Events Guide: Architects & Archives lectures and Women, Weight & Where You Live discussion

8 comments

1. tickets are going quickly for the architecture events at the archives, sign up while you can!

2. Exactly what neighbourhoods prevent women from going on long walks and not eating junk foods?

3. Neighbourhoods that don’t feel safe – for example not enough lighting. I didn’t feel safe walking in my previous neighbourhood at Gerrard and Coxwell becasue of the number of streetlights that weren’t working and overgrown hedges next to the sidewalk.
   Also neighbourhoods without sidewalks can be challenging for anyone.
   As for food, often lower income neighbourhoods have more fast food restaurants, fewer fresh produce stores (check the difference in produce quality between No-frills vs Loblaws), and fewer restaurants with a range of healthy options.

4. Ha, my answer was a quickie thought – of course the answer to your question Paul will be at the lecture. Hope you can attend.

5. Most neighborhoods do not ‘prevent’ but clearly very few in Toronto ‘encourage’ an active lifestyle..still better than the majority of subburbs I guess.

6. I’ve been being encourage by Toronto neighbourhoods for 8 years now. Please explain tony.

7. The city is ok in terms of walking about but if your in the right neighborhood.

   If you are in a hood that has slower calmer traffic then its usually good but the ways it is set up cars are usually too fast and dangerous to pedestrians, in front of schools there is always a line of cars of parents dropping of kids (dont want to sound like abe simpson here)

   Alot of Toronto hoods the car is king and this has a domino effect on other forms of travel that do not get the same priority. It is a psychological effect that you get when you are in an area that is not walking friendly.

   If you want ideas to make areas more friendly then it has to take some of the power control from cars.

   Slow cars,
   widen sidewalks,
   connect more green areas to walk,
   use human level lighting on streets not the ones designed for cars,
   narrow some of our residential streets,
   better maintenance,
   safe walking and bicycling routes to schools,
   pedestrian foot bridges and overpasses
   paint crosswalks on the surface better and at lights

8. Patricia – did not mean to offend with my comments, I often come across as too sarcastic. I understand poor lighting and unsafe neighbourhoods do play a factor in ‘getting out’, but I stand by my junk food stance. Some of the best (and most affordable) produce can be found at No-Frills type stores, since they tend to purchase local cheaper goods seasonally. My old No Frills on Sherbourne was fantastic for produce, but my new Dominion touts posher produce at a higher price. And as for restaurants, who goes out with intention of eating healthy? 😉