Just over a year ago, Toronto's former chief planner, Gregg Lintern, announced that he would be retiring at the end of 2023. Here's the post I wrote thanking him for everything he had done for our city. He was a positive force in so many ways and I remember feeling sad at the time.
Following the announcement, nobody knew who would replace him. But I remember thinking to myself, "you know who would be fantastic for this position, Jason Thorne." Jason and I met when Slate first started investing in Hamilton (he was the general manager of planning and economic development). I then became an avid follower of him on Twitter, which is the case for many people in our industry.
In 2018, we even got a few planners together for a bike ride around downtown Toronto to look at some new city building initiatives. In a nod to Jerry Seinfeld, we called it "planners on bikes getting coffee." We really should reignite this meetup.
Fast forward six years and this week it was announced that on December 30, 2024, Jason will assume the role of Toronto's chief planner. This is great news for our city. He is a true city builder and he understands the task at hand. Toronto is one of the fastest growing global cities in the world and yet we are battling with the transition from a car-oriented suburban region to a multi-modal urban center.
This is why traffic is so crippling and housing is so expensive. We haven't fully embraced this future urban state. But real progress is being made, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who cares more about cities and who spends as much as time as he does thinking through the ingredients that make them great places to live, work, play, and invest.
Congratulations on the new role, Jason!
If you'd like to follow Jason, check him out on Bluesky. I think this is where he is now most active.
Cover photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
Today on the blog, I thought we'd feature a new fourplex being developed here in Toronto at 2343 Gerrard Street East called The Walk-Up. Designed by Studio JCI and presented by Paul Johnston of Unique Urban Homes, this is the first in a series of "missing middle" projects now being developed by Urbinco.
Housed on your typical single-family lot, The Walk-Up is somewhere between 3-4 stories and has four homes: a garden suite, a ground suite, a center suite, and a sky suite. And each is family-oriented both in terms of design and size. They all have over 1,000 square feet of interior space, have two bedrooms, and have access to outdoor space.
In other words, it is exactly the kind of housing solution that Toronto needs a lot more of! Thankfully, this form of housing has been permitted (as-of-right) in Toronto since May 2023. Unfortunately, there are still many municipalities and politicians who don't seem to get it. But that's okay. This is usually how things go. Toronto leads, and then others follow.
For more information on The Walk-Up, click here.
This is a powerful perspective:
We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status quo feels comfortable.
As a result, we spend a lot of time and energy being afraid (and arguing about) the upcoming changes in our lives, but almost no time at all thinking about the things we’re used to.
As an example of this tension, check out this "exit interview" with Toronto's former chief city planner, Gregg Lintern. The underlying theme is change and why it's desperately needed.
But of course, that's not easy.
The interviewer, Victoria Gibson, mentions this survey stat: nearly half (47%) of all Torontonians think the city is building too little housing, and yet only about a quarter (27%) think their area could handle more.
We need this, but not here. Probably because we're used to the way things are.
But if you read the interview, you'll see that the answer, or at least one answer, is to make the conversation personal, and ultimately think critically about, you know, the things we're used to.
Change starts with not giving the benefit of the doubt to the status quo.