Hendrik Buene wants Vancouver to be a city where people of different socio-economic classes mix, so he’s organizing a “sniffing station” for dogs and their owners.
Buene lives in the low-income housing portion of the Woodward’s complex and says the dream of people of different means mixing hasn’t happened yet. That’s why he intends to organize sniffing stations at Woodward’s, CRAB (or Portside) and Andy Livingstone parks.
“I really do believe in mixed societies,” said Buene, who doesn’t own a dog.
The Downtown Eastside community activist’s project is part of an international festival of citizen action called 100 in 1 Day, which runs June 7.
Urban design students from Denmark, working with students in Colombia, launched the celebration of active citizenship in Bogota in 2012. They were assigned to carry out six urban “interventions” in one day and actually ended up with 250, says Robyn Chan, volunteer coordinator at Evergreen, a national non-profit environmental organization that’s helping organize festivities in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and Montreal.
Buene’s dog-centred approach is one of many Vancouverites can discover next week.
Freelance illustrator and graphic designer Liang Ding wants residents of Metro Vancouver to bring their broken umbrellas to the square in the former Olympic Village, remove the hardware and stitch their umbrellas together to create one great canopy, to “represent the fabric of the community being knit together from a common object that everyone uses,” according to the project description. The end result could then be used to create a big tent for community gatherings.
The organizer of “Speed BFF” invites neighbours to connect in three-minute meet and greet session at Bute and Davie streets.
And because others prefer to connect on a dance floor, the Silent Disco Squad will get revellers to sync their electronics and groove to the same music in a giant dance party.
Chan says Halifax 100 in 1 Day participants are mounting a pop-up beer garden, which she notes would not be allowed in Vancouver.
“Vancouver, especially, we have a reputation of being an isolated city,” Chan said. “When people talk about, say, millennials, everyone talks about not being engaged. And 100 in 1 Day is an easy, low-pressure way for people to be really engaged in the city and to take part and to kind of take ownership of the city.”
Three workshops are left before the celebrations begin.
The workshops and celebration aim to see citizens make new connections and make their visions for Vancouver come true in a way they can interpret in one day.
“A lot of people have said they’ve had this idea for a long time and this is the first chance that they’re taking to really act upon it,” Chan said.
Evergreen isn’t funding the grassroots projects but will help secure permits and materials.
Chan said the project leaders are a “great mix” of people who were born and raised in Vancouver and others who just moved here.
Evergreen hopes to get all age groups actualizing their dreams, so May 31 is a family workshop.
For more information, see 100in1day.ca/vancouver.
