A recent essay by The School of Life asks: “Why is the Modern World So Ugly?” Here’s how it opens: “One of the great generalisations we can make about the modern world is that it is, to an extraordinary degree, an ugly world. If we… Read More
All posts filed under “urbanism”
The year of the missing middle
It is starting to feel like 2021 could be a turning point for “missing middle” type buildings here in Toronto. Momentum seems to be growing and there’s increasing interest in finding ways to make this scale of housing more feasible — everything from duplexes to… Read More
A few thoughts on working from home/anywhere
One of the big questions for this year is about whether or not work from home (WFH) and work from anywhere (WFA) policies are going to stick following this pandemic. It’s something that I mentioned in my 2021 predictions at the beginning of this year… Read More
Carleton University’s Certificate of Real Estate Development
Next Tuesday, January 19, I am helping to teach the introductory class of a Certificate of Real Estate Development program that is jointly offered by Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business and Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism. Here is a full list of the… Read More
Building under the Gardiner Expressway
For a very long time, there was a great debate in Toronto about whether or not the elevated Gardiner Expressway should be removed from downtown and replaced with something else. As recently as five years ago, that debate was centered around removing the eastern portion… Read More
The most unremarkable streets in Toronto
Within Toronto’s urban structure you have regular streets and you have things known as “Avenues.” (This is among a bunch of other stuff such as Centres and Employment Areas.) What this Avenue designation does is tell you that it may be a suitable location for… Read More
The Great Dispersion
It’s that time of year again. It’s time to make predictions for the upcoming year and time to look back on the ones we all got wrong from a year prior. I don’t recall many people (if any) predicting that a pandemic would cripple the… Read More
Crossing the chasm in Austin
I can’t open Twitter these days without seeing someone in the tech industry talking about moving or talking about someone who just moved to either Austin or Miami. “What’s the best neighborhood in Miami for startups? My friend just moved to Edgewater. Where did so-and-so… Read More
The bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles’ retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city’s worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All… Read More
More on Enhancement Zones — a follow-up to density transition zones
Architect Michael Spaziani left a great comment on yesterday’s post about density transition zones and the Enhancement Zone concept that was first proposed as part of the St. Clair West Avenue Study. You can read it by clicking here. Michael was part of the consultant… Read More