Urban Structure - Halifax: An Urban Design Approach. (Book Reviews).

Preiksaitis, Armin A.

Sandalack, Beverly A. and Andrei Nicolai.

Urban Structure - Halifax: An Urban Design Approach.

Halifax: Tuns Press, 1998.

72 pp.

ISBN: 0-929112-42-3.

$19.95.

The authors have used graphics and text very effectively to present how the historic development of Halifax has influenced design and development over the last 300 years. I particularly enjoyed reading Frank Lewinberg's preface which provides a very good context for the purpose of the study. I quote:

What a wonderful opportunity the citizenry of Hal Wax has. In this study two very talented lovers of cities have offered to begin the debate about the future of Hal Wax. They have lovingly shown us how to understand past decisions in the growth of Hal Wax. How we arrived here from there in the never ending journey of city making. They also offer a firm foundation from which to look to the future. Lucky Hal Wax, it seems that interesting times lie ahead.

The first chapter, "Historic Evolution of the Urban Structure," is very well-researched and effectively presented. It clearly describes how economic forces shaped the Halifax we have today. It describes how the process of city building prior to WWII was responsive to Halifax's geographic setting and the needs of its citizenry.

During the first centuries of development, ideas of what Hal Wax should be were driven by the need for a compact city - for easy integration and circulation between places of work and places of living, and for the practical requirements of commerce, transportation and communication. The collective understanding of what the city should be included ideas about form and function, symbol and association. It also included ideas of the public good, and this was expressed in the form of buildings and the location and configuration of public spaces.

The watershed and shift in values appeared to be reflected in the 1945 McNab Plan which recommended several new thoroughfares, to cut through existing neighbourhoods, massive slum clearance, and redevelopment to provide mixed tax revenues. Urban renewal and large scale development followed that did not respect the scale and historic urban fabric.

Modernist planning, of which urban renewal was a symptom, attempted to spatially segregate by zoning the various functions of the city - employment, residential, recreation, institutional - and link them by roads. This over-simplified way of viewing the city has resulted in the decline of downtown, environmental waste, and a much less rich social and spatial realm. As a consequence, the collective understanding of the city is now less that of a 'place', but of a series of single purpose uses. In the process, the traditional understanding of public space - the space of the pedestrian has been lost, and the image and way of life that the city offers have been threatened.

It was not until 1994, through the leadership of the Halifax Commission, that a downtown revitalization strategy was developed in partnership with the City of Halifax (the authors could have expounded upon what has been accomplished through that Strategy between 1994 and 1998).

The next chapter, "Urban Structure Analysis," through a series of sketches and diagrams, illustrates the changes that have taken place between 1957 and 1998. The next chapter, "Visual Analysis," through a series of photos, illustrates the 'visual quality' of the City and how it has changed over time, not always in a positive way.

The authors advocate an urban design approach that is sensitive to Halifax's 'geography, topography and people.'

The final chapter, "Applications and Strategies," provides recommendations and how 'lessons learned' from the past can be applied in the continual process of City Building - which the authors view as the "collective responsibility of citizens, developers, municipal planners, design professionals, and politicians."

Although the authors make the point that "the Study is [not] exhaustive," their book is well worthwhile reading and a similar urban design approach could be applied to other towns and cities.