York Urbanist

Curling – Year of Youth 2013
April 29th, 2013
Curling, Sports

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Youth Reigns
- Rachel Homan’s team (ages 23-27) wins Scotties
- Brad Jacob’s Team (ages 27-33) wins Brier
- Niklas Edin Swedish Team (ages 24-25) wins Worlds
- Eve Muirhead (21) wins Worlds

Curling legitimized its place as a sport of athletes through the results of this transition year. The timing could not be better as the Olympics are less than a year away and contemplating growth of the number of golds to the sport. Although Martin, Stoughton and Howard continue to hold court at the 8-end events, they weakened during the weeklong Brier. The fittest survived as did the Scotties champions.

Interestingly, it was the seniors of Canada who pulled off the double gold. You’ll say we told you so about Canada’s dominance with those results, but that is just evidence that the players of the past had less requirement to be the fittest…but perhaps they were the craftiest.

Crafty is what Howard, Martin and Stoughton have, but Martin’s loss of Johnny Morris will further weaken his ability to win unless he comes up with a youthful, crafty and fit replacement. And Colleen Jones this year showed skills of the past, but next year will watch the youth of Nova Scotia vie for the Scotties, I suspect.

What I liked to see this year was the emergence of an active and youth oriented sport stateside. The USA has seen more dedicated ice added to the landscape and more in the offing. One off the podium at the US championships, 31 year old Tyler George enlisted the 25 year old Chris Plys to vice. And then there is the just out of juniors Dropkin team in the hunt for nationals and colleges. The Ontario Junior Curling Tour has been around since Wes Johnson invented it in 2004. Nine years and growth of competition was the breeding ground for Homan and Jacobs. Look at the website now. You will read names of future national champions.

Curling is healthy, growing in Ontario and Quebec and USA, and Mixed Doubles has become infectious in Europe as success (and Canada’s lack of success) breeds an excitement that will, in a generation, create a sport that becomes less dominated by the origin-claimant nations. Watch for another spurt of new curling fans and participants with the results coming in from Sochi.
Curling Clubs: prepare yourselves to grow your membership via the Olympic (and youthful) movement!

William H. Whyte Revisited
January 15th, 2013
Landscape Architecture, Urban Design

http://vimeo.com/6821934 I was reminded of the excellence of the basics of urban design that William H. Whyte contributed so many years ago. They still apply today.

Humber Valley East Trail and Hiking Rules
January 10th, 2013
Recreation

York Region has many developed hiking trails for the urban hiker.  The best is still one that ranges from Kleinburg to Woodbridge following the Humber River East Branch. It appeals to all our senses.

The valley is so incised and wide as to allow the hiker to escape the harsh reality of urban light and noise.  The smells can either take you back to your childhood or send you into a sneezing fit.  The paved surface of the trail allows the not-so-avid recreationist the opportunity to experience the outdoors, but the adventurer is allowed to wander off trail to the edges of the valley where the sense of touch comes into play.  We trudge through snow or brush against brush.  Through four seasons, the experienced naturalist can even taste the outdoors. Yes, even winter has its hang-over seeds and fruits.  Get out and breathe the filtered air and take an active lifestyle that will relieve the stressors of the daily routine. See what previous hikes encouraged on the Humber River valley at http://yorkurbanist.com/trails/humber-valley-heritage-trail/

But respect the trails. Take stewardship of them for your next use and for the generation that follows.  Keep litter to your person, avoid taking pets that upset the natural inclinations of wildlife, and greet those other trail users in the most friendly manner as they share your ideals of a walk with nature.

Although urban trails are in a dissimilar context, I am repeating these Hiking Rules from http://www.canadianliving.com/health/fitness/how_to_start_hiking_4.php and Michael Haynes, with whom I have worked on a trails project.  Michael is well known in the hiking world having had his own CBC radio program and having authored a  hiking book.

“Rules to live by….
Safety first
Inconsiderate, ill-informed hikers are the scourge of the trails. For one thing, flicked cigarette butts or flying embers from campfires have started many forest fires. If you must build a fire, the Canada Safety Council recommends clearing an area with a three-metre diameter, making a circle of rocks around the fire and keeping a bucket of water, sand and a shovel nearby.

“I would always discourage people from lighting fires in the backcountry,” says Southam. “It can be damaging to what are often very fragile environments. That said, I think you should carry some waterproof matches in the event that you need to light a fire for safety purposes.”

If you absolutely must indulge in hot soup or tea on the trail, buy a lightweight stove. Some butane stoves are small enough to fit in your pocket.

Leave no footprints nor …
• Scoop when you poop. If fire is the No. 1 problem on trails, No. 2 could be, well, number two. With no outhouses on many long trails, poorly placed poops can be a disgusting problem. Leave No Trace Canada, a national nonprofit organization, advises hikers to dig a hole 15 to 20 centimetres deep and at least 60 metres from water and trails. Cover the hole when you are finished, and don’t leave your used toilet paper on the trail. Ideally you should seal it in a plastic bag and take it off the trail, but at the very least, bury it.
• Pack out what you pack in. Litter is another scourge of the hiking trail. Glass, cans and plastic are not just visually offensive, they can harm animals and people.

