• A Vision of Halifax: Public Life - Public Space
• Beverly Sandalack on the Future of Downtown Halifax
• Halifax Downtown Business Commission Lecture Series
• March 29th, 1999, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

A Vision of Halifax: Public Life - Public Space

Beverly Sandalack on the Future of Downtown Halifax

Halifax Downtown Business Commission Lecture Series

March 29^th, 1999, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

A Short History of Street Development

The city is a place for civic engagement and public life. Other places may now be better for shopping, but not for civic life. A multi-purpose, integrated city core is required for a civil society.

There were three major phases of streets development in the twentieth century. First, up until the 1940's, there was incremental changes to older forms. Public space was naturally included. Buildings helped to contain space. There was a clear definition of public versus private space.

The next phase involved large structures surrounded by open space. There was spatial segregation of uses, a machine aesthetic. The automobile was factored in. The emphasis shifted to individual buildings. Single purpose zones were not integrated into a whole but were only linked by roads.

The automobile acted as an "agent of chaos". Urban structure started to deteriorate as buildings were replaced by parking lots. The experience of the pedestrian was bad. Large urban transportation plans were part of urban renewal schemes. The Boston Central Artery was a classic example of this.

The third phase was the pedestrianizing of the city. This was pioneered by Norwich, England. In the 1980 era, street cosmetic beautification or streetscape improvements was an apprach broadly used. However, it did not meet the cause of decline from regional processes and the broader urban structure. The Town of Bridgewater with its Riverside Mall is an example of this failure.

Once country and city had different responsibilities; now the suburbs have mixed the two. Sprawl and an anti-urban attitude (at least, in the U.S.) have resulted.

Halifax Overview

In Halifax’s case, we must:

1. Recognize the problems in regional structure.

2. Develop a common vision of what we want for the future of Halifax. This must include a vibrant downtown, representing the historical and cultural core of the region and the center of civic life.

3. Halifax has a good environmental setting, a compact downtown, and clear edges, centered around the Grand Parade, the Citadel, and the Harbour.

Cities first responded to internal forces, but now forces are external. If we understand these forces, we can decide how to rebuild.

In the 1950's and 1960's, development was due to external forces, other than the Harbour orientation. Scotia Square is an example. In the late 1950's, 16 acres were razed and cross streets and small blocks were eliminated.

Our study looked at building masses and the pattern of subdivision in the downtown. Many smaller lots were amalgamated. The number of entries was decreased, human scale and pedestrian orientation were lost, multinationals were encouraged as opposed to small local independents.

The Cogswell Interchange is today an incongruous piece of urban transportation infrastructure due to the proposed freeway to which it was to lead having been stopped. It separates the pedestrian from the water and makes the street just for cars, requiring the construction of overhead pedways.

If we ask different questions, we will get different answers. How do we maintain the quality of civic life and urban structure ?

The viewplanes legislation preserves the view from Citadel Hill. The MT&T building conforms to the viewplane but still ruins the urbanscape. It is out of context and makes no contribution to the street. This is because there was no overall building form policy.

Required Actions for Downtown

1. Fix the Pathological Problems

- dismantle the Cogswell Interchange. Make it a suture not a fracture.

- create a better street level for the MT&T building.

- redevelop vacant lands, including the Interchange

- we need a mix of uses. Argyle Street is a good example of this

- it takes a long time to fix problems created in the built environment, because of the slow pace of development in the city

2. Make Sure Development Happens Downtown

3. Emphasize the Public Realm

- Grand Parade and Cornwallis Park are the main public spaces. Other public spaces are either for shopping or tourism, orchestrated activities both.

- need to reinforce the cross street pattern down to the water

- need to return the Grand Parade to a public use, get rid of the parking.

- former Birk’s site is prime real estate and needs redevelopment.

- Cornwallis Park is the other public space that needs attention. It is arguably one of the most important public spaces in Canada, because of its location in relation to the railway station and the arrival of immigrants.

- Superstore adjacent to Park would have been developed as an edge to the Park if proper design measures had been in place.

- only certain buildings should be monumental

Waterfront Development

We need to:

- have a clear vision to relate waterfront development back to the downtown

- remove impediments to pedestrian movement uphill

- invest in urban form over the long haul, towards a high quality city

- invest in the quality of life, in arts and culture

- work towards a good urban form

- be responsive to views, including views to the Citadel rather than just from it, as it is the most important landmark

- plan for historical continuity, a succession of layers of built form

- build on the underlying from of the city

- have no more demolition until the holes are filled with buildings

An example of good urban infrastructure development is the Winnipeg river pathways for pedestrians, designed for all four seasons. The public realm is the deepest and longest lasting infrastructure in the city.

Boston City Hall is an example of what not to do: the building came first and the public space second. The Beaches in Toronto is an example of what works, successful because of mixed use and a commercial neighbourhood nearby. The recent destruction of houses on West Street in Halifax involved part of the downtown, and the demolition proposal needed to be debated in this light.

Discussion Topics after Presentation

1. Lack of design standards for Barrington Market Superstore. We need a unique design not a cookie cutter.

2. If mega-development is allowed, there will only be mega-investors interested in making mega-bucks coming forward.

3. There is no legislative authority to insist on the right design, nor are Council or staff sensitive to design issues.

4. A comment that there were no shopping or condominium opportunities on the waterfront was answered with a comment that it was more accessible than Toronto’s, and was a working waterfront, in contrast with Victoria’s.

5. Maybe the former Birks (corner Barrington and George) property needs to be re-subdivided so as to attract a number of small developers, rather than being developed as a large building.

6. A new street parallel to Water Street and closer to the water’s edge was suggested because the parking lots are so deep from street to water. There should be "nooks and crannies" in the waterfront developments.

7. Even if there is no public money to invest in downtown, things can be done. We just need some redirection of existing funds. Buses on Barrington Street can be redirected. Taxes on empty land could be increased. Parking could be removed from the Grand Parade.

Atlantic Planners Institute

This page and all contents are produced by the Atlantic Planners Institute, an affiliate of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

This document was last modified on April 6, 1999.