Winter Cities - Villes Hivernales

[IluvMTL]

Voilà une activité à examiner pour la rue St-Catherine. peut-être lors de la Nuit Blanche.

 

 

 

Modifié 25 janvier 2014 par IluvMTL

[IluvMTL]

A few interesting articles on winter from the PPS (Placemaking for Public Spaces) blog

 

http://www.pps.org/?s=winter

Modifié 25 janvier 2014 par IluvMTL

[IluvMTL]

Voilà comment Montréal vend son hiver aux touristes

 

http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/Decouvrez-montreal/Saisons#&&/wEXAgURU3ViR3JvdXBBcnRpY2xlSWQFBTExNDc3BQpTdWJHcm91cElkBQIyNg==

 

 

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• Écorécréo
  
• Fitz & Follwell
  
• Les oiseaux du mont Royal
  
• Glissade
  
• Pêche Blanche Vieux-Montréal
  
• Club de hockey Canadien
  
• Ski de fond et raquette
  

 

 

La qualité de vie des Montréalais ne connaît pas de saison morte et le verbe « sortir » se conjugue à tous les temps, même l’hiver. Impossible de tout voir, de tout entendre et de s’émerveiller de tout ce que Montréal offre.

 

Au centre-ville, le vaste réseau intérieur et souterrain mène vers tous les possibles, en nous gardant bien au chaud. Il permet de faire des courses, de se divertir, d’étancher sa soif de culture et de rencontres, voire de se retrouver dans un climat tropical comme celui du Biodôme, à l’abri des intempéries.

 

On met le nez dehors le temps de traverser une rue fourmillante d’activités, dont la magie de Noël se sera emparée. Centres commerciaux, parcs et résidences scintillent alors. Cette célébration multicolore se faufile jusque dans les musées, où sont présentées des expositions spéciales comme Qui est le vrai père Noël? au Musée Pointe-à-Callière et la célèbre collection de crèches du monde entier à l’Oratoire.

 

En février, on se bouscule au Festival MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE avec ses spectacles extérieurs, ses braseros et ses feux de proximité, ses premières mondiales en salle et sa délectable programmation gastronomique et vinicole. Les grands restaurateurs montréalais sont les hôtes de chefs internationaux avec qui ils concoctent des menus d’exception. Sans oublier la Nuit blanche, qui propose aux noctambules plus d’une centaine d’activités inusitées suivies, début mars, par les percutantes Symphonies portuaires.

 

Le jour, les plus actifs se rendent à l’une des nombreuses patinoiresextérieures, comme celle du lac aux Castors, sur le mont Royal, ou celle du bassin Bonsecours, dans le Vieux-Port, ou intérieures, notamment au 1000 De La Gauchetière, le plus haut gratte-ciel de Montréal. Glissade, ski de fond et quoi encore? Ainsi, il n’est pas rare de croiser, au cœur du centre-ville, un passant muni de son portable… et de ses raquettes.

 

Pour donner du rythme à tout ça, on s’éclate à mille sous une tente lors de l’électronique IglooFest ou on profite du temps des sucrespour découvrir les délices de l’érable en attendant l’éclosion du printemps…

 

 

 

Modifié 25 janvier 2014 par IluvMTL

[IluvMTL]

http://www.hollandbpw.com/Green_Initiatives/Pages/Downtown_Snowmelt_System.aspx

 

Downtown Snowmelt System

 

The Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) provides a "snow melt" system for the streets and sidewalks of downtown Holland during the winter months. The heated water for the miles of tubing laid underneath the pavement and sidewalks comes from the James DeYoung power plant located on Pine Avenue. Currently, the Unit 3 electric generator sheds waste heat into the condenser water used to cool the unit. In the winter, this water with excess waste heat is directed to the snow melt system before being discharged into Lake Macatawa.

Installation of Snowmelt on 8th Street at Marketplace

 

Much of the snowmelt system was installed in 1988 during the reconstruction of the downtown streets and sidewalks. This project, known as "streetscape", was already planned to spruce up the downtown with additional parking, attractive lighting, seating, flower boxes, etc. A large private donation got the snowmelt portion of the project off its feet and the piping and tubing were installed while the streets and sidewalks were torn up.

