Spacing Saturday is a new feature that highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing Saturday replaces the weekly features Montreal Monday and Toronto Tuesday.
• As Ottawa gets closer to breaking ground on a subway system, Spacing’s Alain Miguelez discovers that plans for underground transit have been on the table, in some form or other, since 1915. Miguelez takes us through over 100 years of Ottawa’s subway planning.
• An ongoing series entitled “Where in Ottawa?” asks residents to guess an Ottawa street, building, or landmark based on provided clues. While tricky for those of us who aren’t from Ottawa (and, it seems, for Ottawans too), it’s an interesting series to follow if only to discover some of Ottawa’s hidden gems.
• A new series on Spacing Toronto portrays the landscape’s historical progression by combining historic and present-day photographs. Entitled “Before and After”, the stunning images are the work of “local artist and Toronto history enthusiast” Alden Cudanin.
• The rash of pedestrian deaths in Toronto has been a catalyst for some much needed discussion on pedestrian safety. However, as Spacing Editor and co-chair of the Toronto Pedestrian Committee, Dylan Reid discovered, the tragedies have also led to false assumptions and lazy journalism. Dylan Reid sets the record straight on what the law says pedestrians can and cannot do. And what really makes walking safer.
• A Montreal project, dubbed Quartier 21, hopes to showcase what sustainable urbanism can look like by transforming one city block into a green utopia. As it hits the two-year mark, Devin Alfaro looks at the project’s progress so far.
• Alanah Heffez laments the “block [that] is about to become unrecognizable”. As part of he city’s $167 million “revitalization” effort, small businesses are being expropriated in Montreal’s Lower-Main neighbourhood; changing the city’s landscape irreversibly.
• A redevelopment plan for downtown St. John’s calls for the destruction of three buildings to make way for a new 15-story office tower. According to Spacing’s Andrew Harvey, the destruction of the low-rise buildings (currently occupied by small businesses) would transform both the character and aesthetic of St John’s downtown.
•Last week Spacing Atlantic launched a fascinating new series which looks to historical maps and diagrams to deepen our understanding of Halifax and the surrounding region. The series begins with a look at Halifax’s beginnings as colonial port town through an examination of 1878 city plan.
photo of Toronto’s Front Street east towards Church Street 1880 – 2009 by Alden Cudanin.