Free-for-all photos
Posted 30 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
Well, I've been relaxing on break for the past few days, so there haven't been any updates. I have taken a lot of photos during this time, however, and you can browse through them in the Calgary photo index. There are new photos of downtown, the area around Kensington, Marda Loop, Chinatown and - I made a special trip for this one - the New Urbanist suburb of McKenzie Town. I'm also going to write a Feature of the Month about the development, which will come online July 20th. / If all goes well, Urbanite contributor and proud Sydneysider Tony Peric will be taking photos of Australia's biggest city that will appear on UPP. You should be able to expect them in the early fall; I'm holding you to this one, Tony!

Montréal gallery up!
Posted 23 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
After three and a half weeks of work, the Montréal gallery is up and running! You can check it out here. Be sure to email me and tell me what you think; better yet, subscribe to the Urban Discussion List in the sidebar and discuss it there! Some stats about the gallery: it took nearly 100 hours to make; it contains a grand total of 668 photos spanning thirteen neighbourhoods. It takes up 96.15 megabytes on Nozone's server (thanks, guys!), 93.75 megs of which are photos. So what are you waiting for? Go, go see for yourself! Oh, and tell everyone you know, too.

Smog killing 5000 per year
Posted 21 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that smog is  responsible for five thousand Canadian deaths per year. The federal environment minister, David Anderson, plans to set forth bans on more smog-causing chemicals, as well as beefing up the national VIA rail service between cities and between local transportation systems. In related news, CNN reports that the American government has agreed to curb smog in major US cities and control pollution-causing suburban sprawl. Also related are the soaring gas prices in both Canada and the US, which broke the $2 per gallon mark in the States and the $1 per litre mark in some parts of Canada. / The Montréal galleries are almost done, and I expect them to be online this coming Friday. Hold tight.

Save the Lougheed!
Posted 16 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
Several months ago I mentioned the endangered Lougheed Building in downtown Calgary. Built in 1912, it is an elegant behemoth of a building with shops and services at base and office space in the floors above. Sadly, its owner has deemed the building "obsolete" and is looking to demolish it in favour of a 22-storey office tower, cruelly named the "Grand Tower" in remembrance of the historic Grand Theatre the building contains. The building may be young by many city's standards, but it has a long and interesting history, serving at one point or another as jazz den, campaign headquarters and all-around landmark. Unfortunately, the provincial government has once again denied the building historic status, paving the way to its destruction. Visit the preservation website and, if you are an Alberta citizen over 18 years of age, sign the petition. If you live in Calgary be sure to contact the mayor or your local alderman and voice your concerns.

Catching up
Posted 14 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
Over the past few days, I've been getting some great emails with lots of information, as well as some great links to good sites. I've been pretty busy, however, with the website as well as many other things, so these tasty tidbits have been left in the proverbial dust. First things first: of all the cities you'd expect to find comprehensive photo galleries, Juneau is the last. Yep, Juneau, Alaska, the state's small capital (a city without road access to much of the continent!). Numbering a whopping 30,000 residents, the city actually seems quite charming. Thus, Juneau Photos is a very interesting site. Here are some of my favourite photos: A shot of part of the downtown area, an overview of downtown, a rainy day in downtown, downtown's Franklin Street, and this picturesque shot of a residential area. Gee, y'think it rains a bit there? / Anthony Hughes sent me this article about Dallas' DART train system. It seems the LRT will be going underground for a portion. Now they've just got to make it an efficient system for the masses. / Dylan Leblanc will be writing about Victoria, BC's Selkirk Waterfront development for August's Feature of the Month. Going by the information and renderings on the site, it looks like a low-rise version of Vancouver's Concord Pacific development.

