This will need updating and sorting later -- for now, it's a brain-dump of various (re)sources, book references, and links I have found useful....

For now: This list is organised by type of material: (1) books, usually with a link to amazon.com, and a note if the volume is available through the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) or can be perused at the downtown Chapters bookstore; (2) online sources, including PDFs. When possible, if you note a resource and have an annotation/ comment about it, please add...


BOOKS

Gruft, Andrew. Substance over Spectacle: Contemporary Canadian Architecture
- see alsothis page
- available at Chapters; not available at GVPL; includes a section on the architecture of James K.M. Cheng, who designed The Falls; also an interesting section on Strawberry Vale Elementary School by Patkau Architects.

Larson, Douglas, et al. The Urban Cliff Revolution: Origins and Evolution of Human Habitats.
- fascinating look at evolutionary origins of dwelling preferences; available through GVPL

Hildebrand, Grant. Origins of Architectural Pleasure.
- very useful for developing analytical tools that help determine what makes architecture "work" aesthetically. The author proceeds from evolutionary psychology, and posits 3 sets of oppositions he considers hardwired into our brains, which work in tandem to give viewers/ users pleasure in the experience of built environment:
1. refuge and prospect; 2. order and complexity (or complex order / ordered complexity); and 3. peril and enticement. That last opposition is especially interesting. Each idea is helpfully explained via concrete examples.

Sennett, Richard. Flesh and stone : the body and the city in Western civilization.
- fascinating look at how ideologies of the body have shaped the built environment and our responses within it. Somewhat generally theoretical in terms of ranging from ancient Greece up to modernity, but very provocative and I highly recommend it. Available through GVPL.


Hawken, Paul; Lovins, Amory; Lovins, L. Hunter. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.
- "natural" capitalism is based on a new type of industrialism which treats the earth's natural capital as a source and model of productivity and production. This is the book you want to read if you're not ready to ditch civilisation to go live in the bush. Available through GVPL.

Benyus, Janine. Biomimicry : innovation inspired by nature.
- Available through GVPL, this isn't a book about cities or architecture, but it's about nature's style of doing things, and the people who are trying to copy it to make it work for our modern needs. It's a "wow!" book that makes you wonder why we still can't do it nature's way, which is creatively, instead doing everything more or less through troglodyte methods of "heating-beating-treating."




Online Resources


Solnit, Rebecca. "Farewell, Bohemia: On Art, Urbanity, and Rent."

- Solnit is a wonderful writer (some of her books are available through GVPL); this essay is about gentrification in San Francisco. She quotes Carol Lloyd:

"The problem is that in San Francisco downward mobility had become a lifestyle choice every bit as self-indulgent as upward mobility. I know because I was one of the voluntarily low-income: lionizing the working class, despising my 'white-skinned' privilege, camouflaging the capriciousness of my aesthetic tastes, nursing a love-hate relationship with the middle-class identity my parents imbued in me. There is a real pleasure and even, I think, a virtue in that kind of voluntary poverty, but it really doesn’t have much in common with the poverty in my neighborhood."

Food for thought, Solnit describes what happens to cultural diversity when the yuppies (or, in Victoria's case: the better-off retirees, the "resort-ies") move in... This essay has special significance in relation to Jane Jacobs's descriptions of Greenwich Village's Hudson Street from long ago...

Forster, Kurt. "Why are some buildings more interesting than others?"

- the ever-lively Kurt Forster concludes:
"The value we attribute to any building also implies a recognition of imaginative acts. Imaginative buildings speak about the realm of nature as a domain of civilization, not as something infinitely removed or heedlessly replaced, and they engage our senses by means of ingenious inscriptions of many-layered meanings no one can grasp, much less exhaust, at a glance."

Saunders, William S. "From Taste to Judgement: Multiple Criteria in the Evaluation of Architecture"

QUOTE: "An architecture of 'maximum aliveness'—to repeat that clunky phrase—is likely to satisfy several (if not most) evaluative criteria at once, or to satisfy one or two criteria to an extraordinary degree. When a building is aesthetically a marvel but functionally weak (or vice versa), the evaluation will give the achievement its full due, yet acknowledge its limitations."

DeYoung, R. "Environmental Psychology."

On attention, which is a concept that also has a lot of traction in business these days:
"Understanding human behavior starts with understanding how people notice the environment. This includes at least two kinds of stimuli: those that involuntarily, even distractingly, command human notice, as well as those places, things or ideas to which humans must voluntarily, and with some effort (and resulting fatigue), direct their awareness. Restoring and enhancing people's capacity to voluntarily direct their attention is a major factor in maintaining human effectiveness."

