We know none of our lovely Spacing readers would be silly enough to do any of these things, but if you ride the TTC, take note... Effective October 12, the TTC's revised Bylaw No. 1 will take effect, increasing the set fines for a number of offenses and adding a few new ones to the list.  In addition to the usual wrongdoings, the TTC will now have the authority to charge fines for misuse of priority seating, obstructing doors, laying across seats or putting your feet on the seats. Over ...

Nuit Blanche has come and gone for another year and I survived the all-nighter with a little help from Tiny Toms Donuts and a Mercy blanket at Fire and Sausage. This year the festival hit a huge milestone with over a million people roaming the streets of Toronto, an amazing jump from the 425,000 that attended in 2007. While the popularity of the event bodes well for exposure of the artists and the city, I wonder how it has changed the way we experience the installations. Many of the popular pieces housed inside, had lines that could have you waiting for an hour. In other cases the crowds were so large, that the art almost got lost in the visual and literal noise of the city. However, this success has brought contemporary art to a much broader audience and, through its anonymity, given people a chance to engage where they might otherwise have felt that daunting feeling of not understanding. While some may argue that the event has changed from its almost impromptu nature of a few years ago, the true success of the evening is the way it allows Torontonians to engage with their city on a very different level. It exposes areas of the city that people may not have encountered and, especially this year with the interactive elements, it creates a dialogue in which to interact with others.  Not only were there the official applications of "My Night" and "Night Navigator" for iPhones and Blackberries, but also many of the side projects had attendees posting reviews and photos of what they'd seen throughout the event. Not only were the opportunities for interactions on the technical side, but also with the chance for the audience to participate in the art.  Many of the installations allowed attendees to sing, dance, ride, crawl, build and play with the art, breaking down the barriers that contemporary art often creates.

Calling all art fans and insomniacs... This weekend is Nuit Blanche 2009, that runs from sunset (6:55pm) on Saturday, October 3 until sunrise on Sunday. Spacing contributors will the using our Twitter account to bring you highlights of what's on during the night, so make sure to add us for updates. You can also download the free Nuit Blanche interactive tools. Here are some of the installations I plan to check out: • Music Inside/Out, a sound and light ...

"Every time you do something in the city, don't just do it, do it beautifully." A seemingly simple statement made by Joe Berridge at IPAC's recent Cities and Public Policy Conference, speaks volumes about how we see planning and urban design policy making in Toronto.  It summarized much of the talk during the two days and over 40 speakers, who included politicians, academics and management.  A common thread of the speakers was the need for us to change the way we think about cities and urban design. The conference opened with Mayor David Miller and Toronto's role in Canada and among other global cities.  He spoke about Toronto being a city that people choose to live in because of its diversity, culture and economic opportunities.  While admitting he did not have the answer, he urged the delegates to think about how cities can sustain themselves in a changing political context, a relevant issue for Toronto, now that Mayor Miller's time in Office is ending. Eva Ligeti, Executive Director of Clean Air Partnership stated, "one of the key things that is holding us back is our culture of entitlement," and an overall thinking that "whatever we have now, cannot be changed."  She references Malcolm Gladwell's ideas in The Tipping Point and "the magic moment when ideas transcend and social behaviours cross thresholds, tip and spread like wild fire, whereupon institutions undergo fundamental change."  Ligeti gives the successful example of the five-cent a bag bylaw, which the City of Toronto recently implemented.  A very simple change that has shown people things can be done on a small scale and now stores all over Ontario are doing the same.  As Ligeti says, "a small item, but it worked."