Jul 15, 2021
BY MAYOR LISA HELPSJuly 19, 2021 For the last five years, Victoria City Council has been taking action to address food insecurity and help ensure access to healthy affordable food for those who need it most. So we had a strong foundation to respond quickly when the pandemic hit. We also had history on our…
Jul 15, 2021
BY PAUL TAYLORJuly 19, 2021 In Canada, everyone has a right to food. Not the right to wait in line for canned green beans from a food bank, or the right to a hamper packed with someone else’s leftovers—but the right for every person to feed themselves and their communities with joy and dignity. This…
Mar 17, 2021
By Greg Lindsay, NewCities It has been a year since the pause on urban-life-as-we-know-it across much of the Global North. A year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, since the day the NBA suspended play, since New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers — in a moment of either…
Nov 02, 2020
City sounds are not often considered a friend, but more of a nuisance to be reduced or even cancelled. As citizens, we tend to forget that, “we constantly rely on sounds to interact with our environment and plan our actions,” as Catherine Guastavino and Daniel Steele remind us in “What Should the City Sound Like?”…
Oct 23, 2020
Why The Pursuit of Quiet Isn‘t Working We constantly rely on sounds to interact with our environment and plan our actions, be it to avoid an approaching car, attend to a crying baby, or answer a ringing phone. Certain sounds orient, comfort, or excite us while others distract or annoy us. Calm sound environments can…
Oct 22, 2020
Do you listen to your city? Whether it’s a bird chirping on a neighborhood street, a train passing through town, or a car honking its horn, our auditory senses play a huge role in how we experience and navigate an urban environment. Focusing on the soundscape of cities can unlock this often forgotten layer of…
Oct 22, 2020
Traditionally, cities have often treated urban sound as “noise,” an isolated nuisance that should be measured and mitigated using noise control strategies and regulations. Attempts are frequently made to manage unwanted sounds by creating special windows, noise barriers, and hi-tech materials to drown these noises out. This myopic approach can solve some issues, but it…
Oct 22, 2020
In 2002, the European Environmental Noise Directive was released with the aim of establishing a common methodology among Member States to reduce noise pollution. One of the noise reduction measures introduced by the Directive was the creation of a plan for quiet areas in open country and agglomerations. The importance of protecting quiet areas in…
Oct 21, 2020
In March of this year, stay-at-home advisories and the cessation of all non-essential activities were implemented across the globe to alleviate the demands of rising COVID-19 cases on our healthcare systems. Highways once brimming with road traffic were freakishly desolate. Communities that lived directly under flight paths shared with me that their windows didn’t rattle…
Oct 20, 2020
Sound affects everything we do. It is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of all life and is a crucial building block for civilisation. Before the onslaught of visual media, the importance of sound, hearing and listening was understood to be critical to life. But in modern life we are continually bombarded by noise –…
Oct 06, 2020
We have long known that our physical and social environment impacts our overall health—from pollution, air and water quality, to our working conditions and access to housing. COVID-19 has brought to light the importance of optimizing cities for urban wellbeing, calling into question spatial planning and density, public space, and health systems. To what extent…
Oct 05, 2020
Over 90% of our time is spent indoors, two-thirds of which is ordinarily spent at home. The COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified that time, making it more important than ever to focus on the impact that our home environments can have on our physical and mental health and wellbeing. Informed by leading research on health…
