[URBAN NOTE] Fifteen urban links

• It has been forty years since a train derailment that threatened to unleash toxic chemicals on Mississauga resulted in a remarkably successful mass evacuation. CBC reports.
• There is a Vimy display in Kingston’s Communications and Electronics Museum. Global News reports.
• It is unsettling that the Ontario city of Hamilton reports such a high levels of hate crimes. CBC reports.
• Le Devoir shares a warning that inattention to language means that Longueuil could end up becoming as English/French bilingual as the West Island.
• VICE reports on how the dying desert town of California City is hoping for a revival based on cannabis, here</u.
• MacLean’s tells the story about how an encounter of koi with local otters in Vancouver reflects a human culture clash, too.
• SCMP looks at how planners want to use big data to make Shenzhen a “smart socialist” city, here.
• CityLab hosts an article by Andrew Kenney looking at the importance of an old map of Denver for he, a newcomer to the city.
• These photos of the recent acqua alta in Venice are heartbreaking. CityLab has them.
• JSTOR Daily tells the story of an ill-timed parade in 1918 Philadelphia that helped the Spanish flu spread throughout the city.
• The LRB Blog looks at a corner of Berlin marked by the history of German Southwest Africa.
• Guardian Cities shares a remarkable ambitious plan to remake Addis Ababa into a global city.
• Durban, in South Africa, may offer lessons for other southern African metropolises. Guardian Cities reports.
• The NYR Daily recently took a look at what happened to so completely gentrify the West Village of New York City.
• Feargus O’Sullivan at CityLab takes a look at a new documentary, If New York Was Called Angouleme. What if the site of New York City was colonized by the French in the early 16th century?

[URBAN NOTE] Five cities links: Hamilton, Boston, New York City, Pristina, Addis Ababa

• Curbed takes a look at the innovative ways in which the city government of Hamilton has helped boost the city’s strengths.
• Commonwealth Magazine shares a revived plan from the 1980s to protect Boston from sea level rise by building a great crescent-shaped dike in Boston Harbor.
• CityLab takes a look at New York City’s seemingly-inexplicable decision to back down on a years-long closure of the L Train subway line for repair work.
• Guardian Cities notes the controversy in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, about the construction of a Turkish-funded mosque there. Is this but an element of a new Turkish sphere of influence in the western Balkans?
• This fascinating CNN report takes a look at the sheer scale of Chinese influence in Addis Ababa, the booming capital of Ethiopia, on its own terms and as an example of Chinese influence in Africa at large. (The locals, incidentally, find its models quite relevant and wanted.)

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Edmonton, London, Rio de Janeiro, Addis Ababa

• The Strand bookstore in New York City is seeking to avoid being granted heritage status, in order to avoid the complications which could drive it out of business. The Guardian reports.
• The City of Edmonton, post-2014, will not regain previous levels of per capita wealth until the 2030s. The Edmonton Journal reports.
• Henry Wismayer has a heart-felt essay at Medium talking about how a London plunged into the heart of a turbo-charged capitalism is becoming increasingly inhospitable for the non-rich. Grenfell Tower beckons on the horizon.
• Guardian Cities shares photos of the homes taken over by squatters in Rio de Janeiro.
• The National, from the UAE, praises the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as not just a regional hub but as a worthy tourist destination in its own right.