The "Walkable Streets Toolkit," a downloadble PDF


Lewyn, Michael. "A Libertarian Smart Growth Agenda."

Lewyn uses libertarian arguments to counter the rightwing Heritage Foundation's Edwin Feulner's article entitled, "Protecting Your Property From Stupid 'Smart Growth' Socialists."

Planetizen
- great resource

Roofs and Roots Housing Cooperative(in Victoria)


Malanga, Steven. "The Curse of the Creative Class: A New Age theory of urban development amounts to economic snake oil."

- a Wall Street Journal (i.e., conservative) take down of Richard Florida's thesis of the "creative class" as source of urban prosperity: Malanga's stats suggest many cities with high populations of "creatives" are economic duds. Something for Vancouver to think about, but maybe not too acute for Victoria...?

QUOTE: "According to Mr. Florida, the winners in an age that values these attributes include gay-friendly San Francisco, laid-back Austin, multiculti New York and progressive Minneapolis. Mr. Florida advises leaders of cities trying to emulate this group to ensure that their towns remain 'open to diversity' by promoting laws that creative types see as welcoming while guarding against social legislation that makes their cities seem less tolerant. (Although the professor isn't explicit in his book about what kinds of laws attract the creative class, last summer he told a Canadian newspaper that 'the legalization of gay marriage is one of the great talent attraction packages of the last hundred years.') Political leaders should also invest in 'lifestyle amenities,' like bike paths (an obsession of Mr. Florida's) and running and roller-blading trails. Cities should follow the example of Austin, where public television features live music festivals, and where city leaders require companies that want to expand downtown to contribute to an arts-and-culture fund." UNQUOTE

Jeepers, conservatives are no fun, really. But then Malanga also writes the following, and here he has a point that interests me:

QUOTE: "'The Rise of the Creative Class' also appeals to a broader group of young, educated workers, who, as David Brooks describes in 'Bobos in Paradise,' have managed to combine two traditions that had previously been at odds--the bourgeois work ethic with bohemian culture--into something new, which Mr. Florida calls his 'creative class.' To such people, work offers spiritual as well as economic gratification. They may come to the office dressed in jeans and sneakers, but they happily work 12-hour days, view their co-workers as close friends, and look to their jobs for a sense of personal fulfillment, growth and even identity. Unlike Mr. Brooks, who gently satirizes these bobos, Mr. Florida regards them as a powerful and admirable new capitalist class that state and local policy makers should court enthusiastically." UNQUOTE


Dawdy, Philip. "Time to Grow Up: Mayor Greg Nickels says a taller, denser downtown is inevitable, even desirable. But critics like Peter Steinbrueck say bigger isn't better unless you do it right."

Steinbrueck quote: "If you want to impact sprawl, you have to impact families," says City Council member Peter Steinbrueck. "That's why there's sprawl in the first place. They can't find housing in the city that meets their income level."

Smith, Jim H. "Understanding Affordability: A new initiative at MIT's Center for Real Estate is helping to tackle the high cost of homes."

- QUOTE: "For many years, conventional wisdom held that a household should not spend more than 30 percent of its income on housing. But that view does little to help policymakers address the region's needs. Much more useful is a clear understanding of a community's proximity to job markets. Affordable housing that is 25 miles from a concentration of employers is not as valuable as housing within 10 miles."

Lyall, Sarah. "A Path to Road Safety With No Signposts.”

- this is a great article, about Hans Mondermann who designs streets without any signposts, and -- presto-magic -- EVERYONE behaves themselves. Wouldn’t work for a downtown/ more urban setting, but should be considered in suburban settings...

Project for Public Spaces


Smart City Radio

- see the “past shows” tab for a great line-up (memo to self: get iPod back up and running!) (See the Lance Berelowitz/ Dream City link, for eg., for an additional show on low-wage workers and their susceptibility, and how employers can help. Local example: Victoria’s own Munro’s Bookstore does much to create stability among its workforce. And isn’t that “our” Donna Morton, featured in a show on urban tax and zoning policies? And don’t think that building a new & bigger convention centre will be your city’s “silver bullet”: according to The Brookings Institute, sinking money into convention centers is a losing strategy... (link :here )

A-Infos Radio Project talks with Trevor Boddy, architecture critic and Larry Beasley’s nemesis


Boddy, Trevor. “INSIGHT: Downtown Vancouver's Last Resort: How Did ‘Living First’ Become ‘Condos Only?’”

