mattism

People often ask me why did I chose urban planning as my career. I have a project to show them.

In the summer of 1996, I decided to take some scrap cardboard, paint, construction paper, and plastic straws to build a city model. This was the result of nearly two months of work. Sadly, the city has been hit by the humidity of my basement, and the buildings and bridges are not structurally sound. The traffic lights and street signs have fallen.

It's obviously a ghost town.

In retrospect, I realized that the traffic signs and signals are completely out of scale with the other features of the model.

This city included lots of big box retail: Canadian Tire, Zellers, Home Depot, The Bay, Kmart, and Sears.

There are no Walmarts.

There also a few 'towers in the park' residential buildings.

The most prominent feature of all is the road infrastructure. I'd say over 75% of the land area is devoted to roads. I also named these roads after my favourite musical references: Victoria Adams Avenue, Morrisette Parkway, Savage Garden Gate, No Doubt Drive, Wannabe Boulevard.

I miss having the time in the world to do these projects.

5056 Comments

223 Comments

I drove home from work today without my carpool buddy. Interestingly, it's when he's not here that things get interesting.

Perhaps it's because without his extra set of eyes, the chances of something unpredictably happening increases. [Insert joke about my driving here].

The situation occurred when was pulling out from my office complex's entranceway and onto Fourteenth Avenue which (at least on the stretch my office) is not too busy in terms of traffic.

As I tried to make a left and merge onto Fourteenth Avenue, I miscalculated the rather close distance between my car and the oncoming motorcycle rider, and I only I realized this after executing the turn. To prevent a possible collision, I decided to "backpeddle" by essentially merging onto the road in the lane of the opposite direction. Thus, my car was situated on the westbound lanes when my car is travelling eastbound.

The motorcyclist passed me without incident. Given the scorching heat these past days, I had my windows completely down, and I heard the motorcycle rider mutter faint words of discontent, but I did catch a few F sounds.

Fair enough, I was clearly not in my game.

Of course, just my luck, there was a red light at the following intersection. He queues at the left turn lane, and I was going straight. Because of my obvious shame, I was desperately hoping that the advance left turn signal would illuminate so that I don't have to encounter him face-to-face, or in this instance, side-to-side.

As my luck would have it, there was no change in traffic signals.

As I queued right next him, and I thought, "Well, if I actually have to encounter him, I thought the best thing to do was simply to acknowledge my fault. It's the only way to promote rage-less driving."

So I peered my head out and intended to give him an acknowledgment wave, a slight nod, and smile, as a sign of "no hard feelings."

But of course, nothing ever goes right with me, and my acknowledgment wave became more of a salute, which in retrospect was a bit confusing.

Maybe he thought I meant to be confrontational?

After my salute, I brought my head back into the vehicle.

"You're pretty fucking brave to pull out in front of a motorcycle like that, you know that?" he said as he took pivoted his helmet visor to reveal a handsome olive complexion with sparking eyes radiating off the reflection of sunlight from my car.

I paused for a moment not really thinking about his handsomeness, but my fear that he might prompt verbal (or worse physical) abuse against me.

I peered my head out of the window again, hoping to clear up my intentions. I told him in a stern tone, "I apologize. I know it wasn't cool of me to pull out from there like that."

"You apologize? Ok then. Have a nice day." I later noticed him smile.

Very startled, I thought, "What? A civilized, polite reponse? No snarky comment?"

I nodded with my mouth slightly open, still in awe of his response. My feelings moved away from fear and towards attraction-- I was moving up on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

The advanced left turn signal illuminated and he was on his way. As he turned, he tilted his head down, leaned to the right towards me, and gave me a wave as he zoomed away.

It's probably my unhealthy intrigue of chick flicks but was this my suburban fairy tale? Hatred for each other turns to love?

Maybe it's a stretch.

I felt like having a Dentyne Ice gum, fogging up the window, and inscribe my number on it.

A boy can only dream no?

206 Comments

I’m back to blogging, and I feel good.

It’s been October 4th since my last documented blog entry, and a whole whack of things have occurred since then.

More than half of my hiatus duration was strictly devoted to completing my thesis, which was also the reason why my blog was on hiatus in the first place. For some months, I spent my days in front of my computer for work, and nights also in front of a computer for school. Consequently, there was no more hours to spend willfully on writing blog entries. Thesis work was not the only reason for my hiatus— the other being Twitter: it’s just way to easy to log when you’re limited only 140 characters versus the freedom of writing in a blog.