• Leave Fido at home. While dogs are a fixture on many trails, some die-hard hikers believe dogs should stay home. Some trails actually have no-dog policies. “It’s from dog feces more than anything else that water sources get contaminated,” says Haynes. Haynes adds if dogs do need to accompany you, you should always keep them on a leash.

Additional rules
• Don’t hike alone.
• Check the weather forecast before you head out.
• Carry a map and compass with you, even if you have a GPS.
• If you don’t know the area, study a map before you hike.
• Obey all posted signs.
• Tell someone where you’re going and when you will be returning.
• Keep the noise down.
• Leave the alcohol at home.

Choosing your trail
Just as a new swimmer isn’t going to breaststroke across the English Channel, a novice hiker has to pace herself. Some longer trails, especially ones with steep hills, demand a fairly high level of fitness. Haynes recommends beginners should start at five kilometres or less (one to two hours) for their first few walks. Flat trails of up to 10 kilometres may be fine as well, but new hikers shouldn’t attempt longer routes. Trails beyond 15 kilometres – or 10 kilometres with a significant climb – are best left to the more experienced hikers. Most formal trails will tell you the distance, and some will rate the level of difficulty. And if you have a topographic map, you can quickly see if there are any steep hills.

Whether you want to take a sweet afternoon stroll or spend four nights sleeping in the wilderness, there’s a trail out there for you. For getting fit, clearing your head, escaping the concrete and getting to see some of Canada’s most stunning scenery, it’s hard to find anything better than taking a hike. “

Man versus Machine – The Creative Sector
January 1st, 2013
Aging, The Future

In http://boingboing.net/2013/01/01/robots-are-taking-your-job-and.html, the Cory Doctorow referenced author Kevin Kelly in Wired, refers to the evolution of machines taking over laborious tasks and he even states – “Robots create jobs that we did not even know we wanted done.” To put this into perspective, the robots are not ‘creating’, it is humans that are creative. And it is this Creative Sector of humanity that will move us through the next millennium. In sector D of the chart to the left the only jobs for humans will be those that are creative as all other sectors of the chart will be filled by machines.
Creative jobs are the jobs of the future intelligent society. Education spreads to developing nations. There is an importance put on the best schools (McLean’s Canadian University list) and the highest results (EQAO in Ontario, Canada). This foundation will be the premise for growth of technical understanding. But the stand-outs will be those who can use technology in a creative way. Referring to the article above, the people of the 1800’s never imagined the need to “remove a tumor in our gut through our navel, or make a talking-picture video of our wedding”. What is in our future that we could never contemplate today? The Creative Sector will cause needs to evolve.
Back to education… While our children learn their ABC’s and numerals, so too should we infuse the arts and sports. It is through the arts and sports that we can let our minds wander from the government approved structure of the basics. Currently in Ontario, a long hanging labour strike precludes after-school and extracurricular activities. The arts and sports that are being sidelined are as much the fundamentals of learning as those curricula prescribed by the government. Indeed, abilities in the arts and athletics will provide future job-seekers with an advantage for future employment. So that strike is precluding the evolution of learning and delaying future opportunities.
Specialty arts and sports schools are overwhelmed with applications for entry. I recently wrote references for two potential students to the Bruce Carruthers High School, Markham, Ontario specializing in sports. Only 20% of the applicants will be accepted. But why should sports, and the complementary arts schools, be isolated and made into elite institutions? At sports schools, by rote, we learn about our bodies and the needs for them. We learn our human physical limitations. By so knowing, we will discover how those needs can be enhanced. Perhaps the enhancement will be biological or technological, but discovery comes from pushing our limits.
Similarly, the arts schools push the metaphorical limits of acting or music or art or dance. These artistic media are the languages of creativity, explaining how our intellectual self has no limitations and how our minds require exercise to improve to more full potential than we have been allowed in the past. The arts schools liberate students from the norms of the past and allow them to test new ways of thinking.
Combine arts with science and our future will become something we never today imagined.
Leave out sports and arts and our future will dullen creativity, leaving humanity with more of today’s sameness.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013
December 31st, 2012
Uncategorized

TOP EIGHT URBAN WISHES AND ANTICIPATIONS FOR YORK IN 2013
1. EMPHASIS ON RECREATION FOR ALL AGES
2. BUILDINGS THAT NOT ONLY MEET LEED STANDARDS BUT THAT DRAMATICALLY INSPIRE
3. PARKS CREATIVELY DESIGNED, APPROPRIATELY LOCATED, FOR ALL DEMOGRAPHICS
4. VILLAGES THAT THRIVE IN A SEA OF BIG BOXES
5. INTENSITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN URBAN DESIGN
6. JUNIOR STAFF WHO ARE ENCOURAGED TO LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE
7. SMART INTERSECTIONS WHOSE LIGHTS ARE RESPONDENT TO APPROACHING VEHICLES
8. TRAILS FOR NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORTATION CONNECTING NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST YORK REGION

Landscape meets Curling
December 13th, 2012
Horticulture, Recreation

Never expected to read about Glen Howard in my Turf & Recreation - Landscape Trades magazine. He wasn’t talking curling or beer….but Weedman, the team’s 2012 sponsor. The article, if you can read it, speaks to the challenges of acquiring sponsors for even the world’s top curling team. Weedman has stepped up and used it for their marketing purposes. Great job Glen, Wayne, Brent, Craig. Could you stop by Kleinburg after the worlds and work on my lawn?

