Canadian Institute of Planners Conference - Halifax. June 27 to 30, 2023

With its mix of old and new, Halifax's downtown cannot be described as a harmonious place. But it's very interesting. And getting better.

I just returned from a week in Halifax where I attended the CIP National Conference. The last time I was here was in 2011 to speak at a Canadian Bar Association Conference on new housing forms, including fee-simple row houses. I remember the trip since I decided to stay on for an extra week thinking I could explore the entire coastline of Nova Scotia. In fact, I barely made to Yarmouth on the southern tip before heading back to Halifax through the Annapolis Valley. The latter was surprisingly beautiful and destroyed my image of Nova Scotia as a 'have-not' province. In fact, much of the province is incredibly beautiful and quite different than what I and many others expect to find.

This trip provided an opportunity to hear an impressive conference speaker, Ramy Nassar, https://www.1000daysout.com/team 

1000 Days is a consulting firm that helps companies look to the future. "We don’t predict the future with artificial intelligence or crystal balls - it’s much simpler - we’re obsessive about spending time talking with users. We collaborate with your teams to identify the pain points, opportunities and emerging trends that will impact your business. We look forward about 3 years (1000 days) to help you build the digital products, services and platforms your customers will love."

A few observations from Nassar's presentation:

• Sometimes it is easier to describe what something is, is by describing what it's not.
• To understand change, we need to understand the various types of change; cyclical, slow, trend, wild-card, dying, etc.
• in order to forecast the future, it's often helpful to 'backcast". Think about what you want to happen, and then work backwards to determine the steps to get there.
• "We always overestimate what will happen in the next 2 years but underestimate what will happen in the next 10" - Bill Gates
• every 30 years, the world is unrecognizable

Other than Nassar, I found the conference itself to be quite disappointing, especially the closing night seaside celebration, held in a windowless convention centre ballroom. What were they thinking? Too many of the sessions seemed to dwell on someone's pet project, or area of study, without explaining the broader lessons for the rest of Canada. One exception was a good Calgary 'missing middle presentation' and a final day session on diversity, exclusion, inclusion, etc.

But the conference did provide an opportunity to meet up with other members of the College of Fellows from across Canada and that was worthwhile. I particularly enjoyed spending time with Paul Bedford, the former Director of Planning for Toronto and his wife, and Mary Bishop, a planner in Newfoundland who often reminded my of Mary Walsh. She began one of her noon times luncheon addresses by saying "My name is Mary Bishop. At least, that's what is written down for me to say."

One of the things the College of Fellows intends to study is how ChatGPT will change the planning profession. There is no doubt the ramifications could be most significant. 

The conference also provided an opportunity to explore Halifax again. I took the local 'hop-on-hop-off tour' which was worthwhile, but expensive. Unlike most other city tours, the guides are live, not simply a recording, which added another dimension.

Walking around the city was also worthwhile, although it would have been nice if the sun had come out at least once during the week I was here. Every day was rain and fog.

In addition to exploring Halifax, I also had an opportunity to spend a bit of time in Lunenburg and Chester on Canada Day. Lunenburg is exceptionally beautiful, often ranked as one of the nicest small towns in Canada. It deserves its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. But do you think I could find a book on Lunenburg buildings? 

Chester is also very special, but unfortunately the fog never lifted enough to allow me to experience the beauty so many Americans have discovered over the years, especially those wealthy families who have been vacationing there for over a century.

Since pictures often speak louder than words, here are a few photos taken during my stay. More to come later.

I stayed at the Homewood Suites, which was well located near the local sports arena. When I first arrived, I wondered why any hockey team would be called the Mooseheads. However, I subsequently learned it might have something to do with the fact the team is owned by Moosehead Breweries!

One thing that has changed since my last visit is the waterfront area. When I worked for CMHC and Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, I was briefly involved with the Halifax Waterfront Corporation and Historic Properties preservations. Today the waterfront area has expanded considerably with the addition of the Pier 21 Immigration Museum and a variety of other attractions, and new developments.

Although the downtown is full of awful 1970s and 80s buildings, badly juxtaposed with heritage properties, much more effort is now being devoted to conserving heritage buildings, like this former press newspaper building. I look forward to seeing it completed on a future visit.

There is no doubt that the old buildings are generally much more attractive than the new buildings.

I was constantly fascinated by the multi-coloured street oriented rowhouses and

 detached homes. Unfortunately, it was usually too wet to go outside and photograph them! These shots were taken from the hop-on, hop-off bus, which was priced for cruise ship passengers, but not most others. One reason for the $80/day +/- price is that the guides are live. Most other cities have multi-lingual taped recordings. I'm curious why this isn't done, especially since there were a lot of non-English speaking people on my tours.

Much of Halifax's history is related to a tragic 1917 explosion in the harbour which destroyed much of the city. I was impressed by this exhibit in the Maritime Museum which addressed the rebuilding of the city. If they could build "one apartment an hour" one would like to think Vancouver can do a better job of housing its homeless. 

In the following years there was considerable interest in creating fireproof buildings, and this led to the development of the Hydrostone District. https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=788

I never tired of seeing the colourful, street-oriented houses around the city, although at times they were best viewed through the windows of the bus.

Perhaps if the tour were more reasonably priced there would have been more people aboard.

Halifax is doing a good job of saving its heritage and identifying heritage buildings with attractive plaques. Something West Vancouver is currently considering.

When Le Corbusier planned Chandigarh, he decreed that there should not be any statues of people. I disagree with this and was pleased to discover this statue of a well-known figure who visited Halifax many decades ago.

The new public library by SHL, a Danish firm has become a source of great civic pride. 

Halifax has one of two Victorian gardens in Canada. You can probably guess where the other one is.

Some of the interesting new developments in the downtown.

Walking back from yet another lobster dinner on the Halifax waterfront.

The Maritime Museum was a most popular destination, especially for cruise ship visitors, of which there are many. The Titanic exhibit was of particular interest for many this week.

For many years, there has been talk about a new Maritime Museum in Vancouver. One proposal was to include it in the redevelopment of the Westin Bayshore hotel property. I'm not holding my breath.

I visited the Halifax Art Gallery, a modest two-building complex. But it features the house of Maud Lewis, a well-known local folk artist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Lewis

Views inside her house

A photo of the artist

Another piece from the gallery's collection Ken Monkman's Miss Chief's Wet Dream