days at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) under the C-GPCP have been spent (for those who are curious) doing anything from organizing and facilitating community consultations, predominantly visioning exercises, to drafting constitutions for community groups to be licensed under the Friendly Societies Act.
I digress here for a moment to apologize to Mr. Ian King for thinking that I would never need to have a working understanding of legal language. I was young and naive and well I thought I knew everything!
Nevertheless from this position I have gained a wealth of understanding on how to foster community development in the developing world and as a result can not wait to apply these skills to the next posting. Whether it be in the developed or developing world, what I have learned first and foremost is that it is the people that pack the punch. It never ceases to amaze me how people will unite to make things possible for themselves and others. This job has stripped me of my somewhat jaded North American view of the possibility of inherent good in others. Don’t get me wrong I have experienced my fair share of backwards doings and disheartening moves by authoritative figures, but here is not the place to stick blame or to spread negative thoughts. In this post I would just like to share my gratitude for the opportunity to be able to do, what I am learning more and more, I love and to succeed at it.

Came across these amazing photographs of dioramas made by the artist Lori Nix on the Magical Urbanism website and couldn’t resist reposting. The painstaking nature of the detail put in to these dioramas is mind blowing! As you can see from my last post I am somewhat drawn to the aesthetic of urban decay and often find myself photographing it a lot on my walks about town (whichever town/city that may be). Ms. Nix’s work especially speaks to me because it is replicas of scenes she has seen portrayed in her own artistic form. A big pat on the back to her for taking the time to construct these immaculate works of art.

Was turned on to Montreal artist Robert Polidori by the good folks at the Polis blog. The three shots posted really struck me because of what I like to call their “vibrant decay”. Think what he has captured so well here is the general state of chaos at a moment in time, whether it be after a natural disaster, war time or just general wear and tear.  He has managed to keep the beauty of the scene in the colours and the almost silent questions calling out to be answered, whilst still exposing the degradation and reality of the situation at hand.

Brilliant!

First and foremost Urban Synergies would like to wish you and yours a very happy new year! All the best and may this one be a prosperous one for you, not necessarily monetarily, but in a genuine addition of richness to your life.

On that note, I started re-reading “Think” by Michael R. LeGault, thought it would be appropriate as its main focus is re-programming us to re-think how we think. In particular this quote at the beginning of the book stood out to me.

“The technique by which we make good decisions and produce good work is a nuanced and interwoven mental process involving bits of emotion, observation, intuition and critical reasoning.”

A simple sentence, with very heavy meaning. I have been really thinking about the decision-making process lately and how it is we come to the conclusions we come to based on our thoughts. For now all I can say is that each of my thoughts comes from a different part of me and different experience at a point in time in my life. Circumstance and situation change the way I formulate my thoughts and I can only hope that as my life continues and Urban Synergies takes on new challenges, that the interwoven recesses of my psyche produce the most creative mental processes, resulting in new and innovative forms of thinking.

So here is to 2011 and all that it has in store for US!

The Heidelberg Project from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Tyree Guyton, what an inspirational man. http://www.heidelberg.org/

Watched this TED talk done by Emily Pilloton on the use of design for social change. She uprooted herself to Bertie County, one of the poorest counties in the U.S.A., to take on the task of re-envisioning the school system through innovative design. A part of the team of Project H Design, a not for profit design firm whose goal is to “use the power of the design process to catalyze communities and public education from within,” Emily shares some of her current work in Bertie under the Project H Design team. Thought I would share it with y’all folk. Hope you enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change.html

A beautiful and kind woman is my co-worker. Always willing to bend over backwards to make sure that I am comfortable and have everything I need. It is with all my heart that I thank the universe for putting her in my presence. She bestowed some pearls of wisdom on me that I needed to share.

“What you practice at home, you carry abroad.”- Esther Perry

Yes the quote may not be her own, but in her delivery of it I was struck with the serene fact of its trueness. Being sent down here from Canada to help implement processes that will help an organization change and work towards a more participatory planning practice, is no small task, but one in which I will take this quote to heart. Urban Synergies practice at home has centred itself around creating innovative ways to get the public more involved in the planning process and create networks of organization that will aid communities in mobilizing themselves in the face of change. So what I practice at home I have carried abroad and in my quest to produce a community engagement strategy for the CH&PA I will carry that same sense of imagination and practical innovation.

Wish me luck and I’ll keep you posted in my progress.

p.s. she is the lady on the right hand side of me (middle) and what a lady she is.

Had the pleasure of entering the quarter century club last weekend and shipped a couple of friends and myself off to a house on the Essequibo river. The house, nicknamed, “Bidrabu”, was a perfect slice of old colonial heaven, with a shallow oval pool and a gorgeous view of the smattering of islands that make up the over 360 islands within the river. It was a quiet and relaxing time, filled with tranquil thoughts and self-reflection. This country has these beautiful pockets of paradise just around every corner. What to explore next…

Came across this rendering of Parcel 25 in the Mission Hill area of Boston. Made me miss the days of drafting by hand and calculating scale… well lets be honest I never miss calculating scale, but I am forever enamoured by people’s abilities to portray the future.

