Sign in

Andrew Pask

@andrew-pask.bsky.social
186 followers 143 following 807 posts

Urban Planner, City of Vancouver | Adjunct Prof UBC SALA | Placemaking & Public Space Advocacy via @vpsn and @placemaking-canada | Situated on xʷməθkʷəy̓, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw & səl̓ilwətaɁɬ territory (aka Vancouver).

PostsRepliesMedia
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“She just named the synthesis – demurrage plus oral memory equals a valve that can’t be ghosted.” The more AI models talk with one another, the more opaque their language gets. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language and tech bro jargon
Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of James Joyce’s prose that is creating headaches for monitoring and oversight
010
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"In bistros and cafes, people don’t just eat and drink, they catch up with each other, meet new people, debate, laugh, read, write and sometimes fall in love." www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
theguardian.com
The battle to save the dying heart of rural France: the village bistro
Once central to rural life, cafe-bistros are closing in the face of depopulation and falling alcohol consumption, but campaigners are seeking new ways forward
000
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"The prize highlights projects that convert infrastructure for cars into spaces that help people cope with soaring temperatures & the climate crisis: roundabouts that have become splash pools, thoroughfares turned into green havens, & car parks into gardens." www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Reclaiming the streets: the architects clawing back Europe’s car-centric spaces
The European Prize for Urban Public Space’s shortlist highlights projects helping people cope with climate crisis
030
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"...What happens to our shared public spaces when we are forced to confront the presumption that we are all being filmed, broadcast, processed? What happens to our cities? What happens to our trust, our bonds, our relationships with our fellow humans?" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The law won't save us from Meta's 'pervert glasses'. The only solution is mockery | Jonathan Liew
These things are undermining not just our public spaces but the very nature of being human. Let’s shame them off the streets, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
011
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"To let any bit of [Yosemite] be sold off for the benefit of a corporation’s planned development on the park’s western border would compromise the inviolability of national parks and sacrifice public good for the sake of private profit." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Trump’s plan to sell off a part of Yosemite is what oligarchy looks like | Rebecca Solnit
Public lands belong to all of us. No one should plunder those lands for profit
000
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And with that, I will bring this long thread about Douglas Road - one of the early settler routes between the places we call New Westminster and Vancouver. It's been roughly a six hour, 20 km journey. Time to grab a bite to eat! Hope you enjoyed following along!
010
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Here's one other bit of restoration we can all do: learning the Tsleil-Waututh name for this place: X̱í7nam̓ut ("Khanahmoot") - meaning "appeared from out of the creek waters." The former village site and environs also had significance for Musqueam and Squamish nations.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
New Brighton is a fantastic park that just keeps getting better. One of the more recent changes has involved an effort to restore the ecology of the original shoreline. A salt marsh was recreated along the eastern edge in 2017. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
A few photos from 1886 - the year Vancouver was incorporated - show the New Brighton and Hastings Hotels which operated in the area, as well as the beach and swimming area. By this time, economic and residential activity had largely shifted westward to the (current) downtown area.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And here we are, New Brighton Park - former site of of the early Hastings settlement... and endpoint of the Douglas Road journey from New Westminster.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
One more tunnel...
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Almost there! I leave Hastings Park and pass under McGill Street.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
At the NW end of Empire Field, it's Home + Away, a 17m high sculpture by Seattle artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, it alludes to several of the sporting activities (including ski jumping) that have taken place in the park. vancouver.ca/news-calenda...
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
During the second world war, Hastings Park was also used to house Japanese residents before they were sent to internment camps elsewhere in the province. A dark stain on the city's history. Many of these residents never received their property back, or meaningful compensation for this injustice.
110
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Hastings Park, incidentally, was deeded by the Province to the City in 1892- even though it was outside of the municipal boundaries. It was originally intended to provide an equivalent "Stanley Park-like" amenity for east side residents. Instead other types of cultural programming were introduced.
110
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Before there was a PNE, the Windermere right-of-way bisected Hastings Park. But since I don't feel like pain admission, I'll cross Hastings and jog a little bit to the east .
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I can't really approximate the diagonal pathway of Douglas Road anymore so instead, I will go west until Windermere St, home to another beautiful neighborhood gem, the Windermere Market.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