The system can melt approximately 1 inch of snow per hour at 15-20 degrees F. Windy conditions may slow the process, but for the most part, the system works just as designed. The heated streets of downtown Holland give a unique shopping experience for Holland residents and out-of town visitors!

Added benefits include no salting, no plowing, no slipping or sliding, no track-in to store carpeting, and the sidewalk bricks are not prone to frost heave throughout the winter months.

The system has been expanded several times since 1988, to include the market area by the Civic Center, the sidewalks to Herrick Library, and most recently to heat the ramps to the parking deck on 7th Street. This brings the total area coverage to approximately 10.5 acres of heated sidewalks and streets!

The system has a limited capacity and we are closing in on that capacity. However, a proposed expansion of the James DeYoung power plant would support further expansion of the snow melt system in downtown Holland.

 

Other links:

http://hollandzeeland.wzzm13.com/news/news/76834-see-how-hollands-snowmelt-system-works

 

http://michiganltap.org/sites/ltap/files/conferences/WinterOpsForWeb/19-Presentation.pdf

Modifié 25 janvier 2014 par IluvMTL

[IluvMTL]

Aucune ville canadienne semble faire partie de cette association, pourtant plusieurs remplissent bien les critères...

 

 

World Winter Cities Association for Mayors - What is a "Winter city"?

 

What is a “Winter City”?

1. A winter city is defined according to the WWCAM as one that faces harsh winter climatic conditions, including heavy snowfalls and cold temperatures.
   
2. A winter city also has ?
   • an annual snow accumulation of more than 20cm (8in.).
   • an average temperature of 0°C (32°F) or below during the city's coldest month.
   

Cities that do not meet the above two criteria are welcome to join the association if they face winter-related issues in developing city planning.

 

http://www.city.sapporo.jp/somu/kokusai/wwcam/index.html

 

World Winter Cities Association for Mayors

 

Introduction

 

What's the WWCAM?

 

Major WWCAM Activities

 

Results of WWCAM

 

Welcome to the WWCAM Website!

The World Winter Cities Association for Mayors (WWCAM) is a network of winter cities around the world that provides members with opportunities to meet and learn from each other about winter technologies and experiences under the slogan “Winter is a Resource and an Asset.” The association, originally the Northern Intercity Conference of Mayors, was initiated by the city of Sapporo in 1981, and the following year the first Mayors Conference was held. In 2004 the organization became the World Winter Cities Association for Mayors.

In the past conferences, mayors have discussed various issues such as city planning, winter transportation, snow clearing and removal, waste recycling, tourism promotion and resources development, and learned from each other’s experiences and wisdom in order to obtain hints for “city development” and to learn about measures for overcoming severe climatic conditions.

Currently, 20 cities from 8 countries participate as Member Cities of the Association.

The Mayor of Sapporo has served as President of the World Winter Cities Association for Mayors since its establishment, and the Secretariat is located at the International Relations Department of the City of Sapporo.

First Conference, Sapporo (1982)

Significance of the WWCAM

 

Member of the International Community

As one can see from the present state of global environmental issues, recent years have seen an increase in the number of challenges that countries and regions around the world must work together to solve. In order to tackle these issues, not only nations and international organizations but also local governments must cooperate with cities throughout the world as members of the international community.

Accordingly, those northern cities aiming to fulfill their roles and reponsibilities as world cities are expected to assist and cooperate with other northern cities faced with similar problems, by making use of the latest technology for cold and snowy environments and knowledge of city planning. Furthermore, each city should incorporate the knowledge and experience it has obtained from other northern cities into the goal of city development and mutually cooperate with other northern cities in order to solve various issues.

Creation of Livable Winter Cities

The results of overseas exchanges are reflected in various forms of “city planning“ which, although they may take time to have a visible impact, eventually exert a great influence in terms of the long-term effects of exchange on the lives of citizens.