Happy Holidays
December 12th, 2012
Uncategorized

Our small way of reinforcing the celebration of the holiday season. My modest gift is a powerpoint - click on the following words:  Happy Holidays from York Urbanist Open. Enable Editing. Slide Show. From Beginning.

Response to Provincial Cycling Strategy
December 6th, 2012
Trails, Transportation issues

Cycling Strategy will take much from the Province to ensure the viability of a full network. The Ministry of Transportation is currently reviewing the route for a highway linking Highways 401/402/407/400 from Guelph to Vaughan. There has been no mention of cycling in the document. A new limited access highway will create a barrier to crossing. In this case, north to south access will presumably be for vehicles across bridges over the new route. Cycle lanes on those bridges should be imposed as a requirement for providing Safety and Accessibility. Many of those crossing routes are currently used by cyclists, primarily for tourism and recreation. As a corollory, crossings of limited access highways need to be more generous in width to allow for pedestrian routes and afford wildlife corridors.

But in addition to those crossings, cycling may require mid-concession crossings. Limited access highways should be more permeable allowing for cyclists (and pedestrians) to cross at more locations than motorized vehicles. The study of cycling and pedestrian movements should be a significant part of highway design.


Transportation Planning should be part of City Planning.  Cycling will only increase if the distance between origin and destination is reduced.  Building limited access highways encourages suburban living. Suburban living has had the impact of discouraging commuter cycling.  Only by further encouraging “Places To Grow” will there be significant increase in utilitarian cycling.

 

See also: http://yorkurbanist.com/2012/11/gta-west-corridor-study/

 

Wait Until Dark – Trails
December 3rd, 2012
Recreation, Trails

Trails are 24 hour, year-round facilities, worthy of recreation investment dollars.

On November 30, five intrepids wandered the Humber Valley. It was not exceptional weather. There was some cloud cover. But with the darkness, there was a new awareness…of quiet in places and traffic din on the horizon….of urban orange glow to the south and darkness to the north. One’s senses are tested in different ways.

Would there be coyotes in packs? Could we see/hear nocturnal scavengers? The adventure is one of how our minds will react in the dark. We are all the more cautious in our steps through grasslands, but the destination at the height of land with a vista of lighted horizon and emerging stars is worth the trepidation of tripping hazards. It builds awareness of nature in what is becoming an urban oasis.

The Night Trail Trek is further enhanced by apps on one phone showing us the star formations. For our future treks, we imagined that night vision glasses would add adventure.

This one and a half hour recreation stint cost the government nothing, further utilized a capital investment from over 10 years ago and realized an economic benefit from the purchase of specialty equipment and post-trek libations in the local constabulary. Despite the latter economic benefit, the health component cannot be overlooked – a group exercising without the need for machines, generating no carbon emissions and breathing air filtered by the buffer of forests and leas.

At a cost of about $10,000-50,000 per kilometre of trail, remind me what other recreation facility provides such utility per investment dollar! And, challenge yourself to a night hike with your friends. You will be surprised at the different perspective you take on them and yourself.

See also: http://yorkurbanist.com/trails/trails-tourism/

GTA West Corridor Study
November 21st, 2012
Urban Design, Urban Places to Detest

Before you know it, another limited access highway will be passing through King City and Caledon connecting Highway 400 to Highway 407/403/401.

This is on the heels of York Urbanist’s “Urban Places to Detest” http://yorkurbanist.com/category/urban-design/urban-places-to-detest/ where the number one detestable ”urban” places in York Region is the uncrossable Highway 427. The provincial government and its transportation planners will push this study to validate yet another multi-lane highway that will further expand the realm of suburbia. In isolation from Places to Grow and intensification, this newest highway will slice through the depleting array of fertile lands that feed cities.

I take issue with the planning that follows the American model of circumferential auto routes rather than the European take on intensification.  Intensification will make people think more about the location they live vis-a-vis their place of employment. Indeed, there is a profound change in the number of work-from-home situations that would be encouraged to increase if it was not so easy to romp on the next ring of asphalt.  Such studies have the effect of freezing lands from creative change and appropriate agricultural use. The land is frozen by the speculators then hungry developers who sit on lands for 20 years, only to indulge in another rubber stamped single family group of edifices that lack clarity of place.

The hundreds of thousands of dollars (perhaps millions) spent on this study would be better spent understanding and nurturing the new urban shift.