Tuesday, November 4, 2014
On October 17, over 30 urban designers from across the GTA met in Oakville to participate in the Municipal Urban Designers’ Roundtable (MUDR) biannual meeting.
The typical meeting agenda focuses on presentations and discussions on urban design projects and sharing new ideas, however, the focus of this gathering was initiating Project Crosswalk in downtown Oakville. Over 40 designs were submitted by MUDR members but only one design was chosen to be painted at the crosswalk at Robinson and George Streets in downtown Oakville. The winning design entitled The Treeswalk, by City of Toronto Urban Designer Ran Chen, was implemented by a very enthusiastic group.
“This type of walkable art is an example of what urban designers call tactical urbanism – small-scale changes generated by community-based ideas that can bring about permanent change,” said Christina Tizzard, manager, Urban Design at the Town of Oakville. “There are many small changes we can make as a community that not only improve the look of an area, but can change the feeling and create a greater sense of place.”
To check out MUDR’s handy work, stop by Robinson and George Streets downtown Oakville, or watch the time-lapse photography video of the installation.