Greeting from the President

 

Although winter poses many challenges to the citizens of winter cities, it is also a blessing that brings much charm and allure to our cities. For instance, snow which is an affluent source of water supply and a tourism resource in winter, is a precious asset for the citizens of winter cities. Under the philosophy, “winter is a resource and an asset,” the first Mayors Conference was convened in Sapporo in 1982, and since then it has taken place biennially with the purpose of giving fellow mayors, the CEOs of city management, an opportunity to gather together, discuss face-to-face and share knowledge on city planning and other common problems that often face cities with harsh cold and heavy snowfall. In this manner, outcomes of the past conferences have been adopted into city planning.

Your understanding of the WWCAM philosophy and activities is greatly appreciated through this website, as it is a way to mutually work towards our goal of creating comfortable winter cities together. Therefore, I cordially invite you to become a member of the World Winter Cities Association for Mayors.

Major WWCAM Activities

 

World Winter Cities Conference for Mayors

The biennial World Winter Cities Conference for Mayors (Mayors Conference), a major activity of the association, has been convened fifteen times since its founding. The conference provides a forum for mayors and city administrators to share expertise and experience on city planning, urban transportation in winter, snow removal, recycling, winter tourism, and other topics common to member cities.

Participants gain valuable suggestions on comfortable city planning and techniques to overcome challenges caused by harsh climates. The site of the Mayors Conference rotates among member cities willing to host the event.

Fourteenth Conference,Maardu(2010)

Winter Expo & Winter Cities Forum

The host city of a Mayors Conference may organize a Winter Expo and a Winter Cities Forum in conjunction with the conference.

The host city, along with businesses and organizations of member cities, realizes an exhibition of a range of winter-related products at the Winter Expo.

The Winter Cities Forum provides experts and academic researchers, as well as local citizens, with an opportunity to make presentations on winter-related issues, such as lifestyle and city planning. Since the third conference in 1988, the Winter Cities Forum has been held in conjunction with each of the Mayors Conferences.

The addition of the Winter Expo and the Winter Cities Forum to the World Winter Cities Conference for Mayors has greatly increased the scale and significance of the conference.

Winter Expo

WWCAM Subcommittees

The WWCAM subcommittees conduct research and case studies and exchange information on winter technology.

The subcommittees for “Waste Reduction and Recycling,” “Winter Recreation and Tourism,” “Sustainable Winter Cities Planning,” and “Measures Against Terrorism in Northern Cities” are examples of WWCAM subcommittees that have compiled reports on their research.

WWCAM subcommittee reports

Working-Level Officials Meeting

Working-Level Officials Meetings allow senior administrators of member cities to meet and discuss the theme of an upcoming Mayors Conference, as well as issues related to the management of conferences.

 

[IluvMTL]

http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/01/22/sneckdowns-taking-the-world-by-storm/

 

 

Wednesday, January 22, 201426 Comments

Sneckdowns: Taking the World by Storm

 

by Brad Aaron

Image: Clarence Eckerson/BBC

 

The #sneckdown is now a phenomenon, with nature’s traffic-calming gaining international media coverageand photos popping up from across the U.S. and Canada.

 

“The snow is almost like nature’s tracing paper,” Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson told the BBC. “It’s free. You don’t have to do a crazy expensive traffic calming study. It provides a visual cue into how people behave.”

 

The sneckdown dates back to at least 2001, when Transportation Alternatives wrote: “[T]he next time someone tells you that you can’t have a neckdown on that corner or this corner because there’s not enough room, show them what happens every year when it snows.”

 

Clarence first documented “naturally occurring neckdowns” for Streetfilms in 2006. Seven years later, Streetsblog founding editor Aaron Naparstek coined the hashtag, and the rest is history.

 

Here are pics from yesterday’s storm. Keep ‘em coming.

Seventh Avenue and 36th Street. Photo: @Tri_State

The Bowery. Photo: @christamaeorth

181st Street and Cabrini Boulevard. Photo: @UptownCurrent

[IluvMTL]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2014/02/2014s-endless-snow-has-least-been-good-transportation-nerds/8352/

 

VIDEOS2014's Endless Snow Has at Least Been Good for Transportation Nerds

• SARAH GOODYEAR
  
• 11:50 AM
  

Streetsfilms

• 
  You can learn an awful lot about traffic problems from snow. Sometimes, what you discover is obvious and kind of depressing, like that the Atlanta metro area is really not prepared for a winter storm and there's a lot of sad historical and systemic reasons for that. Thankfully, other times snow teaches happier lessons. That’s the takeaway from what might be termed the Great#Sneckdown Season of 2014.
  

