In Praise of Diversity - Part 2

This is my second post about the diversity of James Bay. In the first I talked about James Bay's industrial roots, after colonization. In this post I explore diversity of housing and commercial development. 

One of the first things that a visitor to the community might notice is the number of people walking. The sidewalks are almost always busy. In this way, James Bay differs from many car-oriented cities. It was easy to find examples among my photos. Here's a collage of a few images:

There are ALWAYS people walking on James Bay streets

There are many reasons to walk -- the ocean paths and Beacon Hill Park are nearby, both attractive walking destinations. There are shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants all within walking distance of every corner of the community, and pleasant tree-lined streets which make the walking journey enjoyable. James Bay is well-served by transit, with four different bus routes, and to take the bus a person usually needs to walk at least a little. And, there's a great diversity of housing, including high density housing. The result is a diverse demographic, which perhaps means a higher proportion of people who walk. 

Housing

It is impossible to capture the housing diversity in a few photos. There are houses of all ages and in all states of repair, and the same with multi-family dwellings. 

I've featured many photos of detached houses in past posts on this site, so I'll focus primarily on higher density buildings.

In the middle part of the last century, James Bay began to lose single family houses which were demolished and replaced with apartments, both low-rise and high-rise. As a result of community concerns a number of land use planning initiatives took place, and community consultation was established. This slowed the pace of high rise construction, and in 1993 the James Bay Neighbourhood Plan was adopted. 

Irving Park, off Menzies Street, has several high rise apartments around it.

A different perspective of some of the high rises and Irving Park, from the Red Barn market across the street. High rises might have dominated this scene if the James Bay Neighbourhod Plan had not been adopted.

This image shows that even with the construction of high rises, there remains a human scale feel to development in the neighbourhood.

High rise on the left, and multi-plex house on the right.

This building provides a better scale of development density than high rises; the height is in proportion to trees and other buildings in the area.

In this example, the pleasant landscaping softens the lines and bulk of the building, helping it integrate into the neighbourhood. 

Here is another image which illustrates that when new development is less than four storeys tall, the streetscape is balanced by the height of trees. Notice in this photo the young tree planted on the left, in recognition of the age of the mature street trees.

Another example of the diversity of residential development in the neighbourhood. The brick building on the right (The Redstone) was built in 1918 as a garage, then bought and converted by the BC Government to offices in the 1940s. In 2007 a private developer completed an "adaptive reuse" project, converting the building to residences. The project received a Heritage BC Award of Honour. Note the rooftop garden for storm water absorption. The building on the left is a new build, completed a year ago, with a finish intended to coordinate with the older building.

Now, moving onto a few sample images of houses which contribute so much to the character of James Bay. Some of the images which follow are of houses which have the feeling of a single family dwelling, but in fact have several household units within them.

The scale of this building does not feel dense, yet it provides multiple dwellings.

Another multiplex

A building like this adds to the diversity and interest of the street; its strong colours and the zero setback from the sidewalk give it a charm.

Many houses in James Bay are landscaped with wonderful colour in their front yards, which adds to both variety and appeal of the neighbourhood. Here's a sample.

The house numbers show that this nicely landscaped house is a duplex.

A thumbnail capture of diversity -- two sizes of dwelling, with a large apartment building in the background, and nature -- flowers and a mature tree. This picture is from earlier in the summer.

This image is a front yard in October:

Commercial

James Bay provides a wide range of services within a fifteen minute walk or short bike ride, which makes it fit the criteria for a fifteen minute city, that sensible term for a sustainable city.  

The heart of James Bay is James Bay Village -- one of a number of urban villages in Victoria. And it is like a village, a village of 12,800 people inside a much larger city. Every day when I walk I run into people I know. And if I walk at the same time in the morning, I'll see the same people running or walking their dogs. It's a much more intimate scale than an anonymous big city.

This building, which houses a bank, dollar store, barber shop, restaurant and other services, is across the street from the Thrifty's grocery store. The Thrifty's complex also houses a coffee shop, bistro, thrift store, consignment store, and offices for the local community paper.

The Bent Mast Pub and Restaurant at "Five Corners", which is the heart of the James Bay Village. The building has heritage designation. This pub is one of four within walking distance of our apartment. When the pub is within walking distance, driving after having a drink is not a problem!

This development is just down the street from Five Corners. Everything speaks human-scale to me -- housing above the commercial, appropriate density, wide sidewalks for walking, and a bench for sitting.

A coffee shop in the same building as the liquor store in the above photo.

Besides James Bay Village, the neighbourhood has five "corner grocery stores" dotting the community on residential streets. Here's two of them. 

 The Bird Cage sells a good variety of flowers, a few basic essentials, and specialty chocolates and baked goods which it brings in from local suppliers.

For Good Measure, which offers bulk foods, organic products, and specialty coffees.

I'll finish this scan of the diversity of James Bay with two images of the views from our apartment.

Looking west-north-west. If you look carefully, you can see apartment buildings, but most are masked by trees.

Looking south-west, with one of James Bay's high rises, as well as medium density housing, in the foreground. These are "house plexes" -- the scale of a large house, but containing multiple dwellings.

Diversity is important in nature; the greater the diversity of species, the more resilient is the ecosystem. I think diversity is equally important in human settlements.