Posts filed under 'Global gossip 2006'
Why are Edinburgh NIMBYs so afraid of skate parks? Ray Perman reports from an inspiring enterprise in Dundee where the energy and enthusiasm of young people benefit the whole community.
I like skateparks. That’s not a very popular thing to say in North Edinburgh just now when a disgraceful NIMBY campaign has defeated plans for a skate facility in Inverleith Park. But I like them because they give kids a great outlet for their energies and skills and keep them off the streets.
A visit to the highly successful Factory Skatepark in Dundee confirmed all my beliefs. The Factory, which cost £1.3m and is Scotland’s first indoor park, has been open two years and already has 5,700 registered skaters, skateboarders and BMX bikers. Last year it had 33,000 visits. That’s a remarkable achievement when you consider that the kids have to pay every time they use it. Trouble is negligible and on the back of skating the Factory has been able to add a range of other activities for all ages. “We’re building a 21st century community centre,” says Derek Marshall, who runs it.
The NIMBYs look down on skating as “not a real sport” but it takes skill, courage and physical fitness. Perhaps the inclusion of BMX biking – a close cousin – as a show sport in the 2008 Olympics and the possibility that skateboarding will follow in 2012 will change their minds. Ewan Aitken, leader of Edinburgh Council, has pledged to find an alternative location for the park. All power to him.
Ray Perman is chair of Social Investment Scotland, one of a large group of sponsors and funders of the Factory Skate Park.
December 12th, 2006
While Edinburgh is inching towards a decision to install one tram route Kate MacInnes sends her views of a city where trams have been running since 1873.
Getting around Lisbon is a joy with the trams, funiculars and elevadors – all a perfect way of climbing up the hills of this great city. Although modern trams connect most inner and outer areas the old wooden trams are still in service and a perfect way to see the sites – the best route is Number 26, the old tram which takes the same route as the tourist bus but at a fraction of the price.
The Elevador De Santa Justa takes you 45 metres vertically up to the old quarter and Carmelite convent and the Elevador Gloria saves a particularly gruelling climb up to the Barrio Alto. Want to know more? http://www.luso.u-net.com/lisbon.htm
Lisbon’s neogothic urban lift: each storey of the Elevador De Santa Justa is decorated with a different pattern. An idea for some of those Edinburgh hills?
December 5th, 2006
It’s around 8pm and the place is going like a fair. I am squeezed between an East European couple on one side and a Spanish pair on the other. The waiter delivering many forms of cooked mussels is French but he is speaking to us all in flawless English. So why does this place feel so unmistakeably Belgian?
The thing that bugs me about the anti-European crew is their claim that Britain will lose its identity if it becomes a truly paid up member of the EU. I think that must be a perverse form of envy. Compared with the bland chain store uniformity of the average British town centre, most European towns and cities seem to have a wonderfully civilised and individual sense of place. Brussels is not at all like London or Paris or Barcelona. In some way that it is hard to pin down, it is an international city with a local atmosphere.
Maybe it is something to do with the beer. Belgium makes over 400 different beers (served in nearly as many different glasses); that’s one for every day of the year and a few over as the tour guides always remind you. Or maybe it is because Brussels, like a lot of other European cities, actually still takes pride in making something of their own at all. The smell of chocolate and vanilla is everywhere and – though international chain stores line the pedestrian shopping centres – the cobbled streets round the Grand Place are crammed with small, independent shops, cafes and businesses.
We pay for our mussels and Belgian beer and walk through pavement cafes still serving seafood beneath patio heaters though Christmas is less than a month away. We’re heading for the Cuban bar, Che Habana, though we’re told it really only comes to life after midnight. I hadn’t expected the capital of Europe to be such fun or so stylish. Each arcade is competing for the most innovative lighting display and every shop window is exquisitely dressed. That jewellers’ across the street turns out to be another chocolate shop with a queue of tourists waiting for their individually hand-made treat. Is this sense of pride what the Europhobes really fear?
Places to go: Chez Leons needs absolutely no help from me but if you haven’t already found it add it and Brussels to places you must go to. Preferably by Eurostar.