Let's get this out of the way first: the term “sneckdown” is a brutally cheesy combination of the words “snowy” and “neckdown.” In case you’re not a transportation wonk, “neckdown” refers to a sidewalk extension installed at a crosswalk, which gives pedestrians a shorter distance to traverse and naturally calms car traffic.

Way back in 2006, New York–based Clarence Eckerson of Streetfilms shot a video showing how heavy snowfall creates natural neckdowns, as plows push snow to the curb and cars take only the space that they need — leaving the untouched snow to mark the space that maybe isn’t all necessary for cars. He expanded on the concept in another film in 2011.

 

Snowy Neckdowns Redux: Winter Traffic Calming (#sneckdown) from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

 

Then, this winter, thanks to frequent heavy snowfalls across most of the country, Eckerson and a few like-minded people started talking about the concept again. They decided that they needed a catchy name for the snowy neckdowns in order to help spread the concept on social media. Soon enough, a hashtag was born.

 

In the first few weeks of 2014, according to Eckerson, the concept quickly gained ground, prompting articles from dozens of outlets as far-flung as the BBC. Bloggers in Philadelphia andVancouver, among other places, started pointing out sneckdowns in their own streets and discussing what they reveal about usage patterns.

 

This isn’t a new idea. Dan Burden, director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, says he has been using traffic patterns in snow to teach basic street engineering concepts since the 1990s. In places with no snow, he says, astute street designers sometimes get even more creative.

 

In places with no snow, astute street designers sometimes get even more creative.

 

“A really good engineering friend of mine was from Australia,” says Burden. “He said, 'Dan, when we really want to figure out how to improve a road, we will throw down cake flour in an intersection and then wait an hour and get up high and photograph it.'” Other Australian engineers have used the oil stains left by vehicles to glean the same information, Burden says. “I call something like that highway forensics.”

The next step after the initial patterns are documented, according to Burden, is to put out traffic cones where the lines fall and see how motorists handle that. After those observations are incorporated, you can start making more permanent changes, which can benefit pedestrians without conflicting with the natural tendencies of responsible drivers.

 

But Burden says that far too often in the United States, road designers go by books of standards rather than looking carefully at the way humans use roads and streets, and end up over-designing streets to accommodate the most extreme and dangerous motorist behavior. “They don’t observe. They open their books," he says. "And because they’re not observing, they become very bad designers. A huge amount of bad design I find at intersections is that the engineers never went out and made the observations.”

 

Then, once the asphalt has been poured and smoothed, they walk away without ever following up to see how people use the new design. “It’s one of the saddest things,” says Burden. “What if a doctor just kept doing operations and never followed up to see if the patient survives? I don’t think you’d want to go to that doctor.”

 

Eckerson wants people to use snow, which he's called “nature’s tracing paper,” along with their own powers of observation to advocate for better, safer streets in their own neighborhoods. He says the coinage of the curious term “sneckdown” was a critical factor in getting thousands more people to watch the videos he had shot years ago and use this winter's heavy snows as an opportunity to go out and document conditions in their own cities and towns. “The hashtag got people curious to find out what it was,” he writes in an email. “To me it almost sounds Muppet-like.”

People are definitely picking up on the idea. On Twitter, folks have posted dozens of sneckdown pictures from cities including Seattle; Madison, Wisconsin; and Chicago. On Monday, with snow in the forecast for the southern United States once again, the official Twitter account for the office of transportation planning in Raleigh, North Carolina, urged residents: “Since we know the snow is coming, send us your pictures of wasted space at intersections in Raleigh.” That prompted Patrick McDonough, who blogs about North Carolina streets at the City Beautiful 21 to write, “#Sneckdown planning in #Raleigh; Hope #Durham joins in!” It's a teachable moment that any Muppet would love.

