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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

  • The city hall(s) we could’ve had

    The first half of the 20th century saw Toronto's civic leaders contemplate a number of different city hall and civic square proposals, but it...

  • Walking, or sitting, in the clouds

    Sitting on top of an underground parking lot just off the corner of Yonge and Temperance Streets, the Cloud Garden Parkette is a refuge, oasis, and an...

  • Erratic boulders

    In September 2004, local artist Maura Doyle had a nine-tonne rock moved from its resting place in the Kawartha Lakes to the Toronto Sculpture Garden at...

  • Gardening for ads

    In the craziest billboard jungle in Canada, advertisers will go to extreme lengths to get noticed. A lucrative business has been growing strong for the...

  • Adventures in North York

    Living downtown, it's easy to forget just how suburban much of Toronto is. We may not like suburbia, but it's probably the most common Canadian...

  • Fluffing up the park

    I was recently invited, as an arborist, to attend a one-day park refurbishment event sponsored by Home Depot at Matty Eckler Park across from Gerrard...

  • Liberty Village hits benchmark

    The Henry Moore outside the AGO may have been turned into an improvised chaise longue by lunchtime OCAD students, but Liberty Village has art that...

  • Art up your alley

    It's a standard issue narrative: in the shadow of a more outgoing, attractive older sibling, the younger, homelier sibling, feeling neglected, turns...

  • How did that get there?

    What is your favourite piece of public art in Toronto? "That's like asking me which child I like best," says Terry Nicholson, Manager of...

  • Dogs and landscaping

    In 1837, a block of land between Richmond and Adelaide, along Brant Street, was set aside to serve as a market square for the newly developing west end of...