Duncan Placemaking - Whistler Street
Duncan, BC
For the last several years, this nearly 200 meter-long length of urban roadway has been degraded and demoralized by violence, drug dealing, and crime in various forms mostly stemming from regional opioid abuse. The community-generated design response depicted here has resulted from three rounds of; 1- Participatory programming and conceptual design; 2- Public design review processes and preferred alternative selection; and 3- final design development into a comprehensive professional design response. By emphasizing an approach to "Design for the world you want to inhabit", the design outcome was informed by the most up-to-date CPTED design methodologies. In other words, the program was developed as a creative response to the challenges at the site, with primary goals being to support local commercial and residential stakeholder ideas, support distressed people using the area, while also designing to attract a broader diversity of users to the site, day and night. There is a very strong DIY component to the spectrum of design strategies, some of them requiring collaboration with the municipality, and many of them depending upon individual or small group initiatives. The outstanding design features include street level place making and ecological infrastructure interventions, private site storefront improvements and enhancements, and rooftop installations of various kinds. In our view, this street can be a prototype for not only for an exceptional approach to urban livability, but rather an example of how all streets can become places that exemplify 21st Century values and ideas related to inclusivity and resilience. For more information on the process and media coverage, please click here.
