The Fight Over OMB Folly Continues

Back in October we brought up an interesting tale of revenge at the municipal level, North York council overwhelmingly approved a motion (7-2) to name one of the new streets in a development that was approved contrary to the master plan ‘OMB Folly’.  We had a couple comments to that article and most all were in favour of the name change.

Well now time is coming to put shovel to ground and future residents of OMB folly are starting to weigh in on the debate. In The Star its reported that a future resident wrote to Mayor David Miller to request that the name be changed back to its original intended name ‘Connfield Lane.’

“We just felt it was very inappropriate for elected officials to be toying around with people’s investment and purchases in the city,” she said in an interview. “And we felt it was very derogatory to the Ontario Municipal Board.” S

They Mayor is quoted as saying that he didn’t agree with the new name either but that she needed to speak to John Filion the councilor who first came up with the motion. “Filion said he won’t support a switch. He considers the matter closed after the community council voted 7-2 to recommend OMB Folly, and city council approved it, 14-13.” S

Barring a judicial injunction I doubt that the new residents are going to see much help. I have to say that I wonder just how much of an impact to their investment the new home owners are going to see. Just how much does the name of the street actually play into a buyers mind when it comes to property purchases?

While some streets do carry a certain mark up price or prestige, Sherbrooke ave in Montreal, or Park Avenue in New York, does the name really matter all that much when dealing with the thousands of permutations in the suburbs? Connfeild lane vs Wilson lane? Whats the difference?

When my parents moved back in 1997 they ended up choosing a great house with a ‘bad’ address, and while my dad wasn’t too happy about the street name one ‘Puff Ball Lane,’ they were and are still very happy with the house. When it came down to it, it was about finding the best house for their needs and in the location that they wanted. The street name was ultimately irrelevant to the purchasing decision. While I certainly am not going to try to suggest that most people are as practical as my parents when it comes to home shopping, I would venture a guess that things like the roof and the foundation are going to be bigger concerns then the street name.

I wonder what people who live on other Follys would say?  Just by searching ‘Folly Lane’ I came up with 10 different lanes, 9 in the UK where it is evidently much more popular but one here in Canada as well. I wonder if the people on Folly Lane in Belleville have had any trouble with the resale value of their homes? Not to mention all the other permutations like ‘Watts folly’ in Australia, and the town of Folly Virginia. Ultimately I still hope the name sticks, ‘OMB Folly’ has a real history to it now.

The Flash Mob

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.

When children lead design, the tale of Coriandoline.

I came across an article today that had an interesting supposition about planning and neighbourhood design, for all our public consultations and all the research that is done on what the ideal family home or neighbourhood should be, we generally ignore the opinions of a significant group of inhabitants. The children, I mean what do they know after all? they ‘re just kids.

Back in 1990 a construction co-operative decided to listen to everyone of the inhabitants that would live in the neighbourhood they were building, including the children, and that is how the idea for Coriandoline came about.

The project won the Peggy Guggenheim Prize for the most innovative project in 2001 and then the World Habitat Awards in 2002. To look at the neighbourhood that children built you get the feeling that the design was not constrained by the ideas that adults would simply take for granted. The paint job is one of the most striking aspects as the buildings are covered with the work of Italian painter, illustrator and set designer, Emanuele Luzzati.

The first phase of the project was essentially research and consultation with about 700 children from 12 local nursery and infant schools. Teachers, psychologists, architects, engineers, surveyors, builders and carpenters all spent time with the children to both teach them about architecture and neighbourhoods and also to learn from them.

Ilaria Ligabue was a 5 year old when the project started but remembers the process quite well. “We drew loads and gave free reign to our imagination. We even painted on real small wooden houses which became our play area. It was a great adventure for us kids.” S

The children came up with a list of essentials, after much collating and data processing by the adults and the Manifesto of Children’s Living Needs was published. The essential features were; transparent, hard outside, soft inside, playful, decorated, magical and peaceful.

