Listening to the first post-kumbaya consultation by Waterfront Toronto, at the Toronto Reference Library a week ago, I was struck (again) by the sense of sheer unreality in the new rhetoric about accelerating development on the Port Lands. If you could inject truth serum into Waterfront Toronto CEO John Campbell and John Livey, the deputy city manager, they’d both readily confess it will take a century to build out this 700-hectare sludge pile, the largest of its kind in North America. All together, now: C-E-N-T-U-R-Y. And that’s if we’re really hustling. To cite just one comparison, the railway lands, at about a quarter of the size, remains a work-in-progress three decades after the redevelopment process began. It’s not that the process is snail-like; rather, the market (yes!) can only deliver and then absorb so much new construction activity. It’s the way of our world. But the waterfront mandarins must now worship at the altar of acceleration because that’s what the brothers Ford believe they procured for Toronto’s impatient citizenry. So no one talks about 25-year horizons and phasing strategies anymore. Rather, the city is looking across the full breadth of the Port Lands for `quick wins,’ which is to say, something – anything -- the Fords can brag about in 2014.  

As we mentioned last week, Spacing will continue to publish a national edition of the magazine twice a year (plus two Toronto-centric editions a year). That means we need to expand our cast of contributors (more specifically photographers). If you love to photograph your city — wherever that may be in Canada — we want to see your images. You can add us as a contact on Flickr, or if you really want to be helpful to our production team, you can add your photos to the national issue's Flickr group. We ...

Whatever else one thinks about Mayor Rob Ford and his tumultuous tenure on the second floor of City Hall, there’s little question that he is genuinely dedicated to his high school football team, which lost a big game on Friday. Yes, Ford’s minions have made sure to flag the media when there’s a game – his infamously foreshortened post-election interview with “As It Happens” took place while he was out on the gridiron – so the public can see him in action. But I don’t doubt his commitment, nor his empathy for his players. The location of the emotional headwaters is anybody’s guess. Everyone knows he’s a big football fan, and maybe he’s also working out some old baggage with his coaching and the foundation. Whatever the motive, it’s not about image burnishing. What struck me Friday, however, was the yawning gap between Ford-the-coach and Ford-the-hatchet man when the  subject of the city’s subsidized daycare spaces came up for debate at the community development and recreation committee, chaired by Councillor Giorgio “The Thumb” Mammolitti.

With the success of Spacing's first national issue — our special summer edition has sold twice as well as any previous issue we've ever published — our editors have decided that we will continue to provide our readers with pan-Canada coverage of everything urban. Since 2003, Spacing has published 22 issues with all but one of them focused exclusively on Toronto urbanism. As we've expanded our blog network across Canada — Montreal in 2007, Ottawa and the Atlantic cities ...

Across the Spacing Blog Network today we are asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know which work of local public art is your favourite (feel free to name more than one). We want to hear back from our readers on what they like/dislike about our shared public spaces so we plan to run this feature with regularity. If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers that use ...

The new issue of Spacing — with an 18-page cover section focused on food in the city — will hit newsstands and your mailboxes next week. A whack of boxes arrived at our office today (see photo bel0w) while another shipment just got to our mailing house. If you subscribe to Spacing expect to see your issue by the end of next week (if you don't subscribe, maybe you should reconsider). If you pick up a copy on newsstands expect the issue to ...

A group of prominent urbanists — Eric Miller (director of the Cities Centre at U of T), Paul Bedford (former chief planner for Toronto), Richard Sommer (dean of U of T’s architecture school), and Richard Florida (director of the Martin Prosperity Institute) — have penned a letter to mayor Rob Ford and Toronto city council urging them to reconisder the recently unveiled "plan" for the Port Lands. The letter has been signed by 148 academics, planners, designers, and activists, and will be formally presented at a press conference at 1:30 today. You can read their letter on the Scribd web site. CodeBlue, a local organization opposed to the Ford plan, also released a complimentary "reality check" for city council to consider. Their 24-point report builds on the sentiment 1. Nothing is happening on the waterfront REALITY CHECK: A carefully coordinated collaborative process is now bearing fruit. Just take a look at Corus Quay, George Brown College, the wave decks, Sugar Beach, Sherbourne Common, Mimico Waterfront Park, Port Union Waterfront Park, and improvements to the Martin Goodman Trail. Companies like Great Gulf, the Hines Corporation, and Castain are investing. The Athletes’ Village is taking shape on the West Don Lands to be ready for the PanAm Games in 2015. Toronto’s waterfront is currently the largest regeneration operation in North America, with some $2.6 billion of private-sector investment already committed. All of this is possible because of Waterfront Toronto’s detailed advance planning, as well as its investment in necessary infrastructure and spectacular public spaces. 2. Waterfront Toronto has dropped the ball on the Port Lands REALITY CHECK: Waterfront Toronto has received world-wide recognition for: getting waterfront development moving and on the right track; engaging the public and the development industry and; producing award-winning new waterfront neighbourhoods – not just clusters of condominiums. A multi-year effort has produced a new Official Plan for the Lower Don Lands and zoning for the Keating Channel Precinct, which is ready to go. The Environmental Assessment for naturalization and flood protection along the Lower Don River is complete. It is sitting at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment right now. Until it’s signed, Waterfront Toronto and private-sector developers have to wait. Why the hold- up? Last spring, without Council’s knowledge, Mayor Rob Ford asked that the process be halted. Only he can get it going again.

While I attending Earl Haig Secondary School in the early 1990s, the construction of subway lines suddenly became a fascinating interest to me. There was a debate raging at the local level about whether residents would support North York mayor Mel Lastman's dream of a Sheppard subway line — which would be built about 1km away from my childhood home. At the same time,  a new station was being added to the Yonge line — North York Centre — two blocks away from my high school. Fast forward a decade: I was working as the art director of The Hockey News and the magazine's office had just moved from Yonge and College and into the Nestlé building at Yonge and Sheppard. By this time, I was reverse commuting, taking transit from Little Italy up to "downtown North York." The Sheppard line had been under construction for 2 years and was another year from opening. On the first day the line opened, I took a ride to Don Mills and back. I got out and examined the art on each platform and the architecture of the stations. At that point, I had spent 10 years listening to my grandparents (active residents association members), neighbours, and local politicians talk about how great the subway was going to be for the area. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. And after another 10 years of watching the subway in operation — mostly as a public space advocate and civic commentator — I still feel that the Sheppard line has failed to meet much of the potential that was promised to residents. Which brings me to Rob Ford's promise from the 2010 election. It seems, come hell or high water, he wants to build an extension east from Don Mills station out to Scarborough Town Centre. This may be the only promise he made during the election that he seems willing to keep.

One of the ways to counter the negative attitude that is engulfing Toronto — thanks to such things as small-minded and commie-free Facebook groups — is to remind ourselves of the good things we have in this city. That's why I've started this little series asking our readers about their favourite bits and pieces of Toronto. Last week I asked about your favourite Toronto bridges. Today, I'd like to know this: what is your favourite water fountain or water feature in Toronto? photo by Miles Storey

During my coast-to-coast road trip this summer (I'll have more posts on the trip over the coming weeks) I crossed over a wide variety of bridges. Some of them were remarkable (Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, Laviolette Bridge in Trois-Riveres) while others were simply charming (Finlay Bridge in Medicine Hat, Broadway Bridge in Saksatoon). It got me thinking about which of Toronto's bridges I'd consider as some of my favourites. I think the Humber Bay Pedestrian Bridge would top my list, followed closely by the Bloor/Price Edward Viaduct. So I put ...