schmoozy space Mark Szpakowski's szpace blog

It's the tenth year now for the Economy Shoe Shop, and it's celebrating with the Argyle Street Faire, Saturday May 28th, 1 pm to midnight. The story:

Ten years ago Victor Syperek and David Henry opened a modest 70 seat licensed café... A fixture on Halifax's entertainment landscape, the "Shoe" is known as the place where creative ideas are hatched. Ideas that have led to many successful music, film, advertising and business endeavours that got their start within the walls of this now "world-renowned" establishment.

Seems to me the upcoming event, and to some extent the Shoe Shop itself, are a Village Square, and are the types of activity Envision Halifax can link to and nurture further. Speaking of which, Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language, a great resource for building for conviviality, has this to say on Small Public Squares:

A town needs public squares; they are the largest, most public rooms, that a town has. But when they are too large, they look and feel deserted... A person's face is just recognizable at about 70 feet; and under typical urban noise conditions, a loud voice can just barely be heard across 70 feet... Make a public square much smaller than you would first imagine; usually no more than 45 to 60 feet across, never more than 70 feet across. This applies only to its width in the short direction. In the long direction it can certainly be longer.