Winter is Public
The Project for Public Spaces has released its study of Winter Cities. Some may be familiar with my critique of journalistic rankings of cities and the penchant for ‘best’ and ‘worst’. In this study Canadian cities such as Edmonton and Calgary rank amongst the worst globally for maintaining the vitality of streets as public spaces. It’s true Edmontonians are most proud of their new Anthony Henday ringroad and its Gateway Boulevard mega overpass/spaghetti junction. Finally a bigger piece of transportation ‘art’ than Montreal! The investment in streets is towards automobiles, little else. But to return to the study, the comparison with cities with milder winters such as Salzburg doesn’t help ask how huge indoor atria can be linked to the street and made to contribute to the city as a whole? These glass-covered indoor spaces, embodied in shopping malls, but also in major public buildings and city centre office developments, represent the Canadian architectural achievement of the late twentieth century.
But there is a further question - one may assume that Edmonton streets emptied by buildings being interconnected by overhead ‘pedways’ reflect a lack of interest in the cities public spaces. The paradox is that the public sphere is online: Edmontonians are the most vocal, engaged and opinionated population I’ve ever encountered when it comes to the city and its spaces. Where else do neighbourhood groups fly in major theorists of cities like Neil Smith to help build their campaigns against gentrification? Thanks for this articulate comment querying what constitutes ‘vibrancy‘.
- Rob