Boddy’s criticism of Vancouver’s residential condo policy, also elaborated here

Rees, William E. “Commentary: Livability isn’t sustainability”

- on how cities (Vancouver, in this case) might be “liveable,” but still aren’t doing enough to be sustainable insofar as they're stomping out many times their allotted eco-footprint(s).

Georgia Strait Alliance on Victoria sewage problem


Sustainability by Design (SxD)

- Vancouver/ UBC based

A slew of Jane Jacobs links:
conservative Robert Fulford in National Post

- he gets it wrong

Jane Jacobs Revisitedby Karrie Jacobs (no relation)

- she gets it right

Jane-washingby Paul Goldberger

- on developers using Jacobs’s urbanist theories to justify building mega-projects, such as huge sports stadia, etc.

Jane Jacobs interviewed by Jim Kunstler

- this is a gem, because Kunstler keeps trying to get Jacobs to agree with him re. peak oil, etc., and she keeps deflecting his bent.

The Rich Life of Jane Jacobsby Robin Philpot (in CounterPunch)

- interesting analyses of her political ideas/ motivations. What would she think of amalgamation in Victoria?

Gerard, Warren. “Jane Jacobs, 89; Urban Crusader”

- best obituary of Jacobs out there, at least as far as the Canadian press goes (NYT was very good, can't find online though).

QUOTE, by Jacobs: “I think ideologies, no matter what kind, are one of the greatest afflictions because they blind us to seeing what’s going on or what’s being done,’’ she was quoted. “I’m kind of an atheist,” she said. “As for being a rightist or a leftist, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I think ideologies are blinders.” UNQUOTE

Ehrenhalt, Alan. “Extreme Makeover: After transforming its downtown into a residential mecca, Vancouver is trying to find the right balance between condos and commerce.”

- very much in line with those earlier articles and pieces by Trevor Boddy (see above) that criticise Vancouver for becoming too residential and not business/ commercially oriented enough. See also the WSJ opinion piece by Malanga, re. trashing idea of “the creative classes.” Some relevance for Victoria, although here it’s more of a problem of having retirees becoming “resort-ies”...

Macdonald, Elizabeth. “Street-facing Dwelling Units and Livability: The Impacts of Emerging Building Types in Vancouver’s New High-density Residential Neighbourhoods.” (PDF)

- I annotated this piece extensively, because it is based on real observations and is very thorough, and we need to understand it in relation to Victoria. So, here goes:

MacDonald's analysis focuses on residential development off mainstream(ish) commercial streets, residential that has townhouse entry-on-the-street component. This isn't an irrelevant form for us here, but downtown Victoria's current developments are for the most part "infill" and on mainstream(ish) commercial streets, and hence focus on mixed use/ retail-at-street-level. This is a type of development, however, that MacDonald, for the purposes of her paper, deliberately leaves out of her analysis. (see p.6, intro paragraph to "Contexts")

P.15:
"The Arbutus Neighbourhood. Development in the Arbutus Neighbourhood of the outlying Kitsilano neighbourhood is different in many respects from development in downtown neighbourhoods.Here, there are four- to 12-storey buildings, and no towers (Figure 14)."

- what's interesting here is that up to 12-storeys is "no towers," whereas it's considered a highrise in Victoria... The Arbutus Neighbourhood would be roughly comparable to James Bay, Vic West, or south Fairfied, where even 4-storeys are controversial...

P.18:
"...ground-floor direct entry units contribute substantially to the overall character of the neighbourhood as being made up of point towers and townhouses. Their environmental effect is disproportionate to their numbers because they are at eye level. The townhouses and cityhomes constitute much of what is immediately seen, while the tower and upper-floor units contribute the density that makes neighbourhood amenities possible—local retail, parks and community centres (Figure 22)."

- note well: the townhouses & cityhomes constitute much of what is immediately seen, and the towers aren't really noticed, but do allow for the density that makes the amenities possible.

P.19:
relates to evolutionary psychology, and the concepts laid out by Grant Hildebrand, too, in his pairings of refuge+prospect; order+complexity; and peril+enticement -- namely that we humans do use our empathy skills when surveying dwellings or streetscapes that we don't necessarily inhabit ourselves. We imagine, however, that we might, and we imagine what kind of people do: (Relates to issue of “attention” too.) :
"The ground-floor direct entry units contribute to visual interest along the street. Entries to ground-floor units are typically spaced 22 to 32 feet apart, creating a regular pedestrian-scaled rhythm of display gardens, entry steps and doors. When walking along a block, a passer-by's eye takes in the gardens, travels up the steps, lingers on the terraces and looks at the doors. The imagination then moves inside, imaging what residents are like based upon how they have personalized or not personalized their front yards."

