PODCAST: Spacing Radio 078, Bike Month
It’s Bike Month! It’s a time we celebrate cycle culture in Toronto and surrounding cities and towns. At least officially. Despite some significant gains in cycling infrastructure, there are still a lot...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LORINC: The public space miracle of the moveable chair (redux)
In 1979, when the renowned American sociologist William (Holly) Whyte published The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces — which is, let’s face it, a love letter to New York — he was training his gaze on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: Surviving Vancouver
“There’s a tranquil spot at Georgina Point on Mayne Island where I sat in 2021 and looked back across the Salish Sea to the mainland. It was a clear day, the north shore mountains and the towers of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The urban photography of Arthur Goss, Part 3: Parks and Recreation, 1913-1940
Following the appointment of Charles E. Chambers as Parks Commissioner in 1912, Toronto’s park system entered a period of continuous expansion, creating new parks, playgrounds and recreation centres to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LORINC: The case for adaptive re-use of Ontario Science Centre
Given all the powerful arguments articulated by commentators like Elsa Lam, in Canadian Architect, or Alex Bozikovic, in The Globe and Mail, there’s every reason to conclude that the Doug Ford...
View ArticleOP-ED: What the Province’s takeover of the Gardiner and DVP really means
Much-needed repair work to the western portion of the Gardiner Expressway began this spring, sparking a lot of consternation about the disruptions to drivers resulting from the work. In response, this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LORINC: The Gordian Knot that is Toronto Island
In a city that loves to make, but not execute, plans and then overthink, but not solve, problems, there’s surely no better illustration of this twin-set of frustrating civic habits than the recently...
View ArticleOP-ED: Avenue Road – a bad way to make good roads
If there is a good way to make city streets safe, Avenue Road is a bad example. By the time a proposed interim safety plan for Avenue Road reached City Council at the end of June this year, community...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LORINC: Eyes in the Sky
On the evening of July 1, after the sky darkened and the fireworks over Ashbridge’s Bay began, some participants noticed eight police drones monitoring the crowds, occasionally sweeping their lights...
View ArticlePODCAST: Spacing Radio 079, Is Toronto strangled by rules?
Toronto is often accused of being over-regulated. It’s a fair criticism. For example, photographer and urbanist commentator Dan Seljak tells us how he stumbled upon the small Finch Store selling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
They Brought Back the Don
In the coming weeks, Waterfront Toronto crews will remove the final plug in the new Lower Don, thereby allowing the river to finally flow naturally towards the harbour through the $1.25 billion flood...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The bold, the fleeting, the beautiful
This isn’t your typical house slated for demolition. The lawn isn’t wildly overgrown, and the structure isn’t dilapidated. Instead, 91 Barton Ave. is bustling with activity, a sense of rebirth fills...
View ArticleRemembering the Harriet Tubman Youth Centre On St. Clair West
From November 1, 1972 to September 30, 1975, a Black cultural hub known as the Harriet Tubman Youth Centre operated in a building located at 15 Robina Avenue, just north of the St. Clair West/Oakwood...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The urban photography of Arthur Goss, part 4: Toronto Water Works, 1910-1939
Unlike his Parks Series, which highlights the inclusiveness of the City’s recreational facilities, Goss’s Toronto Water Works Series documents what was at that time exclusively a man’s world of civil...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Notes from Britain
For the past two decades, Spacing contributor Sean Ruthen has written several architectural travelogues on places near and far – here in Canada from Calgary to Charlottetown, and in Europe visiting...
View ArticlePODCAST: Spacing Radio 080, Toronto’s Drone Scandal
We heard a lot about drones at the Paris Olympics, but what about in our own backyard? In this episode, Spacing‘s John Lorinc tells us about a piece he wrote called Eyes in the Sky, which documents the...
View ArticleOP-ED: Free our Front Yards
An Etobicoke native plant gardener is ordered to cut his “turfgrass and weeds” (he actually has neither) to 20 cm (8 inches). An Annex ecologist is ordered to cut down his oak saplings. A Scarborough...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Listen Up! What birdsong tells us about everyday life
This article is published in conjunction with Spacing‘s new issue (#67), which is themed around noise in the city. Click on the links of bird names to hear the relevant birdsong. It’s ubiquitous the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NEW ISSUE: Sounds of the City
I first moved into my current home around this time of year, in early August. I’d moved from downtown to a greener, more residential area, and when we sat outside on our first evening in the new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From drainage ditch to vibrant, pollution-absorbing habitat
When Douglas Counter heads out the front door of his Etobicoke home to appreciate the day’s new blooms, he doesn’t have to go far. The flowers are waiting for him right in his yard, including the...
View Article