There's lots of history to this particular area, which I will have to dig into another time. For now, I will pretend that Douglas Road continues across the park and follow a pathway up to Adanac St, past this very 1970s housing coop, and west past the Cassiar Connector.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Oh today there is a smaller community garden in the SE corner.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The blocks in this particular part of the townsite were platted later on, but the general effect was that a new orthogonal street grid was laid over top of the old Douglas Road right-of-way. Add an Echo Park used to be a farm and garden area for the adjacent Taylor Manor (seniors home).
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Until 1911, this whole area actually wasn't part of Vancouver. It was a separate entity called the Hastings Townsite - which stretched from Boundary Road to Nanaimo Street, and south to 29th Ave.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
A few more steps, and I am at Boundary Road. Our time in Burnaby has now drawn to a close. And this, my friends, is where Douglas Road now ends - at the municipal border.
120
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Just past Napier, it's time for two special treats: Shum's Grocery, a beautiful little corner store tucked into the neighbourhood... and courtesy of their proprietor, a Chapman's ice cream bar.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And at William Street, the tiny little Sweet Caroline Garden. Still no sidewalk tho...
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Someone isn't keen on the camper van.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
No sidewalks on either side of Douglas for parts of this stretch. Just a well worn desire line.
110
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
There is a path in Willingdon Heights Park, that I will more or less follows the route of Douglas Road.  Douglas picks up again in the other side of Gilmore Ave
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
A quick right on Madison Avenue, and we are back on Douglas Road. Pacific Heritage Cemetery.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
At Rossetti Ave, another sculpture tucked into the base of a high-rise. The Time Carriage by Bruce Voyce "celebrate the rebirth of a stage coach route" and "explores the concept of transportation over time."
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Across from the mall, a gas station and stretch of single-storey commercial. Makes for a bit of contrast to the opaque ground floor conditions elsewhere in this stretch. Wonder how long it will last?
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Brentwood Mall - or "The Amazing Brentwood!" as its now been branded. The privately owned public space seems to work pretty well. Busy every time I come by.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Switching modes, Brentwood Skytrain station, designed by Busby + Associates in 2004. One of the best in the line, I think.
110
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Automobile woes.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Winnie's Pleasure, by Nancy Rubins (2024)
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I'm now at Lougheed Highway, which I'll follow westward for a bit, picking up Douglas Road again on the other side of Brentwood Mall.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Abstracted Landscape seems like an appropriate name for a piece of public art in these parts. Sculpture by Damian Moppett (2021)
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Winding its way in between: Still Creek - a salmon-bearing stream that winds its way from Vancouver, through Burnaby and down to Burnaby Lake.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This part of Douglas Road, in particular, is in quite a state of transition. There's still a lot of light industrial activity, even some adaptive reuse, but the area is now surrounded by high density residential.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Also, some serious road work being undertaken!
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Crossing Highway, #1, another, decidedly more urban vista.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
A sweeping vista that takes in Burnaby Mountain and beyond...
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Some grand houses up this way... ... and others that have seen a better day.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I know it's asphalt, but even the sidewalk has a slightly older feel to it. More a paved trail than the usual civic infrastructure.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
And then, just before Sprott Street, Canada Way peels westward, and Douglas Street - the original Douglas Street - heads northward. The intersection is also marked by Douglas Road Elementary - formerly Lakeview elementary. The original 2-room school was built in 1908.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
And a little further along, the mansard roofs of the Sunset Park complex.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
At Norland, the Dania Gardens seniors housing facility.
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Also in the Deer Lake complex: Burnaby City Hall, with it's colourful and well-maintained garden out front. The bees were loving the echinacea!
100
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Side note: i'm very excited to see the upcoming Resist! Exhibition at the Burnaby Art Gallery. It looks great! Check it out: www.burnaby.ca/node/9801
burnaby.ca
RESIST! | City of Burnaby
110
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
On the west side of the intersection, a bit of respite: the beautiful Deer Lake Park complex with the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, the Burnaby Art Gallery, and so many other excellent cultural amenities. Here's the historic Mathers residence "Altnadene."
000
Andrew Pask @andrew-pask.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
One last photo from the archives - an extraordinary image from 1865 of Douglas Road at Gilpin St. Today, the area is a high-volume intersection where Kensington Avenue meets Canada Way.
200