January 27th, 2012
STREET SCENE: Traffiic Going East
By Jerry Waese // No Comments
Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist
Jerry Waese.
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Urban Planet: Highway Caps
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Highways can carve up and scar urban neighbourhoods, which is why many North American cities are looking for ways to cover this infrastructure and restore community. The Chicago Tribune explores the experience of Columbus, Ohio which saw increased pedestrian traffic and business for local stores following the installation of the "Cap at Union Station". But with a $10 million+ price tag, is the cap a viable option for other centres?
Image from PlasticsSafety
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca
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Friday’s headlines
By Laura McConnell // No Comments
CITY HALL
• Ford tours TCHC building [The Sun]
• Ford's weight loss a hot topic [The Sun]
• Crackdown planned on Toronto chicken coops [The Sun]
LABOUR DISPUTE
• City of Toronto and outside workers still 'a long way apart' [The Star]
• City and Local 416 no closer to agreement [Globe & Mail]
• Nothing's happening in city's labour negotiations [The Sun]
• Unions must change quickly to survive, says secret report by CEP/CAW [The Star]
TRANSIT
• Mayor Rob Ford digs in on transit plan [The Star]
• City councillors seek own changes to transit plan [Globe & Mail]
• City reveals plan for separated bike lanes on Sherbourne [Globe & Mail]
• Barrier from cars in bike-lane design 'not a pronounced enough separation' [National Post]
• What the #!%*?: Competiting visions fight for future of Toronto's rapid transit [National Post]
• York region buses set to roll after long strike [The Star]
• After 3 months, York region expects to have buses running next week [National Post]
• TTC routes during rush hour: watch them all at once [The Star]
OTHER NEWS
• Urban ideas: transit passes for jobless, pebble mosaics [The Star]
• Parent pleas persuade Peel council to keep daycares open [The Star]
• Big venue changes coming for Pan Am Games [The Star]
• Former Unilever factory at DVP and Lake Shore sold, to be redeveloped into office park [National Park]
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January 26th, 2012
Urban Planet: Rem Koolhaas
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
Spiegel speaks with starchitect Rem Koolhaas about the magazine's new building, generic urban design, the changing role of the architect and the negative outcomes of commercial and bureaucratic impulses.
Image from Spiegel
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca
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Thursday’s headlines
By Laura McConnell // No Comments
CITY HALL
• Rob Ford's trojan horse [NOW]
• Housing minister not yet sold on sale of city-owned houses [The Star]
• Ford's scattered sell-off stalls [NOW]
• Toronto committee votes to uphold backyard chicken ban [The Star]
• Councillors reject backyard hen reform [Torontoist]
• City ponders clothing drop box ban [The Sun]
TRANSIT
• New plan for Eglinton LRT appears to be a go [The Star]
• Spineless Metrolinx is failing transit users [The Star]
• Premier open to 'formal proposal' on changing Eglinton LRT [Globe & Mail]
• 'I'm building subways': Rob Ford [National Post]
• Transit plan battle brewing [The Sun]
• Queen's Park wants a TTC decision [The Sun]
• Striking Viva bus drivers set to vote [The Sun]
• Seizing the transit initiative [Torontoist]
• Colour coding your commute [Torontoist]
• Power shift [The Grid]
• The TTC responds to our diagonal bus-route idea [The Grid]
OTHER NEWS
• Demolition of historic Toronto house has locals fuming [The Star]
• Ideas to make Toronto better? Let's steal some [The Star]
• Mississauga property tax the provincial government's fault: Hazel McCallion [National Post]
• The secret of Occupy [NOW]
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January 25th, 2012
Urban Planet: Temporary Architecture
By Hilary Best // No Comments
Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
We often think of architecture as a permanent art form, but temporary installations are becoming more and more pervasive. Think pop-up shops, post-disaster shelters, mobile food carts, streets cafes and pocket parks. Allison Arieff at the New York Times considers the challenges and advantages that temporary architecture poses to buildings and the planning process.
Image from Alliance for Downtown New York
For more stories from around the planet, check out Spacing on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have an Urban Planet worthy article you'd like to share? Send the link to urbanplanet@spacing.ca
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Wednesday’s headlines
By Laura McConnell // 4 Comments
CITY HALL
• Mayor Rob Ford compares rival councillors to Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin [The Star]
• Rob Ford says five councillors are 'left of Joe Stalin' [Globe & Mail]
• Ground shifts at Toronto's city council as the Ford agenda stalls [Globe & Mail]
• Ford's executive avoids bold moves on TCHC, Hydro, EMS [The Star]
• Paramedics are an essential service [The Sun]
• Del Grande wants housing money shifted to 'burbs [The Sun]
• Task force recommends no major changes to arts funding [The Star]
• Mayor Ford hits the track, tries to ditch the snacks [National Post]
TRANSIT
• A new Toronto transit proposal delivers more bang for the $8.2 billion buck [The Star]
• Compromise would bring leg of Eglinton LRT back to street level [Globe & Mail]
• Street-level transit plan gains traction [National Post]
• This is no time to get cute on transit [National Post]
• Tentative deal reached in York transit strike [The Star]
OTHER NEWS
• Street art shakes up the AGO [Torontoist]
• The artists' soup kitchen feeds the body and soul [Torontoist]
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January 24th, 2012
SPACING: Come to our release party in Vancouver!
By Spacing // No Comments
WHAT: Spacing's 2nd national issue release party
WHEN: Friday February 3rd, 2012, 9pm-1am
WHERE: Canvas Lounge (99 Powell St. in Gastown)
HOW MUCH: free! (mag costs $5)
RSVP: Let us know if you can come at our Facebook event listing
The editors of Spacing are excited to announce that the magazine will host a release party at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver to celebrate the publication of the newest national issue. We will have some fun activities and a few door prizes. This event is held in conjunction with the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS).
This is the first of a few release parties we will host across. Details of our Toronto event (and possibly Ottawa and Montreal) will come next week.
For those of you with friends and colleagues in Vancouver, please pass this event onto them. You can forward them our Facebook event listing, too.
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NO MEAN CITY: Concrete Ideas book launch
By Alex Bozikovic // No Comments
Cross-posted from No Mean City, Alex's personal blog on architecture
This Wednesday (Jan 25), Pina Petricone launches what should be a fascinating new book.
The architect and University of Toronto professor leads one of the city's and Canada's best architecture offices - Giannone Petricone - who do creative and successful work from furniture up to whole blocks. With a sense of fun, no less.
Petricone edited this new book, a collection of essays that looks at concrete buildings as city-building blocks and as objects of beauty. She looks at the generation of Toronto concrete buildings from the 60s and 70s, and potential new works using new concrete technologies that offer incredible strength, plasticity and performance. I've seen some of the research and it's fascinating.
Writers here include the illustrious George Baird, Charles Waldheim and Will Bruder.
I am a defender of Toronto's concrete modernism - it includes many serviceable buildings and a few rock-solid ones like Robarts Library that are both beautiful and potentially very useful. If you agree, and enjoyed the Concrete Toronto anthology - or even more so if you disagree - please check it out.
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STREET SCENE: Bike
By Jerry Waese // No Comments
Street Scene will appear each week showcasing the illustrations of local artist
Jerry Waese.