Keywords: Snow, Street Design, Traffic Calming

Sarah Goodyear has written about cities for a variety of publications, including Grist andStreetsblog. She lives in Brooklyn. All posts »

[IluvMTL]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2014/02/remote-control-snowplows-new-winter-luxury/8372/

 

Remote Control Snowplows: The New Winter Luxury?

• JENNY XIE
  
• FEB 11, 2014
  
• 
  

If you're sick and tired of the constant snowstorms this winter (and especially the shoveling that comes after), it might be time to invest in a remote-controlled solution.

Behold the Remote Control Six-Wheel Drive Snow Plow, already built and ready to ship from robotics firm SuperDroid Robots.

Image courtesy of SuperDroid Robots.

The 393-pound robot comes with a 52-inch wide blade, perfect for sidewalks and driveways. SuperDroid Robots actually

the product on Youtube back in November. But the North Carolina-based company was finally able to fully demonstrate its capabilities last week, when a decent layer of snow fell on the state.

In the new video below, you can see the robot plowing through the company's entire parking lot.

 

Laziness won’t come cheap though. The snow plow robot will cost you $7,900. Hiring teenagers around the neighborhood might still be the way to go.

[IluvMTL]

http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/401155/vivre-en-ville-sans-maudire-l-hiver

Vivre en ville sans maudire l’hiver

 

L’aménagement urbain de la métropole n’a pas encore gagné la guerre froide

 

26 février 2014 | Isabelle Paré | Actualités en société

Photo : Jacques Nadeau - Le Devoir

Pendant Montréal en lumière, hibachis, foyers extérieurs et abris chauffés contribuent à la célébration de l’hiver.Six semaines. C’est le nombre de semaines supplémentaires que pourrait durer la belle saison, sans crainte de se pointer le bout du nez dehors, si les villes étaient mieux conçues et aménagées en fonction de nos climats nordiques. Or, à Montréal, métropole où Montréal en lumière nous invite cette semaine à célébrer l’hiver, on tarde encore à transposer dans la brique et la trame urbaine cette volonté d’assumer pleinement la vie de citadins nordiques.

 

«Plein de petites choses n’ont toujours pas été faites. Si on dessinait de meilleurs espaces, l’hiver pourrait être réduit de l’équivalent de six semaines et cette saison froide serait beaucoup plus appréciée. Nous avons été conditionnés à rester à l’intérieur à cause des technologies», clame Norman Pressman, professeur émérite de design urbain de l’Université de Waterloo, aujourd’hui à la retraite.

 

Ce vieux routier, qui a ratissé la Scandinavie pour étudier le design climatique, a l’impression de prêcher dans un désert de… glace. Auteur d’études, de conférences et de livres sur le sujet, il juge qu’il reste mille choses à faire pour convaincre les citadins qu’il est possible de traverser l’hiver le sourire aux lèvres. Avec un des climats les plus froids de la planète, comment expliquer que l’aménagement climatique laisse de glace la plupart des élus ?

 

Ni chaud ni froid

 

Le nez enfoncé sous le foulard, qui ne se souvient pas d’avoir bravé les boulevards René-Lévesque ou De Maisonneuve, le front fouetté par un blizzard frigorifique, créé de toutes pièces par un canyon urbain ? Et que dire des monticules de neige compacte accumulés devant l’arrêt d’autobus, ou des mares de sloche salée qui baignent le coin des rues ? Exactement là où les piétons se feront éclabousser. Vents, humidité, glace, neige, sloche : les ennemis du citadin nordique sont connus. Si on ne peut changer la latitude de Montréal, architectes et urbanistes affirment toutefois que plusieurs aménagements minimaux peuvent facilement mettre en échec ces indésirables.

Dans un rapport produit en 2005, Norman Pressman offrait plusieurs pistes pour rendre les centres-villes plus hospitaliers à la saison froide. Architecture coupe-vent, abris végétaux, marquises et auvents, création de microclimats urbains, utilisation de l’énergie solaire passive, design aérodynamique, abribus chauffés, etc. «Au Canada, la plupart des gratte-ciel urbains sont conçus pour éviter l’effet de soufflerie et les chutes de neige. Mais dès que l’on construit en hauteur, on ramène le vent au sol. La seule solution à cela, c’est de créer des basilaires. Une solution facile, mais pas toujours esthétique», explique Clément Demers, professeur titulaire à la Faculté d’aménagement de l’Université de Montréal.

