Blog  November 12, 2011

MOVE day one: A view from inside the charrette

By: Jeremy Finkelstein, charrette participant in Team Energy Way

Their challenge: How can highways generate energy and power transportation?

Welcome to the Land of Possibility

I arrived at George Brown’s Richmond campus Friday afternoon an hour before I was scheduled to meet with Team Energy Way, so I decided to head for the Occupy Toronto site, which I wanted to see before they’re evicted by the City or Mother Nature. I may be closing in on 40 faster than I’d like to admit, but I’m still a 20-year-old at heart and like to stick it to the man as much as the next upper-middle-class, slightly left-of-centre, white Canadian male. So on this Remembrance Day, I joined my brothers in arms and fought the system... for at least 40 minutes, before I had to get back to work.

Walking into St. James Park, I was greeted by a hand-written sign thrown against a lamp post with the scribble “Welcome to the Land of Possibilities.” To the immediate right was a makeshift stage dubbed ‘Occupy Theatre’ and beyond them both sat hundreds of tents. Within the grounds, the main stage was surrounded by signs calling for action on a myriad of issues like poverty, student debts, wealth sharing, war, healthcare, and affordable housing. On the stage drummers beat out a simple rhythm, a guitarist did his best to join in, and a young woman spoke with a CBC reporter. I listened to a couple of tunes from the band, and headed for George Brown.

So, what’s this have to do with the Energy Way charrette? Actually, the two groups aren’t so dissimilar. Both are comprised of multiple, often conflicting, interests and experiences, the hierarchy is loosely defined at best, the commitment to group harmony is essential for any success, a successful outcome will have to be respectful of mixed parties and uses, and both groups have a limited window to make a compelling and meaningful point before they’re kicked off campus. But, perhaps most importantly, neither group is allowing themselves to become lost in the way the world is; rather, they’re singularly focused on the way it ought to be.

Team Energy Way is made up of a dozen participants including a biologist turned sustainability consultant, a couple engineers, an urban planner, a software consultant, a visual artist, and a handful of designers with various specialties. They’ve been challenged with reimagining the QEW/Gardiner Expressway between Toronto and Hamilton and designing a smart, energy generating transportation and service corridor for the year 2040 that would collect energy from vehicles, generate energy by means of infrastructure installations that draw on sustainable sources, and feed energy back into the transportation system. Of course, it has to be grounded in reality, so trends need to be taken into full consideration, neighbouring land use must be respected and Star Trek beaming technology is off the table. That said, I heard the phrase “vacuum-tubing people around” on at least two occasions.

The real work begins Saturday, and will carry through the weekend, so there are no firm solutions to report just yet. Instead, much of the afternoon revolved around isolating key issues that will need to be addressed to find any real success. These included Energy (identifying a range of options to produce and collect energy), Modes of Transit (envisioning who will be using the corridor and how they can be moved), Land Use (what land is available and how it will best be used within the system), and Systems & Technology (identifying technology and infrastructure issues, and how they will evolve for the benefit of transit).

Next, the group tackled the vision and mission of the project, as provided by the facilitators. In an effort to free themselves from constricting wording found in the original, it was changed to the broader: To create a sustainable transportation network that improves the mobility of people and goods. This segment was easily one of the best parts of the day, since debating such a simple sentence creates so much conflict. With all the opinions and preconceived expectations of the final design coming to the forefront, it’s remarkable that they were able to come to any consensus. At this point, the winner of the obscure reference of the day easily goes to Hon Q. Lu for challenging a colleague who questioned the need to even have highways in 2040, calling the point a “Bernard Tschumi Concept,” alluding to architecture that sacrifices human need for intellectual pursuit (thank you Wikipedia!).

Fortunately, no one was offended and they were able to move on to the most important part of the day, Imagining Scenarios. Each member went off on their own to dream up five or six visions for a mixed-use highway of the future. Facilitator Theresa Miller called this part of the process essential for pushing the boundaries. Only through off-the-wall concepts, will the team be able to get beyond the limitations of what they each hold as real and finite, and start pushing the boundaries of design. Lead Designer Chris Hardwicke concurred, saying that without bold visions for the future, there would be no need for a charrette... Evergreen or the IwB could just hire a draftsman to draw out what they dictate.

After giving it some thought, each member then went around the table sharing their ideas which ranged from layered designs that accommodated green space and pedestrian access, to ski hill inspired t-bars that pull automobiles at a consistent speed, to tolls and incentives for high-occupancy and fuel-efficient vehicles, to smart phones that connect drivers to hitchhikers in order to take advantage of HOV lanes, to balloons that store energy under water until they’re needed to power turbines. Clearly there is no shortage of ideas.

Still, the challenge is daunting, the clock is ticking, and I’m still not clear how this will all wrap itself up. But, after observing the team this afternoon, one thing is for certain... this is indeed a land of possibility.

Jeremy Finkelstein is managing editor of COLLECTIONS magazine, where he has collaborated with cultural institutions, interest groups and public figures to help promote a more dynamic, livable city. He is also a director with the Clean Air Partnership, where he serves as liaison to the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, and is a former director with Green Enterprise Ontario.