Urban Design
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The Costs We Don’t See
Vancouver’s proposed 2026 Budget arrives with a promise that feels, at first glance, like a reprieve: a 0% property tax increase in a year when almost...
By Erick Villagomez -
Nostalgia about neighbourhood retail is not a strategy
I have lived for many years less than 30 metres from what was once one of Toronto’s storied corner stores — a green grocer known locally as...
By John Lorinc -
Notes from Nice and London
In 1864, Fydor Dostoevsky wrote his seminal Notes from Underground, a novella exploring existentialism and alienation in a large city – in his case...
By Sean Ruthen -
Do Toronto’s small urban spaces have a social life?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Toronto’s School of Cities will be screening a re-mastered print of the film, “The Social Life of Small Urban...
By John Lorinc -
Week of Learning with Bruntletts
It was a cool late afternoon in October when I met up with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett at Trees Café on Granville Street. The rain held off as we settled...
By mollybarkowsky -
Winners of the 50th annual Toronto Heritage Awards
The winners of the 50th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards were presented on Monday, October 20, 2025 at the Carlu event venue. Spacing has been the media...
By Spacing -
When Density Meets Disgust
Walk down a crowded city street and you might marvel at its vibrancy—people brushing past each other, buildings packed like puzzle pieces, the hum of...
By Erick Villagomez -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 90, Bless this urban mess
Change in cities is often slow, when using official channels. There is a desire to achieve the perfect plan, one that balances everyone’s needs an...
By Spacing Radio -
It’s not about speed cameras on Parkside
Unless you live in a hermetically sealed box, you likely know that the serial be-heading of the speed camera on Parkside Drive has mutated from a weird...
By John Lorinc -
The Coriolis Effect, Part IV: When Viability Becomes Destiny
In my earlier Coriolis Effect series (Part I, Part II, and Part III), I argued that city planning has been quietly absorbed into the logic of the...
By Erick Villagomez -
Book Review – Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia
Author: Lydia Kallipoliti (Actar, 2024) In an era when “green” is a brand and climate collapse is a backdrop, Lydia Kallipoliti’s Histories of Ecological...
By Erick Villagomez -
The Singapore Chronicles: Divergent Models
The city, we’re often told, is a model—something to be learned from, exported, improved. But what happens when models conflict? What if the city itself...
By Erick Villagomez