Il fut un temps où le facteur vent était la moindre des préoccupations. L’expert cite en exemple le gratte-ciel stylisé de la CIBC construit à l’angle de René-Lévesque et Peel, sous l’ère Drapeau. Une verrière élargie a dû être ajoutée à la base de l’immeuble pour stopper les vents sibériens qui assaillaient les passants l’hiver.

Pendant Montréal en lumière, on sort hibachis, foyers extérieurs et autres abris chauffés. Une belle façon de célébrer la froide saison. Mais, pour adoucir l’assaut thermique tout l’hiver, plusieurs villes ont envisagé des solutions plus permanentes. À Oslo, en Norvège, tous les trottoirs et places limitrophes du secteur de la Karl Johan Gate sont chauffés. Même portrait dans plusieurs villes d’Islande et à Lulea, en Suède, où les allées piétonnes sont dotées de tuyaux où circule la chaleur récupérée d’une usine d’acier. Au lieu d’engouffrer des millions de dollars dans le déneigement et l’épandage de sel nuisible à l’environnement, la municipalité a choisi d’utiliser cette énergie perdue pour permettre à tous les piétons, y compris les personnes âgées et à mobilité réduite, de continuer à circuler sans coup férir pendant toute la saison hivernale.

 

Place au piéton

 

À Montréal aussi, des solutions simples ont permis d’améliorer la vie des piétons pendant l’hiver. Dans le Quartier international, réaménagé de 1999 à 2005, les espaces publics ont été accrus de 40 %, uniquement en redessinant le mobilier urbain. «Le mobilier a été réduit au minimum en combinant les lampadaires aux bancs, aux poubelles, ou aux bornes de stationnement. Cela favorise le déneigement et limite les bris. Tout est à même distance du trottoir et aligné pour faciliter le passage des chenillettes», explique Clément Demers, gestionnaire des grands projets publics.

 

Rue McGill, les trottoirs faits de pierre antidérapante ont été élargis. Plusieurs entrées et parvis de sièges sociaux sont aussi chauffés, de même que l’accès aux stations de métro, ce qui limite l’usage de sel. «60 hectares de places publiques ont été ajoutés en plein centre-ville. Les stations de métro [Victoria, Place-d’Armes et Bonaventure] ont vu leur achalandage croître de 15%», se réjouit l’urbaniste. Les solutions semblent couler de source. La question qui se pose est : pourquoi ne pas en faire autant ailleurs ?

Du côté de la place des Festivals, on s’est doté d’une fontaine qui disparaît au gré des saisons et des événements. Au square Victoria et à la place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, les jets d’eau émergent aussi de grilles au sol pour laisser place aux piétons l’hiver.

 

Mais pour dynamiser davantage le centre-ville, il faut faciliter l’expérience du transport actif (marche, vélo, bus, métro). «On a tout misé sur le réseau piétonnier souterrain, mais il faut aussi accroître, par l’extérieur, l’accès au métro par des édifices riverains.» Et pour éviter ces fameuses mares qui surgissent lors des dégels, on a mis à l’essai dans le Quartier des sprectacles une très vieille invention. Le salut pourrait passer le caniveau, ce petit canal d’écoulement, typique des rues françaises, qui permet de disperser les eaux de fonte le long de la voie publique plutôt que s’engorger dans les regards d’égout, vite bouchés. À suivre.

[IluvMTL]

http://www.snowaddiction.org/2014/03/amazing-bus-stop-in-montreal-keeps-people-warm-during-the-winter-with-a-unique-way.html

 

Duracell is back at it again this time bringing random people together to stay warm during the polar vortex . The company set up a bus stop in Montreal with a secret feature that enables people to stay warm with a heater. What a clever way to spread the warmth!

http://videos.anofiles.com/posts/2014/03/10862/a67c7fe5a0b3fbdf580fa17b28a73906.mp4

Source: Like A Boss