Planning Pool

Planning fails are often the physical manifestation of misguided perceptions. Though well-intentioned, perpetuating outdated beliefs is irresponsible; green solutions should have green outcomes.

The article ‘Green solutions come from many directions,’ published in the Vancouver Sun on March 9, 2010 refers to a survey in late 2009 that lists “sustainability issues in transportation” as Vancouver, BC’s primary environmental concern among residents. The author, Scott Hardy, interprets “transportation” to mean “fixing traffic problems”, which he claims “not only reduces commuting times, it leads to a greener, cleaner city.” To do this, he writes that “Vancouver needs to better manage the traffic into and out of the city.”

The idea that … Continue Reading

Last night I went to see “Where the Wild Things Are” at the Scotiabank Theatre on Burrard Street in Downtown Vancouver.  During a pause between scenes, you could hear the tittering of a baby somewhere in the back of the theatre.  The kid had been making noise the entire movie but it didn’t even cross my mind until I heard some male voice: “Clearly your child is not enjoying the movie.”

Laughter followed, and some agreement from other folks.  A few seconds later, a young female voice from down below:

“Could you be more considerate?  We all paid 12 dollars to get in here, and we’d like to enjoy it.”

I was absolutely shocked.  While trying … Continue Reading

As community planners can attest, typical community engagement tactics like ye olde open house are not always the most effective in sparking meaningful dialogue, especially for youth. If only there were some relevant discipline that could inspire planners about effectively and equitably engaging young people!

Today’s blog post comes to you (more or less) live from a lecture at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Sandra Weber, an Education researcher, is speaking about her work engaging and empowering teenaged mothers and mothers-to-be in Montreal as part of Project M.O.M. (Mirrors of Motherhood).

The participants were young … Continue Reading

Last March, as part of the SCARP Symposium on Sustainability, Adam Kumbede Education Programme Coordinator of Check Your Head (www.checkyourhead.org) joined other food activists to share his ideas on the subject of Food Sovereignty, embracing the question, “How are we in Metro Vancouver planning for systems that support the production of healthy and culturally appropriate food using ecologically sound and sustainable methods? What does a just urban food system look like?” Following the session, Adam took a few moments to speak about his work with Check Your Head:

Planning Pool’s Interview with Adam of Check Your Head Youth Education from Planning Pool on Vimeo.

A large part of what we’re attempting to do here at the Planning Pool is to implement user-friendly technologies to give people a greater voice in their community.  We’ll be adding/improving a couple of features over the coming months to achieve this goal.  With this in mind, kudos to Eric Gordon and Gene Koo, who have together been awarded a MacArthur grant for their Hub2 project to explore the urban planning applications of the video game Second Life.

Though some old-timers will scoff at the thought that Second Life might one day be a widely utilized planning tool, it (or something similar) will become only more viable in the future.  There are surely large chunks of essential information (like accurate budgeting) that cannot yet be fully captured in video games, but people like … Continue Reading