I spent the week in Vancouver, visiting family and talking at the Design Management Institute meetings. (Sorry about no posts.)

When I was growing up there, I used to think of Vancouver as the bimbo of the Pacific Rim, beautiful but not too bright, routinely outclassed by San Francisco, LA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai.

She was the kind of city that made a good impression until she opened her mouth. The hope was that she would marry well, because the idea that she should have to fend for herself was not a happy prospect.

Well, she did marry well. There is now a very substantial Chinese community, South Asian community, tech sector, and art scene. The universities are getting better. The house prices continue to rise. The population grows. The parks, beaches, mountains and ocean continue to enchant. With all that rain, it must be the greenest city on the planet.

It was a funny place to hear Bruce Mau talk about saving the planet. Crisis, what crisis?

It was a virtuoso performance. For 40 minutes, Mau described his new project, Massive Change in ordinary language and a low key way. 10 minutes into the presentation I was gasping for air. The sheer scale of the thing! The presumption! The drama! Who thinks this way? Who dares to dare this much?

Massive Change will be installed at the Vancouver Art Gallery in October of 2004. Vancouver will never be the bimbo of the Pacific Rim again.

Now, I have to run. Small things like food and laundry need attending to. Hope to post again this afternoon. Come back for more on Bruce Mau and Massive Change.