Thursday, February 02, 2006
Captain...We're breaking up !
Jane Jacobs from her classic work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities:
"When a city heart stagnates or disintegrates, a city as a social neighborhood of the whole begins to suffer: People who ought to get together, by means of central activities that are failing, fail to get together. Ideas and money that ought to meet, and do so often only by happenstance in a place of central vitality, fail to meet. The networks of city public life develop gaps they cannot afford. Without a strong and inclusive central heart, a city tends to become a collection of interests isolated from one another. It falters at producing something greater, socially, culturally and economically, than the sum of its separated parts."
Q: Are we turning the corner and starting to invest in the peninsula's infrastructure? In the recent past we would invest millions to widen the entrance to B.L.I.P, not once but four times and then discover, on the other hand the city would charge the Spring Garden Road Association $13,000 to close the street for two days & hold a festival for the city (a policy presently under review).
Don't get me wrong, I like the B.L.I.P.. I shop there and as a citizen I like the job opportunities it offers many. What I am wondering about is the investment in our cities heart. If Jane Jacob's is right, a strong vibrant city center is in the interest of all HRM's citizens including the businesses in the retail parks.
What do you think about the cities central area development?
How can we better invest in Halifax's peninsula ?
What would Jane Jacobs say? More importantly, what do you say?
Jane Jacobs on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs ¶ 2:23 PM
Jane Jacobs from her classic work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities:
"When a city heart stagnates or disintegrates, a city as a social neighborhood of the whole begins to suffer: People who ought to get together, by means of central activities that are failing, fail to get together. Ideas and money that ought to meet, and do so often only by happenstance in a place of central vitality, fail to meet. The networks of city public life develop gaps they cannot afford. Without a strong and inclusive central heart, a city tends to become a collection of interests isolated from one another. It falters at producing something greater, socially, culturally and economically, than the sum of its separated parts."
Q: Are we turning the corner and starting to invest in the peninsula's infrastructure? In the recent past we would invest millions to widen the entrance to B.L.I.P, not once but four times and then discover, on the other hand the city would charge the Spring Garden Road Association $13,000 to close the street for two days & hold a festival for the city (a policy presently under review).
Don't get me wrong, I like the B.L.I.P.. I shop there and as a citizen I like the job opportunities it offers many. What I am wondering about is the investment in our cities heart. If Jane Jacob's is right, a strong vibrant city center is in the interest of all HRM's citizens including the businesses in the retail parks.
What do you think about the cities central area development?
How can we better invest in Halifax's peninsula ?
What would Jane Jacobs say? More importantly, what do you say?
Jane Jacobs on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs ¶ 2:23 PM