Had the great pleasure of travelling to Boston to do some field work in my 2nd last year of school. Ended up focusing my research on a comparison of the Parkdale and Roslindale neighbourhoods, which in hindsight were very different but both had really active community groups, which drew me to them. Funny how I would be drawn to that eh?

Boston is doing some really interesting stuff where community development and participation is concerned. Parcel 25 is no exception. The Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative started in 2004 with the goal of generating the community’s vision for a viable development plan for this gateway parcel in to the Roxbury Crossing area. Mission Hill Neighbourhood Services has been spear heading the initiative along with the help of the City of Boston and the MBTA, who own the site. The vision for the parcel was completed in June 2006, after a series of 14 brainstorming sessions between various stakeholders. Check out what has come for this inspiring case of community organization and engagement.

Read this article about the history of Agrarian Urbanism as a follow-up to my piece on Guyana’s shift from agrarian to urban society. . Interesting to read about the changes over time and the nature of transitional urbanism.

A short video clip of the Artmap Project I coordinated in the summer of 2009.

In other congratulatory news my good friend Samantha Vite, who started The Shift, an organization dedicated to helping women find the resources they need to get their businesses and personal projects off the ground, had her first success story. Check out the organization’s blog and read more about Miheret Teku-Jego and her inspiring story.

You did good friend. You did good.

Congratulations to the Parisian street artist JR on his recent TED award. Touting himself as a “Photograffeur”, this man adds a realistic and human touch to the public realm. His quite gripping large-scale photographic installations give a visual voice to those living in the circumstances he shoots. A start in graffiti and a progression in to photography has served him well. Though we may never know the meaning of those elusive initials, we can only sit back and take his work for face value, something worth more then 1000 words.

Found a post about this video on the Resonant City blog. Had to show some love and share it with y’all. So interesting the way we looked at things in the past and how we can transform those views in to a new future thought.

One of the things that has fascinated me most about Guyana is its struggle to balance a shift from a predominantly agrarian based society to that of a more urban centric one by way of suburban. I say suburban in this context because the way in which development happens is based on plots of land that used to be former plantations being developed in to “housing schemes”, which are large scale housing developments, similar to subdivisions. The majority of these schemes are sprawled along the coastline across the various northern regions of the country. In addition the schemes come on stream as land is made available and are generally planned according to funding regimes and general trends in growth. As a result the pattern in which the areas are planned is quite similar to suburban sprawl as schemes take over prime agricultural land.
What has tickled my fancy the most is the mix of agricultural and residential land uses that ends up being bread out of this type planning. Livestock a plenty run a muck around neighbourhoods, eating grass and destroying infrastructure, all while providing residents with a means of nutrition and acting as farm hands. This has peaked my interest mainly because it provides a unique challenge where transitional planning is concerned, especially in a country where development is occurring in direct response to demand, with no extra bells and whistles. How do you plan for a culture that is so heavily routed in providing for themselves, by way of subsistence farming or rearing of cattle? You even see this manifesting itself in the way in which the schemes are planned, as basic infrastructure and demarcation of lots is provided, but each “allottee” is tasked with building their own home. Funnily enough one of the main issues being discussed in my experience thus far has been the affect that livestock is having on the infrastructure. So riddle me this, if you want the livestock around, but you don’t want them to ruin the area, and plans are produced with regulatory policy concerning the presence and usage of livestock in the area, but the regulations are dismissed based on each individual need, how do we plan for this type of transition and can you really morph an agrarian society in to a suburban/urban civilization?

On another note, if the livestock is doing you a favour by eating the overgrown brush in various vacant lots, but is destroying infrastructure in the mean time, what type of negotiation can you conduct with them to reach a mid-way partnership?

Soooo many questions, and what feels like so little time.

Joan Forrester Interiors, 1953
Chessa Architecto, 1952
RNDRD

Private Cove, Personable People…Couldn’t have asked for a better sunday. Lets just say this Guyana place has a lot to offer in the ways of lagoon lampin’ and off road paradises.

As my years climb higher I am reminded, every so often, of those who I have met along the way. Through my reminiscing and current migration down south I have come to realize I have spent many of my years around those individuals who take flight upon tracked boards and who commonly defy gravitational pull with laces ‘round their waist. These guys are always opinionated and rowdy and make the best of times that much more hilarious. And it is for those guys that I am happy to see more cities accepting skate culture and even planning for it, with large scale projects such as the Bjorns Tradgard Park in Stockholm, Sweden.  I am even more happy to announce the opening of the Ashbridges Bay Skatepark. Officially opened October 3rd of this year, this park is Toronto’s first urban skate plaza and comes in at just over 2000 sq/m. The City of Toronto’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division and the community have been working together on the design of this park since 2005, marking a unique partnership between the municipality and the public, and ending in a formidable result.

