As we enter Toronto's 20th annual Bike Week, a celebration of the city's vibrant cycling culture, it is important to recognize businesses that have lead by example. Sights on Bikes in one such company, providing an environmentally friendly and active alternative to the services provided by tour buses. Whether cruising though downtown or cycling around the Toronto islands, participants are able to see all major tourist attractions as well as those hidden city gems that are inaccessible by car. According to Jordan Feilders, the company's co-owner and manager, cycling allows for a holistic experience of the city. “On ...

When: May 28, 7-8:30 pm Where: St. Lawrence Community Recreation Centre, 230 The Esplanade Like a fingerprint, each neighbourhood has its own unique character — reflecting specific social structures, values systems, aesthetic preferences, and lifestyles. It is for this reason that researchers have been studying links between mental health and neighbourhoods since the 1950s. This coming Monday, May 28th, the Centre for Research on Inner City Health is hosting a community conference to share ideas and information on how Toronto neighbourhoods can be used to promote mental health. Part of the “Let's Get Talking” discussion series, attendees are being ...

When: Tuesday, May 29 Registration and breakfast: 8:00 am Briefing: 8:30 am - 10:30 am Where: The National Club, 303 Bay Street Cost: $149 per person plus GST, $79 per person plus GST (SPECIAL RATE for NGOs) Ensuring the publicness of the political arena requires the active participation of citizens. It is for this reason that we encourage our readers to attend a briefing on Tuesday, May 29th, on federal, provincial, and municipal eco-priorities. Hosted by Urban Intelligence, panelists will include President of Pollara Inc., Don Guy, City of Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher (also the Chair of Toronto's Parks and Environment ...

When: May 24, 7:30-9:30 pm Where: St. Lawrence Centre Forum, 27 Front Street East (2 blocks east of Union Station) New development standards are in the works that would require all new commercial and residential buildings in Toronto to meet rigorous environmental standards. The question of what Toronto will look like in another twenty years is therefore at the forefront of public debate and discussion. On Thursday, May 24, you are invited to join Doug Webber, David Sisam, Lorraine Gauthier, and Danny Harvey at a free public forum as they present their views on the future of Toronto as a green ...

In a city where streets form up to 35 percent of the public space (compared to Toronto's 27.4 percent), Ottawa artists and city councilor Clive Doucet are encouraging hopscotchers to reclaim the urban landscape. Earlier in May, local residents condemned city crews for having power washed a children's hopscotch game off the sidewalk in the Glebe neighbourhood. The artists have [subsequently] chalked drawings, poems and numbered squares labelled "random act of hopscotch" on sidewalks across the city. One group calling itself the Ottawa Community Chalk Network covered four city blocks in one night with slogans and doodles that led right ...

Inasmuch as history is supposed to be rooted in objectively recorded facts, such accounts often overlook the multi-layered texture of people's lives and, at times, have even ignored entire events and viewpoints. As a local response to such oversights, members of the Missing Plaque Project have spent the past four years wheat-pasting these unacknowledged histories all over the city. Focusing on subjects that have been largely discounted by the official history books, posters cover a range of events — from neighbourhood demolitions to unrecorded riots and protests — and are being put up in the areas where they took ...

When: Wednesday May 16 - Designing a vending cart and vendors' experiences Where:: 125 Bond Street, Room 201 HEI, Ryerson University When: 6:30pm - 8:30pm When: Thursday May 24- The role of street food and vending in the city Where: 87 Gerrard Street East, Room 229 EPH, Ryerson University When: 6:30pm - 8:30pm Precisely because food is an important element of city life and urban planning, every meal is a vote for the type of world you want to live in. The issues and spaces of food production, distribution, and consumption are therefore intrinsically political. For this very reason, we invite you to sink your ...