Urban Design
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Unveiling the Bloor Viaduct’s Luminous Veil
At night, the Rosedale Ravine is dark. It’s so dark, in fact, that the Bloor Viaduct is just shapes overhead, cobwebby steel arches and thick square...
By Kat Eschner -
A dizzy history of revolving restaurants in Toronto
Nothing epitomizes space age urbanism quite like the revolving restaurant. Imagine sitting at the top of a modern skyscraper, the lights of the city...
By Chris Bateman -
A proud history of sidewalk superintendents in Toronto
Between 1931 and 1939, the construction at Rockefeller Center in New York City was a magnet for curious onlookers. America was mired in the depths of the...
By Chris Bateman -
Building the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension
The Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) is advancing towards completion in the Northwest end of the city. The project is now scheduled to open...
By Shoshanna Saxe -
First Canadian Place: 40 years on top in Toronto
First Canadian Place has been the tallest skyscraper in Canada for four decades now. At 298.1 metres from sidewalk to rooftop, the brilliant white tower...
By Chris Bateman -
How Toronto learned to love the patio
For all the time Torontonians will spend sipping lager and pinot on patios this summer, it would be easy to conclude that the people of this city have...
By Chris Bateman -
PARKS CRISIS conclusion: 10 ideas to help solve Toronto’s parks acquisition crisis
In May 2014, council gave the city’s planning team the green light to embark on a three-year planning exercise, branded TOCore, that’s meant to figure out...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 6: Are privately owned public spaces the answer to parks deficit?
Over the next year, City of Toronto politicians and planners will be faced with an unprecedented challenge: how to create amenable public open spaces in...
By Kimberley Noble -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 3: The perils of cash-in-lieu
By John Lorinc and Alex Steep At its final meeting of the fractious 2010-2014 term, City Council gave its blessing to what will become one of the few new...
By John Lorinc -
PARKS IN CRISIS part 1: All built up and no place to go
By John Lorinc and Alex Steep At a raucous public meeting about the future of Bickford Park last year, emotions ran high. Some residents wanted to remove...
By John Lorinc -
Remembering an Olympic scramble intersection party
As City Council considers removal of the scramble at Bay and Bloor, many issues are up for debate: safety, usage levels and traffic congestion, the...
By Shoshanna Saxe -
Stadia mania: Toronto’s six-decade quest for a civic stadium
The Stadocentre, Metrodome, Astrodome, and Tower Dome: Toronto historically has had no lack of imagination when it comes to dreaming up gleaming...
By Chris Bateman