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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Spacing Saturday

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Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.


What does your choice of favourite buildings say about your personality? Continuing to digest the results from the reader survey of the best of Montreal, Spacing contributor Justin Boulanger speculates about the personal traits of the readers of who selected the top three favourite buildings and laments that the Sci-Fi nerds were not organized enough to get Olympic Stadium onto the podium.

In a landmark public space ruling the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled this week that the City of Montreal’s anti-postering bylaw is unconstitutional. Christopher DeWolf reports on the story of how the law was challenged and speculates what the city will do to accommodate postering in the future. The post also includes a fantastic gallery of posters from around the city.

As part of the Ideas for Toronto series Adrian Lightstone brings up the issue of using referendums to gauge public support for new revenue tools for transit funding. Citing that referendums having fallen out of style in Canada, Lighstone points out they are frequently used in American cities and other places around the world and have even been used in Toronto.

Mayoral Candidate George Smitherman walked Eglinton Ave all the way across Toronto this week suggesting his interest in urban walkability. Spacing’s Todd Harrison caught with him during part of his walk for a discussion about how he would promote walkability as Mayor and put the discussion on Spacing Radio.

On the transit file, the weekly Monday Musings column this week generated discussion on how the proposed service cuts to bus routes around Halifax will affect the city. Additionally, Lauren Oostveen delves into the Halifax archives to look at the city’s public transit history.

Spacing Atlantic is launching a photo contest challenging readers to encapsulate their city in a single photograph. Read more about the specific criteria and how to enter.

Spacing Ottawa editor Evan Thornton was on the road in Winnipeg this week and reports from that city on the dialogue surrounding the beautifully restored and vibrant Exchange District. During the decades when money was being funnelled into large scale modernist improvement projects the Exchange District was naturally and slowly rejuvenating itself.

On behalf of Montreal artist “Hyperalligina” Spacing is appealing to readers to help find the perfect empty lot in the city for part of an art project to be installed this summer using a grant from the Awesome Ottawa Project. The post includes some more details about what the artist is looking for.

Photo by nondescrip2012

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