Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/112499
BEYOND T New urban design trends foster fresh ci SEATTLE VANCOUV I T���S A DAY OF STRIKING, URGENT sunshine. The towers on Vancouver���s downtown peninsula reach into the sky like the ragged crest of a breaking wave. Cumulonimbus clouds boil atop the North Shore Mountains, casting shadows across their forested slopes. Nature is again singing its siren song, and throughout the city, offices are emptying as Vancouverites heed the call ��� racing for the forests, the mountains, the sea. I meet Sadhu Johnston, Vancouver���s deputy city manager, outside City Hall at 5 p.m. sharp. He wears a vest crossed with a huge reflective ���X��� over his pinstriped suit, giving 28 W E S T W O R L D p28-31,36-37,44-45_Cities.indd 28 >> FALL 2012 him the look of a superhero midway through costume change. Together we roll down a newly painted bike lane toward the waterfront, following the route Johnston cycles to work every day. He wants to show me something ���very cool.��� And no, we are not joining the afternoon exodus to Vancouver���s wild side of zip lines and mountaintop aperitifs. No, these days, the big story is happening right here in the city. I���m not talking about a museum or restaurant or tourist attraction, either. But about the city itself: its sinew, its systems, its social life. Call me an urbanist tourist, one of that breed of travellers who finds pleasure just wandering neighbourhood to neighbour- hood. We look at a city as though it were art or an ecosystem, and we love observing the alchemic interactions between people and buildings. Of course, we���ve been around since ancient Roman aristocrats began taking their families to Athens nearly two millennia ago. Our predecessors were the English who took grand tours of the continent, and the fl��neurs, those strolling observers of 19thcentury Paris. Yet there has never been a more thrilling moment to be an urbanist tourist, in part because cities are tackling a storm of pressing challenges, from sprawl and congestion to climate change. And cities that successfully respond to these sustainability challenges are becoming healthier (Seattle���s floating homes) Amanda Koster, (Seattle kayaker) Charles Montgomery, (Vancouver���s Gastown) Jeff Topham 12-08-17 3:40 PM