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Vancouver Features

The Singapore Chronicles: Memory in the Margins

Part 5: Pulau Ubin and the Edges of the Urban

By Erick Villagomez

Pulau Ubin, a small island northeast of mainland Singapore, serves as both a geographical and symbolic edge to the city-state’s narrative of modernity. Unlike the meticulously planned urban core, Ubin presents a landscape where spontaneity, tradition, and nature coexist in ways that defy the structured order of mainland development. Covering about 10 square kilometres, the island is accessible only by bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal, making it a deliberate detour from the city’s... Read more

Vancouver Features

The Singapore Chronicles: Housing the Nation

Part 4: The Architecture of Consensus
By Erick Villagomez
Vancouver Housing

Memo to Carney and Robertson on Fixing Housing

[Editor’s note: This letter, signed by 27 prominent B.C. experts in urban planning and architecture, was sent last week to Prime Minister Mark Carney and...
By Erick Villagomez
Vancouver Spacing

UCS #64: A New Kind of Colonialism?

See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: Troubled...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate
Toronto Bikes

Bike Lanes: 2 — Ford Nation: 0

Following an injunction last spring, a new landmark ruling in the Charter case challenging the Tories' bid to rip out existing bike lanes marks a major victory for Toronto cycling and cyclists.
By John Lorinc
Vancouver Features

The Singapore Chronicles: The Politics of Preservation

Part 3: Conservation in a Manufactured City
By Erick Villagomez
Vancouver Features

The Singapore Chronicles: City of Intentions

Part 2: Singapore’s Urban History in Four Acts
By Erick Villagomez

Vancouver Features

The Singapore Chronicles: Introduction

The Paradoxical City
By Erick Villagomez
Vancouver Housing

UCS #63: A message from Broadway renters to the development community

See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: The great...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate
Vancouver Politics

On Taxes, Exemptions, Loopholes, and Reversals: A System Built for Speculation

In British Columbia, ordinary homeowners pay annual property taxes—and when they buy a home, they pay Property Transfer Tax. In recent years, the Province...
By Erick Villagomez
Vancouver Politics

UCS #62: Vancouver Plans for High Density #4: The Broadway Plan Park

See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: Following...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate
Toronto Transit

Rip the bandage off rapidly, please

With the city's RapidTO bus lane plan on life-support, the city and council need to find a better way to get complex policies out the door.
By John Lorinc
Vancouver Spacing

UCS #61: Honest Mistakes™

See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related Readings: ABC...
By Urban Cartoon Syndicate

Podcasts

Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 088, Big City Mayor Takes on Canadian Housing

In This Episode: recent Vancouver history, Canada's new housing minister, and Scarborough cuisine
By Glyn Bowerman
Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 087, Building housing with election planks

In this episode: campaign promises, court injunctions, and taking Doug Ford to court (again)
By Spacing Radio
National Podcast

The Overhead: The Housing Crisis in Trump’s America

Spacing and the Balanced Supply of Housing research node proudly present The Overhead: Understanding Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis, a special podcast series.
By Spacing Radio

National Podcast

The Overhead: Tracking Evictions Across Canada

Spacing and the Balanced Supply of Housing research node proudly present The Overhead: Understanding Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis, a special podcast series.
By Spacing Radio
Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 086, Lost Highways

In this episode: the Ontario election, do highways solve congestion, and Winnipeg's famous intersection
By Spacing Radio
National Podcast

The Overhead: Security for Renters

Spacing and the Balanced Supply of Housing research node proudly present The Overhead: Understanding Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis, a special podcast series.
By Spacing Radio
Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 085, City accounting for global chaos

In this episode: Trudeau's urban legacy, Toronto's budget, and potential economic meltdowns
By Spacing Radio
National Podcast

The Future Fix: l’innovation au service des citoyens

Spacing and Evergreen proudly present The Future Fix: Solutions for Communities Across Canada, a special podcast series. This is a special, French-language edition.
By Spacing Radio
National Podcast

The Future Fix: Generation Restoration

Spacing and Evergreen proudly present The Future Fix: Solutions for Communities Across Canada, a special podcast series.
By Spacing Radio
Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 083, The War on Bikes

In This Episode: ripping out bike lanes, political scheming, and the cost of going backwards
By Spacing Radio
National Podcast

The Overhead: Preserving Community

Spacing and the Balanced Supply of Housing research node proudly present The Overhead: Understanding Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis, a special podcast series.
By Spacing Radio
Toronto Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 082, Toronto’s political gridlock

In This Episode: Doug Ford to ban bike lanes, Toronto cyclist throughout history, and who should take charge of the TTC.
By Spacing Radio

Trending

Toronto Culture

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Songs About Toronto

In the Fall 2023 issue of Spacing (coming soon to a store or mailbox near you), we shine a spotlight on five “Toronto Troubadours” — musicians “dedicated...
By Todd Harrison
Toronto Pandemic

LORINC: The pandemic is about cities

Viruses, in the abstract, don’t care much about their host organisms, beyond the latter’s on-board, physiological defenses. Yet it’s clear the coronavirus...
By John Lorinc
Vancouver Architecture

S101S—Understanding Residential Density: FSR, Building Setbacks and Height Regulations

What is Floor Space Ratio (FSR) and how does it interact with building setbacks and height regulations to create building forms and the ‘look and feel’ of...
By Erick Villagomez
Toronto Waterfront

What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 1)

The investigation by Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk into the Ford government’s removal of 7,400 acres of prime farmland and wetlands from the...
By Ian Darragh
Toronto Housing

LORINC: The Tories’ use-it-or-lose housing ruse

On the north-east corner of Bathurst and St. Clair West sits a snazzy purpose-built condo sales office, ostensibly there to promote Foret, a giant...
By John Lorinc
Toronto Waterfront

Q&A with Steven Evans on photographing Ontario Place

With the chaotic Greenbelt scandal swirling in the background, the updated plans for the Ford government’s deeply contentious and destructive scheme...
By John Lorinc