P.27:
- here's where the newness of Vancouver's developments comes back to bite it, and creates a kind of economic ghetto (in reverse terms, because the inhabitants are all relatively well-off), as well as creates a nearly suburban kind of residential feel:

"...what of the tower units and the upstairs apartment flats? The research was not designed to test directly how these units contribute to street livability, although the activity counts show that people living in these units do use the street-level lobby entrance and do walk along neighbourhood streets when going to and fro from this entry. What the upper-floor units clearly do contribute to the new neighbourhoods is high density, between 50 and 110 dwelling units per acre. This density threshold supports a high level of local services, most notably a variety of local retail shops, including supermarkets, and public transit (Lozano, 1990). Nearby retail gives residents a local destination they can walk to, which contributes to life on the street.
"Nonetheless, some characteristics of the new neighbourhoods and the large new building types are of some concern. Jacobs (1961) argues that a number of conditions are necessary to generate exuberant diversity on city streets. The district must serve two or more primary functions (living, working, shopping, eating, etc.), contain a variety of building ages and conditions,conditions, have a dense concentration of people, both those who live there and those there for other reasons, and have short blocks and frequent streets. Vancouver's new residential neighbourhoods meet all these requirements except building ages and conditions. Most of the new neighbourhoods are being built very rapidly and so buildings are all of the same age. Because large buildings are being constructed and they are predominantly condominium projects rather than rental projects, everything is fixed for the long term. No new buildings or building additions will probably ever be built, unless the whole area, in the distant future, becomes a redevelopment area. As completely new neighbourhoods where almost all residents own rather than rent, the people living there are not very socio-economically diverse, with the exception of those people living in the government-owned social housing buildings mandated within each neighbourhood, which amount to about 20% of all units.
"(...) ...hearsay suggests that many ground-floor units have been bought by part-time non-Canadian residents, although corroborating evidence has not been collected on this. So, although the new building types may suggest a sense of 'eyes on the street', and some level of it is indeed being achieved, there may not be as much as in an older, more varied and mixed-income neighbourhood."

- But again, this isn't as much of a problem in Victoria, where condos are planned for infill which currently has surface parking lots. No one is (yet) talking about tearing down existing housing/ rental stock or existing office buildings.

Thus,It is the case for example,us, however, that the type of older building that Jacobs talked about in Life & Death of American Cities (the kind contributing to her condition that a neighbourhood should "contain a variety of building ages and conditions"), is today highly desirable and in fact subject to the kind of gentrification that makes this type of "older" building economically unobtainable for mere mortals (see also Solnit's essay on gentrification in SanFran). InThe whole point of "variety of building ages & conditions" was to allow for economic diversity among the residents of a neighbourhood. addition,But in Victoria, that kind of turn-of-the-century building stock has to be retrofitted to meet earthquake safety standards, which means these are projects that can only be taken on by developers with relatively deep pockets -- and who will then sell units at rates that reflect the construction costs that have gone into bringing the buildings up to code. This in turn makes them even less affordable, and thereby less able to contribute to "variety" in terms of economic diversity.

No, ourthe "old" housing and commercial stock that'sin Victoria supposedcapable toof offeroffering a certain level of affordability (because it's old) will not be the stuff that Jacobs wrote about: not the charming brick townhouse structures or 3-storey walk-ups. The "older" stock in newer West Coast cities like Victoria that will allow for B-class office space and more "affordable" rental units will be the charmless and ugly wood-frame and stuccoed 2- to 4-storey boxes built in the 1950s and 1960s. It might be an interesting project to figure out how to add some interest to these things without gentrifying them too much and thereby pricing them out of reach.

Re. rumours about buyers of new downtown residential: note that Victoria, too, is full of the same hearsay (that out-of-towners, speculators, and foreign part-timers are buying the new units) as MacDonald cites for Vancouver, but again, not much corroborating evidence.


Holloway, Jennifer. “Sonic Boom.”

- this is a cached version of an article in Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) Magazine, which I found while googling Rich Ilich, who is the developer behind the proposed “Hudson” (i.e., old Hudson’s Bay Building -- I like to think of the 3 proposed new towers as The Holmes, The Dr. Watson, and The Mrs. Hudson...). The article describes a new technology that allows a machine on-site to remove PCBs from contaminated soil. This then allows that land to be reclaimed for new construction. Interesting, I thought.

QUOTE: "Land is getting harder and harder to find," says Mr. Ilich, explaining his keen interest in brownfields opportunities. "Contaminated dirt is the next area to look." UNQUOTE