Just imagine that one day you are out doing errands, you have to pick up something from the store just need to get home so that you have enough time before people arrive. Then all of a sudden almost everyone around you stops, how would you react?
I think it would make my day.
If you’ve been a regular reader here at Urban Neighbourhood you may have noticed that the posts have been a little sparse as of late, with the dawn of the new year we were going to get back on top of things since Christmas was holiday time. That however didn’t really pan out, but a number of great things have happened over the course of the last thirty days we pasted the 10,000 hit mark and have had a new member come along. Deiredrefm or Dee as we call her around our virtual office has come on board and will be doing a series of profiles on cities. We may have been jealous when she sent out the message saying, ‘hey who wants to quit their job and sail around the world with me?’ but we are more then happy to hear about her travels now that she is close to a pc again.
So if you were still keeping an eye on us while the mail was piling up we would like to say thanks if you are still here, we promise to keep the place tidy and the articles interesting.
Well folks 2009 is upon us, its a different outlook this year then it was at the beginning of 2008, in some ways better, in some ways worse. Either way, our cities and our neighbourhoods still need time, attention and work. The trends still show more and more people moving into urban areas and increasing pressure on cities to service and support the increase in population.
After a nice break we are ready to keep bring you information on what is going on in our cities and look forward to seeing where the coming year takes us. Over the holiday we surpassed 10,000 hits and even while on break still maintained steady readership. To those of you regulars out there sorry the site didn’t change for about two weeks but hopefully you were mostly on holidays too. We look forward to continuing sharing trends in Urbanism and planning with you all and look forward to the comments and discourse.
Hi all… due the joy of living in a snowy climate, while trying to take out the recycling the other day I seriously mashed up my finger by trying to keep from falling on my butt.. this has left me with greatly reduced typing capacity due to the fact that I can now basically only use one hand, so the posts are going to be a little scarce for the next couple of days.
See you once its not so purple!
While searching “new urbanist plan” with the Cooliris plug in, I came across this write up and picture in the about.com architecture entries. People are not always going to agree.
http://z.about.com/d/architecture/1/0/H/n/urbanterrorismFlickr.jpg
So just what is everyone googling on this brisk November 4th. In case you weren’t aware there is an election going on so most of the results make sense but there are a couple surprises.
With the U.S. election finally coming to a head today, it’s going to be really difficult for anyone besides BarackObama or John McCain to get any sort of media attention today. That is, unless you’re selling chicken.
Google has released its fastest-rising election day queries as of noon Eastern time and the results are completely expected, with one major exception (see #7):
The Greater Montreal Area has revealed it’s new logo, and the Greater Montreal Area has decided that this logo shows that Greater Montreal will give you room to make it real. These five colours show Greater Montreal’s many different parts, and well, I will just let them explain;
“It refers to the fact the Greater Montreal region offers a physical space … for a pleasant quality of life, where you can earn a living and raise a family, but also have access to nature, waterways and the vast green spaces you find on Montreal Island and in the other municipalities of the region, But it’s also a reference to psychological space and creative space, and the possibility of realizing your projects, your ambitions and your career.”
“The candy colours are complemented by deliberately naïve typography, a somewhat odd choice for a metropolis trying to get by on its sophistication and creativity. Just off the top of my head, I’d suggest that nobody but local bureaucrats cares about the fine political distinction between “Montreal” and “Greater Montreal” so they could’ve left that out. But this kind of thing arrives after half a million dollars’ worth of politicking, compromise, design, redesign, reredesign, whimsical overturnings of weeks of work by somebody important back from holiday and so on. (No, I don’t know anything about the evolution of this logo, but I’ve seen a glimpse of corporate logo development and too many cooks stirring the broth.)
Read the Gazette Article here, and check out the furious chatter over on Canada.com. What do you think?
We are pleased to annouce a couple new neighbours here at Urban Neighbourhood. We are welcoming a new Photog to the site this week, Mr Chris K will be taking over the Seen in The City Photo series for us. Plus we have a new contribution from Cherry Marquez who brings us the innaugeral article for the Urban Reports File. If you have something you would like to say and feel like the comments section just isn’t enough. Send us an email at urbanneighbourhood@yahoo.ca
Well what a great three months its been! Its been less then three months since the birth of (the properly spelt) Urban Neighbourhood and as of 12:00 am today we had our 3000th visitor! We certainly never expected to see this many people passing through the neighbourhood quite so quickly and the stats just keep going up. Check out the side bar for the posts that have been getting the most traffic lately! So thank you everyone for visiting us here at Urban Neighbourhood, we hope to continue to you attract your interest!
If you are have an interest in all things Urban, feel like you could have done one of our articles better, or just want to become a member of the team send us an email at urbanneighbourhood@yahoo.ca with a sample of your work. Urban Neighbourhood hopes to continue to grow into a place where us urbanists come to share ideas, innovations, and news.
There is an election coming on here in Canada and its been a while since I have come across any articles that really put into words what I have been feeling about the country lately.
What’s the matter with Canada? – By Christopher Flavelle – Slate Magazine.
It almost seems to me that politics are repeating a little here. The Progressive Conservatives were the long standing party that fell apart and brought about the Liberal Dynasty when the party deftly moved into the political center. Now the Liberals fall apart and the Conservatives are suggesting that they are much closer to the political center…
Canada isn't playing nice anymore
"In Redhill Surry Robert fiddler created a massive pile of hay bales in his yard and his neighbours didn’t really think anything of it, he is a farmer after all. Then about six years later the bales came down and voila a Mock Tudor Castle."
The battle of the Super towers
"It’s always said that a guy who has a big skyscraper has a big … investment portfolio. South Korea is a country where all men aspire to have big … investment portfolios. In the last few years, every town, village and post office box has announced it’s plans to build the tallest building in the neighbourhood, town, province, or galaxy."
France’s Big Bridge
"The Millau bridge in France currently holds the record for the worlds tallest road bridge. At a towering 343m (1,125ft) at its highest point, it is definitely not for anyone afraid of heights. The bridge crosses the River Tarn and the valley of the same name and has been termed by some as “one of the most breathtaking ever built.”
Super Green Buildings, the urban farm
"In the not so distant future, it is predicted that as much as 80% of the world’s population will live in urban areas and, by 2050, the population of the world will increase by as many as 3 billion people. Dr Dickson Despommier suggests Vertical Farms, which are at first a radical idea more suited to science fiction, but, after consideration, is not all that radical at all."
The ‘Hotel Of Doom’ Awakes!
Reuters is reporting that the infamous 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang has awoken from its slumber and is once again seeing construction work. It has been reported that Egypt’s Orascom group has been contracted to refurbish the top floors of what has been termed by some as the ‘Hotel of Doom.’"
Model Activism: Townhouse Neighbourhood 1:35
"It isn’t every day that you come across a new kind of activism, but I would like to suggest model activism as a new term. Wouter Osterhold and Elke Uitentuis, the artists in residence at Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery, used architectural modeling to spur their neighbours into action and spur discourse on the plans for this city neighbourhood."
Citynoise
Community Consultation