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Catching a lift to classOct 7, 2010 by Claire Ward

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Simon Fraser University students may be getting a new way to hitch a ride to school. In response to growing demandfor more sustainable, reliable transit service to the mountaintop campus, Translink, B.C.ʼs transit authority, is takingproposals to determine the feasibility of a 30-person gondola linking Production Way SkyTrain Station in Burnaby toSFU. The proposed 2.6-km sky lift would cost an estimated $70 million, and effectively replace the need for Translinkʼsfleet of 60-foot diesel buses to travel up and down the mountainʼs steep, icy slopes each winter—a route that is closedbetween 10 and 15 days a year due to heavy snowfall, often causing class cancellations. The new service, sayproponents, could also be responsible for removing some 50,000 hours of bus service from the mountain.

“It would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1,870 tonnes in the first year alone,” says Gordon Harris,president and CEO of SFU Community Trust, which initially raised the idea with Translink. SFU Community Trustʼsinitial feasibility study estimated that a gondola could save Translink $1.6 million a year in operating costs.

Modelled after the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, which connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, the new route couldpotentially move up to 3,000 people an hour in roughly half the regular transit time—about eight minutes. But despitecommunity enthusiasm for the project, Translink must prioritize. “We do not, at this point, have money for expansion,”says Translink spokesman Ken Hardie. The money to get this project off the ground, he suggests, may have to comefrom some sort of public-private partnership.

Tags: british columbia, Simon Fraser University, Translink, transit service, Production Way SkyTrain StationPosted in Canada | 2 Comments

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Redesigning Education:Designing Schools in a SpikyWorld

How can schools provide safe, sustainable learningcenters, even in urban environments? The latest inTrung Le's Redesigning Education series.

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“I just feel it's inevitable that there will have to be change. Theonly question is whether we're going to do it starting now, orwhether we're going to wait for catastrophe.” --Alvin Toffler

We live in a global economy, unquestionably. The commonmetaphor, pioneered by Thomas Friedman is that “the world isflat.” Technology and a less expensive knowledge-based workforcein countries like India, Brazil and Vietnam have leveled theeconomic gap between the developing world and westerncountries. An alternate view, held by urban theorist RichardFlorida, seems more compelling to me. He argues that the world isnot flat but “spiky.” The “spikes” are the world’s cities, and theseurban centers are the critical components that will lead to a betterbalance between our limited planetary resources and the rapidlyexpanding human population.

More than half of the human race lives in a city. This figure willrise to 70% by the year 2050. Florida cites the statistic [PDF] thattogether New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston have abigger economy than all of China. These urban centers aresupported by a diversity of interconnected systems andinfrastructure that enhance the human condition (i.e.employment, culture, housing, education, transportation, publicsafety, healthcare, energy and technology). Given the populationdensity and critical mass of economic, social and intellectualcapital in cities, they naturally become innovation hubs.Furthermore, hubs like London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Chicago,San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles aredynamically interconnected with each other.

But there is always a weak link, and in this instance, the weakestlink in many of the leading urban economies is preK-12 education.Education is critical to a thriving urban center, so why are urbaneducation systems in distress? Better yet: What can we do tochange this fate? What does an urban preK-12 physicalenvironment look like in the third millennium? What is the newpedagogy? Here are a few humble suggestions for redesigningeducation within an urban fabric—the outcomes of which shouldbe more intelligent city centers and a more sustainable planet.

Students at the Academy for Global Citizenship in inner-cityChicago show off fresh eggs from their chickens

Develop Learning Centers Closer to Home McDonald’s appears to have a very simple business model--builda McDonald’s for every 25,000 people. Let’s apply this simpleconcept to building schools by developing a formula that allots acertain number of smaller schools for each city neighborhood witha maximum 20-minute walk between the school and any home inthe designated area. If we build schools closer to home, ourneighborhoods will be safer, we will cut transportation costsdrastically and students and parents will not waste timecommuting. We will be building schools that also act ascommunity centers that the neighborhood can access during after-school hours and during the summer. School buses are eliminated,thereby reducing the overall carbon footprint of the urban center.And walking to school provides a means for addressing childhoodobesity.

The Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC) is a charter school thatserves children on the southwest side of Chicago. AGC is a rareexample of a learning culture that is totally committed to socialand environmental justice. AGC adopted a “walking-bus concept”--parents volunteer to be posted at designated locations andaccompany the children to school.

Create Connections Between Schools and the BusinessCommunity

We need tobuild newenvironmentsthat supportexperiential,creative andindividualizedlearning.

Urban centers are the concentration of brain power in mostdisciplines and industries, which promotes a natural and organicstate of collaboration. Schools need to take advantage of thisdensity of innovation and seek out experts and companies to teachand mentor young learners. Imagine a mathematician working forWall Street teaching calculus to teenagers--there’s the shortanswer to why learning calculus is necessary. We should takeadvantage of the purpose-driven millennial generation that iswilling to volunteer to teach young children through urbanprograms like Teach for America, City Year and the countlessothers that are out there.

