There were some big announcements in the planning world this past week here in the Greater Toronto Area. Gregg Lintern (follow him on Twitter) was named the new chief planner of Toronto (he was previously the acting chief planner following Jennifer Keesmaat’s departure) and Andrew Whittemore… Read More
https://500px.com/embed.js When I was in Miami at the beginning of this month I missed an interesting event that I normally would have attended. It was a conversation between the Chief Planner of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, and the former commissioner of the New York City Department… Read More
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… Read More
https://500px.com/embed.js Jennifer Keesmaat is the Chief Planner of Toronto. She was hired for this job in 2012. She has a Masters in Environmental Studies (Politics and Planning). She is a Registered Professional Planner with the Canadian Institute of Planners. And she was also the founder… Read More
“If the decision ultimately of the council is to support the hybrid I think frankly it’ll be a major step backwards and you’re going to miss a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’ll be very frank, we’ll be the laughingstock of the world.” -Paul… Read More
This morning the Globe and Mail published an article by Toronto’s chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, called Greenbelts make cities more livable, affordable and transit-friendly. The headline immediately caught my attention because conventional economic wisdom would suggest that supply constraints – whether natural or artificially created – generally… Read More
Yesterday the Urban Land Institute here in Toronto launched a great social media initiative called #CityResolve. The idea is that instead of making a personal New Year’s resolution, that you instead make one that would benefit your city as a whole. This is great for… Read More
I received an email from an ATC reader yesterday who is working on a publication about reimagining public spaces in Toronto. She sent me a few questions and specifically wanted to talk about the Yonge Redux project, which I wrote about a month ago. After I… Read More
Earlier this week, Toronto City Council approved the equivalent of 755 storeys of new development, a lot of which will end up in the downtown core. The translates into 6,887 new housing units and roughly 4 million square feet of new commercial space. The Globe… Read More
Traffic is a big deal when it comes to real estate development. Residents are almost always concerned about the additional traffic that a development might bring to their community. And who can really blame them. They’re frustrated by traffic as it is in the city… Read More
