The building where I lived in my twenties on East Pender Street in Vancouver, BC, was apparently the result of a subsidized rental program of the 1960s and 70s. The building was old by the time I lived there, a four storey walk up, not much from the outside, but roomy inside, big windows, lots […]
About Yasuko Thanh
Do Cities Have Souls?
What is the “population pyramid” of your city, or the cities where you have lived? And what do those demographics say about the ‘soul’ of the city? Colloquially speaking, Victoria (BC, Canada) where I live is sometimes referred to as a place for the “Newlywed and Nearly Dead.” If cities have souls, is this how […]
Public spaces for rest, play – or crocodiles
When my daughter was a baby, I wandered the open air public market of Kiel in northern Germany drinking Christmas gluhwein – a mulled wine beverage – in a holiday mug. Small, round, waist-high tables lined the walks so that people like me could pause in the midst of the all the activity, set down […]
Discovering mystery and magic in the urban woods
Usually when I pick my daughter up from school she comes running with open arms. Not today. Today she grabs my hand and says, “Come on!” We rush toward the forest, following two of her Grade Two classmates. My daughter goes to Frank Hobbs Elementary School in Victoria (BC, Canada), next door to Haro Woods, […]
Projector art transforms public spaces
Laser Graffiti, a mobile digital projection system, will once more illuminate façades in Vancouver, BC, Canada this summer. Art created by the people, for the people, will blazon concrete, brick, and stucco walls in the west coast city. Such technology creates an array of possibility in the transformation of public spaces. It can incite dialogue […]