So as an ode to y’all who have made life very interesting over the years, I present to you Ashbridges Bay. Go shred the s#$% out of that thing!

Louis Bourgeois -Architectural Record, 1920
RNDRD

What do you think Toronto? What type of slogan would you give to your city? Lets see what you got.

Loved this quote the good people at the Polis Blog posted. Couldn’t be more true!

“The right to the city is not merely a right of access to what already exists, but a right to change it after our heart’s desire. We need to be sure we can live with our own creations (a problem for every planner, architect and utopian thinker). But the right to remake ourselves by creating a qualitatively different kind of urban sociality is one of the most precious of all human rights. The sheer pace and chaotic forms of urbanization throughout the world have made it hard to reflect on the nature of this task. We have been made and re-made without knowing exactly why, how, wherefore and to what end. How then, can we better exercise this right to the city?” - David Harvey,  The Right to the City. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (2003)

I especially love how he asserts a citizens “right” to the city and how he highlights the importance of predicting for how your current intervention may communicate to future generations. The city we live in or the urban centres we visit shape us in many ways. Planners, interventionists, and general change makers should always take that to heart and use that knowledge as their stepping stone to a solution or resolution that can change positively and organically as it is encountered by the population at large.

A LOVE LETTER TO SYRACUSE from samuel j macon on Vimeo.

To answer your question at This Big City, yes we here at Urban Synergies do believe that public art can rebuild communities. Urban Synergies is committed to doing just that, finding ways to rebuild communities through the use of arts and culture, utilizing a common ground with which to engage a community in order to promote a strong sense of ownership and pride over ones area. Good luck to you Syracuse in all your future endeavours, may you stand beautiful and bright.

I would like to take this moment to give a loud resounding virtual round of applause for the people over at Project for Public Spaces who have taken it upon themselves to make public space their priority. Nothing brings people together like a communal space in which all walks of life can interact. Public space planning is something that should always be at the forefront of city building, as public spaces act as meeting places and points of contact and discovery for all. Whether it be public space via waterfront regeneration or a famous stretch of London History, or even a place of great political upheaval, a public space is one in which the citizen reigns supreme.  Project for Public Spaces has dedicated themselves to helping create and sustain public places in hopes of building communities, something Urban Synergies backs pretty strongly. WIthout the people who do we plan for? So again, I must give it up to Project for Public Spaces for taking the issue of communal space and running with it and giving us all someone to look to up to when we plan our next public space.

Check out the Great Public Spaces section of their website and nominate a great public space in your area.

As I come up on the one month mark of my stay in Guyana, I thought it appropriate to share my first impressions of the planning process here. Firstly, I should start by telling y’all that my primary responsibilities, thus far, at the Central Housing and Planning Authority has been to start the process of creating community development plans for the Belle West and Tuschen areas, located in Region 3. In starting this process I have had the pleasure of embarking on a site visit to both areas and getting to meet with the Officers of each areas Neigbourhood Democratic Council (NDC). These councils act as the intermediary between government agencies and the communities themselves. In some areas there are also local community groups, but the NDC is the primary contact between all stakeholders.

While meeting with each NDC I was struck quite strongly by the lack of communication taking place between all agencies involved in the planning process and the public themselves. The complaints I heard over and over were that there was no consultation with the NDCs, much less the community, about what was to be taking place, planning wise, in their area.This is a problem that is evident in many countries around the world, and strongly evident in the Guyanese context. In this case, situations like the erection of full buildings without any involvement or notification of the community are not uncommon. Nor are leaving the building unoccupied as the process of handing over the building to the appropriate person or group falls through the cracks of an understaffed and overwhelmed agency. 

Now the concept of silo’d agencies is an age old tale, one in which many bureaucratic issues end up hindering the process of change. However what I have observed here is a complete breakdown in communication that is disabling the process. There is a lack of communication between the planners and those they are planning for, as well as a lack of communication between ministries and agencies, resulting in a hindered process in which no one is really sure who is responsible for what.

Let me take this opportunity to express my utmost respect for those in my direct office and agency who work extremely hard to push forward despite these obstacles and to give a shout out to the newly hired community development specialist, who I have high hopes will take this place by storm. Though her and my other co-workers presence in the Ministry of Housing & Water will be a great force behind changing the nature of communication in this aspect of the planning process and my hope that my proposals for different types of consultation processes will be met with positivity and fervour, I can only state that at this point in time there is a lot of opportunity for change, but a long uphill battle ahead. In my time here, I plan to work my hardest to work towards opening those lines of communication and inputting those incremental changes that will aid the process in its quest for change.

Keep tuned for more.