Urban Design
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COVID RECOVERY: Timid bus priority plan in Toronto needs to be bigger & bolder
This week, the Executive Committee of Toronto City Council is considering a motion to prioritize public transit on select roadways through the...
By Tricia Wood -
LORINC: What’s in a street name? Dundas and other uncomfortable truths about our city
The street where I live, near St. Clair West and Christie, was originally called Victoria after it was carved out of a farmer’s field or replaced a cow...
By John Lorinc -
Five organizations come together to produce a community map of Toronto “safeways”
In a great display of community collaboration, five Toronto-based organizations dedicated to improving and enhancing the city’s public realm have come...
By Ken Greenberg -
A how-to guide to redesign city streets during and after COVID
In cities the world over, streets are being repurposed for people walking, cycling, and simply spending time outside. First Milan, Bogota, then Oakland...
By Nicholas Sanderson -
What does shared space look like in the post COVID-19 city?
This article is co-written by Ilana Altman and Dave Carey There is something unsettling about a quiet city. The empty streets, squares, and taped-off...
By Ilana Altman -
IN LIEU OF A LOO: Going out and ‘going’ during a pandemic
The weather is warming. The sun is shining. COVID-19 cases are on the downturn. And stores and cafes are blinking back to life after the Ford government...
By Lezlie Lowe -
LORINC: Sidewalk Labs steps away from Toronto waterfront
From the earliest days of Sidewalk Labs’ bid to establish a beachhead on Toronto’s waterfront, the cultural mismatch, for lack of a better term, was...
By John Lorinc -
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