December 3rd, 2006
I would rather be back in Brussels where the air smells of chocolate and vanilla and they haven’t even finished putting up the Christmas lights in the centre of town.
After a night on the sleeper from Euston to Edinburgh, home is not very welcoming. The taxi driver is surly (mind you, I am not a bundle of laughs myself at 7.30 am), my car insurance ran out just after midnight (we lent the car to Dougal so fingers crossed he had a long lie-in today), the central heating boiler has blown out, and to top it all there is a bloody Christmas card in the post.
Right now I would rather be back in Brussels where the air smells of chocolate and vanilla and they haven’t even finished putting up the Christmas lights in the centre of town. In the Grand Place we watched a man on a ladder doing a thorough job of thatching the stable. By the time we left it was topped with a green star showing wise men and shoppers the way to Christmas.
The odd thing is that the weather feels more like spring. There are rows and rows of hand made chocolate Saints Nicolas in beautifully dressed windows but I sit on a bench in the sun while Ray is at a conference and restaurants are still serving people on the streets, with just a little help from gas-guzzling patio heaters.
Climate change is a hot topic this week at Scotland Europa, the European arm of Scottish Enterprise – the reason for Ray’s trip to Brussels (with me along for the ride). And it is going to get hotter. Yesterday evening, I sat in for a little of Gavin McCrone’s lecture on climate change, oil supplies, renewable energy and what it all means for Scotland. He’s a professor, the General Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and he’s on the same rigorous line of argument as Nicholas Stern and Al Gore: basically we have to start consuming less and producing more efficiently if we want to keep the lights on. It’s not going to be easy. Outside, right on cue, a police car sounds a siren, the lights of the European Commission blaze against the night sky, and back home rail companies have just announced British fares will rise far above inflation next year.
It promises to be a good thought-provoking lecture but unfortunately we have to sneak out in time to catch the Eurostar back to London. (Our offpeak tickets are £59 return, cheaper than flying!). The trip takes around two and a half hours to make the journey. In less than a year’s time, when the final section of the channel tunnel link goes straight to St Pancras it will take less than two hours to travel between London and Brussels and just over two hours to get to Paris. The total cost of this upgrading is £5.8 billion.
Investment in the East Coast main line could bring the journey time from Edinburgh to London down to considerably lower than four hours. With Eurostar type investment in track and rolling stock they could get it down to three hours, which would make flying redundant, speeding trade and business between Scotland and the rest of Europe and reducing our carbon footprint along the way.
As it is we settle down for a night in the sleeper (a double Scotch works wonders). Between starched white sheets, I dream about the little grey mouse I saw in the truly horrible smoke-filled bar at Euston. That’s one up for Scotland. Next year the atmosphere in English pubs will be as unpolluted as it is in Scotland. Pity we can’t be so bold with transport.
December 1st, 2006
Today my blog is one year old. I am gradually getting to grips with the site (thank you again to Tommy and to Rob) so now I want to invite my family and friends – and anyone who may have dropped in from cyberspace (well, you never know) – to help it grow.
The idea came to me on a tram in the centre of Prague. Why not use my website to record a snapshot of the cities I visit? By the time I got off the tram I had a much better idea.
Last year when I was editing The City Talks newsletters for Edinburgh City Centre Management Company, I enjoyed rummaging round the internet for ‘global gossip’ about what was happening in city centres around the world. Ever since I joined the ECCM board I have become slightly obsessed by city street life. Now I cannot ride a tram, sit in a pavement cafe or wander through a city square without making comparisons with what happens in Edinburgh. I am always asking Ray to take pictures of street furniture and people sitting at cafes (er… what was so special about that view of Helsinki?)
So here’s my idea. There is no point trying to do this on my own. It would take too long (and far too many air miles) to put together a decent sample of postcard case studies. Why not invite my family and friends to send me their pictures and perceptions of cities round the world?
I am posting a couple of ‘postcards’ here today to set the ball rolling. But you can present your view in any (printable) way you like from any city in the world (including Edinburgh of course). It can be a glimpse of something unexpected, like Carrie’s early morning scenes from Beijing, or my discovery that Tesco behaves differently in other countries (I hope to add details of the extraordinary store in Prague soon). It can be about public transport, street markets, old or new buildings, food, music – whatever you think gives the city its own sense of place – and it can be just a picture caption or a commentary up to 300-400 words long.
