This is a chart from a recent blog post by Ryerson University’s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development. It shows net intraprovincial migration across the regions of the Greater Toronto Area. And what you are seeing here is people moving from expensive and built-up… Read More
All posts tagged “urbanism”
Why urban density is good for innovation
One of the reasons why I remain so bullish on cities is because we know that new ideas disproportionately come from cities (typically big and dense ones). Matt Clancy does an excellent job of explaining this in a recent post. In it, he cites a… Read More
The war on beauty
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
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
My 2021 predictions
Life will feel a lot more normal by spring/summer (Q2). By this time, the various vaccines should be broadly available (at least in the developed world). This is something that never happened during the Spanish Flu. From what I have read, the Spanish Flu lasted… 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
Toronto’s condo market in 2021
“If everyone is going left, look right.” –Sam Zell The right time to buy things is usually when other’s aren’t, which is why I’ve felt that this year was a great time to buy a centrally located condo. Cities aren’t going anywhere. This isn’t their… 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
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
Building cool things is not as easy as it may seem
There was a good discussion on Twitter this morning about small-scale commercial uses in residential neighborhoods, like the coffee shop shown above on Shaw Street. In most residential neighborhoods in Toronto, this kind of commercial activity is not permitted if you were to try and… Read More