Larry Beasley designs cities. Modern Vancouver is his baby and he is very well respected in his field. Last Monday night, almost two hundred people attended a lecture by Mr. Beasley at McDougall Hall on the UPEI campus. He was invited by the Friends of the Farm as a way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Charlottetown Experimental Farm.
I was happy to see so many City staff people there, but also representatives of the business community, developers, and regular citizens. I think we all gained a better understanding and respect for the importance of good urban planning; how it affects our quality of life and drives economic development.
I recorded the lecture using my phone, and although the audio quality is perfectly acceptable and Mr. Beasley’s words speak powerfully enough themselves, the real advantage of actually being there was his photo essay that seemed to sync perfectly and effortlessly with his speech. Visuals of spectacular urban vistas, public spaces and residential developments — mostly from Vancouver but mixed with his own excellent perspectives on Charlottetown — flashed across the screen and seemed to be impossibly timed to emphasize his points.
You can download my recording here (mp3, 40 mb), or read Mr. Beasley’s lecture here (pdf).
Here are just a few memorable and relevant quotes, among many:
“Every city has to have a design. A city without a design does not know where it is going, does not know how to grow.”
“You cannot leave the design of these building to chance, or you can get some pretty unpleasant results. So we carefully regulate the designs…”
“Schools are actually being closed… these kind of counter-intuitive decisions are happening, that do not help you achieve a re-populated city”
“There are simply not enough young singles, or older empty nesters to create a vibrant city … and families are flooding back downtown [Vancouver] in record numbers … And there is a spinoff benefit that we discovered: If you design a city that works well for children, it seems to work well for everyone else.”
What a great lecture, I wish I knew Mr. Beasley was coming to town. I read a lot about him when I lived in Vancouver a couple years back. Thanks for posting the recording, it was certainly better than nothing.
I should have added that the question and answer session was just as interesting as the lecture itself. Unfortunately, I stopped recording before the Q&A started.
I’d also like to point out that Mr. Beasley was quoted in the Guardian, answering a question about Victoria Park, by saying: “I do believe Victoria Park is a treasure.” However, that was followed by a big BUT… The person asking the question was referring the Park’s almost total lack of a plan, and the tendency of the City to make it all things to every body. Mr. Beasly had a few words about that, but that was after I stopped recording.