“When we started the planning phase, we realised we faced an enormous risk. On the one hand we could have fallen into the trap of creating something banal – houses that looked just like all new houses, with token ‘corrections’ providing superficial concessions. On the other hand we could have gone to the opposite extreme and end up creating a sort of fairytale playground which had no meaning as a part of the town. We wanted to create an area which could be exploited and enjoyed by the whole community, but which used children’s experiences and needs as a parameter for quality.” S

The neighbourhood has ‘built in playability,’  the designers realised through their work, that in Italy the most common sign you see is ‘No Football Allowed’ or no playing allowed. In Cariandoline the entire neighbourhood is designed for play, from the covered garage areas that double as sheltered play areas, to the slides next to the stairs and the fun house mirrors in the elevators.

The sucess of this neighbourhood makes me wonder how much more enjoyable our cities would be if we listened to the children who live in them a little more.

If you would like to learn more about Coriandoline please visit the community’s online portal. Not surprisingly it is pretty fun to navigate.

Liverpool Street Station Dance Party

A number of performers and citizens get together for a surprise dance party at the Liverpool Street Station. The event was set up by T-Mobile.

ZombieHarmony – One of the Best Free Dating Sites for Zombies

Urbanites tend to be creative and fun people, often coming up with ideas and creations a that are pretty unique. One of these creations is Zombie Harmony, the side is a take on the popular E Harmony Dating site only in this case it seeks to bring together the undead. The site is supported by the free dating site Mingle2 and offers the opportunity for those with a tendency to wander in a search for brains to find love too, because as ZombieHarmony puts it; “the apocalypse doesn’t have to be lonely.”

As a new registrant you can choose things like the type of zombie you are, either slow moving, fast moving, or immobile, and if you are looking the same mobility or different out of your undead mate.  Don’t believe in ZombieHarmony’s claims? You can even check out their testimonials;

“The first time I gazed into Nancy’s vacant, reddish brown eyes, I just KNEW she was the one for me”

“UNNNGGGG, HHRRRRNNNG!”

 

Oh and just so you are aware;

Disclaimer:ZombieHarmony is for zombies only. We advise signing up for ZombieHarmony only if you lack a pulse, have limited motor skills, or feel an intense desire to feast on human beings. We are not responsible for lost or ingested loved ones. If you go on a date with a zombie, we cannot be held liable for contributing to the apocalypse.

It appears that the site is just a title page, but its pretty fun…

ZombieHarmony – One of the Best Free Dating Sites for Zombies

NVS: My Playground

A teaser for an upcoming documentary, MY PLAYGROUND by Kaspar Astrup Schröder. The film is about movement, tricking, freerunning and parkour in the urban space. The film premieres in summer 2009.

The Peoples Mario

An animation by Celarent with music from the Russian Red Army Choir. The animation imagines Mario as a working class hero. I am not entirely sure how squishing mushrooms helps the people, but there must be some sort of symbolism there.

CLICK HERE, (Be warned it It will play on your browser loudly.)

Atlas of True Names: The world without the curse of Bable

Playing around on Stumble upon found me this fantastic link from Der Speigel, the world translated into English. This map gives the image of a peaceful world where people understand each other. Where someone could travel from the land of the long beards to the town of happiness.

England...in English

The map makers researched global place names to find their origins, and then translated them to English.

Satellite Imagery School, Can you Spot the Missiles in your neighbourhood?

Think you are an expert at looking at google earth. Can you spot your house? The center of town? How about a missile silo? I came across this site while looking at urban issues as they related to military actions and war zones. The site has an exercise in reading satellite imagery, being that its a military centered site the exercise is to identify assorted military assets. Its an interesting exercise, though I have to admit I only kept to the instructed height of 14km for a very short period of time.

Spot the Military Assets

Type “Peenemunde, Germany” into the search box of Google Earth. Adjust your “Eye Altitude” to about 14 kilometers. Keep this ‘full’ picture in mind as I will refer to it in one of my questions.