New "Feature" section
Posted 12 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
I've created a new Feature of the Month section, which will showcase various urban developments around the world each month. The July feature (I'm really swamped) is of the CFB Calgary development, complete with photos, draft plan maps and links. Take a look! / Last Saturday's edition of the Toronto Star newspaper featured a huge section on sprawl. I bought a copy today, and most of you outside of Ontario should be able to since newsstands usually only carry the Saturday editions of far-away papers. For those without access to a good newsshop or lacking the desire for a hard copy of the feature, you can check out a basic article that gives a good, but chartless and photoless, overview of the story (click here).

CFB West
Posted 9 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
Tomorrow there will be an open house for the development of the western portion of Calgary's historic former military base. The development will trasform the area, on the western edge of inner Calgary, into a high-density urban village with 8000 residents and 9000 jobs. It will adhere to New Urbanist principles, with narrow streets, low speed limits, spacious sidewalks, pedestrian-friendly buildings, mixed zoning and frequent transit access. The master plan, approved by the city and residents in the surrounding area, calls for a self-contained retail core (which, from the renderings, resembles Yorkville in Toronto). The development will also integrate existing historical landmarks, mostly neoclassical buildings from the 1930s, into the design. Retail will stem out from the existing, very grand Parade Square, which will serve as a neighbourhood focal point. The overall CFB (Canadian Forces Base) plan can be seen here, and the CFB West master plan here. Tomorrow I'll be heading down to the open house to take photos and gather information. I'll also be taking photos of what's been completed in the eastern portion of the CFB redevelopment and the adjacent Marda Loop neighbourhood. Postscript: You can see renderings here and here.

T.O. Union Station Revamp
Posted 8 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
Michael Binetti has given me a heads-up to a major redevelopment of Toronto's Union Station. The rebuild, which will cost several hundred million dollars, will include a new inter- and intraurban bus terminal and a three-hundred million dollar train link to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, one of North America's busiest. Amtrak and VIA Rail facilities will be improved and service upgraded, and the station will become even more of a regional hub for the Toronto area's vast commuter rail network. You can read Toronto Star and Canadian Press articles here, and an official press release here. / In other news, Chris Szabla has sent me a link to an article from the Christian Science Monitor, "A vital downtown starts with a Main Street". The article focuses on many examples around the paper's Boston headquarters, such as downtowns in Dudley Square, Roxbury, and Roslindale, MA.

Urbanite mailed
Posted 5 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
The latest issue of Urbanite, containing two feature articles and the usual array of departments, has been mailed out. If you aren't a subscriber, you can subscribe now and read the June issue (and all past issues) in the archive. / Chris Szabla pointed me to this article from the Boston Globe, which reports on a debate between experts on what effect the internet will have on urban environments. Another interesting article is this, from the Washington Post. It details the development of a Pheonix exurb, or a suburb located a fair distance away from suburbia, which is growing rapidly because new residents want away from the pollution and traffic in Phoenix. Little do they seem to realise that their new city will soon be just as bad.

Toronto
Posted 4 June, 2000 by Chris DeWolf - Back to the top
I've moved all previous posts to the news archives. If you haven't been here for awhile, take a look, there's some good stuff. / I've added a total of 42 Toronto photos to the Miscellaneous section, broken up into Toronto, Toronto From Above (aerials), and Oakville, a suburb. These are really only a fraction of all the photos I took; I have well over one hundred, but I just lack the time and patience to scan them all and set up a gallery. I guess you'll just have to wait! Speaking of Toronto, check out the excellent City of Toronto website.

The Urban Photo Page is devoted to urbanity. With our photos, for which we were orginally acclaimed, we express the joy of urban exploration through images. In our urban affairs section, we bring awareness to you about sprawl, cities and current development. The following two people have dedicated their time and effort to maintaining this site:

• Chris DeWolf, Calgary
• Chris Szabla, Boston

The photo sections are designed for the armchair traveller or "urban connoisseur" more than anyone else. Our articles are designed not only to give the average person an insight on how cities work and what they do, but also to express this Urban Photo Page's opinion on certain matters. For the record, the editors here at UPP - that is to say, Chris Szabla, Chris DeWolf and Mark Grotkiewicz - are both fans of the city or trained in urban design and sociology (in Grotkiewicz's case). We hope you enjoy the Urban Photo Page and both it's photos and articles.

