We need town squares

Photo: soutertours.com

On a recent vacation to Europe and Morocco, the same emotions were evoked whenever we went to the town or village square.

Something that is mostly missing in North American planned communities is a simple, common meeting area. Depending on what country you are in, you will find the pétanque area, music area, chess area or whatever is the flavour of the month in that region.

In Morocco, the village of Chefchaouen had a square with performers. The whole place was crawling with people, a great atmosphere was created and all the sidewalk cafes and restaurants were full to the brim.

On our return to Canada, a local restaurant owner in Kaslo asked if I would bring my guitar and play some jazz with a few local musicians one evening.

It was a big stretch outside my comfort zone, but i had a fabulous evening and people were drawn to the entertainment and the atmosphere.

As the evening went on, more people came and stood around his patio to listen to the music and as the crowd grew, it reminded me of Europe.

It made me wonder why we don’t have more pedestrian areas in village and town centres. Our reliance on technology and transport is so strong that we lose the desire to walk even a short distance.

As a store or cafe owner, we rationalize that the lack of drive-by traffic would destroy our business.

But would it? 

Years ago in Canmore, I remember joking that all the Everest climbers in town were not prepared to walk a kilometre. Everybody got in the car to go to the local dinner party and talked about epic tales of adventure in the Himalayas.

Perhaps, we can walk just a little further than we normally do, and don’t forget to keep Fido on a leash.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.