Spacing Toronto

LORINC: The Gordian Knot that is Toronto Island

The City's new Toronto Islands Master Plan muddies the waters about improving access to the city's signature park

By John Lorinc

In a city that loves to make, but not execute, plans and then overthink, but not solve, problems, there’s surely no better illustration of this twin-set of frustrating civic habits than the recently released 25-year Toronto Island Master Plan, which has done an absolutely masterful job of missing the proverbial forest for the trees. The two-volume plan took four years to gestate, clocks in at 228 pages and has over 100 recommendations. It comes with numerous sidebars outlining... Read more

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OP-ED: What the Province’s takeover of the Gardiner and DVP really means

Toronto’s new financial deal with the Ontario government could mean losing control over traffic safety in key parts of the city
By David Simor
Architecture

LORINC: The case for adaptive re-use of Ontario Science Centre

The Tories seem determined to let the Science Centre fall apart, but there's another future both the City and Ford Nation should be considering
By John Lorinc
Photos

The urban photography of Arthur Goss, Part 3: Parks and Recreation, 1913-1940

As Toronto's parks and recreation programs expanded, Arthur Goss captured athletes in action and new facilities
By Peter MacCallum
Streetscape

LORINC: The public space miracle of the moveable chair (redux)

It's summer and, yet again, there's nowhere to sit in Toronto's parks
By John Lorinc
Podcast

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 078, Bike Month

In this episode: The Bicycle Mayor, and psychogeography
By Spacing Radio
Green Space

Saving an oak forest – from bylaw enforcement

Eric Davies has been ordered to cut down the heritage oak seedlings he has been cultivating and giving away in his front yard
By Lorraine Johnson

Housing

Op-Ed: Can green infrastructure thrive in high-density urban development?

Carolyn Whitzman and Roy Brooke say their new report makes the case for linking the housing and climate change agendas
By Guest Columnists
Transit

LORINC: Toronto’s transit agenda has gone missing

Even a transit-friendly mayor doesn't have much appetite for altering the status quo
By John Lorinc
Culture

‘I remember where I was when I read that book…’

"Book-besotted troubadour" Corin Raymond explores the books he's loved, lost, and lent in cities all over the world
By Joseph Wilson
Housing

Op-Ed: Why is there so little rental construction?

A developer unpacks the math that makes purpose-built rental so challenging to build
By Jonathan Diamond
Housing

LORINC: Major planning change for Toronto’s major streets

Council is debating a transformational plan to allow small scale apartments on every main artery in Toronto
By John Lorinc
Green Space

Clearcutting in the Don Valley

Giant machines have felled every tree and scraped all vegetation through great swaths of the Don Valley to make way for the Ontario Line subway. Photographer Steven Evans captures stunning images of the impact, accompanied by text by Ian Darragh.
By Ian Darragh

Culture

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Songs About Toronto

In the Fall 2023 issue of Spacing (coming soon to a store or mailbox near you), we shine a spotlight on five “Toronto Troubadours” — musicians “dedicated...
By Todd Harrison
Pandemic

LORINC: The pandemic is about cities

Viruses, in the abstract, don’t care much about their host organisms, beyond the latter’s on-board, physiological defenses. Yet it’s clear the coronavirus...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 1)

The investigation by Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk into the Ford government’s removal of 7,400 acres of prime farmland and wetlands from the...
By Ian Darragh
Housing

LORINC: The Tories’ use-it-or-lose housing ruse

On the north-east corner of Bathurst and St. Clair West sits a snazzy purpose-built condo sales office, ostensibly there to promote Foret, a giant...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

Q&A with Steven Evans on photographing Ontario Place

With the chaotic Greenbelt scandal swirling in the background, the updated plans for the Ford government’s deeply contentious and destructive scheme...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 2)

Sequel to Part 1 of “What’s really happening at Ontario Place?“ Ontario Place was conceived by Conservative Premier John Robarts in 1968 as an...
By Ian Darragh

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