Urban Design
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Cities and their streetcars: my top ten favourite spots
One of the best ways to get to know a city is through its public transit network. I’ve spent many years exploring cities through their streetcar, trolley...
By Brian Doucet -
LORINC: The need for local democracy during a pandemic (and are residents tuning out?)
A guy at the park where I take my dog after dinner said the other night that he’d heard the traffic on the 401 last Friday was almost rush-hour like. I...
By John Lorinc -
Lessons on urban mobility and inequality during a pandemic
Many cities around the world have started to open up road space for non-automotive movement to give people room to get some exercise safely. As Toronto...
By Tricia Wood -
Change and continuity in the COVID-19 city
Everything has changed and nothing has changed since the arrival of the COVID19 pandemic. Understanding the new dynamics of cities is the first step...
By Brian Doucet -
The unexpected potential of pandemic parking lots
From my living room window, I can see a church parking lot. Services are now streamed so it no longer fills up on Sunday mornings but, in this time of...
By Emily Macrae -
Toronto needs to create space for people during (and after) the pandemic
In the coming weeks and months, we will have the luxury and the obligation to worry about challenges in addition to the threat of COVID-19. Sooner rather...
By Shoshanna Saxe -
5 IDEAS: Urban design challenges of spring weather in a pandemic
With recent warm days foreshadowing lovely spring weather, the public health response to the worsening COVID-19 crisis seems destined to collide with the...
By John Lorinc -
Observing urban change through the window of a GO train
I wrote this piece last year, long before Covid 19 kept almost everyone at home and before riding transit was something to be avoided for all but the most...
By Brian Doucet -
KidScore: Towards a more child-friendly, post-pandemic city
For many of us, one of the nagging questions added to our pile of brand-new worries in recent weeks concerns the physical and mental well-being of...
By Josh Fullan -
KidScore: Children telling planners what they value in public space
In the world of city planning and design, there are tools for measuring everything from the number of vehicles passing through an intersection to the...
By Josh Fullan -
Hey Presto! The strange history and modest potential of the soon-to-be closed TTC subway booths
The future arrived in Toronto in 1948, but it was hidden away from view, in a 19th century transit garage on Sherbourne St. Six years before the...
By Gerry Flahive -
OP-ED: Waterfront Toronto continues its Kafka-esque Quayside saga, but why?
Thorben Wieditz is an urban geographer who works at the intersection of labour, community and big tech. He helped establish regulatory frameworks for...
By Thorben Wieditz