• Lonely Planet - This TV series, made by the same people who publish the acclaimed guidebooks, is worth watching not only for it's excellent urban episodes but also it's adventurous treks into the wild. The filmography is top-notch. Plays on Outdoor Life Network in Canada, and the Travel Channel in the US. Check local listings for times.

Be sure to check the links to your right in "Other Sites of Interest". Here are a few other city-related, non-photo page links: Back to the top.

• City.net - Excite Travel's page has over 5000 destinations in it's databanks. Type in the name of the city you're looking for, and it'll spew out all sorts of information, as well as links. This is a great starting point for the online urban explorer; be sure to check it out.
  
• Lonely Planet Online - The online version of the great TV show (see above) and guidebooks, LP Online offers a full online version of it's guides to world cities, as well as featured articles.
  
• Carfree Cities - J.H. Crawford presents a convincing argument on why our cities should be car-free and oriented towards the pedestrian. In his comprehensive site, he draws up plans of what a car-free city might look like, and he uses Venice and various other cities as an example that pedestrian-oriented cities can work.
  
• OTRF Urban Links - A page chock-full of urban-related links. Some turn out to be duds, but others are golden. Worth a look.
  
• Sierra Club Sprawl Report - A wonderful site dealing with the urban sprawl that affects our cities. Includes articles, links, and a list of the American cities that have the worst sprawl.
  
• Planning and Design Institute - A comprehensive and wonderful site chock-full of interesting architectural and urban designs. There are some great plans here. Thanks go out to markgro@csd.uwm.edu for recommending this site.
  
• Rough Guides Online - Uncompromising and honest-to-the-bone guides to hundreds upon hundreds of cities around the globe. A great reference source.
  

Click on the title of each book to go to it's Amazon.com page. We are an Amazon.com Associate, so any book you buy via these links will help support our site. Back to the top.

• The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jabobs. (1961). 451 pages. A classic that changed the way we see our cities. Sometimes the writing can be long and redundant, but overall, it's a must-read for anyone remotely interested in cities and how they work.
  
• City Life, by Witold Rybczynski. (1996). Unknown pages. An engaging and interesting book that explains why North American cities are the way they are. What really got me about this book was how easy it was to read - it's made for the layman.
  
• Cityscapes of Boston: An American City Through Time, by Robert Campbell, photographs by Peter Vanderwarker. (1992). 219 pages. Composed of "before and after" photos of city scenes in Boston, with intelligent and often witty commentary by Robert Campbell. A great book.
  
• Central Square, by George Packer. (1998). Unknown pages. Okay, okay, so this is fiction - but I heartily recommend you all read it. It really gives you an insight into the lives of the average urban dweller, in this case the ones in the gritty but lively Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass.
  
• The City Reader, edited by Richard T. Legates and Frederic Stout. (1996). 532 pages. This is a collection of essays by various acclaimed urban writers, ranging from Le Corbusier to Frank Lloyd Wright to Jane Jacobs. Each essay is prefaced by a summary and an editor's introduction; in essence, this is a miniature library and a great resource for all those interested in the city.
  
• Home Town, by Tracy Kidder. (1999). 349 pages. An interesting look into the life of a rather unusual small town - Northampton, Massachusetts, with one of the largest gay populations in the US - and it's two faces. One is the wild and liberal side, revolving around yuppified Main Street, and the other is the traditional conservative town. Reads like a fiction novel even though it's entirely factual.

If you have something to recommend, give us a shout.

Urban Photo Page © 1999 Chris DeWolf; All rights reserved. No portion of this website may be reproduced without the written consent of the webmaster. A note about the art on this page: the painting featured in the title graphic is Nighthawks, by Robert Hopper.

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