By the way, thesis work is finally over as of May, and it was a welcome change back to a more desired level of social activities.

Nevertheless, I’m back. I have been recently reading my previous entries, and I’ve grown fond being able to go back and retrieve what’s on my brain at a given point in time. Since evolving to “Green Beam City”, I’ve found my entries have become too serious about transit and planning. So now, I’m hoping to take a more liberal approach and simply write as long or as short, or as relevant to planning or not, as I want.

Hope you missed me!

247 Comments

I always find shopping at Market Village/Pacific Mall very stressful. There's something about these independent stores that just breeds inconvenience. They never accept credit, and there's always some price floor for using Debit.

A few weeks ago, I was heading to Market Village to get some Vitasoy for a picnic event. Vitasoy is perhaps the best drink for this occasion because it did not require me to bring a cooler, nor did it require me to bring cups (had I brought large drink containers).

I grabbed six six-packs: two malt, two lemon teas, and two regular soy milk. I happily realized that there's a sale for them for 3 for $9, which was a pretty awesome deal. As I proceeded to the check out, the cashier spoke to me in Mandarin, and I vaguely heard something about her putting my purchases on two separate transactions- my uncertainty was cleared up when I witnessed her only scanning the first three packs in.

I wasn't exactly sure why she did this, but I didn't really question-- especially as there's now a clear language barrier.

I didn't have enough cash on me to pay for both purchases (typical me), so I pulled out my bank card, hoping to pay by Debit. The cashier recognizes my intent to pay with Debit and replies something I didn't understand. I tried speaking to her in both Cantonese (my mother tongue) and English, but nothing worthwhile was exchanged between us.

I sensed the issue was the about the need to purchase over a certain amount in order to use debit, which I later found out on the sign that you need a purchase of $10 or more.

So here comes the dilemma, and it's better demonstrated with math.

3 packs = $9

Thus,
6 packs = $18

Pretty simple, right? So I tried to tell her that my purchase is clearly over $10, so I didn't get it. So now I'm awkwardly standing there not knowing what's going on. Luckily, after ten seconds of silence and nothingness, the nearby cashier told me in Cantonese that there's a 3-pack limit per customer.

I finally get it. But it still doesn't solve with my situation. I seem to have fallen through the cracks of the supermarket's policies: I need to spend more than $10 to pay via Debit, but I'm limited to buying just 3 packs per transaction.

So what did I do? I disappointingly left with no Vitasoy.

After having some time to absorb what happened, I find it quite sad that two Chinese-Canadians were not able to understand one another.

268 Comments

"I guess Queen Street West is officially dead now," a Globe and Mail piece writes.

As you may have heard, Pages bookstore in the heart of Queen and John will be officially closing as of August 31, 2009.

Obviously the demise of a bookstore that has been in business for 30 years is surely tragic, and it seems like this just one piece of the continued fall of (1) Queen Street West, (2) independent bookstores, and (3) independent retailing altogether.

Pages cites the inability to find an alternative location with suitable rent for its closure. But really when it comes down to it, people are simply not buying enough books.

Down the street on Queen Street East, the Librairie Champlain, Toronto's only french bookstore also closed its doors in May, citing similar reasons: not enough sales. In response to this, World's Biggest Bookstore (an Indigo brand) opens a French-language boutique in an attempt to fill that consumer void.

This makes me wonder: Are independent retailers doomed in this increasingly corporate retail environment? Should we accept the demise of these retailers simply that they weren't responsive to market conditions? Are there systemic issues (e.g. low corporate taxes) that make independents lose its competitive edge?

More importantly, are independents really worth saving?

Vertigo Books, a Maryland bookstore that encountered a similar fate as Pages, says yes.

Vertigo claims that our shopping dollars "help create the community [we] want to live in" and presents an anecdote that for every $10 you spend at locally-owned businesses, $4.50 stays in our community. Here's a list of their comparisons.

• Vertigo Books $4.50
• Barnes & Noble / Borders / Costco $1.30
• Amazon $0.00

Whether these numbers are reliable or not, I think we can agree that independents do (or have the opportunity to) make a greater contribution to the local community than corporate chains. Independents (1) are more likely to offer higher wages, (2) are more likely to demonstrate commitment to its staff, (3) are more likely for staff to be committed to the store, (4) are more receptive to local products and talent, and (5) are simply more responsive to local conditions.

