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Toronto-based heritage architect Michael McClelland recently published a piece in Spacing called: Misuse of Heritage Conservation Districts can deaden both past and future.
Here are a couple of snippets:
The City of Toronto believes it has found a silver bullet to control development pressure in the downtown core through the use of a tool known as a “heritage conservation district” (HCD).
The problem is that HCDs are meant to conserve intact and bone fide heritage areas, such as Wychwood Park, Rosedale, or Cabbagetown. They were never intended to control development downtown.
In preparing for a HCD designation, consultants trained in history examine an area’s context and determine what is of value historically. They do not generally study the growth potential of an area, its future, nor any economic considerations, nor the larger planning policy framework, or even an evaluation of the built form generated by other market forces. HCDs look at heritage.
The rigidity of the proposed new urban design controls introduced by the HCDs effectively prohibits innovative and thoughtful architecture in the downtown core.
My own view is that it should be a balance between preservation and progress. We should respect our past, but at the same time look towards the future. Don’t fear change. Michael argues that HCDs achieve neither of those things. It’s worth a read.
Speaking of the future, the CityAge conference is returning to Toronto on October 6 and 7. Their mission statement is about “building the future.” I was on one of their panels last year and it was an overall great event.
If you’d like to attend, use the code “CITYAGE” to save $100. And if you’re a young professional (under 35) and/or a startup, email Marc Andrew to get an even sweeter deal. Tell him you’re a reader of this blog.
Image: Photo by me taken at People’s Eatery on Spadina Avenue
I just got my tickets for NXT City Night, happening Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 6:30pm here in downtown Toronto.
If you’re not familiar with NXT City Prize, it’s an annual urban design competition where young Canadians (35 years of age or younger) submit ideas to improve the built environment. The top submissions win a total of $9,000 in prize money and the winning idea gets paired up with the City of Toronto work on actually implementing it. That’s the best part.
Politics rewards consistency. Even if you’re wrong, it’s better to be consistently wrong than come across as wavering - however noble and rational the intentions may be. And that’s exactly what happened with Rob Ford and his commitment to subways, subways and subways.
John Lorinc of Spacing wrote an interesting piece yesterday on how, despite all the debating that went on, Ford is delivering what he said he was going to deliver: a subway. It doesn’t matter that all technical and financial considerations were thrown out the window, he got it funded.
As I said earlier this week, I think the Scarborough line is the wrong subway to be building and that the downtown relief line is infinitely more important for the region. However, Lorinc makes a good case in his article for why this line will not be funded despite the current focus on subways, subways and subways:
“Fourth, it’s important to recognize that there will be one notably perverse exception to the foregoing, which is the [Insert Euphemism Here] Relief Line. I do admire Josh Matlow’s advocacy on this front. But Ford will never take up the DRL cause because (i) he doesn’t get the purpose of said extension; and (ii) because the project doesn’t butter his bread, electorally speaking. I’m guessing it will be years before someone with the mayor’s block-headed tenacity emerges to champion a line with a politically inconvenient name and an eye-bulging price tag.
In fact, the sheer heft of the relief line will allow marginally useful yet politically supported subway projects — extensions in the west end to Sherway Gardens or up Yonge to Richmond Hill – to continue to elbow their way to the front of the line, just exactly as the Scarborough subway project did. Indeed, because we no longer care, at any level of government, about subjecting our transit investment choices to a rational policy framework, the most crucial project in the GTA will always lose out in the funding lottery because it has the most diffuse constituency and the most conceptually complicated purpose.”
The disparaging thing about these two paragraphs is that it’s a sad reality.
Toronto-based heritage architect Michael McClelland recently published a piece in Spacing called: Misuse of Heritage Conservation Districts can deaden both past and future.
Here are a couple of snippets:
The City of Toronto believes it has found a silver bullet to control development pressure in the downtown core through the use of a tool known as a “heritage conservation district” (HCD).
The problem is that HCDs are meant to conserve intact and bone fide heritage areas, such as Wychwood Park, Rosedale, or Cabbagetown. They were never intended to control development downtown.
In preparing for a HCD designation, consultants trained in history examine an area’s context and determine what is of value historically. They do not generally study the growth potential of an area, its future, nor any economic considerations, nor the larger planning policy framework, or even an evaluation of the built form generated by other market forces. HCDs look at heritage.
The rigidity of the proposed new urban design controls introduced by the HCDs effectively prohibits innovative and thoughtful architecture in the downtown core.
My own view is that it should be a balance between preservation and progress. We should respect our past, but at the same time look towards the future. Don’t fear change. Michael argues that HCDs achieve neither of those things. It’s worth a read.
Speaking of the future, the CityAge conference is returning to Toronto on October 6 and 7. Their mission statement is about “building the future.” I was on one of their panels last year and it was an overall great event.
If you’d like to attend, use the code “CITYAGE” to save $100. And if you’re a young professional (under 35) and/or a startup, email Marc Andrew to get an even sweeter deal. Tell him you’re a reader of this blog.
