Some mornings before I open my eyes I pretend that when I do I’ll wake up in Paris on an atmospheric side street on the Left Bank, just a brief jog from the Jardin du Luxembourg.
I guess there’s some guy on the Left Bank imagining that he’ll wake up in an apartment on the Capilano River in North Vancouver because that’s the way we are.
But it’s hard not to love Paris, non?
The streets are teeming with life: vendors, buskers, sidewalk cafes, throngs of strollers, and in the summer, a number of instant beaches along the cobblestones of the Seine, complete with sand.
In contrast, it’s not so easy to love North Vancouver, eh? There are pockets of charm and street life — Lower Lonsdale, Deep Cove, Edgemont Village — but you can’t help get the feeling that it’s not built to linger.
Streets feel empty and inhospitable. Maybe that’s because they really want to be freeways when they grow up, or at least major arteries.
In Paris, it’s the journey that counts. Often, you find yourself waylaid at a café or patisserie and forget about the destination altogether. Where was I going? Do I care?
Where am I going with this? Well, recently I was introduced to another way to roll, or perhaps amble is a better word.
It’s called Happy Cities, and it’s the brainchild of Vancouver author Charles Montgomery, who believes that the way we design buildings, neighbourhoods and cities has a profound effect on health and happiness. In fact, that’s a direct quote from the Happy City website.
It’s Montgomery’s contention, backed by research, that a happy city is a walkable city.
Right now, we have the opposite. We’ve talked ourselves into building North Vancouver for cars, not people, and so most of our interactions take place in these hermetically sealed chariots with horns. And we’re more likely to get (and give) the finger than a friendly wave.
On the other, er, hand, the more people interact in an ambulatory way, the greater the level of trust, and ultimately, happiness. So Happy City encourages a human-level streetscape where you’d like to interact instead of being grudgingly forced to do so. Cue the cafes, fountains and park benches.
The Happy City people weren’t so happy with the results of the transit referendum because they believed that well-planned and designed transit should be the cornerstone of a happy city.
But it’s not all mega-projects.
For example, Marten Sims, the senior design and engagement specialist (whatever that is) for Happy City, set up a rope swing on a tree in his front yard and now kids (and grown-ups in touch with their inner kid) stop and hang out, on, and by the swing.
It’s a human-scale diversion that provides a focal point for an otherwise boring street. Paris is full of such things: fountains, historical plaques, spontaneous gardens, rows of benches, public art, as well as sidewalk cafes.
In North Vancouver, these amenities are confined to isolated villages or effectively buried in the bowels of public parks. Parks are nice, but unless you’re running or walking a dog how often do you go there?
Take Marine Drive. Please. It’s in the middle of a radical transformation. Condos are getting built, people are moving in, but the current vibe is that the district is messing up what used to be a great thoroughfare.
You can’t imagine actually walking on Marine Drive, never mind ambling. No ambling allowed. There’s nothing on the street except for intersections and entrances and exits — means of escape.
If you spend five minutes at HappyCity.com, you just might glimpse the possibility of Paris close to home, or at least a new name for a renewed street: Marine … Stroll?
Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
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