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Dangerous Development: ‘Boulder beaches’ are unsafe and bad for us and our...
I’m one of many who swim and paddle in downtown Toronto year-round. I have no summer cottage. The beach is my cottage. Until our last swim on January 7th, 2024, we swam nearly every day year-round at...
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Are commercial “third places” a dying breed?
Finding a public space to sit down and write this article was a struggle. My neighbourhood library is under renovation and will be for the next 12-18 months, and it was still too chilly and rainy this...
View ArticlePODCAST: Spacing Radio 077, Spring cleaning in Toronto
With the change of the seasons, we talk about different kinds of renewal. First, Senior Editor John Lorinc talks about the special Spacing investigation into the cyber attack on the Toronto Public...
View ArticleSpacing nominated for National Magazine Award
The 20th anniversary issue of Spacing (#65) was nominated for a 2024 National Magazine Award for Best Editorial Package. Winners will be announced at the June 8th gala event. Congratulations to our...
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NEW ISSUE: Furniture for the People
The imminent end of the 20-year contract with Astral Media to supply and manage Toronto’s street furniture is a foreseeable follow-up to Spacing’s 20th anniversary. The development of the contract...
View ArticleShadowland: Photography down in the ravines
Moore Avenue is a small but busy street in North Toronto that usually has a steady line of cars moving in both directions. But for the second time in less than a year, the road has been narrowed to a...
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The Ground We Share
“The way he stares, he’s forcing you to engage with him.” Zun Lee, the renowned street photographer known for his profound interactions with his subjects, vividly recalls his encounter with Ekow...
View ArticleOP-ED: The bicycle licence, again
For almost as long as there have been bicycles in Toronto, there have been politicians who considered the bicycle licence as a solution to some cycling issue. The latest proposal, approved by the...
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Book launch of expanded and updated edition of Stroll: Psychogeographic...
Spacing’s senior editor and co-founder Shawn Micallef has expanded and updated his 2010 book Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto. The new book is out now and available in person and...
View ArticleOP-ED: Addressing Toronto’s congestion will take more than technology
In a recent ranking index, Toronto is listed as the third worst congested city in the world (after London and Dublin). The metric used by the company (Tomtom) is how long it takes to drive 10...
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Clearcutting in the Don Valley
If you walk, bicycle or drive along Millwood Road along the edge of the Don Valley, a fringe of greenery hides the moonscape below. There are huge clearcuts where heavy machinery has logged over...
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LORINC: Major planning change for Toronto’s major streets
Though it normally seems as if the gears of Toronto’s planning machinery are barely moving, the reforms of the past four years add up to what will, someday, be seen as revolutionary moment for a city...
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Op-Ed: Why is there so little rental construction?
This is an op-ed column by Jonathan Diamond, a principal at Well Grounded Real Estate Development in Toronto primarily consists of condos, with significantly more condos being built than rental...
View ArticleThe Future Fix: Fighting wildfires with drones and video games
THIS EPISODE: Fighting wildfires with drones and video games Wildfire season has already begun in Canada. Due to climate change, we are seeing more frequent and devastating fires. They choke the air,...
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‘I remember where I was when I read that book…’
In the Venn diagram of nerdy pursuits, there is a special place where enthusiasm for public space overlaps with the obsessive and irrational drive to collect books. For self-described “book-besotted...
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LORINC: It’s time to talk about the Committee of Adjustment
The building pictured above — a three storey walk-up with five units — is located at the end of the block where I live. I’ve always thought of it as kind of radically non-conforming. The front wall is...
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‘I remember where I was when I read that book…’
In the Venn diagram of nerdy pursuits, there is a special place where enthusiasm for public space overlaps with the obsessive and irrational drive to collect books. For self-described “book-besotted...
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LORINC: Toronto’s transit agenda has gone missing
A day or so before the deadline for a threatened TTC strike, New York State governor Kathy Hochul torpedoed a much anticipated and controversial congestion pricing plan that would have seen drivers...
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Op-Ed: Can green infrastructure thrive in high-density urban development?
Carolyn Whitzman is a senior research associate with the Canadian Urban Institute and Roy Brooke is the Executive Director of the Natural Assets Initiative The next generation of Canadian affordable...
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Saving an oak forest – from bylaw enforcement
Eric Davies is one of Toronto’s most vocal advocates for the heritage oak trees that have managed to survive in this rapidly developing urban environment. For more than a decade, Eric has been...
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