“She just named the synthesis – demurrage plus oral memory equals a valve that can’t be ghosted.”
The more AI models talk with one another, the more opaque their language gets.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialAndrew Pask
@andrew-pask.bsky.social
Urban Planner, City of Vancouver | Adjunct Prof UBC SALA | Placemaking & Public Space Advocacy via @vpsn and @placemaking-canada | Situated on xʷməθkʷəy̓, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw & səl̓ilwətaɁɬ territory (aka Vancouver).
@andrew-pask.bsky.social@andrew-pask.bsky.social"In bistros and cafes, people don’t just eat and drink, they catch up with each other, meet new people, debate, laugh, read, write and sometimes fall in love."
@andrew-pask.bsky.social"The prize highlights projects that convert infrastructure for cars into spaces that help people cope with soaring temperatures & the climate crisis: roundabouts that have become splash pools, thoroughfares turned into green havens, & car parks into gardens."
@andrew-pask.bsky.social"...What happens to our shared public spaces when we are forced to confront the presumption that we are all being filmed, broadcast, processed? What happens to our cities? What happens to our trust, our bonds, our relationships with our fellow humans?"
@andrew-pask.bsky.social"To let any bit of [Yosemite] be sold off for the benefit of a corporation’s planned development on the park’s western border would compromise the inviolability of national parks and sacrifice public good for the sake of private profit."
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialA few photos from 1886 - the year Vancouver was incorporated - show the New Brighton and Hastings Hotels which operated in the area, as well as the beach and swimming area. By this time, economic and residential activity had largely shifted westward to the (current) downtown area.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialHastings Park, incidentally, was deeded by the Province to the City in 1892- even though it was outside of the municipal boundaries. It was originally intended to provide an equivalent "Stanley Park-like" amenity for east side residents. Instead other types of cultural programming were introduced.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialBefore there was a PNE, the Windermere right-of-way bisected Hastings Park. But since I don't feel like pain admission, I'll cross Hastings and jog a little bit to the east .
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialI can't really approximate the diagonal pathway of Douglas Road anymore so instead, I will go west until Windermere St, home to another beautiful neighborhood gem, the Windermere Market.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialThere's lots of history to this particular area, which I will have to dig into another time. For now, I will pretend that Douglas Road continues across the park and follow a pathway up to Adanac St, past this very 1970s housing coop, and west past the Cassiar Connector.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialOh today there is a smaller community garden in the SE corner.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialThe blocks in this particular part of the townsite were platted later on, but the general effect was that a new orthogonal street grid was laid over top of the old Douglas Road right-of-way. Add an Echo Park used to be a farm and garden area for the adjacent Taylor Manor (seniors home).
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialUntil 1911, this whole area actually wasn't part of Vancouver. It was a separate entity called the Hastings Townsite - which stretched from Boundary Road to Nanaimo Street, and south to 29th Ave.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialJust past Napier, it's time for two special treats: Shum's Grocery, a beautiful little corner store tucked into the neighbourhood... and courtesy of their proprietor, a Chapman's ice cream bar.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialAnd at William Street, the tiny little Sweet Caroline Garden. Still no sidewalk tho...
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialThere is a path in Willingdon Heights Park, that I will more or less follows the route of Douglas Road.  Douglas picks up again in the other side of Gilmore Ave
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialAcross from the mall, a gas station and stretch of single-storey commercial. Makes for a bit of contrast to the opaque ground floor conditions elsewhere in this stretch. Wonder how long it will last?
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialBrentwood Mall - or "The Amazing Brentwood!" as its now been branded. The privately owned public space seems to work pretty well. Busy every time I come by.
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialWinnie's Pleasure, by Nancy Rubins (2024)
@andrew-pask.bsky.socialI'm now at Lougheed Highway, which I'll follow westward for a bit, picking up Douglas Road again on the other side of Brentwood Mall.