What will become of all this? I hope the words and pictures might inspire new audio postcards, Dougal’s inspired innovation on RadioMagnetic. Perhaps they could also inform new directions for ECCM’s new Street Life committee (guess who is the chair). So perhaps this idea is a bit of brass neck. But it is my blog’s birthday!
November 13th, 2006
“If you don’t come out in the morning to wake up, how will you be alive? What kind of life is that?”
Caroline Cooper’s postcard from Beijing
Overgrown with towering skyscrapers and wide-lane boulevards, Beijing’s quiet street life and old hutong homes are under threat. Preparations for the 2008 Olympics are at the forefront of city planner thoughts, heightening the capital’s urbanization.
Early morning hours in the city parks reveal a capital’s most gregarious side…
As Beijing continues to reinvent itself nearly every day, and traditional neighborhoods disappear, a stroll through the city’s public parks reveals sides of Beijing’s lively public life that may otherwise go unnoticed. Ditan, Beihai, Hohai and Tiantan are just a few of the major parks that host eager participants every morning.
In the early morning hours, Beijing residents turn out in great numbers to stretch, walk, run, walk backwards, run backwards, slap their faces, pull their earlobes or clap and chant in groups. People are generally out in the thousands and, now that the temperate fall weather is here, even more are joining.
On a recent visit to Beijing’s Ditan Park I found Mr. Zhang Liwei, a retired accountant, standing inches from a stonewall, belting ancient Chinese poems with his nose to the mortar. His voice was a deep baritone with good range. Mr. Zhang favors Tang dynasty classics as well as selections from the Peking Opera “Li Qiu Visiting His Mother.”
“I come here most mornings to open up the lungs,” he said. “And to get ready for the day ahead.” On the morning I visited, he followed his private recital with some deep lunges and a few windmill circles of the arms. “If you don’t come out in the morning to wake up, how will you be alive? What kind of life is that?”
It’s a question much of Beijing’s rising elderly population asks itself every morning. With a growth rate of 5.3 percent per year in a city of nearly 15 million, Beijingers aged 65 and above are in good company. As free public association remains seriously frowned upon by authorities, Beijing’s early morning parks are a place where residents can gather, chat and begin the day. Even as the city undergoes its rapid transformation, the longstanding Chinese tradition of morning exercise in a beautiful park continues unabated.
Caroline Cooper is a freelance writer now living in Indonesia. A shorter version of this postcard case study appeared in the City Talks newsletter in 2005. Hear more of Caroline’s views on RadioMagnetic’s audio postcards.
November 13th, 2006
“Sex and drugs and sausage rolls,” there’s a guy behind me in the queue for the concert in St Salvation with a mission to entertain. “You don’t get lager louts in this town, you get Saga louts.” His wife is not amused: “Oh Sid, give over.”
With or without Saga louts, at night you can see Dubvrovnik is really a theatre. Maybe all successful towns and cities are theatrical sets but Dubrovnik certainly knows how to turn crumbling Renaissance scenery into a thriving, bustling stage starring waiters and restaurant owners politely accosting tourists on the relentless tread around town; live music echoing across the squares; shop keepers dressing and undressing their windows; lights gleaming and bouncing across the marble streets.
Thick walls didn’t stop bombs and plagues in the near and distant past but so far they keep out cars . You can hear the sound of feet echoing across squares and people talking to one another. I wondered if that was why I saw so few people using mobile phones; there is no need to escape the here and now.
Kids ride bikes to the edge of the harbour, trolleys deliver sick and frail to and from ambulances and bring barrels of booze to the bars. Handcarts meet tourists at the gate to help with heavy luggage unloaded from taxis. And business seems to thrive.
We didn’t venture much outside the walls. The sounds of engines – buses, cars, taxis, motorbikes – hit you as soon as you walk through the gates. The walls are ringed with a moat of car parks and cars seem to circle the ring road as if ceaselessly looking for a chance to break through. I hope they never do.
