I was just reading about London’s plans to pedestrianize Oxford Circus with two new semi-circular pedestrian piazzas (pictured above). And it reminded of two things. One, there are silver linings to this pandemic. And one of them is that it has forced us to rethink… Read More
I came across this stack of old Wallpaper city guides while reorganizing a few things over the weekend (because that’s what happens on the weekends now). They are pretty beat up and color faded from travel. It looks like these guides are still being published… Read More
“The concentration of economic growth and prosperity in large metro areas defines the modern global economy, creating both opportunities and challenges in an era in which national political, economic, and societal trends are increasingly influenced by subnational dynamics.” -Brookings Institute The Metropolitan Policy Program at… Read More
The City of London Corporation recently published a report called “The City as a Place for People”, which talks primarily about itself and how great London is as a magnet for talent. But as self-serving as it may be – the report is timed to… Read More
Back before the 2008 financial crisis, I did a short stint working for a real estate developer in Dublin, Ireland. Most of our projects were in Ireland, but our consultant teams were sometimes from all over. One day we were having a meeting with our architect… Read More
A few of us had a really great discussion on Twitter recently about pedestrian-only streets. It was kicked-off by a tweet about Spark Street Mall in Ottawa, which many argue needs a rethink. One of the comments was that a lot of people tend to… Read More
https://500px.com/embed.js Merry Christmas and/or happy whatever you happen to celebrate around this time of year. Hopefully things have slowed down for you all and you’re relaxing with family and friends either at home or somewhere on vacation. I’ll be doing that here in Toronto and… Read More
The 2015 edition of The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) was just released last month. It is often used as one of the sources for ranking financial centres. The index – which is now in its 18th edition – is created using two main ingredients.… Read More
In 2007, I spent the summer working in Dublin, Ireland for a boutique real estate consulting firm called Urban Capital. (For those of you who are from Toronto and know the industry, there’s no connection between the Urban Capital in Dublin and the Urban Capital… Read More
Tonight I saw one of Toronto’s new streetcars cruising down King Street. They’re still in test mode and the first batch won’t go into operation until this August, but every now and then you’ll see one circulating around the city. This was the first one… Read More