Image: Photo by me taken at People’s Eatery on Spadina Avenue
I just got my tickets for NXT City Night, happening Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 6:30pm here in downtown Toronto.
If you’re not familiar with NXT City Prize, it’s an annual urban design competition where young Canadians (35 years of age or younger) submit ideas to improve the built environment. The top submissions win a total of $9,000 in prize money and the winning idea gets paired up with the City of Toronto work on actually implementing it. That’s the best part.
Politics rewards consistency. Even if you’re wrong, it’s better to be consistently wrong than come across as wavering - however noble and rational the intentions may be. And that’s exactly what happened with Rob Ford and his commitment to subways, subways and subways.
John Lorinc of Spacing wrote an interesting piece yesterday on how, despite all the debating that went on, Ford is delivering what he said he was going to deliver: a subway. It doesn’t matter that all technical and financial considerations were thrown out the window, he got it funded.
As I said earlier this week, I think the Scarborough line is the wrong subway to be building and that the downtown relief line is infinitely more important for the region. However, Lorinc makes a good case in his article for why this line will not be funded despite the current focus on subways, subways and subways:
“Fourth, it’s important to recognize that there will be one notably perverse exception to the foregoing, which is the [Insert Euphemism Here] Relief Line. I do admire Josh Matlow’s advocacy on this front. But Ford will never take up the DRL cause because (i) he doesn’t get the purpose of said extension; and (ii) because the project doesn’t butter his bread, electorally speaking. I’m guessing it will be years before someone with the mayor’s block-headed tenacity emerges to champion a line with a politically inconvenient name and an eye-bulging price tag.
In fact, the sheer heft of the relief line will allow marginally useful yet politically supported subway projects — extensions in the west end to Sherway Gardens or up Yonge to Richmond Hill – to continue to elbow their way to the front of the line, just exactly as the Scarborough subway project did. Indeed, because we no longer care, at any level of government, about subjecting our transit investment choices to a rational policy framework, the most crucial project in the GTA will always lose out in the funding lottery because it has the most diffuse constituency and the most conceptually complicated purpose.”
The disparaging thing about these two paragraphs is that it’s a sad reality.
The 2015 finalists have already been announced, here, but the top submissions will be announced at NXT City Night. The Chief Planner of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, will be there, along with the competition’s very impressive jury.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that a lot of what makes cities great often happens through citizen-led grassroots movements.
The High Line in New York – which today attracts over 5 million visitors a year and is believed to be responsible for over $2.2 billion in new economic activity – was really the work of 2 friends who thought that preserving and repurposing the High Line was a cool idea. Which is why in 1999 they founded a non-profit called Friends of the High line. Amazing things happen when people and passion get involved.
So I would encourage you to grab a ticket and join me at NXT City Night next week. Tickets are $25, but if you use the coupon code ATHISCITY, you’ll get $5 off your ticket :)
The event is also taking place in a spectacular old warehouse building at 56 Maud Street (formerly St. Andrew’s Market Hall). That alone is reason enough to come. I’ve been inside before. Get your Instagram ready. But if that’s not enough, there’s also:
Open bar including Steam Whistle beer and Pillitteri Estate wine
Catering from Oyster Boy, Kanpai Snack Bar, Thoroughbred and many more
Art installations by Wayward Collective
Beats by Jesse Futerman and A Digital Needle
Local wares from GetFresh, Shopify, Spacing Store and Swipe
I hope to see you there. Make sure to tweet at me if you’ll be there so we can connect in person.
The 2015 finalists have already been announced, here, but the top submissions will be announced at NXT City Night. The Chief Planner of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, will be there, along with the competition’s very impressive jury.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that a lot of what makes cities great often happens through citizen-led grassroots movements.
The High Line in New York – which today attracts over 5 million visitors a year and is believed to be responsible for over $2.2 billion in new economic activity – was really the work of 2 friends who thought that preserving and repurposing the High Line was a cool idea. Which is why in 1999 they founded a non-profit called Friends of the High line. Amazing things happen when people and passion get involved.
So I would encourage you to grab a ticket and join me at NXT City Night next week. Tickets are $25, but if you use the coupon code ATHISCITY, you’ll get $5 off your ticket :)
The event is also taking place in a spectacular old warehouse building at 56 Maud Street (formerly St. Andrew’s Market Hall). That alone is reason enough to come. I’ve been inside before. Get your Instagram ready. But if that’s not enough, there’s also:
Open bar including Steam Whistle beer and Pillitteri Estate wine
Catering from Oyster Boy, Kanpai Snack Bar, Thoroughbred and many more
Art installations by Wayward Collective
Beats by Jesse Futerman and A Digital Needle
Local wares from GetFresh, Shopify, Spacing Store and Swipe
I hope to see you there. Make sure to tweet at me if you’ll be there so we can connect in person.
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