Corporate chains like Chapters-Indigo operate on a national level. Their corporate structure, large operational scale, and strive for a consistent "store experience" simply makes it too rigid to be responsive to local demands. Having worked at Chapters, I can tell you that the books displayed on promotional tables at each Chapters, Indigo, and Coles store are preselected each month by corporate head office. There's simply no interest in featuring local talent and surely is no true interest in creating community.

Online bookstores follow a similar predicament. There's no chance to bring about that sense of local community.

The anecodal numbers presented by Vertigo does have a point. Money made in an independent store are likely to remain in the local community, while money made by a corporation are much more geographically diffused and are proportionately held by fewer hands (e.g. executives).

So what can we do? I admit, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. It's just so easy to buy a book on Amazon-- the economics makes it a no-brainer. But how can we redistribute the competitive advantage of firms? The only thing I can think of is to introduce taxes-- increased taxes for corporations.

At the same time, I'm sure there are externalities for increasing corporate taxes, especially as we're increasingly competing in a uncontrolled global marketplace.

Essentially, I think independents are doomed, but I'm intrigued to hear your ideas to keep independents alive.

Photo by Tim Shore of BlogTO.

Deadpool Looming for Pages Bookstore - [blogto.com]
Pages to Fold - [torontoist.com]
Save Pages Facebook group - [facebook.com]
Goodbye: We are Closing - [vertigobooks.blogsome.com]

305 Comments

The other day, as I was walking to school, I encountered a disabled Grand River Transit (GRT) bus in preparation of being towed at the south entrance of Ring Road at University Avenue.

It's not often that I see disabled buses, so I took the chance and walked up to it for a closer look. Essentially, the GRT bus is lifted on its back wheels with the help of a tractor unit, and towed away with all its might.

When I got to the office, I was quite excited to tell my officemate, Paul, about what I saw. Paul is a seasoned trucker and a freight movement researcher, who surely adds flavour to the transportation office. Once I told him the story, he interrupted me with enthusiasm,

"...was it Becker Brothers? Did they tow it?"

"Umm, I don't know. Good question."

"Was it a big red tow truck?"

[Thinking] "Uh, I think so?...Not too sure."

Clearly, the conversation was quite underwhelming. When I had a moment to sit down and to turn on my laptop, I quickly got quite embarrassed that I did not even recall what colour the truck was. As I sat there, I tried to recall what I was thinking and what information I gathered when I approached and observed the disabled GRT bus.

"It's a Nova LFS bus, with a 2400 bus number."

"Was it a Route 7 or a Route 9/13 bus? It most certainly is not an iXpress bus."

"Did a replacement bus arrive to mend the gap in service?"

The more I thought about it, the more I found it intriguing that while my head and eyes were clearly active, I was not able to identify what colour the tow truck was.

Surely, I don't need to explain why I gathered more information about the bus and not the truck, but I think it brings up an interesting point about the nature of news reporting.

Sure, I'm by no means a reporter, but in this case, it's clear that I neglected to observe more or less 50% of the story, and this is due to my personal preferences and biases I carry when I am "on the scene." What was deemed relevant and true to me wasn't the case for Paul, yet his "truth" wasn't uncovered from my reporting.

My thought process may have gone overboard, but I think it does speak to the importance of diversity in our news sources-- something that is increasingly gloomy as we continue to experience more and more media agglomerations.

181 Comments

I've been told many times, if you're not sure about what you want to do with your life, travel.

While perhaps I am fortunate enough to know (at least in part) what I want to do with my life, I find that travelling is a very sobering experience, behind veil of good times, good eats, good photos, good sights.

I haven't travelled to many places but when I do, I try to absorb the place in me. I imagine myself living in that environment and assessing whether this community speaks to me, and whether the city fits.

Bowie and I visited our high school friend Leo in Boston a couple days ago, and after being there for 4 days, I could tell you from my short time there that the city "fits". Boston is beautiful, cultured, historical city that is one of a kind in North America. I've save that talk for another blog entry.

Yes, I recognize that I have a narrowed vision of the city, as obviously people tend to see what's good in a city when they travel. But nevertheless, it makes me question whether I've become perhaps too comfortable in Toronto and in Waterloo, specifically when pursuing my professional goals.