And you can hear my audio postcard from Dubrovnik on RadioMagnetic too.
November 13th, 2006
This is an extract from a Postcard case study written last year – this year’s riots in Budapest give a new twist to the tale.
Old Soviet heroes rust in peace in a statue park on the green edge of Budapest but in the heart of this city, capitalist business is booming. Hungarian trade is fast catching up with the rest of Europe. British tourists increased by a record 97% in the first few months of 2005 and they don’t come or go empty handed. Last year’s tourists tend to return as this year’s traders and they are learning that Hungarians can strike a hard bargain. Europe’s biggest Tesco hypermarket (run by astute Yorkshireman Paul Kennedy) stocks an astonishing 90% of local produce. Unlike a lot of the UK, Magyars seem to know the difference between good salami and a plastic sausage.
The equally entrepreneurial Mayor, Gábor Demzsky, has opened up public realm to stylish effect since his election in 1990. Café culture thrives on the pedestrianised shopping streets and squares where you can hear birds sing and musicians play among the global chain stores and local restaurants. (Not quite the view of Wikipedia but then I don’t recognise their city centre description from our visit there last year).
We were lucky to meet someone in the know in one of those cafes. Over tea and cake he gave us intriguing insight into the Westernisation of an old communist economy. It isn’t all good news. Corruption may take longer to shift than the old soviet statues. But there is something else Edinburgh could learn from Budapest where the combined legacies of Austro-Hungarian and Soviet empires provide an efficient and fully integrated transport system to speed shoppers, tourists and businessmen and women on their way. Trams, trolleys, buses and trains connect all parts of the city every two to three minutes by day. At night the service slows to no more than 8-minute intervals. Which means you can get to the centre from less picturesque parts within 20 minutes — and even the grimmest Soviet concrete tower blocks are surrounded by fresh fruit and veg stalls on the ground floor. Edinburgh master planners take note.
This is an edited version of the ‘Postcard case study’ published in The City Talks for Edinburgh City Centre Management Company in 2005.
October 23rd, 2006
Autumn tree tops, brown reeds reflected in the water, trams running over the bridge: my view of Helsinki from the hotel room. I am warming to a place where you can buy birch twigs in the market to thrash yourself to a healthy pink in the sauna. “Be sure to jump in the sea afterwards” said Olaf.
I am sitting in the internet room at the Scandic Continental, when I really should be heading out into the city to ride the trams, exploring all the places that were closed yesterday. First stop the Design Museum where I fear my four year old Nokia will merit a place in the display of mobile phones past. Or maybe the Museum of Contemporary Art promising an exhibition analysing our relationship with the landscape which should be interesting in a country which seems so self-consciously stylish. Even Helsinki airport is good to look at.
But first I am treating myself to a quick record of a few days in an extraordinary city full of trees and pedestrian spaces,where you can hop on trams, trains and buses with the same ticket. Helsinki has around 500,000 people which makes it roughly the size of Edinburgh but from my brief exploration it seems we could learn a great deal from studying how they manage their daily life.
Each city has its own character. After a week in Prague our first evening in Helsinki was a bit of a let down. Ten degrees colder outside and prices in the restaurants many notches higher. From an apartment with creaking wooden floors in the bohemian streets of the Czech capital to a bland air conditioned room in a streamlined hotel you could find anywhere in the world.
Ray digs into the guide to find solace in sightseeing. The guide book is clearly written for someone else. “Helsinki is a dish full of eye candy.” Yuk. But even bad writing can’t completely put us off looking for the church in the rock where there are free concerts every Sunday. Free is a nice word when we are starting to count the Euros (on Friday night in Prague two drinks cost the equivalent of one pound, here that is multiplied by ten).
And we would have paid plenty more than that for the experience in Temppeliaukio, a wonderful space blasted into the rock that most of Helsinki seems to be built on. A circular space roofed with copper wire creates an extraordinary acoustic so that the organ sounds would blast you off your seat while the soprano sends shivers down your spine.
There is a moment when a new place makes its mark on me and the organ recital on a cold October night in a granite circle in the heart of Helsinki was that moment.
October 17th, 2006
