Urban Design
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The oddities of the Dundas Street Extension
In December 1954, the railway tracks near Logan Avenue presented the final obstacle in one of Toronto’s first major post-war road building...
By Chris Bateman -
LORINC: Why the Libs’ planning mistakes are fuelling the GTA’s real estate madness
Until the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) released a new report showing that a shortage of supply wasn’t, in fact, the culprit in the speculative...
By John Lorinc -
THE ARTFUL CITY: An Interview with Sean Martindale
Interview by: Melanie Fasche Sean Martindale is a Canadian artist and designer currently based in Toronto. He holds a Master of Fine Art from OCAD...
By The Artful City -
Yonge Street Mall: The fun and failure of pedestrianizing Toronto’s iconic strip during the 1970s
On June 3, 1971, there was a party on downtown Yonge Street. Around 8pm, following the news that Ontario Premier Bill Davis had cancelled the Spadina...
By Daniel Ross -
Sex on Yonge: Examining the decade when Yonge Street was the city’s sin strip
“I take a walk down Yonge Street, where good times are bought and sold.” When folk music great Ian Tyson penned those lines in 1970, he knew his audience...
By Daniel Ross -
The Artful City: A Year in Review
By: Jeff Biggar and Ilana Altman The Artful City was formed in 2015 with a simple mission to investigate public art in Toronto and spark a dialogue about...
By The Artful City -
Building community through the use of public space in the sharing economy
What happens when fare collectors start to become wise to over-turnstile Bunz trade activity occurring at Ossington subway station? The station’s central...
By Sarah Yellin -
The demise of the first “air rights” project in Toronto
When Toronto’s first subway line opened in 1954, much of track north of Bloor Street was located in a shallow, open trench. The money-saving open cut...
By Chris Bateman -
THE ARTFUL CITY: A Tale of Two Seasons
By: Ilana Altman Toronto is a city of both climatic and cultural extremes. Hot long summer days are populated by more festivals than one can count; from...
By The Artful City -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 007 – PopCanCrit: Crisis in Criticism
In part two, of our PopCanCrit special, we look at the role of the architecture critic, in a changing media landscape. Our experts discuss who gets to be...
By Spacing Radio -
The Shell Oil Tower is a lost 1950s masterpiece
A little over 30 years ago this winter, one of Toronto’s earliest Modern buildings was pulled to the ground. When the Shell Oil Tower at Exhibition...
By Chris Bateman -
Metrolinx’s suburban plans for an urban transit system
At its last board meeting on December 8, Metrolinx presented an update on the status of 12 new GO Transit rail stations, all located on existing lines...
By Sean Marshall