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: By the end of the day today! If you want to submit and cannot meet today's deadline please send us an email [ creativemapping@spacing.ca ] and we can work something out. We're more concerned with quality entries than with strident deadlines! COST: Free!

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 COST: Free!

If Toronto needed some direction on how to deal with obstructive info pillars on sidewalks, the city needs only to look to Vancouver. While I personally think the info pillars in Toronto are a useless piece of street furniture and would rather see them sent to the recycling depot, I think these examples in Vancouver show how to deal properly with demanding outdoor advertisers.

William Whyte got it right: the legendary urbanist created the film "The Social Life of Small Places" that has become one of the best learning tools for students, professionals, and urbanists about understanding the dynamics of public spaces. The films is almost an hour long, but its worth that watch on a Sunday afternoon.

Since the Sheppard East subway line idea has been nixed (for now), attention has turned to where the next — and most logical — subway line should be built. While extending the current subway lines by a station or two seems appropriate (such as taking the Bloor line west to Sherway Gardens or the Yonge line north Steeles), the densely populated areas in most need for subway expansion are east and west of the Yonge-University lines. Transit advocates refer to this future route as the Downtown Relief Line. The DRL has many believers, including TTC Chair Karen Stintz, transit planners at Metrolinx, and close to 2,000 rail fans on Facebook. The Toronto Star had an article today outlining the benefits of the DRL including a few ideas about its potential alignment. Both Eric Miller, the chair of the Sheppard East expert panel, and Spacing columnist Steve Munro suggest that the DRL is not just about downtown and has many benefits for suburban transit riders. Miller said that the line could eventually expand out into Scarborough and Etobicoke to become the transit backbone of those communities, while Munro noted that Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park are prime candidates of where the line could start in the east. But in hyper-sensitive Toronto, using the word "downtown" in a future subway line's name — so soon after Scarborough residents felt they were giving the shaft by councillors (many from downtown) who favour the more affordable LRT technology — has it's drawbacks.

The Jarvis bike lanes, slated for removal this summer, may be sticking around a little longer than expected. The Toronto Cyclists Union announced today that they believe (as do their lawyers from Iler-Campbell) the decommissioning of the Jarvis bikes lanes requires a Schedule C environmental assessment (EA). The 10-page document outlines their case, specifically stating that, "A Schedule C environmental assessment would address the potentially significant adverse effects of decommissioning the bike lanes and adding a reversible traffic lane on safety, air quality, efficient  transportation, healthy lifestyles, cultural heritage, and the economy." At the press conference, the Cyclists Union's director of advocacy Andrea Garcia said, "City Council voted to reconfigure Jarvis Street without any consultation with the community or local Councillor. Now, we're calling on City Hall to ensure this project is consistent with due process, and any steps to revert Jarvis Street to its pre-existing condition should be put on hold until the EA is completed and Council can make a decision with the proper information." To read the entire legal opinion download the PDF. This challenge is music to my ears. For anyone who has had to endure a conversation with me on this topic over the last year has heard me state, in unequivocal terms, that the City should gets it's ass dragged in front of a judge if the Jarvis lanes are removed. Why? Because when someone speaks in the city council chambers you're not obliged to tell the truth. You can say just about anything without ever being held (legally) accountable. But in a court, gut feelings and ideology have to be left at the door. Those inconvenient things, like facts and data, seem to be held in higher regard once you leave the confines of city hall and enter the real world. I doubt a judge or a panel will uphold the removal of the Jarvis bike lanes simply because Denzil Minnan-Wong says he thinks the reversible lane was cool (his words) or that Doug Ford was sworn at by an irate bike courier.

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 ...