This connection betweenschools and the businesscommunity can happen inany industry. For peoplelike me, the ACE MentorProgram offers a uniquepartnership amongprofessionals in a varietyof disciplines--theacronym stands forarchitecture, constructionand engineering--thatwork together to attractyoung people to theirprofessions. Industryprofessionals volunteer toact as mentors to highschool students in orderto introduce them to theirfields and encourage themto pursue education and

careers in these fields. Through first-hand experience, I can attestto the Chicago chapter’s success in connecting students to thedesign and building industry. The partnerships developed amongschools and firms across the city are a model that should bereplicated beyond the A/E/C industry.

Let’s connect the dots by connecting the systems so urban centersbecome exponentially smarter and more efficient. And, moreimportantly, we’ll be instilling the ideal of multidisciplinarycollaboration in our children--tomorrow’s leaders.

Young architects, engineers and builders from the ChicagoChapter of the ACE Mentor Program lead a group of high schoolstudents through a high-rise building under construction

Adopt the Living Building Challenge Standard for UrbanLearning EnvironmentsWhat better institution than the school system to change heartsand minds to achieving a carbon-free future. Let’s leapfrog LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and adopt amore organic system to guide us in making design decisions.Overseen by the International Living Building Institute, the Living

Building Challenge (LBC) is more than collecting points ormapping out payback analysis--it is an absolute commitment tothe environment, a new way of living. LBC is a certificationprogram that offers the most advanced measure of sustainabilityout there--whereby net-zero energy and net-zero water (collectingand recycling all water on site) are two of the many milestonesneeded to meet the challenge.

Simon Fraser University’s Childcare Society and Faculty ofEducation have a vision of a childcare facility that will support acommunity within the city of Burnaby, British Columbia. Thedaycare’s design is based on the principles associated with theReggio Emilia educational philosophy. Designed by HughesCondon Marler Architects (HCMA), the innovative project aims tomeet the Living Building Challenge. A living building that willhouse three- to five-year old children--let this kind of project setthe precedent for the future.

Engage Children: An Innovation Principle that Applies toAll Schools The principles I’ve outlined apply largely to urban schools.However, if we are rethinking the school environment generally,we should also change the pervasive current pedagogy and itsreliance on one teaching approach to fit all learners. In turn, wemust stop building the 19th century factory school that serves thismonolithic mode of teaching and learning.

Design by Hughes Condon Marler Architects; rendering by ChrisFoyd

We need to build new environments that support experiential,creative and individualized learning. School of One, developed bythe New York City Department of Education, exemplifies thispersonalized approach to learning. Via technology-basedplatforms, students are given personalized lists of learningobjectives, which allows all learners to achieve their daily learningobjectives at their own pace. Better yet, the school supportsstudents’ multiple intelligences thanks to a diversity of teachingstrategies, which include virtual tutoring and video game-basedlearning.

Take advantage of the concentration of brain power of urbancenters--the spikes in our global economy--and innovate ways ofteaching that are as diverse as the ways in which children learn.Gever Tulley, co-founder of the Tinkering School, urges us to stopthinking of education as something that we “do” to children andstart thinking of children as “voracious, self-directed learners.” Byengaging children as active participants in their education, we canchange pre-K to 12 schools from being the weak link in our citiesto being one of its strongest.

Read more from Trung Le's Redesigning Education series

FROM THE EDITOR

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Company's Co.Design. Here, we try tobridge the fuzzy border between designand business. We started this site witha few simple premises in mind. First,design is a window onto the world atlarge, and the culture we live in. Whena designer sets down to makesomething new, she can't help but havesome idea about how some objectcould be so much better than everbefore...read more »

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TRUNG LETrung Le is a principal education designer at CannonDesign. Over the past two years he has helped lead aninterdisciplinary group of designers and educatorsfrom the U.S., U.... Read more

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TransLink is considering a gondola to take passengers to SFU. The success of Whistler's Peak 2 Peak gondola, shown here,led TransLink to consider a gondola for SFU.Photograph by: Paul Morrison, WhistlerBlackcomb

TransLink considers aerial gondola to SFUBY KELLY SINOSKI, VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

METRO VANCOUVER -TransLink is thinking of running a gondola up to Simon Fraser University,saying it would free up dozens of buses, save money and potentially carry 3,000 people an hour upBurnaby Mountain.

The transit authority has issued a request for proposals to determine the feasibility of the gondolaproject, which it said could whisk passengers from the Production Way SkyTrain Station to SFU in justeight minutes, about six minutes less than a typical bus ride up the mountain.

"This could be a green alternative," TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said. "What we really need todo is have a very serious look at the concept to see if there is a business plan for it."

