Travelogue from Northwest Placemaking Tour

Mark Lakeman did a tour de force of speaking and leading workshops on placemaking in several cities in the Northwest this past week, including Victoria, Vancouver Island, and Orcas Island. Below is a journal of Mark's tour and the events he attended:

Photos and Text by Mark Lakeman - May 18, 2018

Victoria City Council "Critical Mass" Place Making Ride
As our ride snaked through the urban core of Victoria, we visited 8 different sites on May 11 where "intersection repair"-style community placemaking projects are about to get underway...with funding and the active support of the City of Victoria!

Victoria City Council ...Mayor's Bike!
I got to ride Lisa Helps' bike during the Placemaking "Critical Mass" Ride with the city council and community of Victoria!!

Victoria Placemaking Workshop
In Victoria, BC a majority of city council members along with numerous city staff attended this workshop on participatory placemaking. We focused on the 8 locations that we had previously visited during our "Critical Mass" bike tour of the sites. Each site has become a funded "Village Center" project!

Victoria City Council, Staff, Police & Fire Tiny Home Villages for Homeless People
In support of Victoria's new "Tiny Home Villages" initiative to house homeless people, there were two hugely successful events held at city hall on May 11 & 12. These included a public presentation, followed the next day by a workshop that included the mayor, city council members, a great number of city staff and bureau heads, police and fire department heads, as well as lots of active members of the community of Victoria! 

Fernwood Telephone Pole Murals
Inspired by the painted intersections in Portland, led by City Repair, the residents of the Fernwood Neighborhood in Victoria, BC have created an annual event that paints, and repaints ordinary telephone poles as a form of community commons and public art! Yes, placemaking, stewardship, and beauty are all over the neighborhood!! 

Teaching Placemaking at OUR Ecovillage, Shawnigan Lake, BC
As part of the the largest permaculture design course in the history of Canada (55 students!), the "Intersection Repair" Design Game was played. The students formed three design teams, and within one hour we had analyzed, redesigned, and constructed three intersection repair projects in model form....that are very likely to start popping up all over Canada now!!