EDITOR: This is a post in our series looking at the laneway housing projects created in a University of Toronto Architecture Faculty's Laneway Housing studio led by Brigitte Shim & Don Chong. This work and text is by Dina Sarhane a gradute of the Carleton School of Architecture in 2006 and  currently completing her Master in Architecture at University of Toronto. Assembly Lane is a live/work community located at Queen and De Grassi Street in South Riverdale. The site was chosen because it was a residential community with quick access to commercial activity on Queen Street. The existence of various small-scale businesses in the area was an asset since Assembly Lane relies on that traffic flow to support its commercial program (the studio/workshop spaces on the ground level). In addition to commercial advantage, the site lends itself well to family living with nearby schools and community centers.

Spacing magazine presents the CREATIVE MAPPING CONTEST Do you love maps? Are you an illustrator, graphic designer, or visual storyteller? Spacing wants you to submit your original creative maps inspired by a Canadian city. WHAT MAKES A MAP CREATIVE The art of map-making has taken tremendous strides in the digital age. In the last decade, there has been an explosion of maps that are not necessarily meant to be used for directions, but instead are considered works of art and inspired imagination. We want you to create an illustrative map that reflects a Canadian city (or a neighbourhood, community) or is inspired by the urban elements that make up a city (examples: waterfront, transit, cycling, walking, graffiti, parks, architecture, laneways/alleys, streets, traffic, taxis, weather, sewers, infrastructure, etc...). The above map — featured in our current issue — is a good example of creative mapping. DEADLINE: Monday, April 30th, 2012

EDITOR: This is the second post in our series looking at the laneway housing projects created in a University of Toronto Architecture Faculty's Laneway Housing studio led by Brigitte Shim & Don Chong. This work and text is by Christopher Chan, an architecture student at U of T. The Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood houses many students, the majority of which attend the University of Toronto and OCAD. This demand for student housing results in a concentration of "student -slums": houses that are maximized into dormitory-style rooms at the expense of traditional social living space and overall housing quality. The idea behind this project is to design a shared living situation. It is positioned against the proliferation of the less desirable "student slum" housing type and suggests a mix of families and students for the neighbourhood instead. The strategy is to utilize the laneway as the primary street front and balance the privacy of the bedrooms with a flexible living room.

WHAT: Toronto Streetcar t-shirt sale WHEN: Today until Sunday (March 28-April 1) WHERE: on Spacing's e-store COST: $22 (usually $30) with promo code and includes shipping Last week's sale on our Toronto Town heritage shirts went so well we decided to extend the same offer on our Toronto Streetcar shirts as well. These shirts pay homage to the iconic look of our city's streetcar fleet, available on red or black American Apparel 50/50 tees. Usually, our t-shirts run for $30 each, but we're slashing prices this week: only $22! The Spacing e-store is the only place this t-shirt is available, so we encourage you to act now.

EDITOR: This is the second post in our series looking at the laneway housing projects created in a University of Toronto Architecture Faculty's Laneway Housing studio led by Brigitte Shim & Don Chong. This work and text is by Sarah Miller, whose bio you can find below. When we were asked to look for a laneway site, I naturally walked west, where I am used to the neighbourhood. As a resident of the Trinity- Niagara area for some time I've always enjoyed the little anomalies that seem to pop up in the west side of the city. When I came across this site on Stanley Terrace, right across from Stanley Park it was (as cliché as it may sound) love at first site. It was fall, and the tall mature trees that lined the park were still bright and green, just beginning to change colour. As I walked down Stanley Terrace I noticed a lot that had a mature tree that was located on the edge of the site but whose branches stretched across the lane towards the park.

    EDITOR: This is the first post in our series looking at the laneway housing projects created in a University of Toronto Architecture Faculty's Laneway Housing studio led by Brigitte Shim & Don Chong. This work and text is by Utako Tanebe, whose bio you can find below. This Super Narrow Student Housing scheme was instigated by a Toronto Star article I came across while researching for a narrow space site. The article, dated September 24th 2011, features a Toronto police housing bust that took place at “Marina Centre” at Yonge and Wellesley on the count of illegal rooming house. At the scene, police uncovered 90 tenants, all of whom were all living in tiny cell-like bedrooms. Most of the rooms were barely big enough to fit a twin-size bed and had access to shared bathrooms and common rooms for eating and lounging. The city quickly acted on eviction of the Marina Centre, based on the account of 25 violations on rooming sizes and without a legitimate rooming house license.  All the tenants were ESL students who had come to Canada from all around the world to learn English.

  WHAT: All of Spacing's heritage-style t-shirt on sale WHEN: Today until Sunday WHERE: on Spacing's e-store COST: $22 (usually $30) with promo code and includes shipping With all the nice weather we're having here in Toronto, it seems like a good time to starting picking out new t-shirts for the summer. We've expanded our t-shirt sale from last week to include all Toronto Town t-shirts. Each shirt displays the coat of arms or corporate seal of former towns and villages that have been absorbed into the city of Toronto. All week, Spacing is offering a special discount on our Toronto Town heritage t-shirts.  You can pick up on for East York, The Junction, and Etobicoke! Usually, our t-shirts run for $30 each, but we're slashing prices this week: only $22! The Spacing e-store is the only place this t-shirt is available, so we encourage you to act now. PROMO CODE: If paying by cheque, enter the code after you've confirm your address (the last checkout stage). If you're paying by credit card/PayPal, enter the promo code during the last step once you've confirmed your info and shipping address on PayPal. • East York promo code: eastyorkmarch2012 • Junction promo code: junctionmarch2012 • Etobicoke promo code: etobicokemarch2012

This is a guest post by Desmond Cole This weekend the federal New Democratic Party will convene at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to elect a new leader. The loss of Jack Layton last August gives the vote special meaning for the NDP. Seven candidates will appear on the ballot, and one of them will take over as leader of the Opposition in parliament. Along with the question of who will be chosen is how she or he will be chosen. Political party members elect their federal and provincial leaders through a different voting process than the one Canadians use in general elections. The ballot is called a “ranked ballot” because voters can rank all the candidates in the order they prefer. This is different from a general election, where voters only give feedback on one candidate. The threshold for victory in a ranked ballot election is a majority of votes, half of all voters plus one. In our general elections, you don’t need a majority of votes to be the winner – you only need to get more votes than any other person on the ballot. In the first-past-the-post system, the winner only needs to take 34% of all votes cast, with 33% going to the second candidate, and the other 33% going to the third contestant. This kind of victory with lees than majority support is called “plurality.” Plurality isn’t a factor when there are only two parties in an election because unless the race is a tie, one person will get a majority of votes. But once three or more candidates compete in this format, one of them can easily win without majority support. This happens all the time in our general elections. A ranked ballot addresses the problem of majority support through a process called a “runoff.” Recall that voters can rank candidates by preference (Ella is my first choice; if she doesn’t win, Nina is my second choice; if Nina falls short I would choose Billie third, etc.). The votes for everyone’s first choice are then counted and if one candidate earns a majority of votes, she or he is declared the winner.

For the last two days, Spacing has been tweeting live from City Hall about the ongoing Sheppard LRT debate. We're using ScribbleLive on our Spacing Toronto blog to collect our observations. If you're o a mobile device you can also follow us directly on Twitter. (shown above is the Bombardier LRT vehicle in Brussels that Toronto is purchasing).