The proposed 2.6-kilometre tramway — estimated to cost $70 million — would likely be based on thePeak 2 Peak Gondola linking Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

The project has been pitched by the SFU Community Trust as a reliable means to get students toSFU and residents to the UniverCity community, particularly in the winter months when buses can'tmake it up the hill.

About 3,000 people live in the area now, with a student population of 25,000, and both are expectedto grow substantially in the next 20 years.

The gondola would also serve mountain bikers and tourists, said Gordon Harris, the trust's presidentand CEO. The gondola would provide faster, reliable and more efficient service, Harris said, whilecutting greenhouse gas emissions by taking diesel buses off the mountain.

"There's certainly pressure for transit service, not only by students but by our community," he said.

Hardie said about 25 to 30 buses would be needed to move the same number of people the gondolacould carry per hour. "We burn a lot of diesel going up the mountain, and a lot of brake pads goingdown."

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan agreed a gondola on Burnaby Mountain would be a "spectacular"tourist attraction, but questioned where TransLink would get the money to build it. The cash-strappedauthority is already struggling to maintain existing services and build the long-awaited Evergreen Line,while facing demands for more transit across the region.

TransLink has indicated the gondola could be built as a private-public partnership or P3, but Hardiesaid it's too early to say how it will be funded or if there is demand for it. The business studyproposals for the project are due next month.

Warren Sparks, general manager of Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, which built the Peak 2 Peak, saidhis company would be interested in building the SFU tramway.

The company has already done a feasibility study on the project, which Sparks said he sees runningin a straight line from Production Way to SFU, adjacent to homes along the corridor but not overthem. But he said the project hinges on a lot of issues, including how residents feel about the project,land acquisition and funding.

If TransLink does build it, he said, people will use it.

"If the business plan clearly shows the new system would be less expensive than the existing bussystem, then I think it would be a no-brainer to build the tramway," Sparks said.

"Without question, if anyone had to choose to ride this thing or ride the bus, they would jump on thisthing in a minute."

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

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Burnaby Mountain gondola gets early green light

By Jeff Nagel - BC Local NewsPublished: September 22, 2010 11:00 AMUpdated: September 22, 2010 11:23 AM

TransLink is moving forward with a plan to build a gondola to the top of Burnaby Mountain and eliminate buses that nowserve Simon Fraser University.

A request for proposals has been issued to flesh out the business case for a 2.6-kilometre aerial tram, which officials saycould use technology similar to the Peak 2 Peak gondola connecting Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

"We think it could provide pretty high-capacity people-moving potential – up to 3,000 people per hour with a shorter traveltime than we can manage by bus right now," TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said.

The gondola trip from the Production Way-University SkyTrain station could take just eight minutes, he said, down from 12to 14 minutes by bus now.

"We think the reliability of the service could be better," Hardie said, noting the steep bus route up Burnaby Mountain isprone to delays and cancellations during winter snowfalls.

The same technology used at the Peak 2 Peak Gondola connecting Whistler-Blackcomb could transport students andcommuters up and down Burnaby Mountain.

Whistler-Blackcomb

Going to gondola would also likely save TransLink money on operating costs.

"We burn a lot of fuel going up the mountain with the buses and a lot of brake pads going down."

A system with a carrying capacity of 3,000 passengers per hour would be equivalent to continuously running at least 15articulated buses on the route.

The estimated cost of the gondola system was previously pegged at $70 million in a preliminary feasibility study conductedby the Simon Fraser University Community Trust.

Consultants picked to study the project are to report back to TransLink by the end of March.

They're to prepare a cost-benefit analysis and examine technology and alignment.

TransLink wants to ensure the system could expand to meet future demand, noting the current 2,000 residents on SFU isexpected to grow to 10,000 and the current 18,200 full-time SFU students at the campus is to climb to 25,000.

That means an eventual 50 per cent increase in the daily transit trips now required to and from Burnaby Mountain.

TransLink also wants the gondola equipped to carry bicycles, which would make it a popular option for recreational riders tomake the 290-metre descent via Burnaby Mountain's trail network.

Other issues to be considered are emergency evacuation provisions, the need to buy out properties immediately below theline and potential privacy concerns from residents whose homes would be visible from the gondola.

Actual construction, if the final recommendation is to proceed, would depend on TransLink's funding.

TransLink's request indicates the gondola could be built as a P3 (public-private partnership).

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Gondola to Simon Fraser gains traction with TransLinkStephanie Orford23 September 2010 04:15

Simon Fraser University students’ daydreams of taking a gondola to school have found a foothold at TransLink.

The transportation company has made an open call for a company to assess the possibility of running a gondola — similar to Whistler-Blackcomb’s Peak 2 Peak — fromProduction Way Station to the SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain.

The project could move ahead if the report “shows something that will work better, both in terms of travel time, reliability, and passenger moving capacity, especially ifit can be done at a better cost per passenger,” said Ken Hardie, director of communications for TransLink.

The chosen company would complete their assessment by March of next year.Metro Vancouver