Peenemuende is the tip of the island to the right of center. Center your picture on the SE tip of the main runway in view. Adjust Eye Alt to 7 kilometers.

Within the picture you now have in front of you, you should be able to locate:

• One A-4 (V-2) rocket
• One Fi-103 (V-1) cruise missile
• The original launch track for the Fi-103 as used in WW2
• Pruefstand VII (Test Stand VII), the launch point for A-4 rockets
• Two East German naval vessels
• A variety of East German aircraft

Find the rest of the assignment and exercise at; ArmsControlWonk: Wonk School: Overhead Images

Club WATT: Power from the Party.

Club WATT has got to be one of the coolest sustainable initiatives out there. The Nightclub is partially powered by its patrons. The Club is home to a dance floor that turns the energy output of dancing clubbers into electricity for its own use. The dance floor uses the piezoelectric effect; there are certain materials that when squeezed become charged and produce energy. When a club patron decides to get out on the floor and bust a move, the up and down action that most dancing produces (from the floors point of view anyway) compresses cells containing piezoelectric material. The individual panels measure 65 X 65cm. The downward pressure powers tiny generators beneath the floor which then sent the electricity to a microchip that controls the LED lights on the surface of the panel. The floor has about one centimeter of give to it, when the cells are compressed. The floor is pretty big for a brand new piece of technology, measuring 30 square meters.

Club WATT is the product of an environmental research group made up of a group of local architects, academics and engineers convened by Döll Architects and Enviu. Eventually they created the  Sustainable Dance Club company.

Currently the dance floor at WATT is configured to power the light show in and around the dance floor. The floor could be used to power anything, but the owners of Club WATT wanted the patrons to be able to see the results of the energy that they create.

Club WATT also has a number of other sustainable features, such as waterless urinals, and a rainwater collection system which collects water to be used in the toilets. This is also illustrated as the water pipes are clear throughout the club so clubbers can see the rain water being pulled up from the tanks and to the toilets every time one gets flushed. There are also your standard innovations like solar panels and low-waste bars.

The club spent about $257,000 on the dance floor, an investment that the club’s owner is aware he will not recoup out of energy savings alone, it is afterall a first generation model and not all that efficient. However the floor also attracts attention and thats golden in the world of clubbing.

Club WATT has a number of different services(from the club website):

Stage: The stage will be trendsetting in Rotterdam and the Netherlands. With a healthy ambition to put Rotterdam back on the international scene. A fertile ground for new pop bands as well as established names. A wide range of music styles. It will be a low-threshold and top-class ‘platform’ for anything and everything qualifying as cultural/social, such as film, fashion, literature, art (exhibitions) and music. No obscure joint staging a small band and no inaccessible gallery showing priceless art. The ‘right’ blend of commerce and pure culture. Think of exhibitions, radio and television broadcasts, fashion shows and young persons’ debates.

Modern club: Staging of various club nights from Thurdays to Sundays inclusive. Mainly dance music, wide range.

Café: A bustling and accessible meeting place. Business appointments, a drink with some friends before the start of a concert, coffee with coconut pie with grandma. The menu offers authentic dishes for a get-together or a modest dinner. In the summer of 2009 WATT will have extended the café well outdoors, towards the park. Check here for the menu.

Theater: The name represents the atmosphere of the room. Theater stands for entertainment, culture and artistic productions. It is the perfect space for spontaneous, smaller performances or relaxed get-togethers. It can also be opened up towards the café, which makes having a cup of coffee a unique experience in itself.

Business to Business: WATT’s function rooms are especially suitable for facilitating your business meetings, product presentations as well as staff parties of 20 to 2000 people. Needless to say, WATT’s function rooms are a great profiling opportunity for companies aiming to contribute to a sustainable society.

WATT Rotterdam

Sustainable Danceclub company