My reality is centred around the Greater Golden Horseshoe, and while it is a great place to learn and understand my field, I think there's a more more for me to know. Sure, I've read about "best practices" about planning and transportation in this continent, but there's nothing better than to just being and living in an environment to understand the broader and underlying issues facing a community-- something you just can't realize by reading "best practices" papers.

I guess it bums me sometimes when I think I could've burst my comfort zone and took more chances. Perhaps there's an opportunity to "burst" in the future, and I'll surely look into it as I start my job search. But at the same time, am I ready to say goodbye to my family, friends, and places familiar to me?

There are no easy answers.

295 Comments

The following is part of a series of entries dedicated to issues related to ethnic retailing in larger Canadian cities. The prelude entry can be found here.

Here's a criticism that's often cited by people against ethnic malls:

Can you imagine the uproar if they created malls that would only cater to people of European/Caucasian decent? As people of European/Canadian descent we have had to learn to be open and tolerant to people of different ethnic backgrounds, it is time that people of other ethnic backgrounds did the same.

I think this arguement is truly dumbfounded. I am sure that many people would not have a problem with the establishment of malls that cater to European cultural goods. For example, there are goods Germans, Italians, or Britons may have an affinity to, and I would be very happy to visit places that would capture cultural spirit! I guess IKEA's food section to a certain extent is an example of this. So was Mark's and Spencer. The thing is that many of these goods are readily available in many stores in this country, and thus niche markets such as European-flavour shopping destinations don't really exist.

Furthermore, stores in Pacific Mall for example sell culture-specific goods (e.g. cultural dinnerware, food, plush toys, and electronics) that people, particularly Asians, value. They exist because these specialized goods are not provided for in other shopping venues.

On the other hand, I would surely be offended if a "white" mall were to exist. There is a huge difference between a "white" shopping centre and a European shopping centre, as I cannot think of what are “white cultural goods and services” The emphasis is on the goods and services that these shopping establishments provide, and certainly not on who uses them.

Photo from: Tibor Kolley of the Globe and Mail

Articles in the series

1. Call to curb ethnic malls in Calgary?
2. “Ethnic themed” stores versus mainstream suburban retailing
3. Chinatowns vs Asian-themed malls? What’s the difference?
4. "What about 'white malls'?" argument

490 Comments

The following is part of a series of entries dedicated to issues related to ethnic retailing in larger Canadian cities. The prelude entry can be found here.

Well, from a planner's perspective, there's surely a wealth of difference between Chinatowns and Asian-themed malls.

At the same time, I get a sense that people are generally more accepting of traditional “Chinatowns” than Asian-themed malls. Why is that the case? What is it about these ethnic malls that make them offensive? Aren’t malls just the late 20th Century automobile adaptations of the main street concept?

I suppose the biggest differentiation is that urban core cultural communities (e.g. Chinatown) are visibly more cohesive to the surrounding urban fabric than shopping centres. Core urban areas accommodate mixed range of land uses, while suburban developments have always strictly delineated homogenous land uses. Because of this, I get a sense that concentrations of suburban ethnic retailing are perceived to be much more concentrated than their urban counterparts even if its "ethnic density" (e.g. "ethnic retail jobs" or "ethnic patron" per unit area) may be similar. I attribute this theory to a suburban mall's lack of “buffer” non-retail uses.

A brief browse of contemporary urban planning research will tell you that traditional suburban developments have always notoriously and systemically promoted socio-economic and cultural segregation. So in many ways, could the prevalence of Asian-themed malls be a “tipping point” indicator against our current homogeneous suburban development patterns? Maybe the people’s problems aren’t ethnic malls, but they have finally realized the demise of our current state of suburbanization?

Solution

If my above theory is correct, the answer is clearly to create complete and mixed use communities. I would gladly vouch my support and rise to the challenge to make it happen! Creating complete and mixed use communities will surely align today's municipalities with its objective to lower the degree of socio-economic and the perceived cultural segregation in its communities.

Articles in the series

1. Call to curb ethnic malls in Calgary?
2. “Ethnic themed” stores versus mainstream suburban retailing
3. Chinatowns vs Asian-themed malls? What’s the difference?
4. "What about 'white malls'?" argument

247 Comments