History
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The Singapore Chronicles: The Politics of Preservation
Singapore’s skyline is constantly in motion. Construction cranes and hoardings are as much part of the visual identity of the city as its heritage...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Singapore Chronicles: City of Intentions
To understand contemporary Singapore, we have to understand key aspects of its history—divided here into “Four Acts.” This will be our starting point...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Singapore Chronicles: Introduction
Singapore often appears as a paradox—both widely admired and deeply critiqued. It is a city-state that epitomizes precision and planning, where efficiency...
By Erick Villagomez -
Disappearing Sunlight
What has recently been dubbed the “Sunlight” mural hung on the facade of the spray-drying tower at the historic Lever Brothers* Don Valley plant for total...
By Peter MacCallum -
They Were Right Here: Tracing Black People Enslaved in the Town of York
The presence of Black children, women, and men who were enslaved in Upper Canada has been omitted from, or marginalized, in the Canadian historical...
By Natasha Henry-Dixon -
NEW ISSUE: Collecting stories
When Spacing’s publisher Matt Blackett suggested an issue about collectors, I was skeptical. Was this really going to capture something essential about...
By Dylan Reid -
Preserving the memory of the passenger pigeon
This story is published in conjunction with Spacing issue 70 (Spring 2025), “Civic Memories,” whose cover section focuses on Toronto...
By Meg Sutton -
The Last Survivor of a Historic Streetscape
On a recent Saturday evening, while travelling westbound toward Parkdale on the 504 King streetcar, I noticed something was missing from the familiar...
By Peter MacCallum -
Q&A: Cheryl Thompson on her new book about Canadian blackface
Cultural historian and Spacing contributor Cheryl Thompson launches her new book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic, tonight at 6:30 pm at A Different...
By John Lorinc -
Toronto, City of Gas, 1909-1936, Part 2
The virtual exhibition that accompanied Part 1 of my article on Micklethwaite Studio’s photography for Consumers’ Gas included a wide range of...
By Peter MacCallum -
Toronto’s affordable housing crisis déjà vu
The lack of housing was so acute in Toronto in 1944 that the acting mayor, Robert H. Saunders, posted notices in newspapers warning families not to move...
By Ian Darragh -
When Settlers Seized and Set Fire to the Kitsilano Reserve
Many settlers in Vancouver had no idea that the land by the south end of the Burrard Bridge was once a village home to the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people. When the...
By Christopher Cheung